Vacations and the quality of life: Patterns and structures

The growing frequency of vacation travel in the developed world has ensured that tourism is seen as an essential element of the quality of life. A cross-comparative analysis of tourism consumption indicates substantial differences in tourism consumption and the structural position of vacations as a social right between nations. Higher levels of vacation entitlement and consumption in Europe can be linked to corporatist or social democratic welfare regimes that recognize tourism consumption as a social right. In the United States and Japan, however, move liberal welfare regimes are linked to lower vacation entitlements and greater inequalities in distribution of income and/or leisure time. The resulting differences in vacation time availability are reflected in time-intensive tourism consumption patterns in Europe, and money-intensive consumption patterns in the United States and Japan. With increasing liberalization, however, there are signs that these international differences are beginning to narrow. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.