Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Single-sex parents
Lone parents
Family tourism as a
social driver
Fear of social
disintegration is
rampant
Subsidised holidays
Blended families
UK Conservative
government's social
policy is driven by
increasing well-
being, encouraging
family cohesion and
improving mental
health
Social tourism as
tourism with added
moral value, of which
the primary
objective is to
bene
t the host or
visitor in the
tourism exchange
Non-nuclear families
Budget-friendly
holidays
Television is main
leisure activity
Day trips
Poor housing
Disability
Disadvantaged
families
Not well travelled
Low education
Social capital as
the bene
ts to
people accrue
through
relationships
Tourism builds
family capital
Unemployment
Not a
uent
Family capital
Health deprivation
The importance of
quality time
Social exclusion =
low travel horizons
New activities
Lack of new learning
opportunities
New friends
Figure 12.6
Conceptual map of value of social tourism
Chapter 8 - Stress of the Family Holiday
While the tourism industry focuses on the family market, this chapter
showed that the expectations of parents are not always met by operators
(Figure 12.7). Stress levels can be high for parents in everyday life, particularly
for those with larger families and younger children. Societal pressure is often
placed on families to have holidays but holidays can give rise to financial
hardship. The greater expense for families and their possible reliance on
single incomes require more effort in planning and saving up, which can
result in substantial disappointments if the holiday is not relaxing. This
is accompanied by moral issues of good parenting in putting children first
and feelings of guilt when conflicts arise on holiday, especially for mothers.
The study found that stress levels were often raised during and after the
family holiday, and were often exaggerated by minor inconveniences from
tourism providers. The key contribution of this chapter is highlighting
