SOCIAL NETWORK APPROACH IN LEISURE AND TOURISM RESEARCH

Adopting the social network analysis is a recent development in leisure and tourism research. This study examines various themes of sociological approaches in leisure and tourism research including the social groups model, social worlds of leisure, the voluntary sector perspective and the perspective of leisure collectives and introduces the social network analysis which has advantages in its approach to recreationists or tourists behavior over the other sociological approaches. The social network analysis has been suggested as an useful and effective approach in leisure and recreation settings. This study suggests that the same approach can be effectively used in tourism settings and that the social network approach is a promising approach for better understanding of the tourists behavior. Some potential areas for application of the social networks model in tourism research are suggested.