MKT00204 - Discussion Paper: Exploring Special Interest Tourists

This discussion paper delves into the concept of special interest tourism (SIT), differentiating it from mass tourism and highlighting its evolution. It explores the various types of special interest tourists, categorized by their motivations and desired experiences, including rewarding, enriching, adventure, and learning experiences. The paper emphasizes the importance of understanding these diverse tourist segments for effective market segmentation. It analyzes each type of experience, providing examples and demonstrating how special interests drive tourist behavior. Furthermore, the paper highlights the significance of stakeholders in special interest tourism and their responsibility towards the environment and community. The paper concludes by emphasizing the shift from mass tourism to SIT, and the importance of understanding the needs and interests of different tourist groups. The paper cites various academic sources to support its arguments, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the subject.

A Discussion Paper on Special Interest Tourists

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Discussion....................................................................................................................................................3
Rewarding experience.............................................................................................................................3
Enriching experience...............................................................................................................................4
Adventure experience.............................................................................................................................4
Learning Experience................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................5
Bibliography................................................................................................................................................6
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Introduction
Tourism is classified in two types- mass tourism and special interest tourism. This discussion
paper is to highlight the concept of Special Interest Tourism with its types and the stakeholders
attached to it. Special interest tourists are those tourists who are driven by special interests.
These interests are defined with subsequent accomplishment of some special experiences. The
interests are classified as experiences to reward, enrich, learning or adventure. (Education,
2019)This type of special interest tourism is also renamed with first letter of experiences, as
abbreviated form REAL to ensure the values of Reward, Enrich, Adventure and Learn. As these
are exclusive type of experiences, the numbers of special interests tourists are also not more.
Special interest tourists are defined as “travelers who visit a destination to pursue their special
interest in a particular region or destination (Read 1980, 195).”
Discussion
Rewarding experience
Special interest tourists, keen to avail rewarding experience, may tend to religious experience.
When a Christian visits Rome to see Pope from the balcony of Vatican, he would feel the reward
of spiritual accomplishment. This accomplishment sustains throughout the life. Any Hindu
visiting famous temple can have the same feeling of accomplishment which is always a life-long
experience for him. (Shinde, 2008) Similarly, when a sports lover travels to watch any sports
event like world cup soccer or Olympic Games to a distant country would also feel the
accomplishment of experiencing a special sports event, which is a life-long dream for the people
of interest. This feeling of rewarding is not defined as quantitative, but it is qualitative as it gives
immense mental reward for the tourists. (Magdalena Vasileiou, 2016)
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Rewarding experience gives human being mental accomplishment through tourism. This
experience can provide better state of mind for the person touring for some event or for any long
desired wish to fulfill by this type of special interest tourism.
Enriching experience
Special interest tourism can enrich human being through the returns provided by this tourism. If
the consideration persists in ethnic and rural tourism for any tourist, this can provide mental
accomplishment by visiting such places which contains such values. When a special interest
tourist goes for ethnic and rural tourism, he wants to experience the feeling of ground level
ambience through this tour. Ethnic and rural tourism can provide better feeling for the tourist to
be a person with rural and ethnic life style. This experience can never be provided with the
present life style of city dwellers. Hence the special interest to experience rural and ethnic life
style is preferred by a bunch of people who wants to refresh and evaluate their origin through
travelling. Health tourism is presently becoming more popular for certain class of people. Special
interest prevails for medical and ayurvedic treatment travelling to a place of its place of origin
can provide certain level of physical and mental freshness followed by healing up of old illness.
Presently this type of treatment is available in Kerala State of India, where global tourists come
to experience such treatment. This is an example of special interest tourist who can tour globally
for healing up their old illness. (Kattakayam, 2017)
Adventure experience
Adventure tourism is connected with human and natural resources and this is reckoned by both
private and public sector stakeholders. Hence it is obvious to maintain the balance of these
resources through its promotion and protection to ensure sustainable environment for the world.
As these assets are considered valuable for the stakeholders like local people, economy,
government and community, gradual awareness is increasing about these assets through
adventure tourism. It is also observed globally that without building new infrastructure, this
tourism is growing with the basic values and traditional knowledge of local community. They
use to extend their help for the tourists to ensure allied services required for this tourism in the
form of guiding and skill of interpretation. Adventure tourism has extended wings with types of
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newly defined tourism namely sustainable tourism, conservation tourism, responsible tourism,
pro-poor tourism, community based tourism, volunteer tourism, ecotourism and geo tourism. All
these types of tourism are allied to adventure tourism by their nature and output to the society.
Collaboratively, adventure tourism is consisting of all these tourisms, which adds value to the
local community and economy by their contribution to ensure long-term sustainability to the
environment and mankind. (Beckmann C, 2014)
Learning Experience
Learning is a never-ending process, which is continuing in nature. Learning generates from
diverse situation of life of an individual. Learning is considered as a motivation and driving
factor for tourists. The intense desire for learning enhances the knowledge-base of a tourist when
he takes on a tour. This learning generates through the route, the place of visit and the knowledge
that place normally extends through its value. There is enough scope of learning when an
individual travels and covers both planned and unplanned scopes. Learning experience ranges
from the action of interacting with local people or through the visit of a historic place. Although
learning experience is a continuous process with its complexity of nature, learning can be
explored with the interest of the tourist. Learning experience can be concluded with the concept
of examining with the available resources of learning. Learning experience from tourism is
explored through visit of museum or other place of interests or even through some known
activities of tourists like backpacking. But the scope of learning experience had not been
explored earlier in discrete sense. This learning is non-captive in nature and not compels the
stakeholders for some return. This learning is entirely the sole resource gained by the tourist with
his interest on the subject. (Christine M. Van Winkle, 2012)
Conclusion
Special interest tourists are different type of tourists to perform responsible duties to the
environment and the community. Present trend is to switch over to special interest tourism from
mass tourism. Mass tourism is stereo-type in nature with no value addition ensured. The
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stakeholders of special interest tourism know their duties and discharge with due sincerity for the
community and mankind, as a whole.
Bibliography
Beckmann C, M.N.P.N.S.K., 2014. Global Reprot on Adventure Tourism. Global reprot on adventure
tourism. Madrid: UNWTO World Tourism Organization.
Christine M. Van Winkle, K.L., 2012. Learning during tourism: the experience of elarning from the
tourist's perspective. Studies in Continuing Education, 34(3), p.340.
Education, A.D., 2019. Special Interest Tourism. [Online] (https://www.acsedu.co.uk/Info/Hospitality-
and-Tourism/Tourism/Special-Interest-Tourism.aspx) [Accessed 29 March 2019].
Kattakayam, J.J., 2017. Health Tourism in Kerala-Promises and Prospects. analytical report. Trivndrum,
Kerala, India: Centre for Gerontological Studies.
Magdalena Vasileiou, M.S.P.T., 2016. Wellness tourism: Integrating special interest tourism within the
Greek tourism market. Tourismos, 11(3), p.210.
Shinde, K., 2008. Religious Tourism: Exploring a New Form of Sacred Journey in North India. Melbourne,
Victoria, ustralia: Elsevier.
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