Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
2010) and added stresses that require careful family organisation. There is
scant literature on the work involved in and the difficulties with facilitating
positive family experiences (Shaw, 2008). Even less is known about the stress
factors in family holidays, despite the significant influence these can have on
overall satisfaction with the holiday experience, as discussed in Chapter 8.
Instead, the notion of families spending happy times together on holiday is
a persistent marketing image that has long been part of the 'mythology of
tourism' (Seaton & Tagg, 1995). The image of the happy family on holiday
is also largely based on white, middle-class and nuclear families, and does
not reflect the growing diversity of family forms. According to Carr (2011),
it can be construed that the non-nuclear family is an unhappy family who
cannot be together because it does not it within conceptualisations of
the tourism experience as a time of family togetherness. Yet this is clearly
erroneous, as demonstrated by the discussion in Chapter 9 of the significant
potential of tourism to strengthen and consolidate sexual identities and
family relationships for gay and lesbian families. The increasing propor-
tion of people who exist outside the traditional family life cycle in tourism
(Bojanic, 1992; Lawson, 1991), such as families with different sexual orien-
tations, is discussed in Chapter 11. It debates whether a model of set stages
that people are expected to go through during their life needs updating to
reflect societal changes.
Apart from the under-representation of families in tourism research
there is also a disconnection between tourism studies and other social
sciences concerned with families. This is despite the significant influence
that society and dominant ideologies of parenting and childhood can exert
on family holiday experiences. Much can be gained from the literature in
sociology, family studies and leisure studies (Daly, 2004; Handel
et al
., 2007;
Shaw, 2010) for the deeper understanding of trends and behaviours shaping
family tourism experiences, as discussed in Chapter 2. The idealisation of
family time in Western societies (Daly, 1996a) and changing gender roles
(Harrington, 2006; Shaw, 2008) can then be traced from the home and
leisure realms to the holiday realm. While tourism has some unique qualities
that may not be found in everyday leisure activities or in the home, such
as the 'notion of departure' from what is routine (Urry, 1990), this neglects
the concept that family tourists' behaviour is influenced by a combination
of socio-cultural and personal values that are present in both the home and
holiday environment (Carr, 2002). In fact, family holidays are also about the
supporting experiences and interactions that are intrinsic to everyday life
(McCabe, 2002). The implication here is that changes in domestic family life
and family leisure also affect family behaviours on holiday, and this needs
wider recognition in tourism research. The prominence of families with
children in tourism contrasts with the neglect within academic research of
the relations between tourism and domesticity, sociality, broader experien-
tial dimensions, diversity and ideologies.
