Perceived constraints to travel across the US‐Mexico border among American university students

Abstract

Received November 2006; Revised February 2007; Accepted February 2007 Keywords: borders; Mexico; United States; barriers; perceived constraints; student travel. INTRODUCTIONO ne of the most important traditional functions of international boundaries is to filter or impede the flow of people, products and ideas. While this is changing in many situations along with the process of globalisation (e.g. European Union), in most parts of the world it is not. Even at so-called 'friendly' borders, psychological constraints are so determined by the border itself that many people turn away from crossing borders for leisure and tourism purposes.Restrictions on leisure have received considerable academic attention in recent years, typically identifying constraints that keep people from participating in various activities (see Crawford and Godbey, 1987;Stodolska, 1998;Little, 2002). Constraints to travel have received much due attention in recent years as well (see Nyaupane et al., 2004;Kerstetter et al., 2005;Smith and Carmichael, 2005;Wilson and Little, 2005). According to Jackson (2000Jackson ( , 2005, although individuals have many limitations to everyday activities, human constraints in the context of leisure and travel can generally be reduced to three types: intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural. Intrapersonal constraints prevent people from participating in certain activities because of perceptions of self (e.g. low skill level). Interpersonal constraints involve relations with other people, such as not having anyone to travel with. The final type of constraint, structural, refers to barriers that lie outside one's psyche and reliance on others and include policy issues, lack of time or physical barriers.Regarding constraints, Timothy (2001) identified two broad categories of deterrents to travel created by international boundaries: perceived and real. Perceived barriers are created when different languages and cultures, political systems, and economies meet at borders. Such differences make many people reluctant to travel abroad. Real barriers, which also influence perceived barriers, are those created by strict crossing requirements, a defensive border infrastructure and official prohibitions. These, then, physically prevent people from travelling across boundaries, whereas perceived constraints are more likely to affect people psychologically, thereby keeping them from crossing. There are clear undertones of intrapersonal and interpersonal barriers associated with the perceived constraints of international boundaries, although both are grounded in the implications of the existence of border-related structural constraints. Although intrapersonal and interpersonal limitations clearly apply to international travel, the concern in this paper, that is, the USMexico border as a barrier to travel, focuses primarily on the structural constraints associated with the border itself and the act of crossing it. The Mexican towns and cities adjacent to the border have long been significant destinations for overnight tou...

Editorial: Tourism issues and international borders in the Nordic Region

“…Besides being attractions, the second way borders influence tourism is by acting as barriers to human mobility and to transfrontier tourism development (Canally & Timothy, 2007;Díaz-Sauceda, Palau-Saumell, Forgas-Coll, & Sánchez-García, 2015;Webster & Timothy, 2006). Adversarial relations between neighbors often result in the erection of physical barriers at national frontiers (e.g.…”

“…Likewise, socio-cultural, economic, political or environmental differences on the other side have been shown to dissuade many psychocentric people (see Plog, 1991) from traveling (Canally & Timothy, 2007). Leaving home for something exotic beyond one's comfort zone is not for everyone and for many people crossing international frontiers entails just that.…”

Image Management in a Touristic Destination: A Qualitative Approach Analysis of the Border City of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

“…This was strongly manifested in the urban landscape. This landscape, sometimes uncomfortable for visitors, as stated by Canally & Timothy (2007), on the Mexican border side of the territory is an awkward reality which must be attended to. Furthermore, this attention is required if the city wishes to be an attractive location for international visitors.…”

Granice polityczne a turystyka

“…Do tego C. Canally i D.J. Timothy (2007) dodają procedury graniczne oraz różnice społeczno-ekonomiczne. Zdaniem tych ostatnich autorów przeszkody te są niwelowane w zależności od wskaźnika określonego jako level of familiarity -zmniejsza się postrzeganie granicy jako bariery wraz ze wzrostem częstotliwości jej odwiedzania i/lub bliskością miejsca zamieszkania w stosunku do granicy.…”