Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
limited duration. The tourist does not need to take care of a household - this is taken care
of by the staff of the hotel or, alternatively, by the family he or she is staying with. If
children are taken along for the trip, they do not need to attend school or other educational
frameworks and, therefore, the family is free to plan visits to tourist sites that will satisfy all
members of the family or tour group.
Debbage (1991: 266) found that the major determinants of spatial behaviour were temporal
constraints (length of stay, mobility levels) and the spatial structure of the resort environment.
However, Debbage found that some of the more traditional explanations for spatial behaviour
did not seem to be applicable in his case study of Paradise Island (Bahamas). For example,
factors that were not signifi cant included the socio-economic characteristics of the individual
(income, education, age and occupation), the type of travel arrangement (packaged tour vs.
independent traveller), familiarity levels (fi rst-time or repeat visitors) and party size. Part of
the reasoning for this may be because research in other fi elds (intra-urban commuting
patterns, consumer shopping behaviour, and residential location decisions) may not be
directly transferable to tourist behaviour (Debbage, 1991: 266).
It is possible to use this approach in order to explain a tourist's spatial activity, though
many of the factors existing for the tourist differ from those of the individual in his or her
natural surroundings. In addition, in contrast with Hägerstrand's model, the tourist has much
choice and a lot of free time, and therefore via the tourist activity expresses more of their
cultural background and personality and less of the 'traditional' factors as understood by
Hägerstrand.
In place of these factors there are other constraints that result from the length of the stay
or the primary purpose of the visit. It would not be surprising if we found that an entire range
of socio-economic factors were of no importance whatsoever for the explanation of a tourist's
spatial activity. It is indeed possible to relate to constraints such as income, gender and age as
factors that are infl uential on the person in his or her natural surroundings; however, upon
leaving the natural surroundings for a short time, the person may be freed from the limita-
tions these factors place on him or her.
In tourism research, the application of Hägerstrand's theoretical and pragmatic framework
for visualisation and analysis of time-space activities (through, for example, space-time
budgets of tourists) was done only scarcely despite its clear relevance to the fi eld (see also Hall
in
Chapter 21
of this volume). Some exceptions are Dietvorst's (1994; 1995) works on tourism
in historic cities and van der Knaap's (1999) study of tourists' activity patterns in two national
parks in The Netherlands. Shoval's works in the historic city of Akko in Israel (2008), Forer's
(2002a) implementation regarding fl ows of visitors to New Zealand, and especially Hall's
(2005c) conceptual work on the application of Hägerstrand's thought to tourism research are
all good examples of the potential of this framework for tourism studies.
Agenda for advancing the fi eld in the future
New methods for data collection and data analysis have enormous potential for increasing
time-space studies in tourism research, and naturally those studies will make use of the theo-
retical and visualisation advantages of time geography.
New methods for data collection
Relatively little attention has been paid to the spatial and temporal behaviour of tourists
despite the proliferation of research in tourism over the past few decades. This is probably
