Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.4 International Students and VFR Tourism
2.4.3 VFR tourism of international students
When migrants move to a new country and establish their new lives there, tourism could be stimulated through visits by friends and relatives in both directions (Dwyer et al., 2014). This suggests the generation of both inbound and outbound VFR travel by international students. VFR tourism is often generated by having family and friends as the hosts. However, if these hosts are short-term migrants in the destination, they can be ‘guests’ themselves, illustrating one dimension of the blurred boundary between the host and guest roles, which also has an effect on the host–guest relationship (Janta et al., 2015 – and see Section 2.3.3, above). International students, with a fixed period of time in the host country, can be considered short-term immigrants and play the roles of both VFR hosts and guests.
International students’ contribution to VFR tourism is expressed in several ways.
First, they are potential VFR travellers themselves, because visiting friends and relatives is often mentioned as one of the main purposes for international students’
travels (Kim & Jogaratnam, 2003; Payne, 2010; Ryan & Zhang, 2007). Second, international students can act as a pull factor that motivates friend and family visits, by being both the reason for visits and providing the role of hosts. International students may receive VFR visits during and following their enrolment, with many receiving family visits several times per year (Liu & Ryan, 2011; Shanka & Taylor, 2003; Taylor et al., 2004). Hence, the influence of international students upon the generation of VFR visitors is a recognised contribution to the tourism industry.
Moreover, research has shown that recommendations from international students influence their families’ and friends’ choice of activities and attractions to visit (Lockyer & Ryan, 2007).
Another aspect of international students’ contribution to VFR tourism is a high possibility of them making return visits for various reasons including leisure, VFR,
and business (Shanka & Taylor, 2003; Weaver, 2003). For instance, Shanka and Taylor (2003) suggested that once graduated and returned to their home countries, the international students’ propensity to visit Australia is high, particularly in returning for a holiday or to visit friends and relatives. Accordingly, international students not only present immediate market opportunities, but also in the future as return visitors.
The period before international students start their education in the host country, however, has received little attention from researchers. Travelling to a potential destination for overseas study gives prospective students a preview of what they might experience and so, potentially, influences their choice of study destinations.
According to Marriott et al. (2010), international students face many kinds of stress, including acculturative stress (culture shock), language barriers, and lack of supportive social networks. In such cases, travelling to visit friends and relatives can potentially contribute to social satisfaction and well-being. Accordingly, these could be some of the motives for international students to undertake VFR tourism.
However, such motivation has not been studied in detail. Glover (2011) also indicated that little emphasis has been placed on international students’ personal links and their study abroad experiences, such as their prior visits to study destinations, having friends and relatives living in the destination, or having friends and relatives who have previously studied in the destinations.
Many studies have shown that international students choose their study destination because they have friends and relatives there (Collins, 2008). This increases the likelihood of international students being involved in VFR tourism. Williams, Chaban, and Holland (2011) argued that individuals could be motivated to participate in VFR tourism by the need for emotional support and to enhance family relationships. Participation could also partly be explained by the opportunity VFR tourism presents in facilitating tourism experiences for friends and family (Frändberg, 2014). This shows a strong link between international students and their consequential VFR travels, as well as the sociocultural significance of these travels to them.
The extent of engagement by international students in VFR tourism may differ between the VF and VR categories. As an observation, on short breaks, VFR trips have been found to be mainly to friends rather than relatives (Seaton, 1994; Seaton &
Tagg, 1995). With international students whose families are usually not in the study country, and whose timeline within the study country is often restricted by, and
dependent on, their course of study, the VF category seems more relevant. In such cases, friends could play a meaningful role in international students’ social experience while these students are far away from their families. Zátori et al. (2019) also found a higher tourism motivation among VF travellers, which suggests the likelihood of them participating in tourism activities during their VF trips. The category of VF tourism of international students and its impacts on their experiences in the host country deserves more investigation.
Understanding the role of friends generally, and the impact of VF tourism experiences on international students’ sociocultural adaptation in particular, is important for several potential practical implications. For students, such understanding equips them with an additional perspective as to how they may use their VF tourism experiences to influence their adaptation in the study destination, and potentially their overall overseas study experiences in a favourable way. For education providers, this same knowledge may enable them to develop suitable strategies to attract students and contribute to enhancing their overall experiences during the course of their study. The focus on the VF category should also contribute to the investigation of the disaggregation of VFR.
In general, international students’ participation in VFR tourism could be of considerable value to both the tourism and the education sectors. Reasons given for this include their length of stay at the study destination that could potentially attract visits from friends and relatives, and their associated VFR travel and expenditure.
These make international students a suitable group for research about the phenomenon of VFR tourism. In particular, by focusing specifically on international PhD students, the current thesis not only addresses the heterogeneity of VFR participants, but also potentially the impact of levels of education and study on patterns of VFR tourism. Moreover, compared to the economic benefits, the sociocultural aspect of the VFR phenomenon has received much less attention in the relevant literature. Hence, by investigating the impact of domestic VF tourism experiences on the sociocultural adaptation of international PhD students (the third research question), the current thesis also adds to the understanding of this aspect.