Participants' characteristics and economic benefits of visiting friends and relatives (VFR) tourism — an international survey of the literature with implications for Ghana

Abstract

Abstract This article surveys the literature on visiting friends and relatives (VFR) tourism, identifying and describing its variant forms and the main characteristics of participants. This characterisation involves a discussion on socio‐demographic and economic traits as well as travel characteristics of VFR trip makers. The study further reviews VFR tourism's economic contributions to destination areas with specific focus on foreign exchange earnings, local revenue mobilisation, multiplier effects of tourism expenditures and employment generation. This background review provides the basis for assessing the possibilities for developing a viable and sustainable VFR tourism in Ghana by highlighting and evaluating critical factors such as seasonality of VFR tourists inflows, income leakages, host and guest relationships, and destination image. Appropriate recommendations based on the above insights have been provided to enhance Ghana's competitive edge in the promotion of this tourism category. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.