The tourist experience and bonding

Abstract

This paper sheds light on the gendered meanings of bonding within the tourist experience. Its basis is a survey of young male and female single students, which demonstrates how they value being with, doing and sharing a holiday with their friends. The findings suggest complex gender power relations within tourism. For instance, women significantly more than men need to be together with, talking to and sharing experiences with their friends, and they require more than men this company to feel safe during the day and night. Such gender distinctions are linked to how men and women enact friendships and gender differently and to the geography of women's travel fears, which proposes that women more than men develop mental maps which restrict public movements. This research also suggests that the need for the company of friends is not just about spatiality; singles of both sexes prefer to be with friends when eating out in the enclavic and in heterogeneous tourism spaces. This finding thus proposes that midlife single women's ambivalence towards eating out alone on city breaks and resort holidays is perhaps not so much about womanhood as their age.

Young tourists, gender and fear on holiday

“…By emphasising the dichotomy of they (men) and we (women), both Carla (27, Argentina) and Johanna (27, South Africa) reinforced the idea of gender as two separate and opposite categories, in which 'they/them' is used to indicate men and 'we/us' is used to indicate women. This seems to agree with a traditional feminist approach to gender (Heimtun & Abelsen, 2011;Stanko, 1987;Valentine, 1989), which mainly refers to men and women as two distinct groups.…”

Travel companions and activity preferences of nature-based tourists

“…parents who are senior citizens travel with young children) could present a challenge in coping with travel needs for all members. Heimtun and Abelsen (2012) revaluated the meanings of bonding on tourist experiences between young male and female students and found that females are more apt to express a stronger desire to be together and share experiences with their friends.…”

Power in tourism research: the tourist gaze as metonym

“…Other demographics that have appeared to be important in deconstructing the tourist gaze are gender and sexual orientation. The gaze of the women analysed in Heimtun and Abelsen (2012) is seen to be continuously oriented towards searching for ways to feel safe during the day and night during their travel activities; as well, sexual identity influenced the tourism motivations of some gay men studied in Casey (2009).…”