Motorcycle Tourism: The long ride towards an academic field of research – a literature review

The contribution at hands aims on providing a rough overview on almost 20 years of academic research emerging in the field of so-called motorcycle tourism. From the early beginning of academic contributions when motorcycling was perceived as a “gangs-thing”, as a field of ethnographic studies. To the days when motorcycling was accepted as a general leisure activity and consequently became a part of drive tourism research. The focus of motorcycling as a drive tourism form also contributed to a growing interest in the field of business and tourism studies, as it defined a new paradigm for the field, which still prevails today. “The major change in the global self-drive markets is a shift from the car as a form of least-cost transport towards the use of a variety of self-driven vehicles that add value to the tourism experience” (Carson & Schmallegger, 2011, p. 364). Following the historical perspective, the second section of the article outlines the ongoing diversification of research fields around motorcycling tourism in recent years including studies on interest and motivations of motorcycle tourists, target group segmentations, or impact studies on destinations, which might indicate motorcycle tourism becoming an emerging field of tourism research. The final section provides an outlook of possible topics of the near future.