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.

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Title

Expanding the concept of the VFR market: Excavating ¡®hidden VFR travellers¡¯

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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

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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

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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.

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Key words

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