Social Tourism: Tourism Students’ Perception of the Phenomenon

The purpose of this paper is a presentation of the phenomenon of social tourism; its definition, different interpretations and models are presented; social tourism beneficiaries and the positions of social tourism in different societies, socio-economic impacts and benefits that social tourism brings for individuals and society are also revealed. An empirical study of tourism students’ perception towards social tourism was conducted in order to understand whether their understanding and attitudes toward the phenomenon change through educational intervention. The objective of the study was to identify whether a short educational course could influence tourism students’ perception and attitudes toward the social tourism phenomenon. In our experiment, although a better understanding of the non-commercial character of social tourism and its social goals and aims was indicated after the short educational course, students still displayed a prevailing orientation towards the business aspects of social tourism. From the tourism students’ perspective, social tourism is primarily perceived as a promising market niche and opportunity for future tourism development.