Sustainable Growth of Social Tourism: A Growth Mixture Modeling Approach Using Heterogeneous Travel Frequency Trajectories

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Jooa Baek¹  Jaeseok Lee² 

[1] Doctor of Business Administration Program, Goldey-Beacom College, Wilmington, DE 19808, USA;Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao, China;

关键词: travel frequency trajectory;    growth mixture modeling;    latent growth curve modeling;    longitudinal data analysis;    sustainable social tourism;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph18105241

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

As travel activity has gained attention as one of the essential ways of understanding the sustainable growth of social tourism, a growing number of research projects have been conducted to elucidate the relationship between residents’ travel quantity (frequency) and quality (experience) in both macro and micro perspectives. Yet, very little research has highlighted that travel opportunities are not equally available to residents, especially a longitudinal perspective. The current study classified domestic travelers into four distinct classes using four years of longitudinal data from 5054 Korean residents. Latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) and growth mixture modeling (GMM) were employed to find out (1) the optimal number of classes, (2) the longitudinal travel frequency trajectory of each class, and (3) the distinctive demographic and travel characteristics of the four classes. This study provides some practical implications for policymakers when optimizing available resources for sustainable travel opportunities to relevant target sub-populations. Furthermore, detailed step-by-step analytic tutorials are also introduced for the extended application of longitudinal latent variable analysis in the tourism and hospitality fields, providing additional insights for relevant stakeholders.

【 授权许可】

Unknown