Team: Binru Liu & Yitong Han
Timeline
Yitong Han and I will be working together on the Final Major Project (FMP). The project will focus on the user experience of travel, with Yitong Han’s target group being young travellers and my target group being two generations (family travellers) in intergenerational travel.
We created a timeline for the FMP.
Findings
Before writing this blog, we did detailed secondary research on the travel field. I have read literature and reports on the tourism industry, family travel, intergenerational travel and user emotions. Finally, we shared and discussed the results of our individual findings.
The findings from the secondary research were as follows:
1. Intergenerational travel means that two generations travel together. The two generations here include parents and adult children, grandparents and grandchildren. Intergenerational travel is also a kind of family travel.
2. Because of the generation gap between older and younger people, negative emotions such as disappointment, embarrassment or frustration can occur during intergenerational travel.
3. Family travel can be effective in improving relationships between family members.
4. More and more people are choosing group travel as a way to relax. However, Covid-19 has had a significant negative impact on tourism and the experience of tourists has become poor.
5. The experience of travel exists in three aspects: Physical aspects, Social aspects, and Products & Services. The social aspects include the interaction with the social environment and other people on the trip. The pre-trip planning stage belongs to the social aspect. The travel experience is not only existed on the trip but is also reflected in the pre-trip planning stage and the post-trip recall stage.
6. The factors that influence tourist satisfaction: safety of travel, better infrastructure, destinations that provide interpretive and educational information for tourists.
7. The sustainability of intergenerational travel depends on empathic communication. The question of how to accept the memories of grandparents is one that young people need to face. Young people prefer to visit activities.
8. In family travel, travel decision-making is a complex process. If one person makes all the plans, it may result in some family members developing negative emotions. Therefore, it is important that every family member involved in the trip is given the opportunity to have a voice.
Design methodology
In following up, I will read more literature. We decided to use the Double Diamond Design Framework in the FMP because this design methodology has a clear workflow. In teamwork, each member should be clear about the objectives of the current phase of work. The Double Diamond Framework clearly states the work priorities for each design phase.
Reflection
In our previous research, we read a lot of literature and researched the tourism industry and tourist psychology. Reading literature is necessary in design work. Literature can help designers to understand the state of development of their research area and the issues that need to be solved within it. Making a clear timeline of work also helps designers to be more efficient, especially in long-term design projects. For me, if I don’t have a clear timeline in my work, then I may spend too much time on a particular design phase.
In the next stage, I will take part in an intergenerational travel as a user. I plan to observe the behaviour of older travellers during the trip and find out what factors influence their travel experience.
Reference
Albanese, A. and Bocci, E. (2019) ‘Intergenerational Sustainable Tourism and Quality of Life’, in Löbig, L. and Wendt, D. H., Brexit und der Finanzmarkt. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden (essentials), pp. 273–285. doi:10.1007/978–3–030–06022–0_18.
Cutler, S.Q. and Carmichael, B.A. (2010) ‘Chapter 1. The Dimensions of the Tourist Experience’, in Morgan, M., Lugosi, P., and Ritchie, J.R.B. (eds) The Tourism and Leisure Experience. Multilingual Matters, pp. 3–26. doi:10.21832/9781845411503–004.
Design Council (2019) ‘What is the framework for innovation? Design Council’s evolved Double Diamond’. Available at: https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/what-framework-innovation-design-councils-evolved-double-diamond (Accessed: 16 November 2021).
Durko, A.M. and Petrick, J.F. (2013) ‘Family and Relationship Benefits of Travel Experiences: A Literature Review’, Journal of Travel Research, p. 11.
Mancini, J.A., George, D.V. and Jorgensen, B.L. (2012) ‘Relational Tourism: Observations on Families and Travel’, in Uysal, M., Perdue, R., and Sirgy, M.J. (eds) Handbook of Tourism and Quality-of-Life Research. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 309–320. doi:10.1007/978–94–007–2288–0_18.
Plog, S.C. (2004) Leisure Travel: A Marketing Handbook. Pearson Prentice Hall.
Shahrivar, R.B. (2012) ‘Factors That Influence Tourist Satisfaction’, Journal of Travel and Tourism Research, p. 20.
