Defining the Tourist: Is It Possible? A View from the Convention and Visitors Bureau

Abstract

Defining a tourist is a difficult proposition, as shown by the use of dissimilar definitions in various books, articles, re search reports, and serials. This article investigated the defi nitions used by research managers at convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs). Distance traveled is used most often to identify the tourist, but the figure used to identify that same tourist fluctuates between 20 and 150 miles. The type of indi vidual from whom CVBs seek information also varies with the number of CVBs that contact these types and the fre quency of the contact. The significance of these data is that the individuals used to describe the tourist and measure tour ist behavior is inconsistent between the various CVBs.

The Effect of Length of Stay on Travelers' Perceived Satisfaction with Service Quality

“…The concept of length of stay is vital to the careful examination of many travel/tourism issues (Butler 1974;Masberg 1998). The importance of length of stay when studying many aspects of travel has been clearly established in prior research (see for example Uysal, Fesenmaier, and O'Leary 1994).…”

Tourists to Lhasa, Tibet: How Local Youth Classify, Understand and Respond to Different Types of Travelers

“…However, they revealed that a social group may have different meanings for different individuals. It is evident that there is no universally accepted definition for tourists (Masberg, 1998). Young hosts in this study understood tourists by fitting tourists into a structural position that makes senses to them.…”

Utilizing trade market analysis to identify the economic impact of a multiday special event in Miami Beach, Florida

“…The second method to distinguish locals from tourists is called distance traveled (see Table 1). According to various studies, tourists are often identified when they travel 50 miles or more oneway from their permanent residence to their destination (Hunt and Layne, 1991;Masberg, 1998;Yu et al, 2012). This definition has been applied to various studies, some measuring EI (Croes and Severt, 2007;McGrath et al, 2017).…”

“…Locals and tourists have been treated differently depending on the study. For instance, prior studies on tourism define a tourist as a person who travels a distance of 50-150 miles one-way to a destination, while a local is someone who travels less than 50-150 miles to the destination (Beckman et al, 2013;Chhabra, 2007;Leones et al, 1998;Masberg, 1998). One new alternative theory presented to identify locals and tourists is trade market analysis (TMA).…”