Behavioural Approaches in Tourism Research

Tourism is in many ways an activity that is emblematic of the twenty-first century. It is also something that involves millions of people worldwide, creating major employment opportunities and having significant impacts, both positive and negative. It is important therefore that the behaviour of tourists be understood. Herein lies a challenge. On the face of it, "behaviour" seems an unproblematic term. In fact, intuitively, a term like "the behaviour of tourists" appears to have an obvious meaning. Reality is more complex and there exist many different ways in which behaviour can be studied. The field of tourism research therefore faces an intellectual challenge in teasing out the different behavioural approaches that can be adopted. This chapter looks at how this intellectual challenge can be met before examining two topics that are the focus of contemporary behavioural research in tourism studies and illustrative of the intellectual challenge.