Young Travellers Research Articles

Understanding the Role of Serendipity and Savoring on Travelers’ Life Satisfa

This study challenges the top-down theory’s view that travel does not lead to sustained increases in life satisfaction. The impact of travel experience factors on life satisfaction before, during, and after travel was longitudinally evaluated among 252 young travelers (aged 20‐30 years). The survey results showed that expectations before the trip, serendipity during the trip, and savoring after the trip affected life satisfaction directly or indirectly. In particular, the influence of savoring after travel on life satisfaction was much higher than that associated with travel satisfaction. In addition, the effect of travel satisfaction on savoring was nonsignificant, while that of serendipity was significant. Thus, beyond travel satisfaction, serendipity and savoring offer alternative paths to amplify life satisfaction derived from travel experiences.

BEYOND EARTH: THE CHALLENGES OF PEDIATRIC PHYSIOLOGY AND GROWTH IN SPACE

As humanity expands the horizons of space exploration, understanding how microgravity and cosmic radiation affect the growth and development of children becomes paramount. Childrens physiology is distinct from adults, requiring tailored medical research and interventions for space environments. This paper examines the physiological challenges pediatricians will face in space, focusing on bone density, muscle growth, cardiovascular regulation, immune response, and radiation exposure. We emphasize the need for further research to develop countermeasures that ensure the health of young space travelers.

Effect of Studying Abroad on Catch-Up Vaccination in Young Adults: A Study Using the Japan Pretravel Consultation Registry1

PurposeTo investigate the effect of studying abroad on catch-up vaccination coverage for measles, rubella, mumps, varicella, and tetanus during the pretravel consultation among young adult travelers. MethodsThis retrospective cohort study analyzed data from the Japan Pretravel Consultation Registry (J-PRECOR) on individuals aged 18–21 years with childhood vaccination records. Propensity score weighting was used to estimate the average treatment effect on the proportion of participants receiving catch-up vaccination. ResultsAmong 1,091 eligible participants, the catch-up vaccination need was highest for mumps (65.7%) and varicella (49.0%) and lowest for measles (9.9%) and rubella (14.0%). In the unadjusted analysis, the catch-up vaccination rate was 70.6% for tetanus, 50.9% for measles, 47.7% for rubella, 40.0% for mumps, and 23.9% for varicella. In the weighted analysis, the study-abroad group had significantly higher catch-up vaccination rates for measles (54.6% vs. 29.8%, P = 0.039), rubella (53.0% vs. 22.1%, P < 0.001), and varicella (26.8% vs. 10.9%, P = 0.002), whereas the non-study-abroad group had a higher catch-up vaccination rate for tetanus (62.4% vs. 78.4%, P = 0.024). ConclusionCompared with other travelers, the catch-up vaccination rate among travelers studying abroad was higher for measles, rubella, and varicella, but lower for tetanus. In clients planning to study abroad, vaccinations required for travel should be recommended in addition to those required by the host institution, and vaccination against highly infectious diseases with potential for complications, such as measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella, should be recommended to clients traveling for reasons other than studying abroad.

Motivational Factors Influencing Young Travelers Decision-Making on Airbnb Accommodation

The purpose of this study is to the motivational influences on young travellers’ decision-making regarding Airbnb accommodation. The increasing trends of Airbnb among young people highlighted the trends of this type of accommodation. This study used a correlational design study using purposive sampling among the young generation that has experience at Airbnb accommodations. A quantitative research method using online surveys and a total of 339 questionnaires are analyzed in this study using Pearson correlation analysis. The findings reveal that price value, home benefit, and local authenticity are significant factors influencing young travelers’ decisions. Correlation and relative importance index analysis were employed to examine the relationships between these factors and their relative importance in motivating young travelers to choose Airbnb accommodations. Understanding these motivational factors has crucial implications for the hospitality industry, enabling Airbnb hosts to tailor their offerings and institutions to comprehend young travelers’ accommodation choices for study trips or exchanges. This research sheds light on diverse motivational influences guiding young travelers’ decisions regarding Airbnb, contributing to the growth of this market segment and ensuring young travelers’ satisfaction.

Understanding sustainable tourist behaviours of Vietnamese visitors in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Abstract Sustainable tourism is an important goal within the global sustainable development framework. In sustainable tourism, tourists are expected to behave in an environmentally friendly manner and respect the local culture and economy. However, the level of sustainable behaviour among tourists varies across different regions and countries. This study aims to understand the sustainable tourism behaviour of Vietnamese tourists visiting Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It focuses on (1) the sustainable behaviour of tourists, (2) the correlation between access to sustainable tourism information and sustainable behaviour, as well as participant characteristics and the behaviour; and (3) initial suggestions for promoting changes towards sustainable behaviour among tourists. The study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were collected through direct questionnaires from 240 tourists visiting Ho Chi Minh City. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 47 participants. The results indicate three common groups of behaviour related to sustainable tourism during travel: saving electricity and water, choosing public transportation, and food-related behaviour. Specifically, the study found a correlation between access to sustainable tourism information and sustainable behaviour, including the choice of transportation (sig = 0.040) and food-related behaviour (sig = 0.006). Surprisingly, the study did not find a correlation between access to sustainable tourism information and behaviour related to conserving electricity and water at destination accommodations. The findings also revealed that well-educated young Vietnamese travellers (aged 18-35) earning high salaries, living in urban areas, and currently employed by international companies have a better understanding of sustainability, leading to increased sustainable practices within the tourism industry. Finally, the study suggests that strategies should shift towards changing behaviour related to saving electricity and water through improvements in hotel infrastructure and management practices rather than focusing solely on engaging sustainable tourist behaviour through providing sustainable information.

Gen Zers' Behaviour Towards Sustainability in a Mature Coastal Destination

ABSTRACTThis study provides insights into the attitudes, knowledge, behaviour and commitment of Gen Z tourists toward sustainability. The research was conducted on 1188 participants in the Western Costa del Sol (Andalusia, Spain), a well‐established coastal destination. The study also estimated, through a chi‐squared test and the Mann–Whitney U model, the premium price that Gen Z tourists are willing to pay for visiting a more sustainable destination. The results indicate that Gen Z has a good understanding and a high level of commitment towards sustainable tourism. However, only 10% of Gen Z tourists were willing to pay more for a sustainable destination. The study analyses the reasons behind this finding. Finally, the research suggests recommendations for understanding the consumption behaviours and practises of young travellers.

중국 Z세대 여성 개별관광객의 특성

The impact of COVID-19 has led to shifts in the tourism patterns of Chinese visitors to Jeju. Traditional group tours, commonly associated with package tourism, are rapidly giving way to individual or small-group tourism involving solo travelers, friends, or families. Notably, there is a relatively higher proportion of young female tourists compared to males. This study aims to comprehensively grasp the tourism preferences and behaviors of individual female tourists from China's Generation Z through extensive Indepth interviews. The goal is to draw implications for Jeju's tourism infrastructure to adapt to the increasing demand from Chinese individual young female travelers. Participants in the study are individual female tourists in their twenties from China, and their psychological and behavioral characteristics related to tourism preferences are thoroughly analyzed. The subjects of the in-depth interviews were individual Chinese female tourists in their twenties. The study meticulously described their psychological characteristics and behavioural traits related to tourism demand. It is hoped that the results of this research will serve as useful foundational data for developing marketing strategies aimed at attracting more individual Chinese female tourists to Jeju Island in the future.

Analyzing Young Adult Travelers’ Perception and Impacts of Carpooling on Traffic Sustainability

Since young adults (i.e., aged between 18 and 30) are generally more flexible and conscious of economic and environmental concerns, it is essential to assess their travel perceptions and tendency to shift towards sustainable transportation modes. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the acceptance of carpooling (CP) in the younger population to alleviate traffic congestion, fuel demand, and pollution. This study was conducted in Islamabad, a fast-growing city in Pakistan with a high percentage of young residents, to evaluate travelers’ perceptions, mode choice decisions, and potential acceptance of CP. An online questionnaire-based survey was developed and distributed to collect a total of 656 responses from the young adult population. Various factors influencing travel perceptions, mode choice, and tendency to carpool were categorized and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, stepwise, and mediated multiple regression analysis. Thereafter, the tangible impacts of CP, including reduced traffic congestion, fuel consumption, and emissions resulting from the potential adoption of CP by the younger population, were quantified. The findings imply that young travelers’ mode choice mediates the relationship between travelers’ perception and the tendency to carpool. The outcomes also affirm the impact of demographic variables, including gender and education levels, on the willingness of the young adult population to shift towards carpooling. Furthermore, results predicted that adopting CP, especially by younger adults, may reduce by about 33.6% the number of private vehicles in Islamabad. The findings of this study could offer helpful insights for transport planners, commercial carpool service operators, environmentalists, and policymakers to promote carpool systems, especially among young adults.

Motivations and Expectations of Selected Young Professional Filipino Travelers: A Phenomenological Study Towards Marketing Strategy for Domestic Leisure Travel

Motivations and Expectations of Selected Young Professional Filipino Travelers: A Phenomenological Study Towards Marketing Strategy for Domestic Leisure Travel

YOUTH TOURISM AS AN INNOVATIVE METHOD OF ATTRACTING TOURISTS

In an era, full of challenges for the tourism industry, tourism for young people is a very important market segment, being a resource for change and innovation. Young travelers increased level in decades since they first began to travel and the populations of countries that are developing. These trips are often made of raw relatively wealthy youth. Nowadays the sphere of youth tourism seems to be a very promising and relevant type of tourism, which includes a variety of directions and forms that contribute to the implementation of tourist services.

DETERMINANTS OF CONSUMER’ PREFERENCES FOR ROBOT SERVICE HOTEL: AN EXPERIMENT AMONG VIETNAMESE YOUNG TRAVELLERS

The study intends to determine prominent antecedents of Vietnamese young travelers’ intentions to book robot service hotels during and after the health pandemic. The study aims to leverage the context to uncover the guests’ preferences toward a secure option when a health crisis is salient. A quantitative research method was employed to collect qualified data. The extended TAM theory was employed to develop research hypotheses. SPSS and AMOS version 24 were used to analyze data and confirm the research hypotheses. The study found that guests’ booking intention toward robot service hotels during the health pandemic played a mediation role in linking the influence of social distancing concerns, subjective threat norms, perceived trust, and consumer cosmopolitanism on their intentions after the health pandemic. The study provides a valuable understanding of the determinants of Vietnamese young travelers’ preferences for robot-service hotels. Moreover, the study highlights the significance of situation in deciding guests’ intentions, and thus it is strongly recommended that practitioners take context into consideration when sharpening their strategies.

‘I’d Like to See an Italian Film or TV Series in Which a Girl Moves Abroad’: Italian Girlhood and Nomadic Experiences

ABSTRACT This article explores the portrayal of contemporary Italian girlhood in the context of Italian media studies. It critically examines the emergence of a new media depiction of Italian high-school girls in the role of exchange students abroad. Given the widespread prevalence of this trend, which has received limited academic attention, the representations of these young travellers are examined across different media, offering insights into their dynamic agency as cultural intermediaries within Italian society. The inquiry draws from data from the AHRC research project A Girls’ Eye View. It analyses excerpts from project interviews and social media in order to shed light on the emergence of nomadic Italian girlhood as portrayed in TV series and on the TikTok platform. By exploring Italian girls’ nomadic aspirations, the study provides valuable insights into the dynamic relationship between travel, education, and the impact of social media on their lives.

“I am not unsustainable; I am on holiday!” moral disengagement and the holiday mindset of young travellers during a cruise

Tourists often fail to follow through with their sustainable behaviour intentions. This lack of compliance can only truly be explored by observing their actions when immersed in the context of a vacation. A holistic case study was conducted by monitoring a group of young consumers on a cruise. Five quantitative and qualitative methods (i.e. baggage audit, participant observation, photo elicitation, diary and introspection) have been employed to collect rich and diverse data on young tourists’ behaviours. This allowed to complement behavioural measures with young tourist lived experiences, overcoming the limitations of self-reported measures. The findings suggest that young tourists do not always behave sustainably while on a cruise, and they morally disengage from such behaviours to deal with those choices. Eleven macro-categories of (un)sustainable behaviours have been observed and identified before, during and after the cruise. The findings also highlight the emergence of four coping mechanisms that allow young tourists to disengage from the unsustainable behaviour and overcome the discrepancy between their pro-environmental values and behaviours. Managers in the tourism industry need to find communication strategies that appeal to the sense of responsibility of a tourist even before the journey and highlight a hedonic dimension to sustainable behaviours.

Development of youth tourism in Kazakhstan: a conceptual approach to studying

The purpose of the study is to analyze the development of youth tourism, taking into account sociocultural and economic conditions, depending on the consumer behavior of young people based on a conceptual approach.Methodology. The study used interdisciplinary methodology, including analysis of existing literature, comparative analysis of world practice in youth tourism, methods of observation, analysis and comparison of data, conducting a survey among the youth of Kazakhstan.Originality / value of the study. The conceptual approach to the study of youth tourism in Kazakhstan can be important for understanding trends in the tourism industry, for the development of new products and services to meet the needs of youth, contributing to the economic and social development of the country. The analysis of youth tourism represents an important contribution to the study of youth tourism in Kazakhstan and can be useful for developing a strategy for the development of youth tourism.Findings. The study identified the main directions of youth tourism in Kazakhstan, identified the features of consumer behavior of young people in the conditions of adaptation to the world practice of the national environment. The results of the study represent a valuable contribution to the understanding of youth tourism and can serve as the basis for developing a conceptual model for the development of youth tourism in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Practical recommendations can improve the mechanisms for the development of youth tourism, create favorable conditions and increase attractiveness for young travelers.

The Moderating Role of Risk Perception in the Relationships Between Motivation, Attitude, and Involvement in Adventure Activities: A Study from Young Vietnamese Travelers

ABSTRACT This study examines the moderating role of risk perception in the relationships between motivation, attitude, and involvement in adventure activities among young Vietnamese travelers. Drawing upon the SDT and using a sample of 618 participants, the research employs structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses. The findings confirm that the motivation positively influenced the youth’s attitude toward adventure tourism. The attitude of youth toward adventure tourism was found to impact involvement in adventure activities. Moreover, the study reveals that the attitude of youth toward adventure tourism mediates the relationship between motivation for adventure tourism and involvement in adventure tourism activities. Furthermore, risk perception moderates the relationships between motivation in adventure tourism and involvement, as well as between the attitude of youth toward adventure tourism and involvement. These findings contribute to understanding the factors influencing adventure tourism engagement among young Vietnamese travelers.

Exploring the Generation Z Travel Trends and Behavior

Abstract Tourism represents one of the sectors with the highest growth, and the upward trend of evolution implies the anticipation and adaptation to the changes in travel behavior. Currently, young travelers represent an important segment of the global tourism market. Generation Z decision-making processes are influenced both by the specific characteristics of the generation and by their travel habits. The travel motivations of the first generation born in the age of technology include socializing, acquiring unique experiences along with eco-friendly vacation options. During a trip, Generation Z visits museums, attends cultural or sports events and documents their choices by following travel influencers or social media posts. In these conditions, the paper aims to analyze the characteristics of the generation Z travel behavior and their perception of the future of travel. To achieve this objective, there will be a theoretical approach of generation Z coupled with secondary data analyses that will highlight the way young travelers organize their vacation.

Will Ecotourists Pay Premium Prices? An Explanatory Study on Motivations, Ecotourism Intention and Willingness to Pay Premium for Ecotourism

Purpose: Recent literature emphasizes that there is an ambiguity on ecotourism consumption as actual environmentally friendly behaviors deviate from the intentions. Further, it is identified that ecotourism offerings are higher in price and discourage consumption. Hence, this study examined ecotourism consumer behaviors focusing on motivation, ecotourism intention, and willingness to pay premium for ecotourism. It also aims to investigate the mediating effect of ecotourism intention between motivations and willingness to pay premium.&#x0D; Design/methodology/approach: The study undertook a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional design. Self-administrated questionnaires (online) were distributed employing purposive sampling technique to young domestic travelers who had purchased green travel products in the last six months in Sri Lanka. A total of 212 responses were analyzed by PLS-SEM approach using SmartPLS 4.0 software.&#x0D; Findings: The findings revealed that intrinsic motivation significantly influenced the willingness to pay premium whereas the impact of extrinsic motivation on willingness to pay premium was insignificant. Additionally, this study proved that ecotourism intention partially mediated the relationship between intrinsic motivation and willingness to pay premium while ecotourism intention fully mediated the relationship between extrinsic motivation and willingness to pay premium.&#x0D; Originality: This research contributes to extending knowledge of tourism consumer behaviour in the context of ecotourism. Moreover, this study examined how an individual is motivated towards ecotourism consumption and their willingness to pay premium for such consumptions. Thus, the present study integrates the actual behavior, willingness to pay premium to further explain the self-determination theory. Thus, it empirically contributes to broadening the understanding of comprehensive ecotourism consumer behaviour that has been paid little attention.&#x0D; Implications: The findings offer important practical implications for ecotourism providers, marketers, policymakers, and other decision-makers for planning and developing ecotourism offerings, effective marketing and promotion to encourage and ensure sustainable tourism consumption.&#x0D; Keywords: Ecotourism, Ecotourism Intention, Extrinsic Motivation, Intrinsic Motivation, Willingness to Pay Premium

Strengthening information-seeking behavior toward international destinations among young travelers in Vietnam after the pandemic

Strengthening information-seeking behavior toward international destinations among young travelers in Vietnam after the pandemic

Exploring the travel behavioral differences for the elderly mobility on public transit

ABSTRACT Developing an integrated transportation system has required strategies to improve mobility in public transportation networks. This study aims to construct a route choice model incorporating heterogeneous travel behaviors and suggest policy improvements considering travel behavioral characteristics for the elderly in transportation planning. A stated preference survey has been established to explore the travel behaviors on public transit. The behavioral differences of elderly travelers are compared with young adult travelers by the parameters of travel time attributes. Travel time multipliers are developed to compare the time impedance for the travels on public transit using the concept of willingness to pay. Travelers are reluctant to increase the transfer time for all types, resulting in multipliers ranging from 1.91 to 2.11. The results provide the implications of transport policy for the elderly considering a convenient transfer on the integrated transit system in an aging society.

Triggers for feelings of insecurity and perceptions of safety in relation to public transport; the experiences of young and active travellers

ABSTRACT A key aspect of an attractive and accessible public transport system is that passengers feel safe and secure, not least from a travel chain perspective. The aim of this paper is to provide an increased understanding of triggers for feelings of insecurity and perceptions of safety in relation to public transport, with a special focus on larger public transport nodes in the city of Malmö, Sweden. The study draws on a map-based online survey (public participatory GIS) which was designed to allow people to contribute their experiences and reflections. An online survey was distributed through social media, and the collected data is of both a quantitative and a qualitative nature. The sample consists of 290 students and workers between the ages of 21–35 who frequently use public transport. The findings show that one in ten respondents have often to very often avoided public transport because of feelings of insecurity. Thematic analysis revealed a variety of triggers, covering aspects from the physical dimension to the social dimension. Some examples include the design of bus stops, the surrounding traffic environment, and other people. The presence of guards and the police force seems to increase the feelings of insecurity for some, while the opposite was true for other respondents. The findings emphasize the importance of further research to illuminate different parts of a journey at a micro level, i.e. from the person-environment relationship, as well as to further highlight the issue of who transit environments are planned and designed for.