Distance matters: the impact of physical and relative distance on pleasure tourists' length of stay in Barbados

Mahalia Jackman, Troy Lorde, Simon Naitram () and Tori Greenaway

Annals of Tourism Research, 2020, vol. 80, issue C

Abstract: This paper argues that length of stay is a reflection of the distance between the origin and destination country. Past interpretations of distance premised on spatial aspects. This study extends the dimensional space of distance to include socio-psychological dimensions, climate distance and economic distance. Our empirical analysis utilizes airport data covering over 350,000 pleasure tourists to Barbados from 144 countries. The results suggest that the length of stay of pleasure tourists to Barbados increases with geographic distance, cultural distance and climatic distance, but is inversely related to economic distance. We find no evidence that long-distance relationships (captured by transnational and diasporic relationships) affect tourist length of stay. Implications of these findings are provided.

Keywords: Length of stay; Distance; Tourism demand; Cultural distance; Climate distance; Linder's hypothesis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Working Paper: Distance Matters: The Impact of Physical and Relative Distance on Pleasure Tourists’ Length of Stay in Barbados (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:anture:v:80:y:2020:i:c:s0160738319301513

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2019.102794

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