From Nudism and Naturism Tourism to “Natourism”: Defining Natourism and Exploring Natourists? Motivations

Abstract

This article reviews previous attempts to define nudist and naturist tourism, and it elaborates detailed definitions through analyzing and discussing views of numerous natourist/nudist associations worldwide. Out of this process, the term “natourism” emerged, which includes the notion of “social nudity” as a main reason for traveling as well as a wide variety of ancillary stereotypical activities. As a term, “natourism” was tested after exploring the motivations of 1,508 natourists from all over the world. Although initially this study, through a literature review, identified three general motivation groups of natourism—namely, human motivations, motivations to travel, and nudism/naturism motivations—factor analysis made it possible to identify additional factors of natourists' motivations, which included Naturalism and Relaxation, Sexuality, Stereotypical Travel Motivations, and Personal and Family Motivations. Despite the limitations of the study, findings confirm the appropriateness of the term “natourism” to establish parameters for further research.

Exploring nudist festival attendance at a Mexican beach: a tourist motivation approach

“…Thus, studies that adopt a predetermined quantitative instrument may significantly deny informants the chance to express their subjectivities through their own constructs. To some extent, the present findings concur with the sociodemographic characteristics of natourists reported by Andriotis (2016). However, the current results reveal that nudists' sexual orientation and identitiesperhaps like individuals in many other social groupsare quite diverse and self-defined, so these characteristics need to be captured through emic approaches.…”

“…Last, rest and relaxation were also reported as motivations. However, unlike Andriotis's (2016) finding that the most significant motivation factors for natourists were naturism, relaxation and stereotypical ancillary travel motivations, relaxation while being able to stay nude was secondary to these tourists' need to socialise and be nude.…”

“…Tourism is a constantly changing phenomenon, so its conceptual bases always need to be developed further. Andriotis (2016) proposed the concept of natourism, which comprises travel in which motivations are naturism, relaxation and stereotypical ancillary travel motivations such as local cuisine, social interactions with locals, exploration and shopping opportunities. The present study corroborated that, for tourists attending a nudist festival, nudism, socialisation and relaxation are major intrinsic motivation factors.…”

“…One of this study's main objectives was to examine the nudist festival attendees' sociodemographic profiles. Unlike Andriotis's (2016) study, in which 90% of the sample were men, the present sample included an almost equal number of women and men: 11 women and 13 men. The sample was not purposefully stratified by gender, but the study sought to include both women and men's voices, especially because the proportional inclusion of women and men was considered necessary given that tourism and other social phenomena are experienced differently depending on individuals' gender (Kinnaird, Kothari, & Hall, 1994).…”

“…Within a tourism context, the cognitive and social constructs of nudism as motivation factors still remain largely unexplored. Based on a survey of 1,508 nudists belonging to naturist and/or nudist associations in different parts of the world, Andriotis's (2016) study is one of the fewalthough not the onlyto focus exclusively on nudists' motivations as these relate to tourism. The cited author found that the term nudism can be interpreted as both a social or recreational activity and a reflection of a lifestyle with ideological and philosophical roots (i.e.…”