Female Traveller Research Articles

Some artistic descriptions and ethical dilemmas in Shan Shili’s travel notes on Italy (1909)

In this paper I will analyze what were the emotions that Rome, and its artistic heritage, excited in a Chinese traveller’s eyes and heart—rationally and unconsciously—at the beginning of the twentieth century. This paper will focus on the analysis of some pages of the Guiqian ji (归潜记), written by Shan Shili, the wife of the Ministry of China in Rome from July 1908 to November 1909. Unlike Chinese travellers of the previous period, she, during her sojourn in Rome, was more fascinated by art and culture than by scientific and technological marvels. This ‘unknown territory’—art, history, mythology, in brief, the historical and cultural European past—unknown to her, but also to the Chinese at that time, attracted her curiosity insomuch as to use artistic descriptions as means of cultural dialogue between her own culture and the other’s culture. But what did the discovery of a different artistic expression provoke in a Chinese traveller? Did she appreciate these forms of art? Did they go along with her artistic and cultural tastes? The analysis of some explanations of artistic works (paintings and sculptures), offered by Shan to her readers, and the reading of emotions and feelings which these works presented to her—esteem, repulsion, admiration or disapproval—allow us to draw a brief cultural dialogue between a Chinese female traveller and the other (Italian), at the end of the Qing empire.

‘One Can Only Guess What Might Have Happened if the Worker Had Not Intervened in Time': the Liverpool Vigilance Association, moral vulnerability and Irish girls in early- to mid-twentieth-century Liverpool

In early- and mid-twentieth century Britain, members of the Liverpool Vigilance Association (LVA) unofficially policed those who entered Liverpool's port and railway stations. The organisation feared that Irish female newcomers in particular lacked the social wherewithal necessary to maintain their perceived purity within a city such as Liverpool. Whilst the supposed innocence of Irish women was a respectable quality, the LVA believed it also made them vulnerable to exploitation. Consequently the young, Irish, female traveller was central to Liverpudlian social purists' notions of urban moral danger and their belief in the importance of preventative patrol work.

The girlfriend getaway market: Segmenting accommodation and service preferences

The main objective of this paper is to segment the accommodation and service preferences of females who participate in girlfriend getaways (GGA). A sample of 540 female travelers revealed five distinct clusters of preferences based on the importance scores assigned to hotel attributes. The clusters are then profiled on their performance scores on hotel attributes and demographic characteristics. The results indicate that the GGA market is heterogeneous in its accommodation and service preferences but homogeneous in its demographic characteristics. Accommodation suppliers and marketers must recognize the growing importance and profitability of this segment of the female traveler market. Implications for product development, targeting and positioning strategies, and service enhancements for this market are suggested.

A Study of Preferences of Business Female Travelers on the Selection of Accommodation

Female business traveler has become one of the major markets for the hotel industry. Hotels have put an enormous amount of efforts in improving the hotel services to meet the needs of these growing markets. However, a fast growing sub-segment of the market — business female traveler — has not been receiving special attention on their preferences of product needs. This study, surveyed 150 female working adults in Malaysia, to determine that solo business female travelers tend to be younger, unmarried and engage in personal leisure activities. According to the survey, safety and location are the main concern areas when selecting a hotel. It is concluded that female business traveler requirements must be accommodated if hotels establishment with to attract this growing market. Based on a survey carried out by the travel industry in America in 2005, a total of 43 percent of American business travelers’ are female. In addition, a study on conducted by New York University identified the female business traveler as a ‘baby boomer’ with a college degree, who earns over $75,000 per year (Fields, 2006). Travel marketers and researcher have become aware of the potential of the female business traveler have begun addressing this segment. Female labor in Malaysia currently leading at 45.7 percent in the country total labor force; where there is a strong need to focus on this consumer groups (Ninth Malaysia Plan, 2006).

Femininity, Fame, Faith and Philosophy: Sophie Cottin’s 1806 Voyage to Italy

This essay examines the case of a lesser-known nineteenth-century female traveler: the French Romantic woman writer Sophie Cottin (1770-1807), who spent the last few months of 1806 traveling through Italy with a convalescing relative and writing letters home sharing her impressions. These letters have scholarly significance not only because they predate nineteenth-century French women's travel narratives examined elsewhere, but also because they offer insight into various other “journeys” Cottin completed during the final year of her life: reconciling the domesticity ideals of Jean-Jacques Rousseau she espoused with her work as a novelist (femininity versus fame) as well as weighing the influence of religion and ideology in her life (faith versus philosophy).

Fever, diarrhoea and buttock pain in a 15-year-old female traveller (discussion and diagnosis).

Fever, diarrhoea and buttock pain in a 15-year-old female traveller (discussion and diagnosis).

Romance tourism or female sex tourism?

Love, sex and the female traveller: romance tourism or female sex tourism? The phenomenon of women travelling in search of relationships with local men in developing countries has been studied for the last 20 years. However, it appears little known in travel medicine. Relevant literature was found through PubMed, Science Direct, ProQuest and Google Scholar. The reference lists of selected articles identified further sources. Historical records of women travellers to far-away countries abound. Then, as now, women not only searched for the erotic 'other' but made romance and sex the purpose of their trip. Today, increasing numbers of women travel to destinations in developing countries where sex with local men is the main attraction. This pastime raises concerns not only for the women themselves but for the local men involved as well as their sex partners and the local communities. Although more research is necessary, comparing the criteria that describe men travelling for sex and relationships and women travelling for sex and relationships appears to suggest that there is very little difference between the two, regardless of what the pursuit is called. Women looking for sex with local men are sex tourists, too. Recognition of this fact needs to influence the pre and post travel care of female travellers.

A case of human babesiosis in Denmark

We report the first human case of Babesia microti infection imported to Denmark from the United States by a 64 year old female traveller with fever of unknown origin. The case raises the possibility that Babesia-infections may be under-diagnosed, illustrates the importance of a thorough travel history and discusses important diagnostic pitfalls.

Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon's Travel Letters: performative identity-formation in epistolary narratives

Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon was a mid-nineteenth-century feminist, philanthropist and painter. This article examines Bodichon the female traveller as a way of discussing the process of identity-formation in letter-writing. It proposes reading letters through the lens of Judith Butler's theory of gender (1990). Following her concept of performativity, letter-writing is conceived as a performative act of identity-formation. The article argues that, conditioned by the addressee she wrote to, Bodichon gave written expression to her subjectivity in her travel letters via her epistolary persona. This autobiographical gesture acted as one means through which she constituted her identity as a female traveller. In turn, drawing on Butler's notion of subversive repetition, the article concludes that the resulting multiple epistolary ‘I's Bodichon developed in accordance with each of her addressees permitted her to venture into her subjectivity as a female traveller—ultimately prompting her epistolary challenge of normative codes.

Eosinophilic meningitis caused by infection of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in a traveler

A 55-year-old female traveler returning from South China with acute onset of meningitis, presenting with eosinophilic pleocytosis in the cerebrospinal fluid was reported. The etiological diagnosis of angiostrongyliasis was confirmed by detection of specific serum antibody against Angiostrongylus cantonensis. Angiostrongyliasis should be considered as a major differential diagnosis for eosinophilic meningitis in the travelers to endemic regions.

From The Court of Mexico

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsCountess Paula KollonitzCountess Kollonitz's account repeats many of the tropes of foreign travel to Mexico: the bumpy voyage on stagecoach from the port city of Veracruz to Mexico City; the amazing first sight of the Valley of Mexico from across Río Frío; the first encounter with Aztec ceremonial sites and architecture. As a female traveler, her anecdote of “sal si puedes” on muddy Mexican roads lends a touch of humor to an otherwise even-tempered account, while her rendition of the royal party's entry into Mexico City and their lodgings at Chapultepec Castle provides a unique eye-witness perspective. Her view of Mexico City from above evokes Alexander von Humboldt as master text of European travel writing, yet adding her own sensation of the sublime

Mobilités spatiales des commerçantes africaines : une voie vers l'émancipation ?

Based on fieldwork conducted in Marseille, Dubai, Hong-Kong, and Guangzhou, the purpose is to shed light on the figure of the African female shopkeeper, migrant or traveller, to bring some answers about the bonds woven between spatial mobility and feminine emancipation. Do these long-distance female storekeepers foresee the possibility of evading or rejecting some family, marital or statutory constraints and of winning both in economic and personal autonomy through distancing themselves from their society of origin, or do they see it as a detour today necessary to consolidate the family fortune as a whole ?

Irritant bullous contact dermatitis caused by a rove beetle: An illustrated clinical course

A 26-year-old Australian female traveller in Sierra Leone presented with an irritant bullous contact dermatitis consistent with paederus dermatitis. The lesions were treated with a potent topical corticosteroid with good effect. The affected area resolved in 6 weeks and hyperpigmention persisted for months until complete resolution. This dermatitis occurs when beetles of the genus Paederus (rove beetles) are crushed on the skin, releasing pederin. The same dermatitis ensues with Australian Paederus species. Serial clinical photographs are presented which will aid Australian dermatologists in the diagnosis of this dermatitis, which presents in regional Australian patients and returned overseas travellers.

Gender and Culture in the Turkish Province: The Observations of a Russian Woman Traveler (1868)

This article examines Maria F. Karlova's relatively unknown travelogue about her visit to Ottoman Macedonia and Albania in 1868. She was a sister of the prominent Slavist scholar and diplomat Alexander F. Gil'ferding and traveled with him. She appears to be the only known Russian female traveler to publish a travelogue about the Ottoman Balkans until the late 1870s. Karlova constructs her gender identity through elite lenses against three principal backdrops: the Turkish province, Europe, and Russia. She offers an example of how gender and class can be inserted into discourses about Russian identity and Russia's place in Europe's symbolic map of modernity. She also introduces gender issues into debates about Russia's political interests and Slavophile views about the Balkans. This article argues that Karlova asserts her sense of belonging to European elite culture in order to raise the issue of women's emancipation. The travelogue provides insights into the process of gender construction in Russia. The intertwined themes of gender, class, and national identity are compared to contemporaneous Victorian women's travelogues.

Fatal dengue hemorrhagic fever imported into Germany

Dengue virus (DENV) is an arthropod-borne virus (family Flaviviridae) causing dengue fever or dengue hemorrhagic fever. Here, we report the first fatal DENV infection imported into Germany. A female traveler was hospitalized with fever and abdominal pain after returning from Ecuador. Due to a suspected acute acalculous cholecystitis, cholecystectomy was performed. After cholecystectomy, severe spontaneous bleeding from the abdominal wound occurred and the patient died. Postmortem analysis of transudate and tissue demonstrated a DENV secondary infection of the patient and a gallbladder wall thickening (GBWT) due to an extensive edema.

Ladies on the Loose: Contemporary Female Travel as a "Promiscuous" Excursion

This paper maps gendered trouble spots in contemporary works of female travel. Since travel itself is a metaphor for the slippage or displacement of cultural knowledge, there is need for closer and more complex readings of the female practice. This paper locates the contemporary female traveller on ground and on page, and flags some of the cultural myths and misconceptions that affect how she moves through the world. When women travel, they inscribe themselves across landscapes that have been previously overlooked, openly discarded and largely unexamined. In doing so, they travel intricate courses due to historical connections between wandering and promiscuity and continuing confusions between issues of mobility and morality in the modern world. Taking gender then as its interpretative parameter, this paper explores the troublesome nature of women’s travel, citing various texts as examples.

The New Strategic Imperative: Understanding the Female Business Traveler

This paper explores the characteristics, needs, and behaviors of women who travel on business and analyzes the data for potential segmentation. The study focuses exclusively on the female business traveler. The sample consists of 235 female business travelers from a variety of industries. The statistical methods include correlation analyses, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. The findings show that 6 factors explain 60.4% of the variance in characteristics, behaviors and needs of female business travelers. Cluster analysis further identifies 3 clusters: the Connective, the Empowered, and the Productive. The results show that there are three distinct types of women who travel on business. Strategies are suggested for organizations to use the findings to respond to female business travelers.

Suffering Saints or Ladies Errant?? Women Who Travel for Love in Renaissance Prose Fiction

Women who travel in Renaissance prose fiction contend with contemporary assumptions that they ‘err’. They usually travel for love, and often cross-dress, acquiring an intense moral ambiguity. Female pages, in particular, abase themselves like medieval saints while simultaneously asserting a transgressive sexual autonomy. Meanwhile the duplicity of the disguised female traveller is often underlined by the introduction of an oppositely-sexed double. The travelling woman is at once disruptive to the world of romance, and essential to it in her flexibility of identity and gender, her narrative generativity, and her moral ambiguity.

Unusual Location of an Inoculation Lesion in a Traveler with African Tick‐Bite Fever Returning from South Africa

African tick-bite fever is a common tick-borne rickettsiosis in sub-Saharan Africa. It is an acute febrile illness associated with one (or more) inoculation eschar, an inconstant eruption, and local lymphadenopathies. We describe the first case of mucosal inoculation lesion on the vulva in a female traveler returning from South Africa.

Historical Places of the Colonial Period through the Eyes of a Female Traveler

This paper aims to reveal the meaning and significance of Hwa-Seong Park’s two trip essays, “Geuripdeon yet teoreul chaja” (Visiting Longed-for Ancient Remains) and “Haeseogihaeng” (A Writing of Travel to Haeseo). With development of tourism industry in modern times of Korean history, many people started to go on a trip for sightseeing purposes. However, they were mostly men. During the Japanese colonial period, it was very rare that Korean women made a trip with personal reasons. The author describes the true aspect of Korean women as a traveler in modern age in her two trip essays. In this paper, her perspective on the women she met at tourist destinations as a tourist has been investigated. In particular, her trip was closely related with the cultural site trip which was boomed during the 1930s as one of the most common types of trip in Korea. The colonized people’s trip to historical sites during the colonial period can be very paradoxical because their consciousness may not be matched with the reality unwittingly. From this perspective, this paper has thoroughly examined the paradox of the trip to historical sites during the colonial period through news articles, trip essays and school trip essays. And then this paper has tried to discover the meaning of her trip essays by analyzing the historical space during the Japanese colonial period.