Air Transport – A Tourism Perspective

Chapter 3

Reasons for Flying

Frédéric Dobruszkes*; David Ramos-Pérez^†; Jean-Michel Decroly*    * Free University of Brussels (ULB), Brussels, Belgium^† University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

Abstract

This chapter proposes an overview of the reasons for flying that alternates between a focus on empirical material and methodological issues. Information gathered shows that leisure—defined here as holiday and visiting friend and relatives—is the dominant purpose of flying. This puts the alleged dominance of business travel into perspective, at least in terms of number of passengers carried. However, common statistics mask the fact that there are often multiple, combined reasons for flying. In addition, flying purposes vary across places, subject ...