Tourism experiences through the eyes of a child

Children are viewed typically as unsophisticated or incompetent research respondents. We challenge these assumptions by collecting data directly from 39 children, aged 9 and 10 years, which captures how they experience their holiday destination through ‘real time’ recordings. The findings reveal that children like to be physically active, have freedom and safety to play and make new friends independently. Holidays represent time spent with family and offer an escape from everyday routines and environments. Conversely, children dislike bad weather and queuing in traffic, restaurants and attractions; journeys are spoiled by travel sickness. This paper makes a number of major contributions to existing research. It adds to our understanding of the physical and emotional proximity of tourism experiences within an age specific context. It explores children's views and opinions as articulated by themselves and not adult proxies. It provides ‘real time’ data on tourism experiences, rather than using recollections.