Tourist roles, perceived risk and international tourism

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Abstract

International tourists can be classified according to the degree of novelty and familiarity sought. This study investigated the hypothesis that tourists seeking familiarity would perceive higher levels of risk associated with international tourism than those seeking novelty. A random sample of US-born young adults was surveyed. Seven risk factors were identified: health, political instability, terrorism, strange food, cultural barriers, a nation’s political and religious dogma, and crime. Three-way ANOVAs revealed that women perceived a greater degree of risk regarding health and food. More experienced tourists downplayed the threat of terrorism. However, tourist role was the most significant variable, with familiarity seekers being the most risk adverse.

Résumé

Rôles des touristes, risques perçus et tourisme international. On peut classifier les touristes internationaux en fonction du degré de nouveauté et de familiarité qu’ils recherchent. La présente étude a exploré l’hypothèse que les touristes qui recherchent un environnement familier percevraient des risques plus élevés associés au toruisme international que les touristes qui recherchent la nouveauté. On a sondé un échantillon pris au hasard et composé de 290 jeunes adultes nés aux USA. Sept facteurs de risque ont été identifiés: santé, instabilité politique, terrorisme, nourriture inhabituelle, obstacles culturels, dogmes politiques et religieux du pays et crime. Un logiciel ANOVA à trois facteurs a révélé que les femmes perçoivent un plus haut degré de risque pour la santé et la nourriture. Les touristes plus expérimentés minimisaient la menace du terrorisme. Pourtant, le rôle du touriste était la variable la plus significative, et ceux qui cherchaient la familiarité étaient les plus opposés aux risques.

Section snippets

INTRODUCTION

Governments, travel agents, and the news media periodically issue warnings about the risks associated with international tourism. Tourists are urged to buy traveler’s checks, guidebooks, and bottled water, and to obtain vaccinations as precautions against such risks. Indeed, surveys consistently note that safety and security are important concerns among individuals vacationing abroad (Poon and Adams 2000). Yet despite the pervasiveness of these beliefs and practices in everyday culture, there

NOVELTY PREFERENCE AND RISK AVERSION

Novelty as an indicator of perceived risk and a constraint on tourism has received little attention from researchers. However, novelty as a motive has been a subject of investigation over the years. Crompton (1979) identified novelty as one of two pull factors affecting destination choice. He postulated that individuals who experience a state of disequilibrium may be motivated to take a vacation. Visiting a novel destination may be one way of restoring psychological balance. Wahlers and Etzel

CONCLUSION

Since this sample was composed of US-born university students, the generalizability of these findings is limited to similar populations. Following the literature, the sample was delimited by lifestage, socioeconomic status, and nationality. As such, this study contributes to a better understanding of the perceptions of risk associated with international tourism for young, largely middle class Americans. One avenue for future research would be to repeat this study with people at different stages

Andrew Lepp is a Doctoral student in the Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism, University of Florida (Gainesville FL 32611-8209, USA. Email <[email protected]>). His research interests include tourism and international development and nature-based tourism.

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    Andrew Lepp is a Doctoral student in the Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism, University of Florida (Gainesville FL 32611-8209, USA. Email <[email protected]>). His research interests include tourism and international development and nature-based tourism.

    Heather Gibson is Associate Professor in the same department. Her research interests include gender and life span issues related to leisure and tourism.

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