Acceso usuarios
Monserrat Iglesias
The student who travels abroad to learn a foreign language will be using several services provided by the tourism industry and may undertake a number of tourist activities. Language travel is a healthy sector, a sound service industry involving a wide range of stakeholders, from language learning providers to travel principals. In the past, the main focus of an overseas language trip package used to be on language learning. Accommodation, pick-up service, insurance, weekend excursions and extra activities were not the core of the business for travel advisors. Nowadays customers are more demanding and have higher expectations regarding other components of the package they buy. In short, they look for full study experiences abroad. This paper will offer a conceptualization of what constitutes language tourism and the language tourism market system, both in terms of the users who benefit from the experience and the product itself. From the demand perspective, a number of features such as language tourists’ demographic aspects, travel behaviour, motivations and perceptions will be explored. On the other hand, an overview of what the language tourism supply consists of will be provided, including its primary components, i.e. language learning and travel elements. The marketing and management structures involved in designing, marketing and distributing the language tourism product will also be included, as well as the environmental and social resource base where it is developed. Future lines of research and steps forward will be presented.
