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Anatolia: An International Journal of
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Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rana20 Understanding the influence of interpersonal relationships on identity and tourism travel
Julia F. Hibbert

a b

a

, Janet E. Dickinson & Susanna Curtin

a

a

School of Tourism, Bournemouth University , Fern Barrow, Poole ,
BH12 5BB , United Kingdom b School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University , Kalmar ,
Sweden
Published online: 25 Jan 2013.

To cite this article: Julia F. Hibbert , Janet E. Dickinson & Susanna Curtin (2013) Understanding the influence of interpersonal relationships on identity and tourism travel, Anatolia: An International
Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 24:1, 30-39, DOI: 10.1080/13032917.2012.762313
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Anatolia – An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 2013
Vol. 24, No. 1, 30–39, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2012.762313

Understanding the influence of interpersonal relationships on identity and tourism travel
Julia F. Hibberta,b*, Janet E. Dickinsona and Susanna Curtina a School of Tourism, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB, United Kingdom;
School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden

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b

(Received 20 June 2012; final version received 23 November 2012)
Travel plays a part in shaping the perception of self through experiences of other people and places. “Finding yourself” through travel has been widely discussed in the tourism literature; however, relatively little has been documented about how identity can influence an individual’s travel choices. This paper investigates the role of interpersonal relationships in shaping identity and influencing tourism mobility. To gain insight into identity, there must be an understanding of the narratives used to create and affirm identities. A narrative interview method was used with 22 participants. The findings demonstrate how interpersonal relationships shape the self and identity which can have an impact on a tourist’s travel behaviour. The analysis explores the role played by visiting friends and relatives and the impact on identity and travel. It also addresses how travel is used to enhance relationships through physical and emotional connectedness. This can lead to people undertaking travel they do not desire.
Keywords: tourism travel; interpersonal relationships; identity; tourist behaviour

Introduction
It is thought that identity issues lie at the heart of our desire for greater tourism travel
(Desforges, 2000). While it is widely accepted that travel can play a part in shaping the self
(e.g. Noy, 2004), less is understood about how the self can shape tourism travel. According to Anderson and Chen (2002), our “self” is dependent on the significant others (SOs) in our lives and is therefore, relational, i.e. it can change depending on the relationships with others. This would indicate that interpersonal relationships can and do shape the self. The aim of this paper is to enhance the understanding the role interpersonal relationships played in shaping identity and tourism mobility. It explores the way in which visiting friends and relatives (VFR) enables identity maintenance or creation. It will examine how holidays are used as a “stage” for acting out a family identity and strengthening relationships, and also investigate why some people undertake travel that they would be happy to forgo. The findings indicate that relationships and identity play a significant part in travel motivations, an area where there is a dearth of literature, opening the door for further research.
Literature review
Mobility, sociability and tourism
Urry (2000) argues that mobility is the defining factor of contemporary society. The interactions resulting from the possibility of movement produce the “development and

*Corresponding author. Email: jhibbert@bournemouth.ac.uk q 2013 Taylor & Francis

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cementation of friendships, social networks and local communities” (Pooley, Turnbull, &
Adams, 2005, p. 120). Accordingly, we assume that tourism travel helps to strengthen family relationships, both through the physical “connectedness” of being in the same place at the same time and also through a psychological connection. In addition, Pooley et al.
(2005) suggest that mobility can assist in the construction of personal identity, through an individual’s travel choices, in the same way that choice of clothing can aid identity (e.g.
Curtin, 2010).
Urry (2007) suggests that modern wide-reaching networks require occasional face-toface meetings in order to sustain the relationships within that network; however, elsewhere it is argued that communication technologies can maintain strong relationships without the need for physical proximity (Larsen, Urry, & Axhausen, 2006). On this basis, transport is seen as “a means to certain socially patterned activities and not the point of such activities”
(Urry, 2003, p. 156). Haldrup (2004), however, takes a different view by stating, “tourists’ movements in space are not incidental but ways of encountering landscapes and places through the deployment of various styles of movement”. In addition, Dickinson, Lumsden, and Robbins (2011) suggest that tourists’ travel represents a social opportunity, they provide an example of a mother who talks about using a long train journey in order to enjoy more time with her family, not just as the mode of transportation. Thus, it is assumed that physical mobility is not just about enjoying the place or mode of transport but also about the company that you are in.
Rickly-Boyd’s (2010) research undertaken at a tourist attraction in America indicated that for most visitors the outing was very much a family experience confirming the notion that “companions are one of the social benefits of tourism experiences” (p. 271). The importance of shared experiences within tourism can be noted through the theories of Urry
(1990) who refers to the “collective gaze” and Haldrup and Larsen (2003) who discuss the
“family gaze”. Trauer and Ryan (2005) thus argue that the holiday is not the purchase of
“place” but of “time” in which to create an intimacy with SO. Haldrup and Larsen (2003) argue that tourists’ photographs are about “producing social relations rather than consuming places” (p. 24), which would suggest that they view the actual setting of the holiday to be secondary and that family interaction is the most important thing to come from the holiday and photographs taken whilst on holiday. However, this is not the case; the destination acts as the “scene” for the family performance. They go on to propose that
“much family tourism is fuelled by the desire to find a home where families imagine themselves as being a real loving family; doing various mundane social activities together as a tightknit affectionate unit: going for hikes, playing games, barbequing and so on”
(Haldrup & Larsen, 2003, p. 26). These authors suggest the purpose of the holiday is not the search for “other” but an endeavour to make sense of their own relationships through the shared experience of the holiday. They believe that in modern society such negation is necessary because the values and institutions that once fused families are losing power; therefore, modern families require acts, such as holidays and the resulting narratives, to create meaning, constancy, and even love in their relationships. Larsen et al. (2006) suggest tourism is not just about experiencing the other but is about having the experience with a significant other: “families are most at home when away from home” (p. 45). These authors argue that holidays are a means of bringing families together; however there are other perspectives. For example, Rosenblatt and Russell (1975) propose that holidays are the perfect opportunity for conflict through increased proximity, change of routines, and the removal of agreed territories and boundaries, e.g. who sits where at the dinner table or choice of bedroom.

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Crompton (1979) produced one of the earliest studies indicating that holidays could be used as ways to demonstrate, refine, or modify identities. He found that holidays could be used as a way of strengthening family relations, as members were brought closer together.
This was, particularly, true when families had to take long car journeys together and were
“forced” in to close proximity with each other. Later research on tourism and identities has suggested that travel is used as a way of finding oneself (e.g. Noy, 2004). The approach used in this paper leans towards Crompton’s line of thought, i.e. the self is influencing travel. In contrast to Noy’s (2004) concept of finding oneself, we suggest that the “self” is already in existence and travel is a means of demonstrating, confirming, or at times avoiding that self. Similarly, Haldrup and Larsen (2003) “view tourism as a ‘cultural laboratory’ in which people derive pleasure from performing and narrating alternative identities and ways of being together in other places” (p. 24). This moves on from using tourism as a way of “finding yourself”, to tourism as a platform to display and create new identities, even if only for the duration of the holiday.
The self and SO
Psychology provides much insight into the study of identity. Finkel and Vohs (2006) state that research in to “self” and “relationships” has increased in recent times with a growing number of researchers stating that their area of interest is “self-in-relationships” and
“relational self”. Given the suggestion that identity issues lie at the heart of our desire for greater tourism travel (e.g. Desforges, 2000), it is pertinent to look at all aspects that may shape our identity and tourism travel. Historically, social psychology has been concerned with the effect of others on the self (Shah, 2006). The influence of SO (which could be family, family friends, work colleagues, or wider reference groups) is not just through their physical presence. It is thought that SO also have power through “psychological presence”
i.e. the ways in which we “mentally represent” them (Shah, 2006). Anderson and Chen
(2002) state that “the self is relational – often entangled – with SO and this has implications for self-definition, self-evaluation, self-regulation and most broadly for personality functioning, expressed in relation to others” (p. 619). They also suggest that that the self is essentially interpersonal, this is because it is possible to have many different selves, even during the course of one day, depending on the interpersonal enactments and experiences that we encounter. They propose that SO are those who have been deeply influential in a person’s life or people to whom someone has given a significant emotional investment. This definition is adopted for the purpose of this paper. According to Anderson and Chen (2002), a significant other may be able to influence the sense of self of an individual, which includes
“thoughts, feelings, motives, and self-regulatory strategies” (p. 619). Thus, other people drive our motives, set standards, and regulate our behaviour.
Methodology
Data presented in this paper are derived from a research project that focuses on the influence of personal identity on tourism travel. Narrative interviews were undertaken with 22 participants. A narrative approach was chosen for its ability to elicit the interviewee’s “understanding of the world, of who they are, and their position in it”
(Rickly-Boyd, 2010, p. 264). Holloway and Wheeler (2010) and Kraus (2006) suggest that narratives are fundamental to understanding identities. Kraus (2006) even goes as far as saying that “the telling is the ‘doing’ of identity” (p. 107). Wengraf (2001) provides a definition of a narrative interview used as the foundation for this research “[a]n interview

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design that focuses on the elicitation and provocation of storytelling, of narration . . . ”
(p. 111). Given these viewpoints, it is fair to suggest that using an interview method that elicits narratives is a sound way of gathering data regarding the identity of the interviewee.
The interviews took the form of a “travel life history” where participants were encouraged to talk about all the holidays they had been on throughout their life course.
This allowed for insight into the evolving travel patterns of the interviewees. It was possible to gain information about their identities through what they talked about and the manner in which they told their stories. A second, more structured interview was undertaken in order to probe more deeply and address some related questions on environmental issues not covered in this paper. Data presented in this paper come from both stages of the interview process. Participants were recruited through purposeful sampling, their profile can be seen in Table 1.
An interview protocol was at hand if interviewees struggled during the interview. This was designed to guide them through the interview in a chronological manner using the structure of childhood, teenage years/growing up, and adulthood. The interviews ended with some general questions such as “tell me about your best holiday” or “if you could go anywhere and do anything where would go and why”? The use of a protocol deviates away from a traditional narrative interview; however, Reissman (1993) and Bryman and Bell
(2011) recommend that novice researchers take this approach. Rickly-Boyd (2010) is another author who, while using a narrative approach, ended up producing more of a narrative exchange in the interview technique. The protocol had an extensive list of questions but these were only used on an ad hoc basis, and in many cases the interviewee covered the question before it was asked (Rubin & Rubin, 1995). A challenge of using the narrative interview is the reliance on the interviewee to talk openly and at length. In some cases, this was a problem but the protocol eased this. In addition, questions that began with
“tell me about” were useful in eliciting narratives, as were “why” and “how did that make
Table 1. Participant profile.
Name
Martin
Trisha
Penny
June
James
Stephanie
Jill
Claire
Heather
Paul
Susie
Mark
Katherine
Simon
Dennis
Stuart
Tom
Michael
Beth
Richard
Samantha
Reece

Gender

Age

Occupation

M
F
F
F
M
F
F
F
F
M
F
M
F
M
M
M
M
M
F
M
F
M

66
42
63
57
59
42
62
28
65
65
31
29
66
33
59
58
47
64
31
63
34
46

Retired RAF pilot
Hair salon owner
Retired teacher
Retired lecturer
Retired IT consultant
University admin assistant
Semi-retired teacher
Building surveyor
Retired teacher
Retired from IT
Unemployed teacher
Medical goods driver
Retired teacher
Journalist
Civil servant
Retired transport planner
Tourism bus owner
Retired schools inspector
Researcher
Environmental officer
Journalist/writer
Town transport planner

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you feel”? Using these types of questions also avoided leading the interviewee into giving a particular answer. Another significant challenge was that because the interviewees were allowed to talk freely, at times this led them to go at a tangent. In some cases, this could be dealt with by using the chronological order of the discussion. At other times, the interviewee was simply left to talk, as this gave insight into identities.
Interviews were recorded and transcribed, and data familiarization took place. Analysis was undertaken to identify themes and the way the narrative was presented. We were particularly concerned with not just what was said but how it was said. This is because insight can be gained by looking at how the narratives are constructed not just through the content. For example, the use of parenthetical phrases such as “to be honest” can indicate that what follows is a dispreferred answer (Edwards & Fasulo, 2006). Each participant’s narrative was analysed in its own right prior to cross-case analysis.

Results
VFR and possible influences on self
It was evident from the data collected during the interviews that many people had family and friends living abroad. This resulted in travel patterns being shaped by the desire to visit loved ones.
. . . his dad lived in Milan so we went to Italy and we went to Holland to see my aunt and we went to Spain to see my uncle, funny how it was always family . . . (Susie)

Susie demonstrates the significance that visiting friends and family have in shaping tourism travel. We live in an increasingly globalized world and people move to other locations for (amongst other things) work, education, leisure, and residence. This has resulted in increased global networks meaning, i.e. it is possible to have friends and family spread across thousands of miles (Axhausen, 2002). Hannam, Sheller, and Urry (2006) acknowledge that even when staying still it is possible to be part of a global network, as
“such multiple and intersecting mobilities seem to produce a more networked patterning of economic and social life, even for those who have not moved” (p. 2). Even with networks involving great distances, face-to-face contact has remained important for maintaining relationships and trust (Axhausen, 2002; Urry, 2003). Because of social networks being spread over large distances, Larsen, Urry, and Axhausen (2007) assert that “places are going to be physically travelled to for a long while yet” (p. 259). The significance of VFR in shaping tourism travel was evident from the interviews.
The notion of VFR-related travel has existed in tourism and mobility literature for a number of years now. Whilst the frequency of VFR travel is not a surprising finding, it would be pertinent to ask why this is such an important form of mobility. One explanation lies in identity-related factors. Penny demonstrates the importance of family and SO to her identity by referring to them constantly throughout both of her interviews and often answering from a “we” perspective. In addition, she also frequently refers to her family by name.
We would look now at further destinations, we would look now at Canada and maybe
Australia, who knows we might be going back there errrm just the fact that we can go where we like and whatever time of year we want to go . . . I think we’ve got to think about how much it costs as well and I think we’re just so lucky to be able to do deals that we’re not paying top price, yeah enjoying the freedom of being able to choose AND to go for as long as we like whereas we were always restricted before when we were teaching (emphasis added by author).

There are also instances where she gives an answer to the question from her husband’s perspective before she answers with her own opinion:

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Errmmm well living with a scientist for 32 years (laughs) I often get varying sort of ideas from my husband about whether he really thinks what they’re saying is true . . . Hubby surprisingly is not as worried but I really feel if we don’t look after the resources we have now you know I think it is important that we think about recycling if only for the future of younger people.

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One particular example of the strength of Penny’s family identity is demonstrated when she talks about her best holiday:
(Long pause) I really loved Disney with the family but my South African experience has to be the best . . . it was a very special time anyway, 25 years married and it really was just breathtaking. The whole experience . . . Everything we did was just magical . . . I suppose the second best was the time in Disney with the children . . . Umm, Disney because it was a family experience and that was magical with the girls and I wouldn’t have missed that . . .
That had to be my best one [the South Africa holiday]. Although I love the girls dearly it was that one.

Penny considers her South Africa holiday as her “best” one, but throughout that particularly lengthy narrative she kept referring back to another holiday with her daughters. The interviews show that Penny’s identity as a wife and a mother plays an important part in the make-up of who she is. VFR travel performs an important role in enabling Penny to maintain and reinforce this identity. It is not just her husband or her daughters who are important to Penny, she often talks about friends or other relations, indicating that relationships with others is of significance to her. Penny’s eldest daughter
Sally has travelled extensively and Penny shows a pride when talking about this. Sally’s travels and subsequent stories and photographs of her travel have opened Penny’s eyes and created a desire for travel. It is possible that Sally may emigrate in the future and this will play a part in Penny’s future tourism-related decisions: so yeah, Australia, if Sally and Kirk ever decide to go back . . . I would only go if they went back there, it’s not a destination I particularly want to see but obviously if they were there I would make the effort to go, because it is such a long way.

Claire uses VFR travel as a way of enabling her to undertake travel that she would not do without the security of friends or family in the destination. Undertaking this travel allows her to present an identity that she would not otherwise be able to show. She presents her trips as exotic, dangerous, and adventurous. However, a thread runs through her stories of seeking a “home away from home”, a place where she feels just as comfortable and safe as if she were at home. This indicates a need for security and safety. Claire often uses VFR travel as the starting point for a bigger trip. The relative has been in the area for some time so knows where to go, where to avoid, and provide other sound advice:
We got out there about mid-November, you are just getting in to their summer and north
Australia is the last place you would want to be because it’s the hottest bit so that’s why we were recommended to go up to that bit first get it out the way, then as temperature starting going up you would be going south so that’s the reason we did it that way round.

Knowing “a local” also provides a base to return to if things should go wrong – as things
¨
sometimes do when on holiday (e.g. Lofgren, 2008). During these trips, the relative met her at the airport, providing an extra security measure: “So we got in to Australia and
Justin’s uncle picked us up and we actually stayed with him for two weeks and then he set us up with a car, bought us a car and got us sorted”. Here, the relative helps her to get settled and equipped for the trip before venturing out alone. Claire’s strongest memory from her travel life history was from the Australia trip:
We were staying there three months and sometimes I would get a bit homesick but we stayed in this, on the sunshine coast for a week out of our trip and we were travelling back down the coast, and it was to be honest it probably wasn’t the most exciting, . . . when you’ve got a

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stationary caravan and you’ve got your little kitchen area and everything else you’ve got a chance to make it feel like a home for a week and I think that’s a part of it. To be honest for some reason, even though it was probably the quietest part of the three months I was out there, it was probably the best one and one of my strongest memories because I think I just felt so at home in this one little area.

This admission causes Claire some conflict in her identity. She wants to be (or at least be seen as) adventurous but the reality is more pedestrian. We felt that Claire did not truly believe in the adventurous self that she was presenting. During the 65-minute interview, she used the phrases “to be honest” and “honestly” 21 times. Edwards and Fasulo (2006) suggest that overemphasis on honesty sounds “defensive or even untrustworthy, as if for them, truth telling were not to be presumed” (p. 344). Honesty phrases are used to frame a dispreferred answer or an initial assessment of a topic of conversation. In the quote from Claire (above), she uses an honesty phrase to precede what could be considered a dispreferred answer because it is in conflict with her presentation of an adventurous self.
We can summarize that whilst there is nothing new in the notion of an individual’s tourism travel being influenced by the desire to visit friends and relatives, the possibility that this travel is fuelled by the need to reinforce an identity is another angle to the concept.
Holidays as a catalyst for togetherness
Following on from VFR travel comes another significant finding, that of holidays cementing interpersonal relationships. Throughout both her interviews, June referred to the idea of togetherness as being central to her holidays, with her family as a whole or just with her husband:
I do remember the idea of being away as a family as being something nice and certainly that did probably influence the holidays we took when I had a young family, things like caravan holidays, holidays where we were all together in the same place. It didn’t have to be grand.
We did have some holidays abroad but even when we were abroad, it was all about being together and swimming together and walking out together so I think they are influential but you don’t know it at the time. (Emphasis added by author)

June is suggesting that it did not matter where they were or what they were doing, just as long as they were together, an idea considered by Haldrup (2004, p. 433): “family based vacationing is more concerned with the extraordinary ordinariness of personal social relations than with the documenting and gazing at spectacular sights”. June also acknowledges the importance of the journey in assisting the feeling of “togetherness”:
“first of all there is the travel down, travelling down in the car, wherever we’re going”.
This is similar to the example in Dickinson et al. (2011). June recognizes that the idea of togetherness is not just about being physically together:
It is both physical and psychological I think, in the sense that the house is big, I was chatting to you before, the house is quite big, errrmmm one can get lost in it the children have all left home. I sometimes go and watch TV in my lounge and Maurice goes in his lounge. Having a wonderful time but still, getting on with our lives and whatever. But when you go on holiday together you are often in one hotel room.

The psychological connection that she is referring to is demonstrated in the following passage: You know, you’ll chat about things that you wouldn’t chat about at home. You’ll chat about the place you’re in, for example that Rome trip. We both, liked, loved Rome for different sort of reasons but just going in to a beautiful building and seeing it together and looking it up and seeing the history of the building and saying we must go over to a different place nearby or, the whole thing was just a bonding experience.

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Shaw (2001) suggests holidays can “help create or re-create a common feeling of unity”
(p. 128) for the family. It is not just the physical co-presence that creates the unity for June, but it is also the conversations that follow, which underpin the physical presence. Being in a different place is important, and Heimtun and Jordan (2011) suggest the holiday is “a special site of leisure that transports people (literally and emotionally) away from their everyday environments” (p. 272). June’s description of the unity and connectedness with her family whilst on holiday presents a powerful reason for continuing to travel. It reinforces the security of a “family identity”.
Stephanie provided further insight into the importance of family togetherness over place: We’d be going . . . somewhere in a tent but they went on a tour of the west coast of the states so you know as far as I was concerned there was no comparison, but you know I didn’t think
‘oh no that’s not fair I wish I was doing that’ because I actually knew I would rather be with my family than with her family so it wasn’t necessarily where she was going yeah sure I might have like to have tried it but I wouldn’t want to swap it for what I was doing so looking back I certainly wouldn’t have swapped it.

Trauer and Ryan (2005) suggest that importance of place is created through the meaningful relationships that take place in the location and also the enduring memories from the experiences as evidenced through the statement from Stephanie.

The reluctant traveller
We have demonstrated above how travel can be shaped by the need to construct a “familybased identity” and also by the sense of self that can develop from the unity experienced by going on holiday with the family. Here, we will reveal another element to these ideas – people undertake travel that they do not particularly want to do in order to please their significant other.
Martin’s job as an RAF pilot provided him with numerous opportunities to travel and satisfy his “travelling needs”. He states that in his personal life he would have been happy not to travel but he did not (or could not) do that because he had a young family:
I didn’t really have a great deal of interest in holidays because I was getting around the world selfishly quite well enough thank you . . . we took holidays because the rest of the family wanted it. I would have been quite happy to sit around at home but that’s just a selfish point of view and we didn’t do that. We went on and did things.

Shah (2006) suggests that SO can guide our behaviour and experiences through our own views of the goals and expectations that the significant other holds for us. This suggests that these relationships can hold considerable power in influencing our behaviour. Shah
(2006) proposes a two-way model that demonstrates the interdependence between self,
SO, and goal (behaviour). The first route is from “Self” through “Significant Other” to
“Goal” and occurs when the relationship with significant other is stronger than the relationship with the goal. The alternative route is from “Self” through “Goal” ending at
“Significant Other”. This is when the goal drives behaviour and is stronger than the relationship with the significant other. Both routes depend on the nature and strength of the relationship with either the significant other or the goal.
Martin was not the only interviewee to indicate that they undertook travel for the sake of their significant other. Beth holds strong opinions regarding environmental behaviour and would like to give up flying; however, she has recently got married and her husband does not have the same strength of feeling that she does:

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I feel really bad because this year I have taken flights to Ibiza and Marrakech . . . especially because there’s my husband, although he kind of supports and understands that, I suppose has less of a personal commitment and he sees it as being a bigger society issue, so it’s always tricky.

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Both Martin and Beth are taking the SO – Goal path, i.e. their relationship with the significant other(s) is stronger than their relationship with the goal, therefore the SO is driving their behaviour. As stated earlier, SO and interpersonal relationships can have an impact on the self and identity (Anderson & Chen, 2002). This discussion has demonstrated that interpersonal relationships are driving tourism travel through the identity of the tourist.
Conclusion and implications
This paper aimed to enhance the understanding of the role played by interpersonal relationships in shaping identity and tourism mobility. From the data presented, it is clear that interpersonal relationships can have an impact on identity and tourism travel and these factors can underlie mobility decisions. Identity is relative to the people around us and this is a strong driving force to undertake travel in order to sustain ourselves in relation to and because of SO. This can be regardless of an individual’s personal desire for travel, particularly when coupled with the notion that social networks need intermittent face-toface contact in order to be maintained. VFR is used as one method of creating and maintaining relationships and identity but goes further than simply the proximity to SO.
Identity also comes into play with feelings of connectedness, which are generated through tourism travel with SO. Often, the development and maintenance of relationships that occur within a destination are more important than experiencing the destination itself. In addition to this is the idea of negotiated travel, where one member of the relationship is forfeiting their travel desires for those of their significant other. It is clear that the self and identity play a role in this. This shows that identity can be a facilitator for tourism travel decisions. The strength of the influence that identity has on tourism-based decisions has not been fully considered in previous literature. Given that these decisions are deeply rooted in identity issues, this is a vital force to consider in tourist travel behaviour. A better understanding of this will give insight into the difficulties experienced when policy makers try to change or influence tourist travel behaviour. This paper has provided an initial insight into the area but further research is required for a more comprehensive understanding. This paper has several limitations. The research area is so vast that it is not possible to cover every aspect of the topic within this paper. In addition, this study generated a vast amount of data and, consequently, only an overview of the issues could be presented here. When conducting research in to identities, there is the question of whether you can be sure that the interpretation of the identity was the one desired by the person presenting the identity. In narrative research, there is also the question of the “truth” of what you are being told. This only becomes a significant limitation if you are relying on factually accurate data. In this case, the stories were a way to elicit identity markers that could be linked to relationships and evolving travel behaviour.
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