Vacations and the Quality of Life: Patterns and Structures

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Abstract

The growing frequency of vacation travel in the developed world has ensured that tourism is seen as an essential element of the quality of life. A cross-comparative analysis of tourism consumption indicates substantial differences in tourism consumption and the structural position of vacations as a social right between nations. Higher levels of vacation entitlement and consumption in Europe can be linked to corporatist or social democratic welfare regimes that recognize tourism consumption as a social right. In the United States and Japan, however, more liberal welfare regimes are linked to lower vacation entitlements and greater inequalities in distribution of income and/or leisure time. The resulting differences in vacation time availability are reflected in time-intensive tourism consumption patterns in Europe, and money-intensive consumption patterns in the United States and Japan. With increasing liberalization, however, there are signs that these international differences are beginning to narrow.

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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