A dream vacation typology

Abstract

A six‐fold typology of ideal trips was developed in this study by listening to the voices of residents of Southeast Queensland, Australia, who identified what they felt a dream vacation encompassed. The study represents one of the first of its kind to explore this phenomenon from the tourists' perspective. The typology encompassed 16 styles of holiday. The six types included destination‐exclusive holidays, personal growth, exploration, escape, hedonism and attraction or activity specific holidays. The study concludes that more empirical research into this phenomenon is desired before comprehensive theory development can occur, for existing theories and models used to study ideal holidays tend to be fragmented and often contradictory.