Vacations and the Quality of Life: Patterns and Structures
Section snippets
Vacations as a Psychological Need
A review of the literature dealing with vacations and particularly vacation choice and motivations indicates the extent to which variations have become an essential element of the social fabric in developed countries. The growth of leisure time has had a significant impact on modes of consumption and processes of identity formation, particularly because leisure is an area in which people can exercise choice over time allocation. Much leisure research has centered on the ways in which people
Vacations as a Social Right
The growing importance of vacations as an element of consumption and well-being can be gauged from the struggle that developed during the 20th century around the right to paid vacations. In the European case, the development of vacation rights falls into three general periods, along the broad lines described by Hessels (1973) in her study of vacations in the Netherlands.
The initial period leading up to the First World war was the era of “vacations as favor,” when the employers decided whether
Global Vacation Inequality
In spite of the long struggle to establish vacations as a social right, the ability to take vacations is still constrained by a variety of factors. Lack of time, money, work, and family structures may all limit people’s ability to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the tourism industry. The basic access to holidays is not equally distributed, either between or within nations. Those with little money, care commitments, or disabilities may find it difficult to participate. In her
Vacation Consumption Patterns and QOL
The varying position of vacations in the fabric of different socioeconomic systems should be reflected to a greater or lesser extent in the way in which vacations are consumed and experienced.
There is little doubt that vacations make a significant contribution to the QOL for many Americans—81% of those surveyed in a recent poll “feel better about life by the end of their vacation” (Hilton Hotels Corporation, 1995). Surveys also indicate an increasing desire among workers to trade monetary
Conclusions
In spite of the increasing spread of tourism consumption, vacations are still a contested element of social rights in many parts of the world. The “culture of tourism” identified by Urry (1990) is well ingrained in the corporatist and social democratic welfare regimes of Europe, but less firmly rooted in the liberal regimes of Japan and North America. Work is still the most important aspect of most people’s lives even in the developing world, in spite of shifts toward more leisurely lifestyles
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