Consumer Tribes in Tourism: Contemporary Perspectives on Special-Interest Tourism

This book adopts a collectivist perspective on special interest tourism consumption, bringing together research on ‘special interest tourism’ and ‘niche tourism’ as well as more recent research into the interdisciplinary applications of the sociological concept of neo‐tribes. It promotes a shift in perspective away from special interest tourism understood as a sum of similarly motivated individuals, to a collective view of special interest tourists who share common characteristics (e.g., shared values, beliefs and mutual interests) and group structures. This approach provides a better understanding of groupings that are not unified by a common tourism motivation, but brought together by otherwise conditioned commonalities in actual behavior triggered by supply-side contexts (e.g., Airbnb). The book considers tourism micro‐segments as consumer tribes (i.e., as symbolic communities) in which individuals are embedded and loosely bound together.

As there is limited research on the collectivist perspective on special interest tourism consumption, in the first part the book’s conceptual/theoretical discourse contributes to a better understanding of ‘groupings’ in tourism behavior but also collectives that are not unified by a common tourism motivation. Presenting international examples, the book explores in Part 2 the group culture of a range of tourist tribes by describing emerging tourism micro-segments, identifying shared identities, and analyzing their collective mechanisms.

Professor Christof Pforr is Discipline Leader (Tourism, Hospitality & Events) and Course Coordinator for Tourism & Hospitality with the School of Marketing, Faculty of Business & Law, Curtin University (Western Australia).

Prior to joining Curtin University in 2003, Professor Pforr held academic positions at three other Australia universities and has been a Visiting Professor at universities in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Prof Pforr’s past and current research is inter- and multidisciplinary. In essence, his activities have concentrated on four interconnected research areas, sustainability, tourism public policy, destination governance and special interest tourism, all fields he has frequently published in. Professor Pforr has contributed to more than 150 publications (including 10 books) and numerous national and international research projects.

Professor Ross Dowling is Honorary Professor of Tourism in the School of Business & Law at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. He was appointed as the University’s Foundation Professor of Tourism in 2002 and he served in this capacity for 16 years until he retired from full-time work at the end of 2018. He now conducts research into ecotourism, geotourism and cruise ship tourism and has written or edited 16 books on these subjects. He is actively involved in the development of tourism and in Western Australia he is chair of Destination Perth and Vice President of Geoparks WA. For his contributions to tourism in Western Australia he has been awarded the Sir David Brand Medal recognising a life-time contribution to the industry. In addition he has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) and been made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his contributions to tourism at a national level.

Dr Michael Volgger is a Senior Lecturer with the School of Marketing at Curtin University in Western Australia where he is Co-Director of the Tourism Research Cluster. Michael holds a doctoral degree in Economics and Business Administration and a master’s degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology. His areas of expertise span questions of transformation and social coordination in tourism destination management, tourism product development and consumer behaviour. Particular interests include the sharing economy, responsible consumer behaviour, development of tourism atmospheres , the governance of the tourism supply side and social perspectives on tourist behaviour. He has been part of research teams which have received research grants in the range of AUD1 million in Europe and Australia and has published more than 60 academic articles and four books. Dr Michael Volgger has lectured on tourism and hospitality in Australia, Germany and Switzerland.