Expatriates’ learning: The role of VFR tourism

Abstract

Few studies exist which have explored the impact of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) on their host. Of these that have explored the impact on the host, only limited generalizable findings have been offered. The field of VFR has already been found to be misunderstood and under-represented in many areas. The influence on expatriate-hosts’ learning could be another one of these areas. The impact of VFR travel on expatriates has received almost no previous consideration, yet expatriates can and often do play host to visiting friends and relatives. A total of 3058 questionnaires were tested using Correlation and Multiple Regression from expatriates in Dubai, UAE. Results suggested that hosts learnt more from their visitor if their visitor was a relative, stayed with the host, was younger than the host, was more educated than the host, and, to a certain degree, if the visitor travelled to specifically to visit the host.