Abstract
Experiences with travel and tourism can often be described as relational tourism because of the interpersonal and familial context in which these activities occur. There are two very general approaches to understanding relational tourism, one involving a life cycle orientation and the other focused on family interaction and transaction. Five elements of the relational tourism life cycle are described, beginning with formal organization opportunities and ending with over-the-horizon planning. Individual and family experiences are presented within each element. Then three primary ways of viewing family dynamics are presented, including social exchange, symbolic interaction, and family systems perspectives. The combination of these life cycle and family dynamics approaches provide a more informed method for understanding the quality of family life as it relates to relational tourism.
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Mancini, J.A., George, D.V., Jorgensen, B.L. (2012). Relational Tourism: Observations on Families and Travel. In: Uysal, M., Perdue, R., Sirgy, M. (eds) Handbook of Tourism and Quality-of-Life Research. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2288-0_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2288-0_18
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