Expanding the concept of the VFR market: Excavating ‘hidden VFR travellers’

A research article co-authored by a CTR researcher Dr. Hayato Nagai was published in Tourism Management Perspectives.

 

 

 

Title

Expanding the concept of the VFR market: Excavating ‘hidden VFR travellers’

 

Authors

Sho Kashiwagi, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University

Hayato Nagai, Faculty of Tourism, Wakayama University

Tomoyuki Furutani, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University

 

Source

Tourism Management Perspectives

Vol. 33

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2019.100610

*Indexed in Scopus

Journal details: https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/21100202157

 

Abstract

Visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travellers have often been categorised based on their purpose of travel and their use of accommodations. This study focuses on the non-VFR category defined by these two factors and on the investigation of ‘hidden VFR travellers (HVFRs)’ in the non-VFR category. A total of 500 Japanese participants who met their friends or relatives in five major English-speaking destinations completed an online survey. Using the two criteria, 164 were categorised as VFRs, whereas the others were grouped into the non-VFR category. Among the non-VFR travellers, there was a group that shared similar characteristics with the VFR travellers. The result implies that there are HVFRs in the non-VFR category. To expand the current understanding and concept of VFR travellers, this study proposes an additional criterion for categorising VFR, namely, the influence of VFR hosts.

 

Key words

VFR market, Japanese traveler, Travel purpose, Accommodation, Behaviour, Host