Travel and life: A developmental perspective on tourism consumption over the life course

In contrast to existing studies which tend to examine a unidirectional relationship between tourism and life, this research is a stride toward understanding how travel and life inform and shape each other during one's life course. Drawing on Erikson's stages of psychosocial development and going beyond cross-sectional designs, this study utilized biographical interviews with 25 U.S. residents to capture the mutual relationship between tourism and life course. Both longitudinal cross-case and within-case analyses were conducted, bringing to life the functions that travel fulfils at each of Erikson's developmental stages. This study is novel in that it illustrates how travel is made sense of in the context of life and how life is made sense of in travel. It marks a theoretically meaningful addition to the existing studies, attesting to the importance of a life course perspective on the travel/life spectrum. Practical ramifications and future research agenda are discussed.