A content analysis of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel research

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 25 (2015) 1e10

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A content analysis of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel research Mohammad Yousuf, Elisa Backer* Federation Business School (Ballarat), Federation University, PO Box 663, Ballarat, Vic., 3353, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 5 March 2015 Received in revised form 7 July 2015 Accepted 17 July 2015 Available online xxx

Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel is a significant form of tourism worldwide. Scholarly research into VFR commenced in 1990 and since then only one review of the literature has been conducted, which was a content analysis based exclusively on journal articles. That research, based from 1990 to 2010 highlighted that only 39 VFR articles had been published in tourism journals. Given the small number of publications identified, it was felt that an analysis encompassing a wider selection of publication forums and extended to 2015 would be valuable to scholarship. This research also considered citations and outputs by individual authors to determine where research is being derived from. The findings of this research identified recent growth in VFR travel research from wider publication forums, including conference papers and theses. However, VFR has made the most presence through book chapters in recent years. VFR research has historically focused on the commercial and marketing aspects, but more recently has turned to furthering understanding of the social aspects by giving particular importance to the VFR hosts and migration topics for the future direction of VFR research. © 2015 The Authors.

Keywords: Visiting Friends and Relatives VFR travel Literature review Content analysis

1. Introduction Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) can be defined as a form of travel “involving a visit whereby either (or both) the purpose of the trip or the type of accommodation involves visiting friends and/or relatives” (Backer, 2003, p.4). In terms of numbers of visits, VFR travel contributes a substantial amount of tourism worldwide. When assessing primary purpose of visit data, VFR comprised more than one quarter of all international trips worldwide (UNWTO, 2011). However, this statistic underestimates the true size of VFR as it only captures those stating a VFR purpose of visit, omitting those VFRs who are accommodated by friends or relatives who selfclassify themselves as being on a holiday. Research undertaken in Australia to measure the true size of VFR travel when all VFRs are aggregated revealed VFR to be 48% of the domestic visitor market (Backer, 2012, 2015). VFR travellers do not just visit friends and relatives; they also use services that other tourists use (Backer, 2010a). The personal connection that VFR travellers have with the host can influence

* Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] federation.edu.au (E. Backer). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2015.07.003 1447-6770/© 2015 The Authors.

(M.

Yousuf),

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their travel decisions regarding activities, length of stay and expenditure (Backer, 2010b). Thus, it is important that local residents understand the attributes in their region. Tourism operators and destination marketing organisations (DMOs) can influence VFR travellers by promoting local attractions and activities to the residents (Backer, 2011; Young, Corsun, & Baloglu, 2007), who can then in turn make recommendations to their Visiting Friends and Relatives. VFR travel provides many benefits to regions that make it an important segment to market to. In some studies, VFR travellers have been found to stay longer as well as make frequent repeat visits to a destination, resulting in them spending more ‘tourist’ money over a lifetime than one-time travellers (Meis, Joyal, & Trites, 1995). VFR travel has also been found to be less vulnerable to economic conditions (King, 1996) and less susceptible to seasonality (Asiedu, 2008). VFR travel also relies less on primary attractions and major tourism infrastructure (McKercher, 1995) and creates less impact to the environment, as it can integrate well with the existing infrastructure (Scheyvens, 2007). Despite its size and importance, VFR travel is a relatively new area of research in tourism. Scholarly interest in VFR developed after Jackson's (1990) seminal publication. That study initiated the discussion about the underestimation of VFR travel and demonstrated the importance of doing further research in this field. A

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number of important pieces of VFR research followed Jackson's (1990) work. Most notably, an international conference dedicated to VFR (VFR Tourism: Issues and Implications, 1996) was held in Melbourne, Australia. The conference proceedings of that conference show an important example of a collection of critical VFR publications that have been undertaken outside the journal sphere. However, only one analysis of VFR literature has been conducted (Griffin, 2013a), which provided a content analysis of journal articles published from 1990 to 2010. That analysis identified only 39 articles existed in tourism journals. With a focus on journal articles only, Griffin's (2013a) work did not include a number of important VFR outputs (such as the international VFR conference). Conference papers can be a significant piece of research work for generating ideas and stimulating dis
e, Larivie re, & cussion among scientific communities (Lise Archambault, 2008). Academic theses also provide an important communication of research (Afifi, 2009) and book chapters can also provide a critical contribution to scholarship (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994). Thus, for a comprehensive understanding about the progress and development of a field that has had relatively little research undertaken, all the available sources of knowledge are important and should be analysed. Arguably, an updated and more comprehensive analysis of VFR travel could serve as an important contribution to the scholarly communities. For that reason, this research aims to update and extend the analysis through conducting a content analysis spanning a quarter of a century, from its origins in 1990 through to 2015 and include conference papers, book chapters and theses as well as journal articles. Content analysis can be a useful technique of analysing published or past information (Guthrie, Petty, Yongvanich, & Ricceri, 2004) for having insight and practical understanding about a particular phenomenon (Krippendorf, 2004). Thus, this research can provide an important addition to an area of tourism that has to date, received inadequate attention. 2. Literature review 2.1. VFR travel VFR travel is complex and there is still much to learn about this large segment of tourism. Little consideration has been given to defining VFR travel. It has often been assessed by either purpose of visit or by accommodation for convenience, although in some cases there has been a misunderstanding that either statistic will capture the same person, believing that people who state a VFR purpose of visit would also be accommodated by their friends/relatives. Such analysis has resulted in VFR being underestimated and undervalued (Backer, 2012; Jackson, 1990). The actual value of VFR can be best measured by aggregating the VFR travellers based on both the primary purpose of visit and accommodation (Backer, 2007, 2012). VFR travel has been reported as a commercially viable independent target group where destination attractiveness and local hosts influence VFR travel behaviour (Backer, 2011). Therefore, tourism operators and DMOs could promote local attractions and activities to the residents in order to influence VFR travellers (Backer, 2011; Morrison & O'Leary, 1995). The personal connection between VFR travellers and their hosts is central to VFR travel (Riley & Love, 2000) and its impact on tourism (Backer, 2010b). VFR travel is highly influenced by residents acting as hosts in the “decisionmaking and information search process” (Meis et al., 1995. p. 37). VFR travellers are inclined to rely more on the advice from the host than promotional materials (Young et al., 2007) as it is more trusted. However, hosts tend to recommend and visit the same places and activities that they are familiar with (Young et al., 2007) and they may lack knowledge about suitable attractions and events.

This network of relationships between VFR hosts and travellers is particularly pertinent in markets where destination awareness is limited and immigrant populations are high (Griffin, 2013b). VFR researchers have consistently expressed concern over the lack of VFR travel research and various reasons have been put forward to explain the reasons for its neglect. The different approaches for defining VFR travel has created discrepancies with official tourism data (Backer, 2012; Jackson, 1990). The data either by purpose of visit or accommodation does not give a comprehensive volume of VFR travel. Therefore, it is still difficult to know the actual size of VFR travel in international and domestic tourism statistics. The actual contribution of VFR travel is multifaceted that can be difficult to measure. Adding to the complexities of understanding VFR is that some expenses related to VFR trips are born by the hosts rather than the VFRs. Those host expenses are crucial for a complete understanding about the contribution of VFR travel (Backer, 2007). 2.2. Content analysis within tourism literature Tourism research has evolved with time (Weaver & Lawton, 2014). The growing interest in tourism research has produced huge numbers of journals, conferences and texts (Botterill, Haven, & Gale, 2002). Over the years, many researchers have conducted content analyses of articles in tourism journals (e.g. Banyai & Glover, 2012; Demetriadi, 1995; Reid & Andereck, 2015; Riley & Love, 2000; Yoo & Weber, 2005). The examination of past research provides an understanding of research patterns and can indicate directions of future research of a particular field (Baloglu & Assante, 1999). Multiple indicators have been assessed understanding the nature of development of tourism research. For example, in 1992, CrawfordeWelch studied the nature and focus of the hospitality and tourism research to identify the future direction of research. The study conducted an extensive content analysis of 653 articles in five leading hospitality and tourism journals over the period of 1983e1989. Another example of content analysis was conducted by Baloglu and Assante (1999) in more than 1000 articles from five leading hospitality and tourism journal published from 1990 to 1996, with the purpose of identifying the trend of research attention and methodologies. Moreover, Xiao and Smith (2008) conducted a content analysis of the subject heading of articles published in Annals of Tourism over the period of 1973e2003, with the objective of capturing the patterns of change in tourism research. Besides research methods and topics, some content analyses considered authorships in tourism journal articles to examine the proliferation of tourism researchers (Jackson, 2004; McKercher, 2007; Ryan, 2005). Although there are many opportunities to publish (McKercher, 2007), a relatively small number of prolific tourism researchers identified through the authorships studies contributed a higher proportion of research through publishing in wider publication forums (such as conference paper, book chapters and journals). Whilst analysis of journal articles is the most common form of content analysis, it is not unusual for other research outputs to be analysed. Content analyses of tourism theses/dissertations have been conducted previously. A study conducted by Jafari and Aaser (1988), analysed tourism doctoral dissertations and reported a growing trend in tourism research among the academic communities. Later, three similar studies were conducted by Hall (1991), Meyer-Arendt and Justice (2002) and Afifi (2009). There has been a tradition within scientific communities to disregard the value of conference papers as a final piece of work €nzel, Schlemmer, Schubert, & Thijs, 2006), however, subse(Gla quent studies have claimed conference papers as a final piece of work that provide important future implications (Drott, 1995;

M. Yousuf, E. Backer / Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 25 (2015) 1e10

re, Archambault, Gingras, & Vignola-Gagne
, 2006; Lise
e et Larivie al., 2008). However, there are a number of important functionalities of conference papers, such as getting feedback from the wider communities of experts, and stimulating ideas and discussion among the research communities (Drott, 1995). Additionally, books are a universal tool for learning; and without books, no learning discipline is considered complete (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994). Books have been suggested as having the capacity to provide better resources of knowledge than journal articles, as they offer more opportunities for new and original ideas, which is not always supported by the refereed journals (Ryan, 2005). In addition, books are critical learning tools for future tourism managers and students undertaking degrees (Backer, 2009a). The only content analysis of VFR travel research was limited to analysing journal articles, and as such is not fully representative of the research that has taken place in the field. Given the importance of all knowledge sources, there is a need for a comprehensive understanding of VFR research through considering a wider selection of outputs. In addition, there has been some recent developments in the field and as such an analysis encompassing research over the past quarter of a century would be valuable. Thus, a content analysis covering wider publication forums would be a valuable contribution to the literature and would provide an improved understanding about the evolution of VFR research and boundaries of future research. 3. Research method Content analysis is a method of coding published information into various groups based on preselected criteria (Guthrie et al., 2004). It disaggregates data into different categories, capturing any significant pattern within the information (Guthrie & Parker, 1990) and can provide new insights and practical understanding about a particular phenomenon (Krippendorf, 2004). Content analysis was therefore selected as being appropriate for this research. As a flexible method, the choice of the type of content analysis depends on the basic interest of the researcher and research problem of the study (Weber, 1990). This study uses a summative content analysis approach to identify and quantify research methods, topics of interest and authors within the existing VFR studies. The quantification is to explore the practice of different methods and areas of studies and numbers of individual authors of VFR studies. Manifest content analysis is another approach that also focuses on quantification but summative approach extends the attempt to determine the underlying perspective of the pattern of contents (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). Following the summative approach, this study attempts to identify how VFR research has evolved overtime through the use of research method and choice of topic since its inception in 1990. This study also look at the authorships to identify the proliferation of VFR authors. The proliferation of diverse groups of authors is an important indication of “richness” of a particular field (McKercher, 2007, p.29). This study used ‘Google Scholar (GS)’ as the search engine for data collection of all disciplines. This system has also been selected in a number of other content analysis studies (for example: Griffin, 2013a; Banyai & Glover, 2012; Xiao & Smith, 2008). GS is now considered as a “comprehensive tool for citation tracking for social science” (Kousha & Thelwall, 2007, p.1064). In addition to GS, ‘ProQuest’, a wide-ranging database of theses, was used for collecting theses. The term ‘VFR tourism’ has traditionally been more frequently used and as such this research used “Visiting Friends and Relatives tourism VFR” as the keywords for ensuring maximum search results. However, this paper acknowledges that not all VFRs are tourists (Backer, 2012) and accepts that the term VFR travel is

3

increasingly gaining popularity as the accurate term to adopt. This study collected data for the duration of 1990 to June 2015, and GS returned 3450 search results for that period. Manuscript abstracts, keywords, research methods and conclusions were examined to identify the research methods, primary study foci, and name and number of individual author[s]. More detailed examination of other sections of an article were also conducted when necessary. There is no universal rule for content analysis, but for the purpose of analysis, there are some common methodological considerations are required to follow (DowneWamboldt, 1992; Weber, 1990). For this study the unit of analysis selected was theses, book chapters, conference papers and journal papers; and these needed to meet the following criteria to be included in this study: 1 VFR had to be the primary focus of the research. Studies that merely mentioned VFR in the literature or considered it as one of the variables of analysis were not included. 2 The journal articles, conference papers and book chapters needed to be full papers, peer reviewed and followed the standard research format. 3 The publications had to be available online. 4 The publications needed to be in English. 5 The journal papers had to be in tourism journals. It was noted that numerous publications relating to VFR existed in medical, economics and geography, leisure and hospitality journals but these were not considered in this analysis, as the focus of this study was tourism. The criteria listed above are important to keep in mind, because there are some studies that may have links to VFR (eg migration, or second homes) but were discounted because the primary focus was not VFR. Keywords for articles were heavily relied on for initial analysis, however the titles, abstracts and references were also analysed for determining whether the paper was a VFR paper or not. There were some papers that mentioned VFR once as an offhand comment in the abstract but VFR was not a keyword and the reference list lacked VFR papers; in such cases the paper was determined as being a non-VFR paper, but only after reading the paper in entirety to be thorough in judgement. After the selection of units of analysis, the categories and rationale of investigating units of analysis or samples were then defined. Categorisation and rationale are both critical for maintaining face and content validity of data coding as it provides a consistent coding scheme for multiple coders (Miller, McMahon, Garrett, & Ringel, 1989). This element ensured consistent output of analysis for both of the researchers of this study. The categories of unit of analysis considered in this study are articles in tourism journals and conference proceedings, theses, and book chapters published from 1990 to June 2015. As a rationale of analysis, the research method was defined as “the tools or instruments employed by researchers to gather empirical evidence or to analyse data” (Sarantakos, 1998, p. 32). Research methods were categorised as either qualitative, quantitative, mixed or review. The review studies were those studies that did not provide original results but the evaluation of studies within the literature (Boote & Beile, 2005). Quantitative method was identified as the method that collect quantitative or measurable data and attempts to quantify differences by adopting rigorous measurement through the use of statistical methods of analysis (Bryman & Bell, 2015). Qualitative research was regarded as the method that collects textual data to examine patterns for similarities and gather in-depth knowledge of cases (Neuman, 2011). In case of authorships, each publication was counted as one output for an individual author irrespective of the number of authors in an article.

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The areas of study were identified based on the primary focus and contribution of the studies on any of VFR travel elements, which are the core elements without which VFR travel can not occur (Backer, 2008a). Those elements are: VFR travellers, the generating region of the travellers, the transit route used by the travellers, VFR hosts, the destination region, and industries. For the purpose of categorisation, any study that focused on the traveller's demographic, socio-economic and travel behaviour, was considered as ‘traveller's profile and characteristics topic’. The studies interested in the experience of VFR travellers were classified as ‘travellers' experience’ topic. Similarly, the studies that focused on the role or influence of VFR hosts were categorised as ‘role of hosts’ topic; for studies focusing on hosts' experience, they were characterised as belonging to the ‘hosts' experience’ topic of VFRs. Any study that focused on expenditures or use of different industries (such as restaurant, shopping, movies and so on) by VFR travellers were categorised as ‘expenditure pattern’. The studies that focused on a very specific area of VFR travel were categorised by the respective area or purpose such as volume/size of VFR travel, commercial accommodation, VF vs VR, marketing to VFR, relationship with migration, comparison with another segment and destination regions/communities. A few exclusive studies were excluded from the topics of interest analysis as they did not directly fit to the common VFR themes, for example studies on the importance of VFR research, and content analysis. MS Excel 2000 software was used for data entry and calculation purpose. The calculation of frequencies of the research method, areas of study and authorships, and their distribution across different publication categories and periods were undertaken. The results were then tabulated in tables and graphs. Whilst the authors are aware of a number of additional VFR publications that were not identified in the analysis, only those outputs that met the above criteria were included in this research. 4. Results and discussion 4.1. The progression of VFR travel research As discussed earlier in the research method section, the purpose of content analysis is to examine the theoretical content for having enhanced understanding of data. To analyse the progress of VFR travel research, this study disaggregated the number of VFR studies that had been published across book chapters, journals, conference papers, and theses (that meet the criteria) over the 1990e2015 period. The findings are revealed in Fig. 1, which illustrates that a total of 129 research outputs were identified. Journal articles contributed 44.2% (n ¼ 57) of the VFR publications followed by 26.4% (n ¼ 34) from conference proceedings, 18.6% (n ¼ 24) from book chapters and 10.9% (n ¼ 14) from theses. As can be seen in Fig. 1, the number of VFR publications per annum has increased, and has been drawn from contributions from a wider set, with conference proceedings, book chapters and theses providing an important form of contributions. After Jackson's (1990) seminal journal article, a conference paper and a book chapter was published shortly afterwards, and then a special edition of The Journal of Tourism Studies dedicated to VFR travel was published in 1995. Of note, that is the only VFR special edition that has been published. Journal articles were the largest contributor to VFR publications, with a total of 57 VFR publications, representing an average rate of two publications per year. However, from 2011 to 2015, the rate of VFR journal articles increased to almost four publications per year, from a base of one per year in the first decade (1990e1999) and two publication per year in the second decade (2000e2010). In the case of conference proceedings, this analysis revealed that after a large ten-year gap, VFR research gained

increasing attention from the 2000s. Notably, the average rate of VFR conference papers is one per annum, but the rate is higher (four per year) in the last five years. However, VFR travel only started gaining attention through theses from 2001 and since then averaged only one thesis per year. Out of the 14 theses that have been published in the past 25 years, the majority are PhD theses followed by five masters and one honours thesis. The numbers of VFR PhD theses indicates that on average, VFR research has attracted only one candidate every three to four academic years. Given that conducting postgraduate studies is “one of the marks of academic respectability” of a discipline (Hall, 1991, p. 520), VFR travel research has not developed much attention from post-graduate researchers. In the past five years, VFR research has made the highest impact through book chapters. Before that, VFR research was most neglected in book chapters, an issue first raised by (Backer, 2009a) who claimed that VFR failed to make any real appearance in books and was present merely in a column, a few paragraphs or the index in most of the available textbooks. Similarly, this content analysis found only five book chapters met the selection criteria of this analysis in the first two decades of VFR research (1990e2010). However, the average rate of VFR book chapters from 2011 to 2015 has increased at a similar rate to articles and conference outputs, being four publications per year. This high growth rate of book chapters stems from the very recent inclusion of the first book on VFR travel. That book, (Backer & King, 2015a) alone contributed 14 chapters on different aspects of VFR travel. This research also studied the progress of VFR research through disagregating the number of authors in VFR publications that had been recognised through the analysis presented in Fig. 1. The objective was to identify the volume of VFR authors who have contributed to the development of knowledge across different time periods started from 1990. As the productivity of hospitality and tourism research has been derived from a small group of prolific authors (McKercher, 2007), the researchers of this study attempted to determine if this also applied in VFR travel. The findings of authorship analysis are illustrated in Fig. 2, revealing that a total of 180 VFR authors have contributed to the field (including all the primary and co-authors); 129 VFR publications have been identified in this study. Fig. 2 illustrates an upward trend in the number of VFR authors over the time periods. VFR research was initiated by a very small number of authors, which has increased to more than 70 authors in the recent five years. However, the higher number of authors (180) than the VFR publication outputs (129) indicates only a slightly larger number of co-authored papers. To identify the actual proliferation of VFR authors, Table 1 presents a ranking list of the individual prolific authors based on their VFR research outputs. Prolific authors are the leading authors who appear to publish often and continuously over an extended period, and in wider publication forums (McKercher, 2007). Therefore, those researchers who had contributed only once were not considered in Table 1. A total of 109 individual authors were identified who had contributed either as a principal author or co-author. However, only 34 (31.2%) authors out of the 109 authors are listed in Table 1, meaning that the vast majority of the authors (68.8%) contributed to VFR travel research on only one occasion. Overall, the analysis outlined in Table 1 reveals that a higher proportion of VFR outputs were derived from a very small number of scholars. The 34 authors listed in Table 1 are the authors who were involved in some form (on more than one occasion) in the 129 VFR outputs published in the last twenty five years. However, almost 90% of the authors in the list have published only 2e4 publications during the whole period. Only 10% of the authors have contributed more than five publications, and also in wider forums such as conference, books and journals. Just 1% out of that top 10%

M. Yousuf, E. Backer / Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 25 (2015) 1e10

5

16 14 12 10 ArƟcles

(n=129) 8

Conferences Theses

6

Book Chapters 4 2

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

0

Fig. 1. VFR publications by year.

80 70 60 50

n=180 40 30 20 10 0 1990-94

1995-99

2000-04

2005-09

2010-15

Fig. 2. VFR publications' authorship by time periods.

prolific authors published more than 20 outputs and for a sustained period of time. However, higher numbers of authors published in the journal articles in the earlier periods (1990e2004), but in the later periods (2005e15) more authors were involved in the conference proceedings and more recently in book chapters (2011e15). The analysis of theses outputs in Table 1 shows that a greater proportion of VFR publications (33.3%) have originated from a small number (only 5.5%) of individual prolific authors who produced a relevant thesis before in VFR as a part of their research deegres. In particular, over one-third (37.5%) of the top VFR authors have studied VFR in their post-graduate research studies and sustained to work in the area. Thus, post-graduate research could be an important area to look at for building research interest and to generate more productive researchers in the area of VFR travel. However, it is also worthy of note that four of the top five ranking VFR researchers (Alastair Morrison, Joseph O'Leary, Brian King, and Anthony Seaton) were amongst those small number of early contributors to VFR travel in the 1990s and have also published in the field very recently. Furthermore, nine out of the top ten VFR researchers all contributed to the recently published book on VFR travel.

4.2. The pattern of VFR travel research To understand the pattern of VFR travel research, this research analysed the subject areas within VFR travel research that have

been studied and how they have been approached in different research categories. First, Table 2 presents how VFR research in different publication categories have been approached from 1990 to 2015 and after that Table 3 presents how VFR topics of interest have evolved overtime. Tables 2 and 3 presents the results by grouping the years into two different time frames: 1990e2004 and 2005e2015. The first time frame has more years in the group than the other one because the number of VFR research in the first four years was just three and therefore a larger time period was allocated for better comparison purposes. Table 2 reveals similar results to the finding of the previous content analysis (Griffin, 2013a) in the journal article category, that quantitative studies were highest in numbers, followed by qualitative and a small number of reviews studies. However, this study demonstrates that although VFR studies were more inclined towards quantitative approach in the first two decades (1990e2010), more qualitative studies (50.0%) were reported than quantitative (35.7%) studies in recent times (2011e2015). In terms of conference proceedings and book chapters, Table 2 also shows similar results to journal articles with a high focus on quantitative studies, but demonstrates a gradual downward trend, whereas qualitative studies shows a gradual upward trend, particularly in the recent five years. On the other hand, mixed method is the most widely used approach across theses, followed by qualitative research. The findings of Table 2 reflects the complex phenomenon (Przeclawski, 1993) and heterogeneous nature (Ren, Pritchard, & Morgan, 2010) of tourism study that needs to be gathered and analysed using a wide range of information for gaining a comprehensive understanding. This notion is particularly applicable to the VFR segment, which is diverse and unique from other forms of travel (Lehto, Morrison, & O'Leary, 2001; Leiper, 2004). However, Table 2 reflects a major shift of research method over time from quantitative studies to qualitative studies. This shift in VFR research method is interesting given that many researchers have indicated that tourism research has matured due to the increasing use of sophisticated quantitative method (Baloglu & Assante, 1999; Crawford-Welch & McCleary, 1992; Reid & Andereck, 2015). However, the interactions between VFR hosts and guests adds a relationship aspect that is like no other form of tourism (such as business and pleasure). VFR travel is fundamentally built on the familial relationship or friendship between the hosts and guests (Backer, 2010a; Riley & Love, 2000). That intimacy within the

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M. Yousuf, E. Backer / Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 25 (2015) 1e10

Table 1 Number of VFR publications by author. Rank

1 2 2 4 5 5 7 7 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 Total

Authors

Articles

Backer, E. Morrison, A.M. O'Leary, J. T. King, B. Seaton. A. V. Griffin, T. Taufatofua, R. Hay, B. Nadkarni, N. Rogerson, C. M. Laesser, C. Moscardo, G. Boyne, S. Pearce, P. Dwyer, L. Duval, D.T. Lee, G. Hu, B. Pennington-Gray, L. Ryan, C. McKercher, B. Seetaram, N. Forsyth, P. Shani, A. Uriely,N. Lehto, X. Y. Asiedu, A. B. Craig-Smith, S. Carswell, F. Hall, D. Capistrano,R.C.G. Nickerson, N.P. Hsieh, S. Kim, J. E. 34 authors

Conferences

Book Chapters

Theses

Total

1990e2004

2005e15

1990e2004

2005e15

1990e2004

2005e15

1990e2004

2005e15

e 7 7 e 3 e e e 1 e e 2 e 2 e e e 2 1 e 1 e e e e 1 e e 1 1 e e 2 e 31

6 1 e 2 e 3 e e e 2 e e e e 1 1 1 e e 2 e 1 1 2 2 1 2 e e e e e e e 28

e e e 1 2 e e 1 e e e e e e e e e e 1 e 1 e e e e e e e e e e 2 e e 8

12 e 1 2 e 2 2 2 1 e 2 e e e 1 e 1 e e e e 1 1 e e e e 2 e e 1 e e 1 32

e e e e 1 e e e e e e e 3 e e 1 e e e e e e e e e e e e 1 1 e e e e 7

7 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 e 1 1 e 1 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e 1 24

1 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e 1 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e 2

1 e e e e 1 1 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e 1 e e e 4

27 9 9 8 7 7 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 136

Table 2 Method employed in VFR travel research. Method

1990e2004 Articles

Quantitative Qualitative Review Mixed Total

2005e15 Conferences

Theses

Book chapters

Articles

Total conferences

Theses

Book chapters

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

25 2 1 e 28

89.3 7.1 3.6 e 100

5 1 2 e 8

62.5 12.5 25

e 2 e 2 4

e 50 e 50 100

1 2 2 e 5

20 40 40 e 100

15 10 4 e 29

51.7 34.5 13.8 e 100

22 4 e e 26

84.6 15.4 e e 100

e 3 e 7 10

e 30 e 70 100

7 4 8 e 19

36.8 21.1 42.1 e 100

75 28 17 9 129

58.1 21.7 13.2 7.0 100

100

relationship between VFR hosts and guests has been perceived as a travel motivation for VFR travel which may vary based on the motivation between hosting friends and hosting relatives (Backer, 2010b; King, 1996; Lockyer & Ryan, 2007). Arguably, in depth understanding of this core aspect of VFR travel would be critical for the overall knowledge development of VFR travel. From that perspective, it can be understood that more qualitative research has been undertaken in recent times due to the shift of research attention towards the social or relationship aspects of VFR travel. Table 3 presents that analysis of VFR research attention across the decades. Table 3 shows a similar result to the previous content analysis (Griffin, 2013a) that for journal articles, profile and characteristics, and volume/size of VFR were the two most popular research topics. This research also finds that those two research topics were the two most researched topics in conference papers and book chapters. However, migration and hosts are the other two highly

researched areas that have gained more interest in recent times (2010e15). Profile and characteristics, and volume/size of VFRs were the most popular research areas in theses, followed by migration and hosts. The overall analysis of topics of interest demonstrated in Table 3 highlights a clear shift from economic and commercial aspects to the social or relationship aspect. This finding reflects that VFR research has been driven by a specific research theme in each decade. Earlier research in 1990s focused on measurement and highlighted the need for further research (Braunlich & Nadkarni, 1995; Jackson, 1990; Meis et al., 1995; Morrison & O'Leary, 1995). Research in the 2000s focused on the economic and marketing issues for generating improved understanding of VFR travel. It was during this decade that a definition for VFR travel was proposed (Backer, 2003) to mitigate the long term absence of a comprehensive definition of VFR travel. Later, based on that comprehensive definition of VFR travel, a model known as “VFR Travel Definitional

M. Yousuf, E. Backer / Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 25 (2015) 1e10

7

Table 3 The evolution of VFR travel topics of interest. Topic of interest

1990e2004 Articles

Traveller's profile & characteristics Relationship with migration Volume/size Comparison with another segment Role of hosts Destination region/community Commercial accommodation Marketing to VFR VF vs. VR Expenditure pattern Traveller's experience Hosts' experience Total

2005e15 Conferences

Theses

Book chapters

Articles

Total Conferences

Theses

Book chapters

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

11

42.3

1

16.7

1

25

e

e

4

14.3

14

53.8

3

30

8

42.1

42

33.3

2 4 3

7.7 15.4 11.5

e 1 e

e 16.7 e

1 1 e

25 25 e

4 e e

80 e e

5 2

17.9 7.1 e

3 2 2

11.5 7.7 7.7

2 e 2

20 e 20

3 3 1

15.8 15.8 5.3

21 13 10

15.9 10.3 6.3

2 e e 2 1 1 e e 28

7.7 e e 7.7 3.8 3.8 e e 100.0

1 e 2 e e e 1 e 6

16.7 e 33.3 e e e 16.7 e 100.0

e 1 e e e e

e 25 e e e e 25 e 100.0

e

e

e e 1 e e e 5

e e 20 e e e 100.0

3 3 2

10.7 10.7 7.1 e 3.6 10.7 10.7 7.1 100.0

e 2 1 1 1 e e e 26

e 7.7 3.8 3.8 3.8 e e e 100.0

1 e e e e e e 2 10

10 e e e e e e e 100.0

e 1 e 2 1 e e e 19

e 5.3 e 10.5 5.3 e e e 100.0

8 7 5 5 5 3 3 4 126

5.6 5.6 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.2 3.2 3.2 100.0

e 4

1 3 3 2 28

Frq

%

Tables 2 and 3 indicates a clear link between choice of research method and topics of interest. Table 4 thus presents the combined analysis of VFR research methods and areas of study in different publication categories from 1990 to 2015. The objective was to examine the relationship between research method and areas of studies as an underlying factor of the movement of VFR travel research. Table 4 finds a positive link between topics of interest and choice of research methods. As presented in Table 4, qualitative research concentrated on the relationship and perception or satisfaction topics, whilst quantitative methods were employed for studying the economic and commercial value of VFR travel, defining topics such as the profile and characteristics of visitors, and volume or size of VFR travel. As mentioned previously, this research has shown that there has been an increase in interest in VFR travel in the most recent five years. The underwhelming interest in VFR was recently highlighted by Backer and King (2015b) who presented the number of citations for the VFR travel articles located in the first four pages of Google Scholar (as presented in the first five columns in Table 5). Their study highlighted that only two VFR articles had received more than 100 citations. To determine whether there had been much growth in VFR travel, these authors undertook an updated citation analysis for every output that had been outlined by Backer and King

Model” (Backer, 2009a, p. 11) was developed to visually represent the existence of different types of VFR travellers within VFR travel. VFR travel was also studied briefly through segmenting VFR travel into VFs and VRs, finding significant differences in the profiles and characteristics of the two groups (Hay, 2008; Lockyer & Ryan, 2007). VFR travel research since 2010 has focused on the social aspects to build on the previous research related to economic and commercial aspects, and deepen understanding. In particular, the motivations, characteristics and behaviours of VFR travellers and hosts and the factors that influence their travel decisions and activities is a burgeoning area of research (Backer, 2012; Griffin, 2013a; Shani & Uriely, 2012). The findings presented in Tables 2 and 3 have demonstrated respectively the significant movement of VFR research method and areas of study that have taken place over time since its inception in 1990. The findings particularly highlight the major shift that has taken place regarding VFR research in the past five years up to 2015, compared to the previous two decades (1990e2010). As the research method changed, so too did the main areas of studies. More qualitative research was employed in recent years, as the research attention shifted from the economic or commercial aspects (such as profile and characteristics, volume/size) to more social aspects (such as relationship, experience/perception, and motivation). The findings presented in

Table 4 The relationship between VFR topics of interest and choice of research method. Topic of interest

Articles Quant

Traveller's profile & characteristics Relationship with migration Volume/size Comparison with another segment Role of hosts Destination region/community Commercial accommodation Marketing to VFR Expenditure pattern VF vs. VR Host's experience Traveller's experience Total

Conferences Qual

Review

Theses

Quant

Qual

Book chapters

Mixed

Qual

Quant

Total

Qual

Review

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

Frq

%

10

26.2

1

9.1

1

33.3

14

51.9

e

e

3

37.5

1

16.7

4

40

1

20

3

33.3

39

31.0

3 5 5

7.1 11.9 11.9

4 e e

36.4 e e

2 e e

66.7

2 3 e

7.4 11.1

1 e 1

20 e 20

1 2

e 12.5 25

3 e e

50.0 e e

e 3 1

e 30 10

2 e e

40 e e

4 1 e

44.4 11.1 e

21 13 9

16.7 10.3 7.1

4 3 2 2 4 3 e e 42

9.5 7.1 4.8 4.8 9.5 7.1 e e 100

2 e e e e e 2 2 11

18.2 e e e e e 18.2 18.2 100

e e e e e e e e 3

1 1 3 e 1 2 e e 27

3.7 3.7 11.1

e 2 e 1 e e e e 5

e 40 e 20 e e e e 100

1 1 e e e e e e 8

12.5 12.5 e e e e e e 100

e e e e e e 2 e 6

e e e e e e 33.3 e 100

e e e e e 2 e e 10

e e e e e 20 e e 100

e e e 2 e e e e 5

e e e 40 e e e e 100

e e e e e e 1 e 9

e e e e e e 11.1 e 100

8 7 5 5 5 7 5 2 126

6.3 5.6 4.0 4.0 4.0 5.6 4.0 1.6 100

100

3.7 7.4 e e 100

Frq

%

8

M. Yousuf, E. Backer / Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 25 (2015) 1e10

Table 5 Citations of VFR travel articles. Author

Year

Article

Journal

Jackson, Richard

(1990)

VFR Tourism: Is it underestimated?

Paci, Enzo

(1994)

The major international VFR markets

Braunlich, Carl Nadkarni, Nandini

(1995)

McKercher, Bob

(1995)

Meis, Scott Joyal, Sophie Trites, Anne

(1995)

Morrison, Alastair, Hsieh, Sheauhsing O'Leary, Joseph

(1995)

Yuan, Tsao-Fang, Frigden, Joseph, Hsieh, Sheauhsing, & O'Leary, Joseph McKercher, Bob

(1995)

The importance of the VFR market to the hotel industry An examination of host involvement in VFR travel The US repeat and VFR visitor to Canada: Come again, eh! Segmenting the visiting friends and relatives market by holiday activity participation Visiting Friends and Relatives Travel Market: The Dutch Case

Journal of Tourism Studies Travel & Tourism Analyst Journal of Tourism Studies CAUTHE conference proceedings Journal of Tourism Studies Journal of Tourism Studies

(1996)

Host involvement in VFR Travel

Seaton, Anthony Palmer, Christine

(1997)

Morrison, Alastair Woods, Barbara Pearce, Philip Moscardo, Gianna Sung, Heidi Moscardo, Gianna, Pearce, Philip, Morrison, Alastair, Green, David, O'Leary, Joseph Lehto, Xinran Morrison, Alastair O'Leary, Joseph

(2000)

Hu, Bo Morrison, Alastair

(2002)

Pennington-Gray, Lori

(2003)

Lee, Gyehee, Morrison, Alastair, Lheto, Xinran You Webb, Jonathan Reid, Jerome Pearce, Philip Moscardo, Gianna

(2005)

Backer, Elisa

(2007)

Backer, Elisa

(2008b)

Understanding VFR tourism behaviour: the first five years of the United Kingdom tourism survey Marketing to the visiting friends and relatives segment: An international analysis Developing a typology for understanding visiting friends and relatives markets Does the visiting friends and relatives' typology make a difference? A study of the international VFR market to the United States Tripography: Can destination use patterns enhance understanding of the VFR market? Understanding the domestic VFR drive market in Florida VFR: Is it really marginal? A financial consideration of French overseas travellers Domestic and visiting friends and relatives tourism VFR travel: An examination of the expenditures of VFR travellers and their hosts VFR travellers e Visiting the destination or visiting the hosts

Backer, Elisa

(2009b)

Backer, Elisa

(2010a)

Backer, Elisa

(2012)

(2000)

(2001)

(2006)

VFR travel: An assessment of VFR versus non-VFR travellers Opportunities for commercial accommodation in VFR travel VFR Travel: it is underestimated

Citations Sep 2014

Citations June 2015

% increase

94

114

21.3

45

51

13.3

53

62

17.0

10

14

40

50

59

18

60

74

23.3

Journal of Tourism Studies

51

57

11.8

Annals of Tourism Studies Tourism Management

14

20

42.9

140

161

23

27

17.4

Journal of Travel Research

102

119

16.7

Journal of Travel Research

55

67

21.8

Journal of Vacation Marketing

40

52

30

Journal of Vacation Marketing Journal of Vacation Marketing

28

36

28.6

26

33

26.9

9

13

44.4

32

52

62.5

Asian Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research PhD thesis (SCU)

20

26

30

7

14

100

International Journal of Tourism Research Tourism Management

14

23

28

56

Journal of Vacation Marketing

Tourism Business Frontiers (book) Current Issues in Tourism

15

64.3

100

Source: Adapted from Backer and King (2015b, p.213e215).

(2015b). As shown in Table 5, there were significant increases for all selected outputs in the short time period (from September 2014 when Backer and King's (2015b) work was undertaken compared to June 2015 when this analysis was undertaken). Whilst citations numbers cannot go down, the level of increase in citations is strong in a nine-month period, particularly when compared to the low number of citations obtained over such a long period (up to 25 years). 5. Conclusion and implications VFR researchers have consistently expressed concern over the lack of VFR travel research (Backer, 2007, 2012; Backer & Hay, 2014;

Jackson, 1990; Morrison & O'Leary, 1995). The content analysis of this research has also confirmed that in comparison to the significant size of VFR travel (by visits) worldwide, VFR remains an underresearched area. A mere 129 VFR publications were identified across the entire time period that VFR research has been undertaken (1990e2015). Given that this research has got a greater breadth of analysis than the previous content analysis of VFR research (Griffin, 2013a), the number of VFR research output is still very low. However, this research has demonstrated a significant increase in VFR research in the last five years up to 2015 compared to the first two decades of VFR research that started in 1990. This can be seen through the output development as well as citations. Journal

M. Yousuf, E. Backer / Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 25 (2015) 1e10

articles have been the major contributor to VFR research, but this study also finds conference proceedings and book chapters have contributed strongly and at an increasing rate. In particular, book chapters have made the most impact in recent times, which had been a substantial gap in the first two decades of VFR research. By contrast, the content analysis of theses revealed a substantial gap in current VFR research, where further input is needed. As this research demonstrates through the authorship analysis, a very small group of VFR researchers have produced the major proportion of VFR publications, with more varied groups of prolific authors needed for a greater productivity and further development of this critical area of tourism. Hence, VFR travel research needs to attract more postgraduate or doctoral researchers for creating that future stream of prolific authors. This research provides some important contributions, but is also limited, as it only considered those VFR articles that are available online, and met the other selection criteria of this study. Therefore, the researchers acknowledge that other publications may exist but were outside the scope of this study. Despite the relatively small number of VFR outputs published in the past quarter of a century, this research has highlighted the trend and evolution of VFR research across different publication disciplines. As a content analysis study, this research contributes new insights to the literature by providing an outline of the development of VFR travel research as a separate area of enquiry. This research demonstrates that VFR research has evolved with a specific theme of research in each decade. VFR travel was initially focused on the commercial and marketing aspects and then gradually shifted to understanding the social aspect of VFR travel. This shift has also been reflected in the choice of research method. More qualitative studies have been undertaken than quantitative studies in recent times. Qualitative research has been used recently to study more varied social topics, whereas quantitative studies were concentrated more on the economic and commercial aspects of VFR. This result indicates that VFR researchers are now focusing on the social aspects to build on the previous research related to economic and commercial aspects, and deepen understanding on this enormous topic. This research indicates a significant direction for the future VFR researchers. Research on the economic aspects of VFR travel has established VFR travel as commercially significant through recognising the large volume of VFR travel numbers around the world (Backer, 2012; 2015). Identifying the commercial significance, research on the marketing implications of VFR travel has revealed that DMOs and tourism operators can influence VFR travellers through the local resident hosts (i.e. the local resident) (Backer, 2011; Meis et al., 1995; Morrison & O'Leary, 1995; Young et al., 2007). Despite the important role that VFR hosts have in VFR travel, research has been very limited, with most research focusing on travellers for understanding the volume, economic value and marketing implications of VFR travellers (Griffin, 2013a). This research found that only 11 out of the total 129 VFR studies (8.5%) (including journals, conference papers, theses and book chapters) were primarily focused on VFR hosts. This is a significant research gap that requires research attention for furthering the existing commercial and economic understanding of VFR research. As personal relationships (friends and relatives) binds VFR hosts and travellers, the role of VFR hosts may vary based on the country of birth and year of immigration (Tal & Handy, 2010; Ying-xue, Bing, Lin-bo, & Zhi, 2013). However, research on immigrant VFR hosts is still in the primary stage and requires further research attention (Backer, 2008b; Boyne, Carswell, & Hall, 2002; Griffin, 2013b). In addition, the activities undertaken by hosts of visiting relatives (VRs) may differ to that by hosts of visiting friends (VFs) (Backer, 2010a; King, 1996; Lockyer & Ryan, 2007) because the type of

9

relationship between VFR hosts and travellers could be an important motivational factor that can influence the role of host in VFR travel. Therefore, the relationship aspect of VFR travel with hosts and its connection with immigration is a critical area of research that requires an increasing research focus (Backer, 2012; Griffin, 2013a; Huong & King, 2002). Of note, the social aspect of VFR travel has been largely overlooked and a very recent event in theses, which presents as important area of investigation for the future.

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