Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Because VFR travel is large by size, it is of value to tourism regions. The
issue of size and neglect was first mooted more than 20 years ago, when
Jackson (1990) raised awareness of VFR travel by asking the question 'VFR
tourism: is it underestimated?' in a seminal paper of that title. Over the
past two decades, other researchers have added to the VFR literature. More
recently, Jackson's important question was answered by Backer (2012), who
demonstrated that official data cannot be used as a tool for measuring the
size of VFR travel, and doing so will underestimate its size by at least 20%.
It is useful to note that in that paper by Backer (2012), the terminology
changed from 'VFR tourism' to 'VFR travel'. This distinction between travel
and tourism is important. Definitions of tourism tend to share a number
of characteristics. For instance, one common element is: 'it is primarily for
leisure or recreation, although business is also important' (Hall, 2007: 11).
This point is similarly addressed by Leiper (2004: 35), who states that 'being
a tourist has three attributes. It requires travelling, visiting, and having a
leisure experience.'
There can be people who travel for VFR purposes and/or who stay with
friends or relatives whose trip has no leisure component whatsoever. There
may be some individuals who would not be considered to be tourists under
many tourism definitions. They may be travelling to attend a funeral, to
care for a sick relative or to undertake an obligatory en route visit. They are
travellers, they are spending money, but they may not be tourists.
Consideration of the notion of travel rather than tourism can be particu-
larly important in the context of an economic downturn, because tourism
can be affected to a greater extent than travel. Consumers' expectations
regarding the future affect spending on non-essential items such as holidays.
Those people who have optimistic expectations tend to spend more on dis-
cretionary goods and services than those who have pessimistic expectations
(Van Raaij, 1991). Therefore, consumers are more likely to consume more
when they feel confident about their own future economic and financial
situations (Gelper
et al
., 2007). More specifically, the demand for business
travel can be affected by the economy and level of economic development
(Njegovan, 2005; Swarbrooke & Horner, 2001).
In appreciating that official data are not able to measure all VFR travel,
observing the proportion of people staying with friends and relatives does
provide an indicator regarding travel behaviour. This may be particularly so
during economic downturns.
Method
The aim of this research was to investigate the numbers of domestic
travellers staying with friends and relatives across the regions within the
Australian state of Victoria. Secondary data from Tourism Research Australia
(TRA) were used. TRA produced a wide range of data for the nation, as
