Tourism, Leisure and Society - Essay Example

Running head: TOURISM, LEISURE AND SOCIETY Tourism, Leisure and Society Insert Insert Grade Insert 8 December Tourism, Leisure and Society Introduction Leisure can be defined by several ways depending on activities, time, and place associated with it. In addition, leisure is highly dependent on contextual factors like political, economic status, culture, gender, and skills of people (Roberts, 2006, p.2). Generally, the approaches that can be used to define leisure are leisure as time, activities, attitudes, and quality of actions. Leisure is always associated to social activities and its benefits include promoting healthy well-being and enhancing bonding and cooperation among people. In addition, leisure activities are an expression of freedom from regular routines; that is, the activities are geared to motivating people rather than financial gain. Moreover, leisure is pleasurable and brings rest and entertainment (Jafari, 2003, p.355). Like leisure, tourism has a wide range of definitions depending on the angle one is looking it from. The definition can be either conceptual or technical; conceptual definition refers to the motivation of travel while technical seeks to set apart tourism from other forms of travel. Generally, tourism is generally viewed as international travel but it also encompasses domestic travel, which mostly constitutes the large part of tourism. Therefore, a generalized definition of tourism is movement of people from their place where they live to other areas for certain duration but with no intentions of living there permanently (Pearson & Swart, 2007, p.2). Leisure and tourism are two entities that are linked together; indeed, some researchers claim that tourism is a form of leisure (Hall, & Page, 2006, p.4). Generally, leisure and tourism are believed to improve the quality of life of individuals. They are also influenced by related factors. Leisure activities are linked to tourism domestically or internationally. A good understanding of leisure and tourism may result in better planning, management, and organizing of leisure and tourism. This paper explores the relationship between tourism and leisure, as well as the significance of understanding this relationship in tourism management. The paper will assess the similarities and / or differences of leisure and tourism behaviors, as well as psychological and social factors influence tourism and leisure to a great deal. Relationship between leisure and tourism Previously, leisure and tourism have been viewed as two separate entities, but there is a relationship between them. Motivations and psychological aspects are two factors that create relationship between leisure and tourism (Carr, 2002, p.1). Generally, leisure and tourism have some similarities but it is still not clear when one can describe a tourism experience as leisure experience. However, there is an overlap between leisure and tourism in areas of psychology, sociology, and geography (Moore, Cushman & Simmons, 1995, p.2). Moreover, motivation and psychological aspects of leisure and tourism are interlinked, while activities that are involved in leisure or recreation and tourism are increasingly becoming interdependent. These activities do create cross- cultural interactions. According to Sharma (2005, p. 142), cultural environment affects the types of leisure activities preferred; more so, leisure is important aspect of the society. If there is difference between home and touring environment, these differences do generate a tourist culture. Since leisure and tourism involve traveling to different areas, interactions with visitors and the local people promote cohesion and understanding. This is because both leisure and tourism are influenced by psychological and sociology aspect of persons. In this case, Iso-Ahola & Mannel (1987, p.1) observe that leisure and tourism experiences give psychological benefits to a person by drawing them away from every day’s routines and provide recreational activities. Moreover, the two are influenced by motivational factor; indeed, there is a two dimensional theory that explains the motivation to leisure and tourism. Tourism experience and leisure activities are sought after due to their intent to provide an opportunity of moving away from daily routine and the psychological rewards that emanate from participating in these activities (Iso-Ahola & Mannel, 1987, p.10). In this case, motivation comes in handy, as it is a psychological concept that evaluates why someone chooses to engage in leisure or tourism activities. Generally, the rewards of leisure activities are classified as interpersonal and personal rewards. Personal rewards are gains of freedom, relaxation, exploring and leaning while interpersonal rewards are gained mainly from social interaction. Moreover, the choices of leisure or tourism, as well as the rewards are influenced by the Maslow’s hierarchy for needs, which identifies five aspects of human needs namely psychological, safety, relationship, esteem, and self-actualization. Here, the motivation to satisfy these needs draws a person to make the choices related to leisure and tourism. Apart from the desire to meet needs in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, leisure and tourism behavior is influenced by the personality of the individual. Generally, tourists’ personality types can be classified as explorers, groupies, adventures, and the guided (Jackson, White, G & White, M, 2001, p. 5). The motivation consumption of leisure and tourism are both seeking and escaping certain criteria; for example, short tourisms travels are more of escaping rather than seeking. Even though tourism behaviors are oriented to creating pleasure, they are rooted to leisure behavior and influenced by personality, attitudes, and habits of a person (Seohee, 2009, p.12). Tourism motivation and behavior are influenced by leisure participation and habits. Further, activities that a person got involved into are linked to the choice of tourism activities. Leisure and tourism behaviors observation gives insight into the relationship between leisure and tourism. For instance, the behavior of people in vacation is identified to be liberal and free spirited, and less restrained compared to when they are home (Carr, 2002, p.2). These behaviors are similar to leisure behaviors; hence, a proof that tourism behaviors are influenced by social cultural values, and personal attitudes. Moreover, tourism can be viewed as a form of leisure as there is no clear difference between tourism and leisure behaviors, thus this can be attributed to engraved habits in the lives of tourists. Another factor that contributes to tourists’ behavior is the tourism culture that is different in the tourism environment from that in home environment; however, this culture affects people differently. On the other side, certain differences may be pointed out between tourism and leisure, one being the fact that tourists exhibit pleasure seeking behaviors and less responsibility when on vacation that could not be acceptable in leisure environment. Example, persons are more likely to consume higher amount of alcoholic drinks while on holiday compared to during leisure time when at home. In addition, tourists engaged in riskier sexual behaviors while on vacation. Moreover, Carr (2002, p. 3) observes that tourist and leisure behavior are different from one another in the sense that tourists are primarily affected by tourism atmosphere unlike leisure seekers. Push and pull factors influence individuals to engage in a particular leisure or tourism activity. Primarily, push involves psychological factors that motivate people to travel while pull are the physical factors of a place that draws a person to visit. Other factors include social factors and economic situation. Often, social factors determine how a person will interact with the host community while economic factors determine the financial strength of a person to spend. Basically, leisure and tourism are commodities that are consumed by individual that are in financial position to acquire them. However, there are false needs, which imply that these goods provide satisfaction to the consumer. Significance The understanding of the relationship between leisure and tourism is important when setting parameters for developing, analyzing, and managing tourism sector (Williams & Buswell, 2003, p.4). The appreciation of behavior of tourist is crucial for the tourism industry for effective planning that causes least negative impact in the industry (Carr, 2002, p.2). In most cases, constant traveling results into cross-cultural interactions therefore generating complex dynamics that should be accounted for when planning, developing, and managing of tourism. The understanding helps the management of tourism industry to create quality packages and services that suit the needs of their customers (Williams & Buswell, 2003, p.3). Furthermore, the understanding helps to evaluate trends in the industry, hence facilitating better planning, and setting structures to deal with uncertainties. Moreover, the personality of individual explorers, groupies, guided and adventures play a role in defining their behavior. By using this information, the tourism industry can assess the preference and behaviors, hence generate and market person specific product to the population (Jackson, White & White, 2001, p.1). In appreciating the fact that some products are thought as goods that bring happiness, the industry can be able to market its products more aggressively and register more success. In this case, the industry players are given an opportunity to capture market from domestic and foreign tourists. In addition, the market and the economy of a region influence the choice of leisure or tourism, hence allowing the tourism industry to price products accordingly based on target group (Roberts, 2006, p.3). Therefore, the understanding of the relationship between leisure and tourism enables managers to compete with other industry players more effectively and hence promote profitability of a company. It makes possible for marketers to create effective marketing strategies that can draw more customers to their product. Tourism industry is must always be informed of the needs of customers in order to provide or facilitate leisure or tourists products/destinations that will meet the expectations of the customers. In this case, tourism industry can take the advantage of unique activities that would be more preferable in an environment that is away from home. Further, Williams and Buswell (2003, p. 98) is on the view that the industry players should be in a position to differentiate their market target based on types and behavior of individuals. Another significance of appreciating the relationship of leisure and tourism in management of tourism industry is the ability of the industry to satisfy customers’ needs, hence retain them. Whenever customers get good service in a place, they are more likely to refer the goodness of the product to their friends, thus indirectly marketing on behalf of the company. This lowers the costs of marketing for the industry hence increasing its profitability and competitiveness. Most leisure and tourism activities have a social dimension; hence, in managing tourism, the management should incorporate the social factors like games, music, and other interaction activities (Roberts, 2006, p.3). Nevertheless, the industry should also provide atmosphere for persons whose wish is to be in solitary. The tourism industry requires training and developing their staff based on the understanding of leisure and tourism to enable them to deliver quality service to their customers. In addition, the tourism management should always seek to relate well with other industry stakeholders i.e. banks, and the governments; and by so doing, they will be in a position to understand the leisure, tourism industry well in order to promote and encourage domestic tourism as a form of leisure activity. Nevertheless, it is important to understand that the behavior of domestic and international tourists differ from one another, therefore the industry should account for their needs independently. Manager of tourists’ destinations should always be aware of the expectations of their customers. The level of satisfaction of customers from leisure and tourism experience usually depends on the extent to which their expectations are met and their motivations they receive (Williams & Buswell, 2003, p.98). Therefore, proper research on personality behavior of tourists will result in development of reliable, cost friendly market, and service in sustainable state, hence increasing the number of tourists (Jackson, White & White, 2001, p.6). In order to develop a leisure and tourism economy, the managers have to actively promote and conduct leisure and tourism activities, thus a clear appreciation of their relationship would be beneficial. Moreover, management planning of accommodations of individual needs should always be based on the context of desired beneficial outcomes. Conclusion Leisure and tourism have some observable differences, but they are also closely related in terms of the activities involved and the factors that drive individuals to participate in them. There exist familiar influences that explain how individual behavior during tourism and leisure experiences, which include psychological and sociological factors like the motivations, economic status. In most cases, the behavior of individuals in leisure and tourism atmosphere slightly differs from one another. In tourist destination, people are freer spirited compared to when in home environment; this can be attributed to the fact that there is a tourism atmosphere. In addition, the motivation for leisure and tourism experience can be driven by quest to satisfy the five needs in the Maslow hierarchy of needs. Moreover, the personality of an individual influences the choice of leisure and tourism behavior; however, some individuals do not inhibit different behavior in leisure or tourism behavior. Primarily, personal attitudes or character plus the environment are some factors that may influence the nature of behavior in leisure or tourism experience. The reason why there is no difference between leisure and tourism behavior is that, when people travel they take along their habits and culture. Primarily, a blend of motivation and culture influences the behavior of an individual, thus when one seeks to consume leisure activities, his motivation, and cultural inclination will more or less lead him to a tourism destination. In this case, he will get an opportunity to gain psychological benefits emanating from leisure activities in an environment that is far away from every day’s routines. The major repercussion of understanding the relationship between tourism and leisure behaviors is that it results to the development of a reliable and valid tourist personality inventory. This inventory will allow the tourism industry to develop cost effectively, as well as develop and promote service delivery in a sustainable manner, thus enhancing the growth of the industry. Further, the extent to which customers are satisfied usually depends on the level at which their expectations are met. The management therefore requires an understanding of the relationship of leisure and tourism in order to address the various needs of the consumers. References Iso-Ahola, S. & Mannel, R. (1987). Psychological nature of leisure and tourism experience. Annals of Tourism research, vol.14 pp.314-331. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from http://www.hospitality.ucf.edu/faculty/raywang/documents/HFT7715/Psychology%20and%20tourism/PsychologicalNatureofTourismExperience.pdf. Carr, N. (2002). Annals of tourism research vol.29 No.4 972-986: The Tourism-Leisure Behavioral Continuum. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from http://www.hospitality.ucf.edu/faculty/raywang/documents/HFT7715/Recreation,%20leisure%20and%20tourism/The%20tourism-leisure%20behavioral%20continuum.pdf. Hall, C. & Page, C. (2006). The geography of tourism and recreation: environment, place and space. NY: Routledge. Jackson, M., White, G. & White, M. (2001). Developing a Tourist Personality Typology. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&sqi=2&ved=0CDwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.entrepreneurship.co.za%2Fapp%2Fwebroot%2Ffiles%2FJackson_et_al.pdf&rct=j&q=Developing%20a%20Tourist%20Personality%20Typology&ei=R34ATdbAA4jrOa7C6KYB&usg=AFQjCNEN3No61zljd6t0w9cNsAkfBWrSuw&sig2=h6YvwFgsz9iLci5puoxQrQ&cad=rja. Jafari, J. (2003). Encyclopedia of Tourism. NY: Routledge. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from http://books.google.com/books?id=rWI82AOOnRMC&pg=PA355&dq=what+is+leisure&hl=en&ei=sDX_TPf2AY-SOrWv1ZYM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=what%20is%20leisure&f=false. Moore, K., Cushman, G. & Simmons, D. (1995). Behavioral conceptualization of leisure and tourism. Annals of Tourism research vol.22 No.1 pp.67-85. Retrieved December 9, 2010, from http://www.hospitality.ucf.edu/faculty/raywang/documents/HFT7715/Recreation,%20leisure%20and%20tourism/Behaviral%20conceptualization%20of%20tourism%20and%20leisure.pdf. Pearson, M. and Swart, N. (2007). FCS Science of Tourism L2. Cape Town: Pearson South Africa. Roberts, K. (2006). Leisure in contemporary Society. London: CABI. Seohee, C. (2009). Relationship Between active leisure and active vacation. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?did=1835307791&Fmt=14&VType=PQD&VInst=PROD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1291808288&clientId=79356. Sharma, K. (2005). Tourism, and development. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. Williams, C. & Buswell, J. (2003). Service quality in leisure and tourism. London: CABI. Read More