17 Aug 2017
Vicky Story publishes in the Annals of Tourism Research (ATR)
CSM Associate Director Professor Vicky Story has had her article "Social tourism and self-efficacy: Exploring links between tourism participation, job-seeking and unemployment” (with Konstantinos I. Kakoudakis & Scott McCabe) published in the 4* journal Annals of Tourism Research (ATR).
Social tourism is assumed to provide important psychological benefits for economically and socially disadvantaged populations. The purpose of this study is to examine empirically whether these individual benefits are associated with socioeconomic benefits to society by focusing on unemployed individuals.
The main findings from mixed methods data can be summarised as follows. Holidays create enabling environments, which bring about positive changes in participants’ self-efficacy, contributing to positive effects on their job search behaviour. Positive effects are also identified with regard to behaviours towards alternative paths to employment, such as volunteering.
Given that these behavioural changes comprise major determinants of reemployment, it is suggested that social tourism may hold potential for incorporation into existing unemployment policies.
