Permission to Rebel: A Critical Evaluation of Alcohol Consumption and Party Tourism

Abstract

There is increasing societal worry about the long and short-term medical implications of binge drinking. There is also societal and fiscal concern about the impact that the rowdy carnivalesque behaviours engendered by the heavy drinking expected during a party tourism holiday has upon both the tourist and the local community. Therefore, a multi-disciplinary analysis of extant literature relating to the party tourism phenomenon and the consumption of excess alcohol which identifies gaps in current knowledge is timely. Reviewed from a British tourist perspective, the party tourism enclave primarily hosts friendship and rites of passage groups, and stag and hen parties where a high alcohol consumption is an expected, if not compulsory, holiday behaviour. The authors go beyond sole recognition of excessive alcohol consumption in beach destinations using thematic analysis to assess the role of the communal enclave space, the power of place and representations of drinking to excess via media and holiday discourses. This is measured in the context of culturally (un)acceptable behaviours within different drinking groups according to demographics, peer group pressures, purpose of holiday and personal incentive to drink. This links to roles of social media, levels of risk tourists are willing to take, memories of holiday drinking experiences, the role the hospitality and tourism industry in promoting alcohol consumption and levels of governance and policing within the party tourism destination. Recommendations are made for future empirical research to inform policy and practice within party and nightlife destinations.