Explore Travelling Constraints People Face Tourism Essay

Various number of research studies explore travelling constraints people face. In contrast to motivations that push people towards travelling, the overshadowing constraints of traveling could prevent the travelers from engaging in travel although the motivation may perhaps exist (Page and Hall, 2003).

Financial Considerations

In 2007(DSS, 2008), it was presumed that the income of an individual has a relationship with the number of foreign trips made by him/her yearly. Key findings (DSS, 2005) discovered that the household income of an individual is a critical factor that influences the choice of travelers while deciding the amount of money he/she would spend in travelling for each trip. A study in consumer behavior revealed that people of higher income are likely to explore more for products/services information (Andereck and Caldwell, 1994; Runyon and Stewart, 1987; Robertson, Zielinski and Ward, 1984; Newman, 1977). Heung and Chu (2000) found that tourists with lower income are more concerned about the pricing in comparison to tourists with higher income. In Zhang et al. (2004)’s research also stated that respondents with higher income considered travel cost less significant than the lower income groups.

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Travel expenditure patterns play a fundamental role for travel planners and destination marketers (Jang et al., 2004). The rise in international tourism expenditure had reached 5.6% (adjusted for exchange rate fluctuations and inflation) in 2007, (WTO, 2008). WTO stated that almost 80 countries received more than USD1 million from international tourism in 2007. Hong et al. (2005) revealed that monetary factors specify a notable positive correlation between income and travel spending. Nicolau and Mas (2006), suggest that at the time of selecting a destination for travelling, the motivations of a tourist pacify the effect of prices. A particular group of people is reluctant to pay more for costly places where family or friend dwells, however they are keen to pay to explore new places. According to Nicolau and Mas (2006), travelers who are opting for culture are commonly more willing to pay higher prices, while those looking for climate are less eager.

Whilst the majority of travelers spend consciously, there appears to be a tendency of people choosing a destination which offers better exchange rate so more could be spend while paying less. Dwyer, Forsyth and Rao (2002) recommended that price competitiveness is a general concept covering price discrepancies coupled with exchange rate movements and qualitative factors that have an effect on the attractiveness of a destination. The exchange rate movements have largely been altered by the structure of price within respective countries, which has resulted in either an increase or drop in price in travelling segment. In addition, their study discovered that countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Turkey took the advantage from the devaluation of their respective currencies which were compensated by the increases in the consumer prices in these countries. Whereas, Zhang et al. (2009) concluded that other factors remained constant, the chief motivation for a traveler would be the decline in currency of the domestic market. For example, the higher the US dollar to Thai baht, the more probability of tourists to choose Thailand as their destination as tourists’ expenditures could be a lot lesser than USA or Europe countries.

Distance and Time

According to Nicolau and Mas (2006), the significant influence of distance on traveler’s motivations is balanced out at the time of deciding the destination to travel. The research carried out in Spain concluded that the traveler has a preference for shorter distances and is not inclined towards extended and time-consuming journeys. Nonetheless, travelers favor longer trips if they are visiting their family or friend or exploring new places. While some of the likely causes of short distance travelling could be lack of time availability or economic constraints.

Zhang et al. (1999)’s study revealed that people with higher income have a tendency to opt for longer journeys, however the correlation is not linear and the higher the tourists’ perceive their incomes the longer will be the travelling distance.

Safety, Security and Visa Issues

Mansfeld and Pizam (2006) suggest that travelers may possibly have safety and security concerns because of issues such as war, civil unrest, terrorism, disease, crime (specifically theft), catastrophes caused by human or technical error, natural disasters, and dangerous wildlife. Beirman (2003) stated that the key determinant in travelers’ choices to go visit a destination is the perception of safety and security.

Researchers say that episodes like the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, SARS in March 2003, Tsunami in December 2004 and Swine Flu influenza in April 2009 had tremendously damaged and threatened the travel and tourism industry. Regarding this, Dickman (2003) pointed out that the lack of confidence in an individual could be one of the possible reasons that they are expected to respond strongly on negative conditions like epidemics, disasters and terrorism.

Pakistan faced the most prominent plummet in visa issuance for USA after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre. In 2002, the number of tourist and immigrant visas issued to Pakistani citizens fell approximately 70 percent and 40 percent respectively, in comparison to 2001. International tourism to America chopped down for nearly three years following 2001 incident. The total number of Americans who traveled internationally also decreased past 9/11, the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries reports (Jason and Dalia, 2011).

Even though travel surveys time after time discover that safety and security are vital concerns among travelers (Poon and Adams, 2000), the latest research conducted by Valencia and Crouch (2008) testing travelers’ response to risk uncovered that 33% of the surveyed respondents would go ahead as planned regardless; 21% would decide to ‘relocate’ to another safer destination and 19% would delay their trip. On the contrary with a natural disaster, 36% preferred to reschedule their trip and 19% chose to go to a safer destination and 15% would go ahead with their trips as planned. Likewise, the results in Rittichainuwat and Chakraborty (2009) carried out in Thailand, also discovered that a mean of 2.89 respondents were not put off entirely (by travel risks or epidemics but would decide to visit another safer destination (mean=3.56). Moreover, PATA and Visa (2008) study proved that out of 52% of travelers whose travel plan has been affected by the economic crisis, 75% would switch to less costly destinations and 31% would delay their trips. In the survey by Zhang et al.(2004), Hong Kong natives identified epidemics as a main aspect while travelling, followed by safety, disaster, good value for money, political and social environments.

Pakistanis face the visa restrictions when travel to USA. There is also a lot of abhorrence for USA in Pakistani society because of the losses of their lives during war on terror (Shahnaz, 2012)

Edgell (1994) specifies that outbound tourists are commonly affected by different governmental policies and restrictions of various countries. Particularly rules regarding the imposition of restrictions such as limited visa grants, exit visa requirements, limited access to foreign currency and restricted allowances for foreign travel services are widespread.

Socio-demographic constraints

Researchers suggest that socio cultural, demographic and economic features like nature of society i.e. patriarchal or matriarchal, age, family life cycle stage, influence of family, education, profession, economic position and self-concept also influence decision making in travelling.

Constraints in travelling choices are principally linked to gender, life cycle and cultural factors (Jackson, 1991; Shaw, 1994). Factors like family, work, domestic responsibilities, determine the quantity and quality of time accessible for traveling and act as constrictions for some individuals. Although constraining features affect both genders, the extent to which either gender is affected is poles apart. The limitations operate on females more than on males (Sonia, 2011).

Apostolopoulos and Sonmez (2001) propose that despite the fact that women’s travel patterns and trends reflect their individual societal customs and principles, cultural or religious limitations in regards to their societal positions and socio economic restrictions are expected to decide their travel capabilities and methods (Bartos, 1982; Myers and Moncreif, 1978; Schul and Crompton, 1983; Van Raaij & Francken, 1984).

In accordance with tourism decision making research DeCrop (2005) has explained the family as a Decision Making Unit (DMU) in which fundamental decisions of life are discussed. When it comes to travelling decisions, in addition to family, close social circles e.g. friends etc. possibly signify significant DMUs as well. The value of family and the influence of each family member are crucial in deciding the liberty that one associate exercises in making independent decisions. The findings, however, point out that females are by and large more controlled by family responsibilities and approvals than males.

It is evident that lesser the limitations operating on an individual the more will be the participation in traveling (Sonia, 2011).