Local impacts, global prospects : The future of VFR travel
- Authors: Backer, Elisa , King, Brian
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: VFR travel research : International perspectives p. 207-218
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- Reviewed:
- Description: Introduction - In this final chapter, the editors present readers with thoughts about the future of VFR travel, rather than summarise the various preceding chapters. This chapter synthesises the previous discussions about the profiles and characteristics of VFR travellers by considering prospective future trends and research opportunities. The future of VFR is apporached thematically and anticipates likely trends on the basis of examples drawn from the various settings that were explored in previous chapters. The link between VFR and events is introduced, in anticipation that this will be an important growth area. There is a brief discussion about citation trends as a means of understanding how research has been developing and will progress. The editors share some ideas about where VFR travel is heading and about industry and research opportunities. Though acknowledging that long-term speculations are possible, they note the statement by Abraham Lincoln that 'the best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time'. On the basis that the future of VFR begins today, the chapter adopts a short-to-medium-term outlook on the basis that this will be more meaningful for readers and for future scholarship about VFR travel.
VFR travel : Progressing towards greater recognition
- Authors: Backer, Elisa , King, Brian
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: VFR travel research : International perspectives p. 1-10
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Introduction - As a form of tourism, Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel is global in its reach and is recognised in academe and industry as being substantial in its scope. It may also be the oldest form of travel (Backer, 2011), with the first recognised VFR traveller being Celia Fiennes, who constructed travel schedules around visits to friends and relatives between 1685 -1712 (Leiper, 2004). Despite its size and long history, VFR has been largely overlooked by academics and practitioners. Whilst some academics have researched the field, VFR travel is considerably behind other spheres of tourism in terms of understanding and awareness.