Does Destination, Relationship Type, or Migration Status of the Host Impact VFR Travel?

Abstract

Visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travel hosts play a key role in influencing the trip characteristics of their VFR travel parties and the decisions and activities within those travel parties. However, how those trips are shaped in terms of travel decisions and activities is not well understood. This is the first quantitative study examining the hosting of VFRs by examining how migration, relationship type (VF versus VR), and destination type impact the characteristics and activities of VFR travel parties. The objective was to examine the extent of influence of different characteristics of VFR hosts on individual VFR travel decisions and activities. Estimation models were developed and tested through regression analysis to examine the impact that the characteristics of hosts have on decisions and activities within VFR travel. Such findings have provided a systematic framework for examining the multifaceted role of VFR hosts. The generalisability of the estimation models developed and tested in this study can be replicated and adapted in future studies.