Social Stratification and Tourism 

      Social Stratification and Tourism 
      Social stratification describes some form of caste, status or social class groupings with which individuals are identified in society. Social stratification is a phenomenon that exists almost uncontrollably in society because individuals do not really have a say regarding the circumstances in which they are born. Human behavior tends to lead them to create some things that perpetuate inequalities in society but become unable to effectively deal with the related outcomes of their own creations. For example, formal organizations in society create authority, wealth and prestige, and formal status. Although these are important things, there is need to align them with humility, integrity and responsibility. This essay discusses the concept of social stratification and its impacts on tourism as an area of cultural consumption.
      The starting point of this discussion is by understanding the concepts of class-consciousness and social mobility. The concept of class-consciousness simply means that individuals are aware of their belonging to some specific social class defined based on particular characteristics hence they are members of a group with shared consumption pattern. On the other hand, social mobility concept presents two related meanings: the movement of individuals between defined strata due to their closely related education and income levels; the dynamic changes in social strata with time. It is natural that people in society tend to pursue higher achievement by seeking upward mobility. It is for this reason that there exist strata such as the lower class, the middle class and the high class in society today. Both the UK and the U.S for instance exhibit a bulging middle class population. In the next section, this essay looks at how social class impacts on hospitality consumption, to which tourism belong.
      People make their hospitality consumption decisions and choices depending on activities of others in the same class or relatively adjacent social levels. Therefore the consumption of hospitality products is significantly influenced by social class through preferences regarding the type of holidays, types of foods and drinks and types of leisure among other things. Because of these preference based choices, some towns/cities /countries attract more visitors/tourists in different seasons.
      Where the tourists largely belong to the middle and high class segments, facilities and activities at the respective tourist destinations are developed to satisfy the needs for t5hese particular market segments. Furthermore, social stratification greatly influences the choice of tourist destination. For example, the lower-middle and working class holidays go well ...