BEHAVIORAL CONCEPTUALIZATION OF TOURISM AND LEISURE

Understanding the conceptual relationships between tourism and leisure is important, particularly if tourism is considered a ''special'' form of leisure. The paper begins with behavioral conceptualizations of tourism and leisure, followed by a comparative behavioral analysis of tourism and leisure, then an examination of social theoretical accounts of the two fields. It argues that tourism is not a special form of leisure and that differences in social theoretical analyses of tourism and leisure might result from different research ideologies. Finally, the article concludes with the presentation of a behavioral synthesis of the two fields, along with identification of areas for future research.