Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
family tourism market and discusses social and economic influences
affecting its future.
The next five chapters discuss the tourism experiences of families from
different disciplinary perspectives and methodological approaches. Chapter
5 begins by introducing a novel whole-family methodology, which includes
the hitherto silenced voices of fathers, children and the whole family group
within our understanding on family holiday experiences. It provides a more
inclusive familial perspective that highlights the specific roles of the father,
the social needs of the children and family group dynamics. Chapter 6 shows
the importance that VFR travel has for family tourism, by highlighting the
robustness of this market. Specific marketing strategies are suggested to tap
into this growing market. The increasingly debated value of social tourism
is raised in Chapter 7, which emphasises that holidays for disadvantaged
families can have significant benefits for their members. The stress of
the family holiday is discussed in Chapter 8, another based on empirical
research. Families have unique requirements that require better attendance
from accommodation providers if the desired stress relief of a holiday is to
be achieved. Chapter 9 provides an overview of the potential for gay and
lesbian family tourism and draws attention to some of the challenges in
overcoming fears and stereotyping.
The last three chapters deal with the future of family tourism in
different ways. Chapter 10 discusses the importance of marketing to young
tourists and stresses that more engaging strategies are needed to appeal to
this next generation of consumers. The future of the family life cycle is
empirically debated in Chapter 11, which argues that traditional models are
outmoded and do not reflect societal changes. Chapter 12, by way of conclu-
sion, identifies the contribution of each chapter to the theory and practice of
family tourism through a cognitive mapping approach. An aggregated map
of the chapter themes presents both the present state of family tourism and
directions for the future, and suggestions for further research are made.
Conclusion
This topic brings together current research topics from leading experts in
the wide-ranging field of family tourism and thereby adds to an under-
developed knowledge base.
Family Tourism: Multidisciplinary Perspectives
underlines the infancy of academic family tourism research that belies its
market importance and advises readers of the implications and theoretical
debates about the place of families within tourism. This is an edited col-
lection, and so the chapters are independent and can be read in any order,
but we do recommend that readers begin at the beginning to get a sense of
the wider context affecting family tourism. We appreciate that this topic is
not complete but is rather a first international engagement with families
in tourism that highlights the richness of the field, along with the need for
