Asian Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research 2(1) 60 VFR Travellers – Visiting the Destination or Visiting the Hosts?

Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) Travel represents a large and significant component of tourism. Despite this, VFR Travel has been largely ignored by marketing practitioners, and has remained under-researched in many domains. VFR Travel tends to be overlooked in marketing campaigns because travellers have been regarded as individuals who cannot be influenced because of their perceived minimal economic impact. However, VFR travellers are not always attracted solely by the hosts. The attractiveness of the destination can also have an influencing role on VFR trips. While little research has been done to examine these issues, this paper utilizes a whole tourism systems model to examine linkages between VFR tourists and destination regions. Comparative analysis compares VFR research undertaken in two different regions in Australia. This approach shows that VFRs are often influenced to embark on VFR trips because of the attractiveness of a destination. As such, while any region can attract VFRs because of the hosts, the attractiveness of a region as a tourist destination can influence the length of stay of visitors and as such, enhance the impact of VFR Travel on a local economy