 “Girlfriend getaway” as a contested term: Discourse analysisLiza Berdychevsky, Heather J. Gibson and Heather L. Bell Tourism Management, 2016, vol. 55, issue C, 106-122 Abstract: All-female leisure travel is a fast growing tourism market segment that is frequently called “girlfriend getaways.” This study explored the meanings associated with the “girlfriend getaway” term, using discourse analysis to understand the ways women build significance, activities, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign systems and knowledge with respect to it. Eleven focus groups and 15 individual interviews were conducted with 83 American and Canadian women. The analysis revealed that “girlfriend getaway” is a term with contested and polysemous meanings. While some women found it to be adequate, accurate, cute, and reflective of their all-female tourist experiences, others described it as stereotypical, narrow/claustrophobic, “pink,” inadequate, and unreflective of their experiences. At times, the same symbolic meanings attracted some women but alienated others. Thus, tourism marketers need to identify and engage with different strands within their female clientele to ensure that their strategies appropriately respond to various preferences and lifestyles. Keywords: Discourse analysis; Gender; Girlfriend getaways; Imagery; Stereotypes; Tourism advertising (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:touman:v:55:y:2016:i:c:p:106-122 DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2016.02.001 Access Statistics for this article Tourism Management is currently edited by Chris Ryan More articles in Tourism Management from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.