What are future destinations if the exhausted ones on earth cannot meet the tourists’ need of their constant search for novelty anymore?

Consumer trends in tourism develop in many directions, one of them is based on the constant search for novelty and something more extreme. On 11th October 2009, Guy Laliberté, the seventh space tourist, returned to earth and this raises the question again if the final frontier for tourists is ultimately space. This article will not review the technological developments and potential innovations for the future but tries to explain the human desire on which space tourism is based.

When basic physiological needs, and then the need for safety, social belonging and also self-esteem are met, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs defines the highest level people can strive for as the need for self-actualisation and self-fulfilment. Many rich individuals in Western societies have reached this highest level. In order to distinguish themselves from the mass, “hedonic conspicuous consumption” (Cooper et al 2005:743) becomes crucial. This especially holds true for tourism.

Generally it can be said that an increasing number of tourists is „experienced, sophisticated and demanding“ (Cooper et al 2005:766) and thus always looking for new experiences. Holloway argues about that type of tourist that “however satisfied they might be with the former holiday, they will be unlikely to return to the same destination, but are forever seeking something more challenging, more exciting, more remote“ (Holloway 2006:70). This also explains the growing demand for long-haul trips to remote, unexplored and exotic destinations. As soon as the mass arrives at those new places, the upper-end of the tourists will turn towards new destinations again in order to “satisfy the search for status” (Holloway 2006:70). Because possibilities on earth are exhausted, the next frontier consequently has to be space.

The desire to travel to space is shared by the mass already. Most respondents of a research on public interest in different countries „would like to travel into space if they could“ (Crouch et al 2009:442). But the actual demand cannot be based on such research outcomes because the amount of people that share the desire for travelling to space is disproportionate to those who are able and willing to pay for it. While a hotel on the moon still remains more or less a dream, other space related adventures like sub-orbital flights, spaceflight trainings to experience zero-gravity are promising developments and realizable in the near future. But even if these experiences are less pricey than a trip in an actual space shuttle, space tourism is undoubted “unprecedentedly expensive“ and therefore “the highest value tourist destination” and its tourists form a “very elite group” (Tate 2006). Cater states that it is “undeniable that there is significant status gained by being able to engage in such a high profile adventure“ (2009:3).

Laliberté paid $35 million to the Russian Federal Space Agency (Moskowitz 2009b) for a 12-day trip and according to him the experience was “worth every penny” (Moskowitz 2009a). It has to be added that his purpose for the trip was to use the world wide attention to “create awareness toward the situation of water in the world” (op. cit.). Nevertheless, he as well as all other space tourists so far were billionaires. Is he different from the elite-class of tourists only because his ambition was officially humanitarian or might there still be an unconscious egoistic need for self-fulfilment and prestige?

Sources:

Cater, Carl Iain (2009) “Steps to Space; opportunities for astrotourism” in Tourism Management xxx (2009) 1–8

Cooper, Chris; Fletcher, John; Fyall, Alan; Gilbert, David & Wanhill, Stephen (2005) “Tourism: Principles and Practice” 3^rd edition. Pearson Education Limited, Essex

Crouch, Geoffrey I; Devinney, Timothy M.; Louviere, Jordan J.; Islam, Towhidul (2009) “Modelling consumer choice behaviour in space tourism” in Tourism Management 30 (2009) 441–454

Holloway, J Christopher (2006) “The Business of Tourism” 7^th edition. Pearson Education Limited, Essex

Moskowitz, Clara (2009a) “Circus Billionaire Says Space Trip Worth Every Penny” 06^th October 2009 (accessed 18^th October 2009) http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/091006-space-clown-settles.html

Moskowitz, Clara (2009b) “Billionaire Clown Lands After Space Mission” Space.com,  11^th October 2009 (accessed 18^th October 2009) http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/091010-exp20-landing-wrap.html

Tate, Paul (2002) “Space tourism: the final frontier” in the Mintel Report on Alternative Destinations – Global – February 2002