TRAVELLING COMPANIONS: a CONSTRAINT ANALYSIS of PET OWNERS in TURKEY Sebahattin Emre Dileka,*, Nur Kulakoğlu Dilekb, David A
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PEER-REVIEWED RESEARCH ARTICLE 2020, 2(1): 4-13 https://toleho.anadolu.edu.tr/ FACULTY OF TOURISM TRAVELLING COMPANIONS: A CONSTRAINT ANALYSIS OF PET OWNERS IN TURKEY Sebahattin Emre Dileka,*, Nur Kulakoğlu Dilekb, David A. Fennellc aDepartment of Tourism and Hotel Management, School of Tourism and Hotel Management, Batman University, Batman, Turkey. ORCID: 0000-0001-7830-1928 / e-mail: [email protected] bDepartment of Tourism and Hotel Management, School of Tourism and Hotel Management, Batman University, Batman, Turkey. ORCID: 0000-0002-2115-301X / e-mail: [email protected] cDepartment of Geography and Tourism Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Brock University, Ontario, Canada ORCID: 0000-0002-7256-1152 / e-mail: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: This research aims to explore the constraints that pets have on tourist travel, as well as the influence of these barriers on owners’ intentions of taking pets with them as travel companions. In this study, the scale developed Pets by Chen, Peng and Hung (2014) was used as a data collection tool. The sample area included Turkey’s three Pet-related tourism largest cities in terms of the population: Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. This is the first study in this field in Constraints Turkey. The responses of 393 Turkish pet owners were examined through exploratory factor analysis. The Turkey results revealed three dimensions of pet-related tourism constraint which are specific, interpersonal and structural. In addition, contraints were determined to negatively affect owners’ previous travel experience in having pets included in tourist activities. 1. Introduction Chen et al. (2014) emphasized that pet owners Human beings and animals have been living have gone to touristic activities with their animals together to share the world, building multi- and these pet owners are ready to spend money dimensional relationships since the creation of on their pets. In reference to dogs alone, Carr and Cohen (2009) argue that although there is a strong relationship has been revealed throughout history, desire among dog owners to go on holiday with their theacross world. cultures, The significanceand in recent of theresearch human-animal (Walsh, pets, this desire is relatively low. As such, there are 2009). In addition to this, pets play a more important role in humans’ lives as close companions that break or constrain pet owners’ decision such as extra cost the traditional view of human-animal relations (Carr embeddedthat owners pet-related need to come tourist through factors before that andinfluence while & Cohen, 2009). participating in these tourist activities. It is not fully Pets refer to animals domesticated and cared for known what these constraints are in tourism, but a by their owners, as well as those with which the multitude of studies in Western and non-Western owners have emotional bonds (Serpell, 2003; Chen, Peng & Hung, 2013). For many people, the pets For example, even though there is an increase in they feed and care about are considered to be the contextsthe general would concern help tofor fill the in someenvironment of these in gaps. tourist members of the nuclear family. Because of this strong practices, this does not guarantee that the rights bond between human and non-humans, people and welfare of individual animals will be considered have a natural inclination to take their pets on their (Hughes, 2001; Fennell, 2012b; Fennell, 2013; Gunlu holidays. According to the 2019-2020 National Pet Kucukaltan & Dilek, 2019). In this regard, this study Owners Survey conducted by American Pet Products Association (APPA), 84.9 million homes own a pet owners’ decisions when getting pets as travellers (67% of the U.S. households), an increase of 56 aimsto participate to scrutinize in tourist the factors activities that in influenceTurkey. Itpet is percent since 1988, and about 37% of pet owners hoped to identify the problems that pet owners travel with their pets every year (APPA, 2019a). have regarding their pet-related tourist activities. Although tourism has traditionally been considered humans (Ivanov, 2018), there has been an increase An associated aim is to predict*Corresponding the difficulties Author. in the importancean activity of non-humans specifically in reservedtourism andfor Received 29.03.2020; Received in revised form 04.04.2020; Accepted 05.04.2020 This article is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. leisure and tourism needs or desires (Carr, 2009). e-ISSN: 2687 - 3737 / © 2020 The Authors. Published byAnadolu University. leisure experience in view of changing figures in Travelling Companions: A Constraints Analysis of Pet Owners in Turkey and obstacles experienced by pets during their to spend money on their pets as travel companions, participation in travel and tourist activities. and such a decision might have a positive or negative 2. Literature Review & Peng, 2011). 2.1. Background of the Study influenceSince the on 1980s, owners’ leisure travel scholars experiences have (Chen,noticed Hung that In the interaction between humans and animals, leisure activities are affected by several barriers pets are an important starting point. Although (Witt & Goodale, 1981; Crawford & Godbey, 1987; animals have physical presence and identity, Samdahl, 1991), and this research evolved quite humans have attributed a cultural identity to them. quickly into a focus on leisure constraints. One The lives, personalities, meanings and values of animals depend largely on people. When animals are contextualised a whole series of constraints the object of our gaze, at zoos or aquarium or when ofalong the with first thebooks areas on of the biology, topic psychology,by Wade (1985) socio- traveling with our animal companions, we often economics, and life cycles. Perhaps most active in consider them with the aid of a mirror pointed not the early stages of leisure constraints research was at the animal object but rather at ourselves (Berger, Jackson who provided depth and diversity into 1980). Since they cannot explain their thoughts to us, this theme of leisure research, which dominated we impose our comments on their worlds. (Fennell, leisure studies research in the 1990s. Jackson wrote 2012a). In this study, pets as companion animals on trends in leisure preference and alternative considered travellers and their limitations in terms of constraints (1990); antecedent constraints (ibid.); participation in tourism are examined in accordance internal homogeneity of constrained leisure (1991); with their owners’ opinions. Pet is any animal kept change and stability in leisure constraints (Jackson by human a very broad spectrum of animal species. & Witt, 1994), as well as the development of a Not only common companion animals such as dogs, hierarchical model of leisure constraints (Crawford, cats, but also less common mammal species, such Jackson & Godbey, 1991). One of the most important contributions in experience, are considered within this scope. (Leggat the leisure constraints literature is the study as& Speare,reptiles 2000).and fish, The which theoretical may be partpremise of the used travel to by Crawford and Godbey (1987) because it explain the willingness or need of people to travel proposed three types of constraints: intrapersonal, with their pets is attachment theory. interpersonal and structural constraints – through a In its earliest application, the concept of rigorous integration of previous literature that has attachment was used to conceptualise child-parent been widely used by other scholars (see Chen, Hung relationships in a variety of settings such as the & Peng, 2014). In recent years, Gilbert and Hudson separation between parent and child during the (2000), Nyaupane, Morais and Graefe (2004), White, formative years of school (Ainsworth, Blehar, Thomas, Johnston and Hyde (2008), Nyaupane and Waters, & Wall, 1978). As the literature on human- Andereck (2008), and Hung and Petrick (2010) animal relationships progressed, attachment theory have all applied this typology. These studies further was used as a framework to examine the strong developed the constraints model and made it more relationships that evolve between humans and their robust (Chen et al., 2014). In the review of work by pets (Zilcha-Mano, Mikulincer & Shaver, 2011; see Miller and Howell (2008), Carr and Cohen (2009), also Cohen, 2002). Hultsman (2012), and Chen et al. (2014) on having Throughout the twentieth century, the rapidly pets accompany tourist and leisure activities, we increasing number of pets and the importance of their roles in human life have led many scholars to present study. The following section discusses the wonder how this changes human decision making find it logical to apply this typology within the and behavior (Miller & Washington, 2013). When the following sections. examining and predicting how pet owners treat their 2.2.approach Studies and on Pet-Relatedfindings of Tourismthe studies mentioned in pets, researchers have remarked the importance of emotional attachment among pets and pet owners Pets as a part of social life have become an (Chen, 2018). As pointed out by Albert and Bulcroft important factor both in travels of pet owners, (1988), the reason why pets have been seen as leisure activities and participation in tourism. It family members (Herzog, 2010; 2011), while playing an emotional and psychological role in many urban parties to specify whether pet owners will plan to istake significant their pets