Focusing on academic tourism: demographics, behaviours and impacts

Abstract

Academic tourism refers to travel activities in higher education contexts. This study has focused on the University of Barcelona (Spain) as an outbound market for international academic tourism. Three specific objectives were set to investigate the demographic profile of outgoing students, their tourist behaviour, and the impacts of their academic mobility. This mixed methods exploratory research entailed conducting a survey among a convenience sample of 70 outgoing students, whose responses were processed through descriptive and inferential SPSS statistical analyses. Additionally, a virtual focus group took place with 3 outgoing students and 3 members of staff from higher education international offices. Content analysis was carried out by means of QDA Miner Lite. The main results indicate that the major push factor was personal growth, followed by the search for new experiences, and linguistic-cultural development, while the principal pull factors were the local language, culture, and tourist attractions. Students mostly stayed at residence halls and rented apartments, used external catering services two or three times a week, and public transport was frequently used. Cultural, nightlife, and gastronomic activities were prioritised. For the majority, monthly expenditure on accommodation ranged between €200 and more than €800. Other additional expenses exceeded €200 for approximately half of our respondents, and nearly a third received some institutional financial support. Study-abroad sojourns enhanced students’ autonomy, self-confidence, responsibility, self-knowledge, tolerance, open-mindedness, and knowledge of the local culture. The international mobility experience predominantly met and even surpassed the participants’ previous expectations. In conclusion, our findings support the presumed sustainability of academic tourism in comparison to mass tourism. However, the limited representativeness of the sample must be acknowledged, so this study should be considered as a first step towards future expanded investigations.