Two case studies exploring the nature of the tourist's experience

The reconstructions of two U.S, tourists who visited Britain were used to explore the utility of Kelly's Personal Construct Theory (PCT) for better understanding the nature of tourists' experiences. Data were gathered from five structured interviews with each respondent, spaced over an eight month period. A series of four repertory grids were developed with each respondent, aided by the PLANET software package. These were used to identify shifts in constructs attributable to the vacation. Results from the testing of four hypotheses indicated the extent to which each individual's vacation could be described as experience.