This talk at the TEFI conference focused on global citizenship and social inclusion through a tourism lens. In particular, it discusses poverty of tourism opportunities in affluent societies such as the UK.

1. Well-
Being
Tourism
Global
Citizenship
Welcome

2. The cultural aspect of class has so far largely been ignored, perhaps
because it is a broad yet subtle concept that can be difficult to
measure.
The problem is, if we don’t measure it, we can’t know how important it
is and how much it influences people’s chances in life.
The Great British Class Survey (conducted by the BBC in 2011) was
designed to include questions to develop detailed measures of
economic, cultural and social capitals. Its questions on cultural capital
asked about people’s leisure interests, tourism participation, musical
tastes, use of the media, and food preferences.

3. PRECARIAT: The
poorest and most
deprived class in
Britain. With low levels
of economic, cultural
and social capital,
everyday life for these
people, constituting
15% of the UK
population, is
precarious.
ELITE: This is the most
privileged class in Britain. With
high levels of all three types of
capital, their high amount of
economic capital sets them apart
from everyone else at 6% of the
population.
ESTABLISHED MIDDLE
CLASS: Not quite elite but
members of this class have
high levels of all three capitals.
They are a gregarious and
culturally engaged class at
25% of the population.
Graphic from The Independent, 4 April 2013
Data based on Savage, M., et al. (2013) A New Model of Social Class? Findings from the BBC’s Great British Class Survey Experiment, Sociology, doi:
10.1177/0038038513481128.
TRADITIONAL
WORKING
CLASS: Contains
more older
members than
other classes but
also scores low
on all forms of the
three capitals.
They are not the
poorest group
and form 14% of
the population.
TECHNICAL MIDDLE
CLASS: a small,
distinctive new class
group (6%) which is
prosperous but scores
low for social and cultural
capital. Distinguished by
its social isolation and
cultural apathy.
NEW AFFLUENT
WORKERS: a young class
group (15%) which is
socially and culturally
active, with middling levels
of economic capital.
EMERGENT
SERVICE
WORKERS: a new,
young, urban group
(19%) which is
relatively poor but
has high social and
cultural capital.

4. PRECARIAT
Household
Income: £8k
Savings: £800
Social Contact
Score: 29.9
ESTABLISHED MIDDLE
CLASS
Household Income: £47k
Savings: £26k
Social Contact Score: 45
Adapted graphic from The Independent, 4 April 2013
Data based on Savage, M., et al. (2013) A New Model of Social Class? Findings from the BBC’s Great British Class Survey Experiment, Sociology, doi:
10.1177/0038038513481128.
TRADITIONAL
WORKING
CLASS
Household
Income: £13k
Savings:
£9.5k
Social
Contact
Score: 41.5
TECHNICAL
MIDDLE CLASS
Household
Income: £47k
Savings: £65k
Social Contact
Score: 53
NEW
AFFLUENT
WORKERS
Household
Income: £37
Savings: £5k
Social Contact
Score: 38
EMERGENT
SERVICE
WORKERS
Household
Income: £21k
Savings: £1k
Social Contact
Score: 38
ELITE
Household
Income: £89k
Savings: £142k
Social Contact
Score: 50

5. Standing, G. (2011). The Precariat: The New
Dangerous Class. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

6. 'Participation in civil society, community and/or political life,
characterised by mutual respect and non-violence and in
accordance with human rights and democracy' (The European
Commission cited in Hoskins 2006).
http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk

7. It is important that social exclusion and inclusion
are not considered as a dichotomy: one is
normally not totally excluded or included.
Lareau, A. & McNamara Horvat, E. (1999), Moments of Social Inclusion and
Exclusion: Race, Class, and Cultural Capital in Family-School Relationships,
Sociology of Education 72 (1), pp. 37-53.
Exclusion &

8. Social inclusion embraces economic
resources & social relationships...
For example, lone mothers are at particular risk
of economic inactivity and low income. In 2008,
58% of lone mothers in the UK with at least one
child aged under 5 were economically inactive
compared with 34% of equivalent married or
cohabiting mothers.
33% of all children in UK lone parent families live
in relative poverty.

9. 9
“...social inclusion extends beyond bringing the
‘outsiders’ in, or notions of the periphery versus the
centre. It is about closing physical, social and
economic distances separating people, rather than
only about eliminating boundaries or barriers
between us and them...” (Donnelly & Coakley, 2002,
p. ix).

10. http://research.dwp.gov.uk, 2012 & Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2011
Definitions of Poverty
• Having a household income below 60% of the
national average.
• Low income is only one indicator of poverty and it
can also be measured subjectively
by one’s own perceptions,
consumption needs, relationships
and levels of social interaction and
political engagement.

11. Some questions
for you...

12. How many extra children are predicted to be
pushed into relative poverty in the UK during
2013-2014 as a result of the current welfare cuts?
50,000
100,000
200,000
500,000

13. How many extra children are predicted to be
pushed into relative poverty in the UK during
2013-2014 as a result of the current welfare cuts?
√
50,000
100,000
200,000
500,000
Brewer, M. and Joyce, R.
2010, Child and working age
poverty from 2010 to 2013,
London. Institute for Fiscal
Studies

14. How many of the UK’s 11.7 million children and
their parents cannot afford an annual holiday?
1 million
2.5 million
7 million
9 million

15. How many of the UK’s 11.7 million children and
their parents cannot afford an annual holiday?
√
1 million
2.5 million
7 million
9 million
Family Holiday Association
2010, fhaonline.org.uk.

16. What percentage of the UK’s 2 million lone parent
households cannot afford a week’s holiday?
20%
30%
50%
60%

17. What percentage of the UK’s 2 million lone parent
households cannot afford a week’s holiday?
√
20%
30%
50%
60%
Office for National Statistics 2013

18. As British society has
become more affluent since
World War Two there has
been little increase in the
number of people able to
take a holiday.
Instead demand for tourism
in the UK has remained
relatively stable at just over
half of the population; a
proportion which has
actually declined recently.
Morgan, N. & Pritchard, A. (1999) Power & Politics at the Seaside, Exeter University Press.

19. Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9806409/Nearly-a-third-of-Brits-cant-afford-to-take-a-holiday.html

20. Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
into subjective measures of poverty found
that an annual holiday away from home (not
staying with relatives) was considered a
necessity by 55% of respondents, but was one
of the activities most likely to be curtailed by
lack of money.
(For comparison, 56% classed a television as a
household necessity, and 71% a telephone).

21. Tourism policy & research do not have the same tradition
of addressing non-participation as sport or leisure.
• Tourism is such an integral component of modern lifestyles
that to be outside it is to be outside the norms of everyday life.
• Tourism provides opportunities for family members to spend
time together and spaces in which families seek to be ‘proper’
families.
• Non-participation in tourism makes a deep contribution to
exclusion that goes beyond the immediate experience of being
deprived of participation in these activities.

22. WCTR Tourism & Social Inclusion Projects
• WCTR hosts a research development group of the Welsh
Government-funded Older People and Ageing Research Network –
our active ageing, well-being and tourism research group. We also
recently completed a social tourism in later life project for the NBFA.
• We are jointly conducting a project focused on the tourism and
leisure needs and experiences of families of children with autism
with the UK charity Cerebra.
• Other projects examine: (i) the school summer holiday experiences
of lone parents in inner city London; (ii) the tourism experiences of
people with vision impairment; (iii) the benefits of tourism for
people with mild dementia; (iv) female migrant workers’ hospitality
employment experiences.

23. • Insight into the experiences of those who are unable to afford any
form of holiday away from home.
• Based on semi-structured interviews with 20 low-income parents
living in a deprived inner city area of London.
• The paper reveals that exclusion from tourism makes a
profound contribution to children’s
exclusion from everyday norms.
• The study also suggests there is a
trans-generational dimension to such
‘tourism poverty’ amongst the
most disadvantaged – the so-called
‘precariat’.

24. Inter-generational tourism poverty
“I mean I would love to take my children away,
it doesn’t have to be abroad, even in London,
but it is so expensive.
It is hard when you get these adverts on the TV;
you can go to Butlin’s for only £499. I thought I
don’t even have £4.99 let alone £499.”
Lydia

25. Filling summer days
“So it’s things like going to the cinema, going to
parks, maybe museums and things like that ‘cos
I can’t really afford to go away on holiday as
such…
So that’s what I tend to try and do but it has to
be things that aren’t going to be too expensive
obviously because I just haven’t got the money
for it.”
Gemma

26. Missing out
It makes me ... feel sad ... because when the other kids all meet
up and [they] say we have done this, and we have done that ...
and then you have got my kids that haven’t done half as much
as the other children.
They come back and it is hard, [they say] ‘well they done that
mummy’ and as I said because they have got two parents it
makes it easier because it is only ... [me and I’m short] of funds.
But I am very lucky because my children are very understanding
and if they ask me to buy them something and I say I don’t have
the money they won’t push the point, they will accept it, so on
that aspect I am very lucky with my children. Count my blessings.
Lydia

27. Dangerous neighbourhoods
Where I live there are ... a lot of alcoholics and
people who take drugs and sometimes they’re on the
stairs and for [daughter’s name] to come back up the
stairs I wouldn’t want her to have to pass them… you
go outside and some people have got wild dogs that
they don’t keep on the chain and the dogs are just
running all over the place.
One dog bit this little boy, really just bit him really
badly and I don’t think I could have that happen to
my daughter, I’d go mad.
Cara

28. • It has laid bare an impending pension crisis in Europe
and the US, which threatens to create a new generation
of impoverished older people (The Economist, 2008).
• Lord McFall, the chairman of the Workplace Retirement
Income Commission tasked with investigating the UK
pension crisis, has commented that almost three-
quarters of private sector staff will be unable to
“adequately exist” when they retire and that many
workers retiring after 2020 should expect a “bleak old
age.”
The current economic crisis impacting many of the
world’s affluent societies is not only affecting families.1 million +
pensioners say they
are often or always
lonely (Age UK, 2011)

29. 29
In partnership with the NBFA, we are exploring the value of
social tourism for people in later life.
As part of this partnership, we conducted participant-driven
interviews with older people during a social tourism trip to a
UK holiday village.
The study reveals that the holiday presented opportunities
for escape, respite, companionship and reflection.
The paper also discusses the role of tourism in enhancing
well-being in later life and sets out the case for greater
dialogue between tourism management and social policy.
Tourism and Well-Being in Later Life: The Value of Social Tourism Initiatives for Older People, in review.

30. 30
Our research argues for humanist, participatory approaches to the study
of tourism in later life. Such enquiry could engage older people,
foreground their voices and agendas and impact on their lives. Such an
agenda for tourism and ageing research could:
(i) complement existing approaches to gain richer insight into the lives
of older people;
(ii) actively engage older people in the research process, so that we
hear their voices and recognize their perspectives;
(iii) create more personalized accounts of tourism experiences in later
life that embody emotion, agency and individuality;
(iv) promote the social inclusion, human dignity and human rights of
older people.
Sedgley, D., Pritchard, A. & Morgan, N. (2010) Transforming Tourism & Ageing
Research, Annals of Tourism Research 38 (2), pp, 422-436.

31. Our study of social tourism in later life
Explores the financial, psychological and physical
barriers to holiday taking which older people face.
Reveals the mental and physical benefits of a
subsidised holiday and the ways in which they can
enable older people to better cope with everyday
adversity, illness and routine.
For these individuals their holiday evoked complex
feelings of trepidation, escape, respite and excitement
and for some, it presented opportunities for
companionship and new beginnings.

32. People in later life often have to deal with
significant challenges and life transitions
such as widowhood, physiological change
and increased frailty linked to poor health
and reduced socio-economic circumstances.

33. • “well I’ve left them all [my worries] behind and I sleep so
much better. In fact, I’ve had a better night’s sleep here
than I’ve had for months at home because I haven’t got
anything to worry about” (Mrs Wood).
• Mrs King: ‘Freedom… I’ve started a new life… It’s a new
world to me.’
• What am I getting out of this holiday? A great deal
actually ... it’s nice to be with other people because when
you lose your husband or your partner it’s a very strange
experience going into an empty house and being on your
own so that’s number one; also when you live alone,
sometimes you don’t always feel like cooking and it’s
very nice to be able to come away and have your meals
prepared so that’s another big bonus and also to meet
new people, see different places and a lot of benefits.

34. • At the beginning of this century most tourism
professionals were anticipating that the so-called
grey market would remain a highly profitable
segment and that the newly retired would continue
to follow in the footsteps of the current ‘golden’
boomer generation and enjoy even greater affluence
and health in their old age (WTO, 2001).
• Tourism managers and policy-makers need to
reappraise their understandings of older tourists as
market segments and reassess the role of tourism in
later life.

35. What percentage of people in the UK
have a disability?
5%
10%
20%
25%

36. What percentage of people in the UK
have a disability?
√
5%
10%
20%
25%

37. Disability
Poverty
Vulnerable to
poverty & ill-
health
Source: http://cripconfessions.com/archives/tag/oppression
Denial of
opportunities
for economic,
social & human
development
Deficit in
economic,
social & cultural
rights
Reduced
participation in
decision-making
and denial of
civil & political
rights
Social & cultural
exclusion &
stigma

38. 38
At the WCTR Victoria Richards has just completed her PhD which
critically analyses the tourism encounters of individuals with vision
problems and the positive impacts these can have on their
emotional well-being, as well as the challenges they encounter
whilst travelling.
She conducted 8 focus groups in partnership with four social and
support groups for people with visual impairment and has been
working closely with 6 families over 2 years to explore through
interviews and diaries how they cope on holiday.
Their tourism experiences are discussed under the themes of:
embodied tourism encounters; inhospitable tourism spaces;
navigating tourism environments. The study is underpinned by a
research philosophy which promotes dignity, respect, equality and
social justice in and through tourism scholarship and practice.
Richards, V., Pritchard, A. & Morgan, N. (2010) (Re)Envisioning Tourism & Visual Impairment,
Annals of Tourism Research 37 (4), pp. 1097–1116.

39. ‘Lisa’ says: …if I … want to go on a plane I gotta have assistance,
I just can’t do that journey without assistance. I would never go
again, no I don’t want that stress, it’s that anxiety and fear of
how ‘do I do that journey again? Oh my God I’ve got to do this
coming back and I’m in a foreign country’.

40. Because my eyes look perfect in front they [i.e.
other people] don’t believe that I’m blind so
I’m getting that I don’t want to go out
sometimes, I don’t want to mix with anybody.
It doesn’t matter what disability it is, I feel as
if [it’s] “you there” when I go out with friends
or “we’ll put you in a corner”.
No I’m still Jackie underneath [voice is shaky
and emotional], give me back the eyes and the
ears, I’m still Jackie, I am a person and I don’t
want to be squashed and that’s why I’m
finding they tend to talk to you as if your
brain’s not working and I don’t like that.

41. Raymond Williams (1921–1988), Welsh academic, novelist and critic