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Impacts of Family Tourism on Families’ Quality of Life – Differences According to the Family Economic Profile

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Best Practices in Hospitality and Tourism Marketing and Management

Part of the book series: Applying Quality of Life Research ((BEPR))

Abstract

Tourism plays a significant role in our lives and is increasingly becoming associated with Quality of Life (QOL). Tourism offers opportunities to explore new environments, participate in new activities and to meet people as well as relax. While the effects of tourism on the QOL of individuals are nowadays recognized, the effects of family tourism upon families’ QOL are relatively blurred. This neglect is more worrying insofar as it is known that family tourism represents a significant share in the tourism market globally. This study aims to overcome this gap by analysing the effects of family tourism on some dimensions of families’ QOL, using survey data collected from a sample of Portuguese families (N = 825). Moreover, we explore whether the impacts of family tourism on families’ QOL vary across the economic profile of families. This study is of utmost relevance given that families with low income represent a significant share of the Portuguese population nowadays. The results reveal significant effects of family tourism on family cohesion and on the improvement of families’ QOL. The effects differ between families, with families with scarce economic resources being those that feel the effects with greater intensity. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the implications of the results for the design of family tourism experiences and also identifying paths for future research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Groups of schools or School groupings are “defined as organisational entities with their own powers of administration and management at pre-school or compulsory level around a common pedagogical project” (Ministry of Education 2007).

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the research unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policy (project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006939), funded by FEDER funds through COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) – and by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIDEHUS Research Unit, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal

    Joana Lima

  2. GOVCOPP Research Unit, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Joana Lima, Celeste Eusébio & Celeste Amorim Varum

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  1. Joana Lima
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  2. Celeste Eusébio
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  3. Celeste Amorim Varum
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Correspondence to Joana Lima .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Finance and Tourism, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain

    Ana María Campón-Cerro , José Manuel Hernández-Mogollón  & José Antonio Folgado-Fernández ,  & 

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Lima, J., Eusébio, C., Varum, C.A. (2019). Impacts of Family Tourism on Families’ Quality of Life – Differences According to the Family Economic Profile. In: Campón-Cerro, A.M., Hernández-Mogollón, J.M., Folgado-Fernández, J.A. (eds) Best Practices in Hospitality and Tourism Marketing and Management. Applying Quality of Life Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91692-7_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91692-7_14

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