Tourists' responses to humour. (March 2016) - Pabel, Anja
Highlights: Advances our understanding of the tourism–humour relationship. Uses a quasi-experimental research design at two tourism settings. Identifies the categories of humour most frequently used at tourism settings. Assesses the outcomes of humour in terms of tourists' comfort, connection and concentration levels. Outlines the impact of humour on potential future visits. Abstract: Building on the existing tourism–humour literature, the study investigated tourists' views of the categories of humour used by Australian tour guides. The researchers also evaluated tourists' responses to the experimental manipulation of humour levels. The tourists' commentary on the settings revealed that guides in one business emphasised predominantly funny stories and self-deprecatory humour, while in the second context the visitor experience was facilitated relatively more often through amusing exaggerations. In a quasi-experiment implemented within existing tourism businesses, the guides were encouraged to add more humour to their presentations. The manipulation did not enhance perceived levels of amusement but the prevailing levels of humour contributed significantly to the tourists' comfort, concentration and connection levels.