Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
6
VFR Travel: Why Marketing to
Aunt Betty Matters
Elisa Backer
Introduction
Families often have particularly strong needs to travel to reconnect with
friends and family. When there is the birth of a baby, family members
typically want to visit to see the new arrival. Close friends will do likewise.
Similarly, regular trips are often planned to observe significant milestones
of the child as well as to ensure a bond forms with that child. Thus the
very nature of having a family lends itself to visiting friends and relatives
(VFR). Travel for births, birthdays, significant achievements, graduations,
weddings and other special events is important for families.
These types of travel - celebrations of milestones and events - are forms
of travel that are not as susceptible to economic downturns as leisure-based
travel. When the economy tends towards recessionary conditions, people's
confidence often declines. Purchases such as holidays can be forsaken,
regarded as a luxury that is not necessary. However, the mind-set for many
forms of VFR travel - funerals, weddings, graduations and reconnecting
socially - is different. Some people may feel that they do not
need
a holiday;
those same people may feel that they do
need
to be at their niece's wedding,
their father 's funeral, their daughter 's graduation. Those people will often
not question whether they should go. They may not even consider the best
flight deals. The thinking underpinning VFR travel is different to leisure-
based travel and so VFR travel may not be as vulnerable to changes in the
exchange rate, economic conditions and seasonality.
Given the importance of VFR travel for family tourism and its economic
stability, it is useful to consider the relative merit of tourism practitioners
essentially 'marketing to Aunt Betty'. This chapter therefore discusses an
essential aspect of family tourism. It begins by reviewing the literature and
goes on to describe a study undertaken in the state of Victoria, Australia.
81
