A cultural tourist exchange: how cultural perceptions, attitudes and habits affect the choice of tourist destination

Abstract: Prognoses and predictions for future tourists say that tourists will be veryspecific about where they want to go and what they want to see. New touristsare also demanding the opportunity to choose activities and they are lookingfor experiences. How come that some destinations are much more popular thanothers and what influences the choice of destination? This report is comparing Indian and Swedish tourist behavior based onperceptions, attitudes and habits. There is research about where Indians are travelling and what they like tosee but no research about why Indians travel to the destinations they do. Out of India's 1 billion population only 8.3 million made outbound trips in 2006. The number is however quickly increasing (by nearly 1 million per year) and estimates say that Indian outbound travellers might reach 50 million in 2020.The travel patterns for Swedish people seem to be following the trendsshowing an increasing interest for new, more exotic destinations with lessmass tourism. Swedish tourism with focus on cultural experiences and the exploding increase in Indian outbound tourism creates a possibility for the populations to participate in a cultural exchange. The report looks at how perceptions are affecting the choice of destinationand type of trip. How can people who are interested in an Indian-Swedishcultural exchange be characterized?Some of the more prominent characteristics for such a tourist are :'They require quite a lot in the form of certain types of tourism plant, inthis case high-end accommodation. Other types of tourism plant are lessimportant.'The Indian respondents are not too keen on going on adventurous trips.'Sharing cultural values is generally not too important and the sharing ofreligious views is the least important.'High-income respondents are more interested in participating in a culturalexchange'The socio-economic situation is most important when deciding a trip whilefamily and reference group influence is less important.'They travel less often with their family than the average Indian tourist.