Motorcycle Tourism: The long ride towards an academic field of research – a literature review

Werner Gronau; Jana Große Hokamp

doi:10.1515/tw-2022-0013

Article

Motorcycle Tourism

The long ride towards an academic field of research – a literature review

Werner Gronau
Werner Gronau is Professor for Tourism, Travel & Transport at Stralsund University of Applied Sciences in Germany. He has extensive experience in tourism research and education, with previous posts and visiting professorships in Cyprus, Australia and Italy. He has worked in several research projects granted by various institutions, such as the European Commission, the DFG (German Research Foundation) or the German Ministry of Research and presented the results on international conferences, in various journals and books. He acts as Editor in Chief of the “Journal of Tourism Sciences” and serves as a reviewer for several tourism and transport journals, such as Journal of Sustainable Tourism or Journal of Transport Geography.
and Jana Große Hokamp
Jana Große Hokamp studied “Human Geography” at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in her bachelor studies with focus on tourism geography. This was followed by a master’s degree in “Tourism Development Strategies” at the Applied University of Stralsund where she focused on Motorcycle Tourism in Tirol in her master’s thesis. Since October 2021 she is working as a tourism consultant at “Kohl und Partner” Stuttgart with focus on destination consultation, regional planning, moderations of workshops as well accompanying of participatory processes.

Published/Copyright: November 19, 2022

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From the journal Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft Volume 14 Issue 3

Abstract

The contribution at hands aims on providing a rough overview on almost 20 years of academic research emerging in the field of so-called motorcycle tourism. From the early beginning of academic contributions when motorcycling was perceived as a “gangs-thing”, as a field of ethnographic studies. To the days when motorcycling was accepted as a general leisure activity and consequently became a part of drive tourism research. The focus of motorcycling as a drive tourism form also contributed to a growing interest in the field of business and tourism studies, as it defined a new paradigm for the field, which still prevails today. “The major change in the global self-drive markets is a shift from the car as a form of least-cost transport towards the use of a variety of self-driven vehicles that add value to the tourism experience” (Carson & Schmallegger, 2011, p. 364). Following the historical perspective, the second section of the article outlines the ongoing diversification of research fields around motorcycling tourism in recent years including studies on interest and motivations of motorcycle tourists, target group segmentations, or impact studies on destinations, which might indicate motorcycle tourism becoming an emerging field of tourism research. The final section provides an outlook of possible topics of the near future.

Keywords: motorcycle; tourism; destination; impact; literature

About the authors

Prof. Dr. Werner Gronau

Werner Gronau is Professor for Tourism, Travel & Transport at Stralsund University of Applied Sciences in Germany. He has extensive experience in tourism research and education, with previous posts and visiting professorships in Cyprus, Australia and Italy. He has worked in several research projects granted by various institutions, such as the European Commission, the DFG (German Research Foundation) or the German Ministry of Research and presented the results on international conferences, in various journals and books. He acts as Editor in Chief of the “Journal of Tourism Sciences” and serves as a reviewer for several tourism and transport journals, such as Journal of Sustainable Tourism or Journal of Transport Geography.

Jana Große Hokamp

Jana Große Hokamp studied “Human Geography” at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in her bachelor studies with focus on tourism geography. This was followed by a master’s degree in “Tourism Development Strategies” at the Applied University of Stralsund where she focused on Motorcycle Tourism in Tirol in her master’s thesis. Since October 2021 she is working as a tourism consultant at “Kohl und Partner” Stuttgart with focus on destination consultation, regional planning, moderations of workshops as well accompanying of participatory processes.

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Published Online: 2022-11-19

Published in Print: 2022-12-16

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https://doi.org/10.1515/tw-2022-0013

Keywords for this article

motorcycle; tourism; destination; impact; literature