A review of gay and lesbian parented families’ travel motivations and destination choices: gaps in research and future directions

Abstract

Academic tourism research is traditionally concerned with individual decisions and fails to address the viewpoint of the family unit. Indeed, while family tourism remains unexplored, lesbian and gay parented family tourism is further overlooked, with little attention in tourism research given to families whose configurations do not fit the heteronormative model, namely the ‘mother-father-children’ trinomial. This paper critically reviews the literature on the topics that offer insight into same-sex parented family tourism and identifies gaps in knowledge in four different areas: travel motivations, destination choice, family decision-making, and strategies used by lesbians and gay men to manage sexuality in public spaces. The paper ends with recommendations designed to progress theoretical and empirical research.