TRAVEL ABROAD AS A FORM OF CULTURAL CONSUMPTION IN SERBIAN SOCIETY

Abstract

The paper presents research on travelling abroad as a form of cultural consumption in the Serbian society and the motivation (interest) of consumers to participate in such tourism practice. The relation between cultural consumption and travel abroad of citizens who use services of travel agencies in Serbia was analysed through foreign travel, education, tourism interests and destinations that generate certain cultural practices. According to Bourdieu’s view on the theory of cultural consumption, class affiliation of an individual and his/her family background determine cultural consumption and ways of satisfying his/her cultural needs, so travel abroad demonstrates exceptional importance in daily life of the dominant structural groups. In the Serbia’s society, the central axis that divides the practice of cultural consumption among its citizens that travel abroad is characterized by the following dimensions: occupation, education and the place of residence. Thus, foreign travel organized by travel agencies, as a cultural form in semi-peripheral society, such as the Serbia’s society, presents a mark of distinction that is affordable only to higher layers.

The survey was conducted in the period from March to May 2014 by the students of Tourism Department at the Faculty of Geography in Belgrade, as part of their compulsory practical work in Sociology of Tourism. The survey was conducted in travel agencies in Belgrade and in central Serbian towns, in accordance with their individual choices and availability of agencies. The sample was made up of respondents from urban and rural settlements, a total of 613.