Social tourism

According to the survey in 1985, there were nearly 40% of respondents in the UK could not participate in an annual trip because of economic barriers. Furthermore, another important reason for 14% respondents could not take an annual trip was “personal disability”. Even though there is a connection between poverty and disability, large amounts of poor people whose poverty proved to have no connection with disability. Therefore, it is highly possible for low income families to take trips annually by adopting some measurements. It is necessary for people to take trips annually. 63% of respondents considered leaving home and taking a one-week trip yearly is essential, and fail to take trips annually may cause a sense of deprivation (Hughes, 1991). Moreover, the benefits of participation in tourism have been proved in terms of economy and social life. In addition to benefits of economy and society, individuals in society can get rest and recovery as well as the chance for learning and intercultural communication through the tourism experience. In order to provide equal chances for low-income and disabled families to enjoy tourism, social tourism as a part of social policy has been developing over the years. Hunziker explains Social Tourism as the phenomenon in tourism industry caused by participation in tour by economically disadvantaged or other disabled elements in society (Hunziker, 1951). Though there are various explanations to the concept of social tourism, Minnaert, Maitland and Miller (2007) define it as “tourism added with an ethical value is intended to benefit either the visitor or the host in the tourism swap. The essay mainly focuses on Social Tourism for low-income groups. Section 1 will detailed analyze Social Tourism, exploring how it develops in the UK and other European countries. Then the comprehensive reasons why low-income groups need a holiday will be investigated in the second section. Finally it shows how low-income groups benefit from Social Tourism and positive effects Social Tourism made on increasing family and social capital.

Minnaert, Maitland and Miller (2007) distinguish Social Tourism between visitor related forms and host related forms. The former one consists of decreasing social exclusion through providing support for economically disadvantaged and other excluded groups, while host related forms of social tourism concentrate on redistribution among host-guest communities. Since the values of tourism were proved in terms of economy more than health and social aspects, there is little government policy towards social tourism, especially in the UK. Even though the topic of “Tourism for All” aimed to solve problems of the disabled and improve participation has been established in 1999 in “Tomorrow’s Tourism” policy (DCMS, 1999), there is no sustainable development in “Tomorrow’s Tourism Today” policy, the follow-up policy paper in 2004 (DCMS, 2004). Social Tourism in the UK was chiefly supported by voluntary and charitable bodies instead of government. There are large amounts of charitable organizations in the UK. The Family Holiday Association (FHA) as one of the most important UK contributor of Social Tourism specially focuses on economically disadvantaged families. About 1400 families are able to take a holiday per year with the assistance of FHA, and assistants consist of religious organizations, health and social services workers as well as other agencies. Specific requirement of accepting aid is families with low income are unable to take a holiday for more than four years. Besides, The Family Fund (FF) as another important UK charity devotes itself to providing equally tourism opportunities for families with a strictly disabled child, which is supported by direct Government grant (McCabe, 2009). Compared with Social Tourism in the UK, it has been taken in a different structure in other European countries. Take Germany, France, Switzerland and Belgium for examples. Not only have policies been enthusiastically followed, but also governments provide finance assistance for some organizations to decrease the cost of tourism in terms of accommodation and transport. Discounted holidays are achieved by reducing financial barriers supported by financial assistance from government, unions and employers (Hughes, 1991). In addition to the limitation in taking practice to reduce financial barriers, UK did not implement the European model of policy towards Social Tourism, for instance, the World Tourism Organization (1980), also resulting in their weakness in Social Tourism. This section detailed explains what Social Tourism is and how it develops in the UK and other European countries. Reasons why low-income families need a holiday and how they can benefit from Social Tourism will be evaluated in the following sections.

Reasons why low-income families need a holiday can be divided into several categories. Firstly, a lack of funds or a lack of admission to transport may cause the need of travel. Parents may feel guilty to their children when they cannot afford an annual trip. Lack of admission to transport may be connected with disability or the unaffordable costs of particular transport requirements. Secondly, referring to environmental aspect, people need to break away temporally or spatially. A need for a break away temporally is often caused by sickness, routines and daily pressure. The rate for children who need a break from temporal circumstances may even higher than adults. A need for a break away spatially referring to people require a break away from home environment is one of the most significant reasons. Keeping living in home environment may cause pressure of people. Thirdly, people not just low-income groups need a holiday regarding relational and social aspects. Sometimes tough situations in family may be caused by family members did not spend time together. Holidays provide opportunities for family members to spend time together and improve their relationships. Fourthly, health and personal necessity also contribute to the need for a holiday. Taking a holiday can help people get recovery and restoration because people need a rest after a “bad time” including sickness, collapse and other problems. Finally, seeking for opportunities to have a change in current life, experience new activities, or create memories stated as goal-directed aspects cause people to have a holiday. Sometimes people need a holiday not for a change or new experience but for return to a “normal” life. Memories can make great effects on people’s life. Adults behave in different ways because they have experienced the world in a different way and get different memories. Therefore it becomes more important to create happy and innocent memories for children (McCabe, 2009). Reasons above have explained why low-income groups need a holiday, and benefits they can get from a holiday and positive effects Social Tourism made on the whole society by increasing family and social capitals will be explored in the next section.

Social capital can be better defined through comparing differences between physical capital and human capital. Physical capital can be concluded as goods and services which is tangible, while human capital can be concluded as skills and abilities which is less tangible. Social capital existing in the relations between individuals is also less tangible (Coleman, 1998). Increasing social capital can not only improve teamwork and trust among people, but also benefit to society because of its function of developing and preserving good character trait. Furthermore, expanding social capital is beneficial to public funding due to it declines the charge of public healthcare through decreasing demand on health service (Putnam, 2000). Family capital is defined as “the links between parents and children helping to improve child socialization” (Parcel and Dufur, 2001). Family capital can affect both the family as a whole and each of its members. However, studying social and family capital should started by investigating social policy. In the Levitas (1998) model, the moral underclass discourse (MUD) promotes increasing social and family capital through studying and changing values and behaviors of excluded groups to take them closer to mainstream society. In order to change behaviors of excluded groups, learning experiences should be expanded. According to Mitchell (1998), learning experiences can be divided into experiential and situated learning. Referring to the perception of experiential learning, a holiday provides opportunities for members in low-income groups to experience new activities, develop new awareness, and contrast these to their origin behavior pattern. Situated learning focuses on which forms individual learns in, and emphasis individuals should take learning activities in community. A holiday can help low-income group members expand their limited access to communities of practice and then changing their undesirable characteristics as well as behaviors. The level of family capital is decided by stability of the family and the social contacts of parents. On the one hand, a holiday improves relationship among family members and makes family life more pleasurable because it provides participants chances to spend more time with each other. On the other hand, social contacts are enhanced especially in group holidays because a holiday expands access to new communities of practice. In addition to increasing in family capital, social tourism also makes huge effects on improving social capital through enlarging social networks. Firstly, social contacts are achieved clearly in group holidays and less apparently in individual family holidays. It shows that the family capital is increased due to participants in individual family holidays concentrate on communicating with their family members rather than build relationships with other participants. But the social capital are also been improved, participants are likely to enlarge their involvement in social structure. Secondly, some participants express that their confidence were raised after the holiday. However, some participants considering it is a challenge to them results from lack of support, and it shows that appropriate support is needed in and after the holiday. Thirdly, the holiday as a learning experience provided participants a period of time to evaluate their current lives and then improve their knowledge as well as behaviors. Even though this benefit cannot be showed instantly, most participants express they are capable to put their worries and troubles aside and gain motivation to change their lives. Eventually, social tourism can benefit to economy is proved in several aspects. For example, it will reduce charge of healthcare due to some participants stopped taking medicines for mental illness. Additionally, holidays can replace some of other activities and reduce the related costs (Minnaert et al, 2009).

To conclude, large amounts of people in the UK cannot take an annual trip because of economically weakness. However, the benefits and necessities of tourism have been proved in many aspects, and the delivery of Social Tourism to members in low-income groups has become increasingly important. The Social Tourism in the UK shows inadequacy in policy development and government assistance compared with Social Tourism in other European countries, which is mainly supported by charitable bodies. Detailed evaluation of delivery of Social Tourism specific focusing on members of low-income groups in the UK has been made. Reasons why low-income families need a holiday can be divided into several categories including lack of fund and access to transport; environmental aspect; social aspect; health and individual aspect; goal-directed needs. Referring to the perspective of MUD, social and family capital can be increased through studying and changing values as well as behaviors of excluded groups to take them closer to mainstream society. It is Social Tourism that provides holidays as learning experiences for those excluded groups. Family capital is increased due to family members spending more time with each other. Social capital is improved through enlarging social networks. Firstly, participants are likely to enlarge their involvement in social structure. Moreover, some participants state that their confidences were raised after the holiday, while some participates find it a challenge. Besides, the holiday as a learning experience provided participants time to assess their current lives and find it desirable to make some changes. Finally, social tourism can not only increase family and social capital, but also benefit to economy. Some direct and indirect cost of public healthcare can be reduced by promoting Social Tourism, and it can even replace some of other activities.

References

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