Tourism Basics – Is Tourism Only to Relieve Stress?

Dr. László Balogh

The research into the psychological background of tourism has by now become an increasingly popular academic field of study.  Its practical implications can be understood easily: those social and economic changes that occurred several decades ago have made it possible for people (unfortunately not yet for everybody) to dispose freely of their own leisure time. Thus travel has become an increasingly popular activity. On the other hand, this change has posed several questions as well, including the economic, marketing, management and quality of life issues, as well as questions in relation to the psychological processes in the background of tourism. These questions include travellers’ choice of destinations,  the level of customer satisfaction, the effects of tourism on the efficiency of work and on the nation’s economy, as well as on building communities and family relationships.

Several researchers (Pearce, 1982, 1991, Gross, 1994, Oppermann et al, 1999) have tried to identify those factors, which are capable of describing the relationship between tourism and psychological science, broadly interpreted. 

The direct psychological effects of tourism on the quality of life, as well as on physical and mental wellbeing can be felt in many sectors. Tourism may formulate our societies and economies from the level of the individual, through society’s small groups including families and small communities of friends or colleagues, to larger communities as well. Psychology in relation to tourism may be a dependent or an independent variable. Tourism can be inverstigated from many aspects, including the factors describing why a person is orientating towards tourism (stress relief, burn-out, attraction to new places, active or passive relaxation), or the psychological effects of tourism at individual, group or social level.

From the point of view of the psychology of tourism the following study can be of utmost importance and it is highly recommended for those who are interested in the topic:

http://tet.rkk.hu/index.php/TeT/article/view/1213/2422

Since tourism is an extremely prosperous area, the research into consumer behaviour is also an interesting topic for researchers to investigate.  Service providers in tourism attempt to use the results of psychological research to make their businesses more competitive. (R. R. Perdue, H. J. P. Immermans, M. Uysal, 2004). In psychological research the most common and most useful topics include studies of the individual as service user, his or her perceptions, observations, motivation, emotions, and learning. These are the factors through which the response to the question of ’Why do I want to travel?’ is given. 

As so many other things in life, tourism is also a learnt process; it is influenced by environmental factors and is also regulated by contemporary trends and fashion. The travellers’ immediate environment, that is their families and circle of friends (these are important as primary areas for socialization), as well as the ever-present media play an outstanding role in people’s relationship to tourism. At last but not least it would be interesting to look at why many people are even willing to run into debts to be able to travel.  Can travel be a kind of addiction? Many people would answer ’yes’ to this question.

In the specialized literature describing the process of the psychology of tourism, several notions are detailed including pre-decisional attitudes, emotions, information processing, decision making, implementation, satisfaction and social interactions. 

Sports tourism is also worth noting, since the motivation for participation is an extremely complex issue depending on the fact whether the sports tourist is part of events tourism  as a supportor or onlooker, or he or she is an actual participant of the sports event itself (e.g. a Marathon runner, or a skier). There are cases when the two previously mentioned roles are combined. These investigations may offer very exciting results from the point of view of personality psychology, social psychology, organizational psychology, health psychology and cultural psychology. The aim of this introductory chapter was to give a brief insight into the topic and call the readers’ attention to the increasingly significant role tourism plays within psychological science.