PP: Micro, Macro, and Meso levels for Understanding Tourism Flow and Behavior

Class Objective

• Explore different approaches to analyzing tourism

• Understand mechanics for looking at tourism behavior

• Why is tourism growing

Analyzing tourists

• We have been predominantly focusing on the tourism product experience, marketing etc

• Let’s get back to understanding tourists

• There are three general levels for analyzing tourists. What are they?

  • Macro

  • Micro

  • Meso

In general

• Macro level analysis deals in the large picture stuff

• Micro level is more concerned with the behavior of individual tourists

• And finally, meso or mid level. This one is interesting?

Macro Level Analysis

• Macro level is concerned with large processes, patterns and flow in tourism

• What is one thing we can say for sure about tourism patterns and flow?

• it is unequally distributed

• For a long time, primarily focused on Europe and maybe the Americans

• What would you say about the current state of flow?

Stability and Inertia

• An interesting idea that helps us to better understand tourism flow

• What is the concept?

• Stability highlights that once a large scale flow pattern begins, it generally remains stable

• Inertia is the concept that as something begins moving, it will pick up speed - apply this tourism flow and patterns

Stability and Inertia Factors

• Distance (has many meanings)

• information (do people know about the place they are going)

• historical connectivity (ex, Japan and Chine had a politically negative history connection.)

• Other forms of connectivity

• Destination factors

• Competition

• Intervening Opportunities

• Destination image

• national cultural trails

Distance… More complicated than we think

• Distance is not just a physical thing (though that is really important), but a whole bunch of other stuff.

• Physical distance (duh)

• Distance (time)

• This is the most basic and easy way to think about distance

cultural distance (language barrier)

The Less Apparent Forms of Distance

• Distance as a function of economy

• Gravity/Distance

• Network Distance

• Cognitive Distance

• Social Distance

• Cultural Distance

March 11 Tohoku Earthquake

• 9.0 on the richer scale

• Among the strongest recorded earthquakes ever

• Almost 20,000 killed, 6,242 injured and 2,000 missing

• Estimated that $14.5 - 34.6 billion in damage occurred

• Fukushima Nuclear planet experienced major damage

• Inbound tourism dropped immediately by 72% compared to 2010

• Arrivals for the entire year dropped by almost 28%

• Image impact

The Micro Level

• Concerned with a smaller scale analysis of tourism

• Focuses on behaviors, motivations, activities. Individual characteristics.

• An easy way to do this is by focusing on mass tourism and alternative tourism

• How would you describe these two forms of tourism?

Mass Tourism

• Primarily focused on large quantities of people undertaking tourism and tourism related behaviors

• Also, a focus on more packaged like qualities that we associate

• A variety of cliches we may have heard - herd like, lower quality, mass produced, etc.

• Creation of the a ‘tourism bubble’

• We should ask ourselves, are the impacts of this type of tourism any worse than other forms?

Alternative Tourism

• How does this approach differ from mass tourism?

• Claims to have a more respectful approach that support both the tourist and local hosts

• Smaller scale = less impacts

• Do you agree? Is alternative tourism less impactful?

Plog’s Tourism Typology

• There are many ways to define tourist behavior and motivation.

• Plog’s approach while older, still holds value and is well understood in industry

• There are three categories. What are they?

• Allocentric - venturer (very independent)

• Psychocentric - dedependable

• Mid - centric

Push and Pull Factors

• Exists in the micro level analysis of tourist motivations

• Motivations are the process through which a tourist is driven to act and behave in a specific way

• helps to explain how flows and patterns change among tourists

• Push Factors - what are these

• Winter break is on the horizon? What are your push factors? What destination(s) could pull you in? Why?

push factors (what factors pushing people to come to Japan?)→ foods, safety, english friendly

pull factor→

Meso-Level Analysis

• Not a middle way, but an approach that understands that a full appreciation of tourism flow and behavior must combine both sides

• There are many approaches that are meso-level, but one of the most popular currently is the use of generational research

Generations

• What is a generation?

• Why is generational research a strong approach to understanding tourism mobility, tourism flows, etc?

• What are the drawbacks of this approach?

The Life Course

• Works off the assumption that generations are not all that dissimilar

• Leaving home (people can go wherever they want without their family)

• Development of Career

• Family and children

• Promotion

• Divorce

• Retirement

• The End