The Reality of Encounters with Local Life in Other Cultures

Abstract

Equipped with mobile technologies, travelers increasingly seek opportunities to encounter the real lives of the people residing in the focal destination. With this trend of pursuing local life experience, this study investigated how international visitors recognize the lives of people in the focal destination, and whether this recognition is related to satisfaction. Reviews for Teheran's Grand Bazaar from an online review site, Tripadvisor, showed that visitors' local encounters were linked with favorable emotions (good, interesting, and worthwhile). To lend support to the contact hypothesis, which posits that intercultural experiences can lead to more favorable evaluations of the host community; the visitors who recognized direct and indirect encounters with local life indicated higher satisfaction. Even if brief, the experience of local life appeared to create more intimate feelings for the focal destination. Interestingly, the number of past travel experiences, which was captured by the number of reviews written by the reviewer, was found to have a negative association with satisfaction. We draw further implications for the travelers as well as the local community.

Overtourism: Between the Right to Travel and Residents’ Rights

“…Challenges for equal rights in the context of sustainable tourism and conflict between residents and tourists-Nowadays, more and more visitors visit residential areas. Kim [23] has noticed that this can increase real estate prices and has additional social costs. Furthermore, locals may feel annoyed at tourists suddenly arriving and partying in their quiet neighbourhood.…”

“…Thus, Kim's [33] study's findings reveal possible conflict between visitors and locals. Kim [23] discusses the importance of proper resolutions for this issue. Otherwise, the sustainability of the tourism model "living like a local" becomes questionable, despite the virtue of every society being hospitable to visitors.…”

“…Otherwise, the sustainability of the tourism model "living like a local" becomes questionable, despite the virtue of every society being hospitable to visitors. Kim [23] also notes that it becomes really challenging to deal with too many visitors who may trouble the locals' lives. They suggest that policy makers seriously consider how to reconcile the quality of life of both the locals and the tourists with local experiences.…”

Airbnb Experiences: Travelers’ Purchase Behavior and Word-of-Mouth

“…"Airbnb experiences" is a trend that offers to the travelers' engagement with the local culture and traditions that goes beyond sightseeing activities. Travelers search for a real encounter with the local ways of living and people at the destination (Kim 2018). Paulauskaite et al (2017), for example, found authenticity to be highly significant for Airbnb guests.…”

“…Travel trends have witnessed a huge transference, as more travelers grow weary of the traditional tourism product based on the sand, sun, and sea. Tourists are now more than ever interested in a tourism product that provides them an authentic experience based on interactions with the local people and their culture (Kim 2018; Tussyadiah and Pesonen 2016). To respond to this demand, travel companies have designed local tourism experience that allows travelers to immerse themselves in a destination’s culture and its way of life.…”