- Title
- VFR travellers: How long are they staying?
- Creator
- Backer, Elisa
- Date
- 2010
- Type
- Text; Conference paper
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/65051
- Identifier
- vital:3971
- Abstract
- Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travellers is a substantial segment of tourism in many destinations around the world. However, relative to its size, research has been lacking; commencing only around twenty years ago, and gaining momentum only this century. Research into VFR traveller profiles and characteristics has been limited, and some of what has been done conflicts with other findings. One such component, which is important for destinations, is length of stay. Whilst some of the research has indicated that VFR travel is associated with long length of stay, other research indicates that it is more linked with shortbreak tourism. This research has considered this concept, for VFR travellers compared with non-VFR travellers at three contrasting destinations in Australia. Based on quantitative research using probability sampling, VFR travellers were compared to non-VFR travellers at the popular tourism destination, Sunshine Coast (south-eastern Queensland); the northern Queensland destination of Townsville; and the inland Victorian destination of Ballarat. Whilst the average length of stay varied between all three destinations, relative to non-VFR travellers, there was no significant difference between VFR and non-VFR travellers. Therefore, VFR travel was not found to be associated with either short or long stay at the three destinations considered. However, length of stay was greater, the more popular the destination is with tourists. As such, VFR travellers stay at more attractive destinations longer than at less attractive destinations, but not at any significantly different level to non- VFRs
- Publisher
- AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand
- Relation
- New Zealand Tourism and Hospitality Research Conference 2010: Adding value through research p. 494-507
- Rights
- Open Access
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- VFR,; Visiting friends and relatives; Length of stay
- Full Text
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