1. No category

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“The future for tourism
after the crisis: does
social tourism offer a
route to sustainability?”
Scott McCabe,
Deputy Director, Christel DeHaan Tourism
and Travel Research Institute, Nottingham
University Business School
scott.mccabe@nottingham.ac.uk
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ttri/
+
introduction

What is the prospect for tourism in the short term?

What is the role of tourism to individuals and society?

Social tourism definitions and actions?

The scope of social tourism in the UK?

The benefits of social tourism to the tourism economy?

Social tourism as sustainable tourism for the future ‘postmarket’ society?

Tourism and public policy debates?
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Economic crisis – what crisis?

2008 – international tourist arrivals 924m

2% growth for 2008 (but a -4% dip in 2009)

However North and West Europe is faring much worse than other regions (489m international
arrivals for 2008 represents zero growth on 2007)

Clearly the business travel sector is badly hit

People taking less holidays and travel trips

Cutting back on volumes and spending on holidays

Holidays remain an important feature of household budgets (consumers likely to trade down,
not out)

Cruise and all-inclusive sectors are doing reasonably well

‘Recession fatigue’ pushing holidaymakers to splash out

New trends – ‘staycations’, ‘enjoy every minute’, domestic travel, home-stay holidays, new
forms of sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives – ‘glamping’
+
But…

Trading conditions are very tight

Operators are cutting back on capacity

Small operators are badly hit

Firms are focusing on their segments/margins
+
Why is tourism important?

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including
reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic
holidays with pay” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1948: 24)

“Everyone has the right to leave any country, including
his own, and to return to his country” (Art 13 (2) Universal
Declaration of Human Rights 1948)
+
Manila declaration (1980) on world
tourism:
Tourism as a social policy concern

“For working people they (holidays) represent an essential
break, and for those who live in stressful and isolated
situations through old age, ill-health or family circumstances
they are recognised as having important medical and social
benefits…it is a reflection of our social policy that those who
are most in need of the benefits that a holiday can bring are
least able to take one.” (source: ETB/TUC 1976: 5)
+
Policy context UK

Three 'Breadline Britain' surveys that examined public
attitudes to poverty and social exclusion found that a key
activity which the majority of respondents
(representative of the whole population) believed was
that no one should be so poor as to be unable to afford a
week's holiday away from home each year (Gordon et al,
2000).

However, it is suggested here that the inability to
participate in tourism has been neglected in UK
government policies that are aimed at alleviating social
exclusion and that the concept of ‘Social Tourism’ has
achieved very little recognition in policy discourse in the
UK (Corlyon and La Placa 2005; Hazel, 2005).
Social policy and tourism?
 Despite
central place occupied by leisure and
recreation access as a social policy concern
over a long time (e.g. Cahill: 1994; Clarke and
Critcher: 1985; Glyptis: 1989; Gratton and
Taylor: 1987)
 ‘Holidays’ have
always occupied a ‘grey’ area
in social policy texts.
 Always
positioned as a component of leisure
provision, exclusion linked to immobility
(Cahill: 1994)
+
Holiday participation in the UK
 consistently
only 60% of UK population takes a holiday
(Roberts: 2004)
 In
2005-6, 3.8m children in the UK were living in income
poverty – a rise of 200 000 on the previous year (DWP:
2007)
 In
terms of material deprivation, the HBAI report utilises
the FRS data (since 2004). 55% of children living in the
lowest income quintile do not have access to a week’s
holiday each year compared to 3% in the top quintile
(DWP/HBAI report:2007: 14).
 The
poorest 10% spend an average £2.50 per week on
holidays compared with £68.70 per week by the richest
10% (Roberts, 2004a).
+
UK domestic trips by social
group
Social Economic
Grouping
millions)
Trips (millions)
Nights (millions)
Spend (£
AB
42.88
126.67
8010.05
C1
40.77
124.72
6618.23
C2
21.23
69.58
3425.3
DE UKTS: 2006 final results
21.42
Source:
79.11
2911.35
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Holidays are
not available
to all in society
– but
participation
may not be
linked only to
low incomes
but other
aspects of
material
deprivation
+
South West has a relatively low
proportion of people in low
incomes
+
Eurobarometer Survey on the attitudes
of Europeans towards Tourism – reflects
long term UK trends

Overall, in 2008, two-thirds of EU citizens (67%) made a private trip where they
spent at least one night away from home; 58% took a vacation, defined by a stay
somewhere away from home for at least four consecutive nights for private reasons.

Most citizens who did not take a holiday in 2008 said this was due a lack of the
necessary funds.

About 1 in 10 (11%), however, said they had serious financial problems that could
impact their holiday plans. There were only six Member States where a clear
majority who planned to take a holiday were confident they could afford to take a
holiday in 2009: Finland (69%), the Netherlands (66%), Sweden, Luxembourg,
Denmark (all 62%) and Austria (60%).

while almost half (46%) of the most-educated respondents – who had made short
private trips in 2008 – had made at least three such trips during 2008, only 30% of
the least-educated respondents had done so. Amongst the latter, 42% had made
one short trip and 24% had made two such trips (compared to 27% and 25%,
respectively of the former)
+
Shows the
effects of
economic
conditions on
the
accessibility
of tourism
+
16
But UK is relatively poor
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Who is affected by poverty and social exclusion?
 social
exclusion, material deprivation – social and
relational aspects of poverty.
 Families on low incomes
 Families living with a disabled member
 Single parent families
 Older people
 Children living in low income households
 Socially isolated people
 People with reduced mobility
+

27% of disabled children in the UK are living in poverty

It is 3 times more expensive to bring up a child who is
disabled

In the UK last year there were around 4m people
working on less than £7 per hour (the low pay
threshold), many were part time and the proportion of
women to men in the part time group was far higher

Low income = In 2007/08, 13½ million people in the UK
were living in households below the low-income
threshold. This is around a fifth (22%) of the population.

In the same period 4.0 million children were living in
low income households.
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Hazel (2005) suggests the following benefits for
both disadvantaged and socially excluded
individuals and families from holiday taking

relief from stressful or mundane situations and a break from routine;

mental health and well-being benefits;

the encouragement of social interaction;

the broadening of experience and widening of horizons;

the development of independence and;

the strengthening of family relationships.
Benefits of participation?
 health
benefits:
 extensive
survey by the English Tourism council
(ETC; 1999) into the health benefits of holidays
which revealed that 91% of General Practitioners
in the UK believe that a holiday can enhance
quality of life.
 It
also stated that 87% believed that a holiday
could help alleviate behavioural problems and
(childhood) stress-related illness in children.
(Lewis: 2001)
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What is social tourism?

Hunziker (cited in Minnaert et al 2009:316), describes Social
Tourism as ‘‘the relationships and phenomena in the field of
tourism resulting from participation in travel by economically
weak or otherwise disadvantaged elements in society’’

“all of the relationships and phenomena resulting from
participation in tourism, and in particular from the
participation of social strata with modest incomes. This
participation is made possible, or facilitated, by measures of
a well-defined social nature.” (BITS)
Beset with definitional problems

The term ‘social tourism’ is used mainly in France, Belgium and Italy.
The adjective ‘social’ has indeed different connotations in Englishspeaking countries. There ‘social tourism’ is often associated with
‘ecotourism’ or ‘volunteer tourism’. (Diekmann et al 2009)

A survey conducted among social workers in 2006 in the UK by the
Family Holiday Association showed that 68% of 273 respondents had
never heard the term ‘social tourism’; and a large majority was not
familiar with the continental system of holiday vouchers. (FHA
example used in Diekmann et al 2009)

Minnaert et al (2007) argue that there is a difference between visitor
and host-related definitions of social tourism encompassing a variety
of different initiatives, commercial and non-commercial, governmental
and private.
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Key issues

No general social tourism concept

Numerous definitions

Different social tourism systems and implementation schemes

Little research....
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Social tourism research

Limited

Often focuses on barriers to participation and benefits to specific
target groups

Charity sector has limited resources to undertake detailed
research

Charities often serve a particular group and so research is not
connected

Recent renewed interest
+
Attempt to tackle major research
categories: who does what?
social (and/or
health) issues and
policies
Supply aspects
environmental and Consumer side
sustainability
aspects
Richards 1998,
1999; HigginsDesboilles 2006
Hall & Brown,
1996;2006
Connell 2000;
Hazel 2005; Long,
McCabe and
Scullion 207;
Minnaert, Maitland
and Miller 2009
Mainly social
tourism
organisations
Ryan 2007
Smith and Hughes
1999; Hunter-Jones
2003, 2004; Shaw
and Coles 2004;
Lewis 2001;
Minnaert, Maitland
& Miller 2007;
McCabe 2009
+
However…

Very little consideration of non-participation

No knowledge of voluntary self-excluders

No macro-scale analyses of datasets of participation

Lack of dialogue with some key areas of social science
including social policy research
+
Social Tourism: some relevant
theoretical concepts



Economy

Supply and tourism employment,

seasonality,

economic impact of social tourism initiatives
Social issues

Social policy and social justice

Wellbeing and quality of life

Education and employment
environment

27
Sustainability and seasonality
+
issues

A need for much greater research on benefits, disparities of
participation

Great dialogue between tourism research and leisure, sport,
recreation and the social policy academic fields

Need to engage Government and local political as well as the
charity/voluntary sector in making the case for ‘social
tourism’
+
The organization of social tourism in the UK

29
We undertook a study (June 2009):
 650 organizations listed on a online charity directories
 88% selected ‘Registered charity’ as the current status of
their organisation and
 85% indicated that they are currently providing access to
short breaks/respite care/holidays for disadvantaged or
sick people.
 Other types of organisational status were hospice (5%),
local government initiatives, respite care, faith
organisations and individual support groups (2% each).
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How are they involved?




30
67% selected grant-giving for breaks and respite care
provision as their main type of support,
the remaining were subsidised or free accommodation
(21%),
provision of information and other services (9%) and
support in completing applications to organisations which
offer funding (3%).
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beneficiaries
+UK social
tourism providers
32

Mostly small charities

Main aim is to provide breaks/holidays

Dealing with small numbers of beneficiaries

Targeting specific groups

Have funding issues
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Different models of social tourism in
Europe
Specific
Accommodation
Facilities
Funding for
disadvantaged
people
Source: Diekmann et al 2008; and Diekmann and
McCabe forthcoming
Holiday
voucher
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Funding social tourism initiatives in the EU
Direct State funding
Working/Middle
class families
Unemployed
families
Seniors
Disabled
Youth
Germany
Germany
Spain
Germany
Germany
Poland
Belgium
France
Public Health care
Belgium
Worker Unions
France
Belgium
Romania
Charities
UK
UK
Source: Diekmann and McCabe forthcoming
UK
UK
UK
Who needs a holiday? Evaluating
social tourism (McCabe 2009)

Study undertaken with the ‘social tourism forum’ (3 major
charities)

Analysis of application forms and a follow-on survey and
focus groups

Aim was to develop better data collection to inform policy
and to understand the benefits of financial support for
holidaymaking
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The needs for and benefits of a
holiday
We need a holiday because…?

To escape difficult circumstances:

practical;

physical/environmental;

relational/social;

and health/individual.
The analysis revealed how applicants felt the
holiday would provide opportunities and
benefits, including:

to have fun;

to be normal;

to create memories;

to have a change of scene;

to relax for a change;

to experience new things;

as a reward for something.
+
 Follow
up
survey
results:
opportunity
for fun and
happy
memories
for the
children is
most
important
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Focus group findings

The chance to have fun/having fun together.

Chance to ‘get away’. Being active and experiencing new
things/places.

Freedom (from chores, routines, freedom of the mind).

Changed pace of life. ‘Unwind’, slow down, step back, live
differently.

Appreciate home more
+
Children’s perspectives

Activities and adventures

Having fun

Doing new things

Playing together (cousins and new friends)
Policy implications

in relation to current UK Government concerns on:

Citizenship,

Social inclusion and integration (cohesion)

Health and wellbeing,

Ageing,

Disability and mental health

poverty.
Clearly an important role for holidays
in policies on children and families

health and well-being particularly in relation to the treatment
of stress related illnesses and disorders but also in a range of
other potential treatments or holistic and alternative
therapies; in terms of children on

Education, child growth and development, skills development

social inclusion, life satisfaction. Quality of life

work and return to work policies.
Example: older people

Age Concern identify that the benefits of holidays to older
people can include:

confidence building,

socialising, and

providing a benefit for carers (who could accompany their
friends or relatives or decide to stay behind and have a
break from their caring role).
Ageing population exacerbates a problem
for older people
 half
of all pensioners do not meet minimum
income requirements to provide for a modest, but
above poverty level, lifestyle (including two 5 five
day holidays in the UK [not abroad], and no private
transport).
 This
figure is likely to rise even higher in future.
 Age
concern’s Director-General, Gordon Lishman,
said: “Our pensions system simply isn’t working.
Too many older people today are not reaching
decent incomes in retirement and the position for
future pensioners is uncertain”.
(Age Concern: Modest but Adequate: 2002)

National Benevolent Fund for the Aged (www.nbfa.org.uk)
identify:

“helping to combat the isolation and loneliness that older
people feel once the front door is shut. The holiday provides
an opportunity for socialising, having fun and making new
friends. The change of scene is rejuvenating and boosts self
confidence for people who are living on their own. The
benefits of the holiday continue long after the return home
with holidaymakers continuing to meet with new friends.”

There are also potential health benefits:

physical benefits brought about in a change to a favourable
climate or more perceived health benefits brought about by a
change in scenery etc.

do holidays help with the grieving process?

Role of Holidays in the National Dementia Strategy (2008),
570,000 UK sufferers, set to quadruple in 30 yrs time
Example: young people
 Holidays
can influence ‘life chances’ – i.e. impact
upon the future development of the individual
 Provide
opportunities for young people to learn
more about themselves and develop their
interpersonal skills in a fun and engaging
environment out of the context of the home
 The YHA
are long established and active providers
of opportunities for disadvantaged children e.g.
‘Community Spirit’ Breaks to combat community
cohesion issues (DCFS)
children
 Children
perhaps occupy a privileged
position in consideration;
 According
to a recent UNICEF report on child
wellbeing, the UK ranked lowest of all the OECD
countries.
 “The Children's Commissioner for England,
Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green, said: "We are
turning out a generation of young people who are
unhappy, unhealthy, engaging in risky behaviour,
who have poor relationships with their family and
their peers, who have low expectations and don't
feel safe.“” (BBC: 24/02/07)
Other groups
 New
economic migrants/established migrant
communities
 Ethnic
minority groups
 Disabled
people (currently 2.7m people on
incapacity benefits)
 Particularly
concerning is the rise in mental
health problems in society
 Not
simply an issue of poverty – but many
disadvantaged groups have combinations which
make participation more difficult: i.e. poverty + ?
50

But there are also wider implications than simply for
individuals and UK society, there is the impact on the tourism
industry itself and the wider EU economy/society
Sustainable tourism is social
tourism

In promoting access for groups for which going on holiday
has progressively become more difficult, social tourism
strengthens the tourism industry's revenue generation
potential. Social tourism aids mobility and enables off-season
tourism to be developed, particularly in regions where
tourism is highly seasonal. Accordingly, social tourism
encourages the creation of longer-lasting employment
opportunities in the tourism sector, in line with the Lisbon
Strategy, by making it possible to extend such jobs beyond
the respective peak season

(http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tourism/major_activities/so
cial_tourism/index_en.htm) June 2009
ANCV
2.5 million people purchase holiday
vouchers
A total of 7 million people accessed a
holiday per year as a result of the vouchers
135,000 outlets accept the holiday vouchers
Over 3 billion Euros put into French
domestic tourism industry
52
IMSERSO
Helps 700,000 old people access low season
holidays at the Spanish seaside at a cost of
EUR 75 million but results in additional
government revenues of EUR 125 million
8,000 direct jobs and an estimated 45,000
indirect jobs
PwC evaluation indicated that it had
recognised health benefits but had not
calculated savings to health service.
53
Study on the Competitiveness of
the EU tourism industry – Nov 2009

Action 4.3 - Support “tourism for all” at EU level: DG
Enterprise currently coordinates the Calypso action which
particularly aims at elaborating a mechanism enabling
particular target groups (senior citizens, young people and
families facing difficult social circumstances) to go on
holiday in another Member State, on the basis of themed
programmes and accommodation offers recommended by
public authorities (national, regional or local), possibly in the
low season. The rationale behind this initiative is to enhance
employment, reduce seasonality in tourist demand and
improve regional and local economies.
Calypso: prepatory actions and
outcomes

generate economic activity and growth across Europe (by facilitating the
development of European tourism programmes for target groups).

improve tourism seasonality patterns across Europe, particularly through the
social policy function of tourism (tourism growth patterns; encouraging economic
activity by target groups during the low season as a means to reduce unemployment
risks for tourism personnel; mitigating pressures on the physical infrastructure of
developed destinations by promoting tourism outside the peak months; assist in the
development of small emerging destinations in the context of regional development).

create more and better jobs in the tourism sector (respect for tourism sustainability
challenges; strengthening full-time employment prospects as opposed to seasonal parttime work; improving employment conditions by stressing the importance of a
qualitative work environment throughout the entire tourism supply chain).

increase the European citizenship (providing tangible opportunities to improve
mobility, self-fulfilment, socialising and active learning for families, youths and seniors).
(http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism/social-tourism/calypso/index_en.htm)
Discussion issues

Role of tourism participation in contemporary consumer
society?

Contribution of tourism to achieve personal and social
development?

Need for much greater research on social tourism?

Government role to provide stimulus to tourism industry?
Many thanks!
Any discussion questions