Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The focus of this paper concerns the extent to which college study-abroad programs, particularly the short-term summer programs, have become not only a vehicle for personal development and self-realization but also an opportunity for consumption. Although consumption is an almost certain byproduct of travel, personal growth is a more problematic outcome. Tourists, including college students on study-abroad programs, often lack the skills and temperament that would favor their growth and self-realization. Drawing both on questionnaires that were administered to students traveling abroad to a variety of locations around the world both prior to and following their trips, and on several years of participant-observation experience with study-abroad programs, I inquired into the motives for travel and the experiences that students had while studying abroad. The findings demonstrated a significant difference in the meaning of their travel between students studying in Europe and New Zealand and those who traveled to less developed parts of the world. The key difference between the two groups is the far greater opportunities for consumption that students in Europe confront compared with those in Africa and Latin America. Study abroad in European locales is, in effect, a vehicle for the consumption of travel.