‘Mass Tourism’ is an Out-dated Concept—A Misnomer?

Abstract

I agree with the author that ‘mass tourism’ is now an outdated concept and as currently used, no longer relevant to our understanding of tourism. ‘Mass tourism’ is essentially a ‘quantitative’ concept describing the very rapid growth in demand for international tourism trips. It was used, and subsequently abused, by many academic writers in the post-World War II period to describe the ‘characteristics’ of a particular travel group or phenomenon. The group in question were those travelling on the ‘package tour’ usually using the chartered aircraft as the preferred mode of travel. It was a term which indirectly described the democratization of international travel in post war Europe (this type of travel organization was never a feature of the United States’ market). As originally used, it was a positive term which reflected peoples’ recovery from war-ravaged Europe and their increasing economic status and determination to enjoy international travel as part of their leisure pursuits. In latter years, ‘mass tourists’ seem to have been categorized as representing all that is wrong with tourism; it has increasingly been used as a negative connotation. It is indisputable that the term ‘mass tourism’ lacks agreed definition, is subjective, and is a post-war relic. But as international tourism has grown over the last fifty years or so, so have the attempts to further classify tourist groups within the market as the author notes in referencing the works of Valene Smith (1977), Plog (1972) and Turner and Ash (1975). In Figure 1, the author further refers to the plethora of terms now used to describe various categories of tourists. These terms, unlike ‘mass tourism’ are not quantitative. They are used to categorize groups according to perceived behavioural characteristics. Whether this is a useful approach to market segmentation is debatable. If the term ‘mass tourism’ has any validity then it can only be based on its quantitative connotation which links directly to the concept of ‘carrying capacity’, another much debated term in the tourism literature. As the number of tourist arrivals increase there will be implication for, and impacts on, the destination area. It is from these impacts relating to social, cultural and environmental considerations that has spawned much of the negative literature on tourism. For example, a visitor arrival increase of say 40,000 tourists per annum would have limited impact on a city like London or the Balearic Islands. A similar increase in Bhutan, Seychelles or Uganda would be unsustainable. This example can be interpreted as developing a ‘critical mass’ of tourists (in relation to the available capacity of the infrastructure and tourist amenities). Most studies of tourism development options are demand-led. Analyses of market segments and the development of segmented market profiles (irrespective of terminology) are major initial steps in formulating plans. As the author notes, these tend to be done on a country basis, e.g., a German market profile, an Austrian profile. Almost no use is made of the generic descriptors such as New Age tourists, non-secular tourists, modern cultural tourists (what do these titles mean?). Market segmentation is done to permit demand projections and profiles to better ‘fit’ these to market characteristics. However, what is of fundamental importance in tourism planning is not whimsical descriptions of various tourism groups, but rather their ‘ability to pay’ for the services offered. There is no evidence that a hotelier would be concerned if his guest was described as an ‘elite’, ‘mass’ or ‘New Age’ tourist provided they could pay for the services offered. Over time, as a type of demand builds up, then this might induce a supply-led initiative to provide alternatives in the market (an example would be the growth in 3-star accommodation in India from the mid-80s onward.) However, this is a secondary development and in some ways can be regarded as a ‘trickle-down’ effect from the traditionally dominant 5-star market in that country.