Distance matters: the impact of physical and relative distance on pleasure tourists' length of stay in Barbados

Abstract

This paper argues that length of stay is a reflection of the distance between the origin and destination country. Past interpretations of distance premised on spatial aspects. This study extends the dimensional space of distance to include socio-psychological dimensions, climate distance and economic distance. Our empirical analysis utilizes airport data covering over 350,000 pleasure tourists to Barbados from 144 countries. The results suggest that the length of stay of pleasure tourists to Barbados increases with geographic distance, cultural distance and climatic distance, but is inversely related to economic distance. We find no evidence that long-distance relationships (captured by transnational and diasporic relationships) affect tourist length of stay. Implications of these findings are provided.

The influence of theocratic rule and political turmoil on tourists’ length of stay

“…This outcome is in line with most previous studies. According to (De Oliveira Santos et al, 2015; Jackman et al, 2020; Menezes et al, 2008; Paul and Rimmawi,1992; Rodríguez et al, 2018; Wang et al, 2012; Yang et al, 2011), tourists who live far away from their destination tend to stay longer to make up for the higher overall travel cost and time; in other words, they spread the journey’s fixed costs over a longer period). Moreover, this result is in accordance with the first law of geography that ‘everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things’ (Tobler, 1970).…”

“…Previous studies have been heterogeneous in scope (i.e., different geographic areas and tourist segments) and in their variables and methodology. For example, regarding the different geographical regions, we can find articles evaluating LOS in various destinations, such as Latin America (Barros et al, 2008), the Azores (Menezes et al, 2008), Madeira (Barros and Machado, 2010; Machado, 2010), Madagascar (Peypoch et al, 2012), Brazil (De Oliveira Santos et al, 2015), Santiago de Compostela (Rodríguez et al, 2018), Spain (Aguilar and Díaz, 2019) or Barbados, North America (Jackman et al, 2020).…”

“…In respect to the tourist segment researchers focus on low-cost tourism (Martínez-García and Raya, 2008), golf tourism (Barros et al, 2010), inbound tourism (De Oliveira Santos et al, 2015; Ferrer-Rosell et al, 2014), cultural tourism (Brida et al, 2013), senior tourism (Alén et al, 2014; Fleischer and Pizam, 2002), student tourism (Thrane, 2016), leisure tourism (Jackman et al, 2020), or international tourist (Aguilar and Díaz, 2019).…”

“…Alegre and Pou, 2006; Alegre et al, 2011; Gokovali et al, 2007; Thrane and Farstad 2012), geographic distance (e.g. Jackman et al, 2020; Yang et al, 2011), and size of travel party (e.g. Alegre and Pou, 2006; Correia et al, 2017; Gokovali et al, 2007; Salmasi et al, 2012); destination attributes, such as daily spending in destination (e.g.…”

“…The significance of LOS has recently become a central focus in tourism economics research. The steady growth of publications on this topic began in 2008 (Alegre et al, 2011; Ferrer-Rosell et al, 2014; Jackman et al, 2020; Martinez-Garcia and Raya, 2008; Peypoch et al, 2012; Rodríguez et al, 2018). The literature on tourist LOS suggests that various factors, such as tourist profile, trip characteristics, and destination attributes, can be influential (Gössling et al, 2018; Rodríguez et al, 2018).…”