Excursions as a tool of social programming in tourism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26906/EiR.2026.2(101).4631Keywords:
excursion, tourism, tourist behaviour, social programming, social norms, destination cultural identity, sustainable developmentAbstract
This article conceptualizes excursions as a tool of social programming that shapes tourists’ knowledge, values, normative perceptions, and behavioural orientations. Drawing on social constructionism, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, social learning theory, and interpretive approaches in tourism studies, it examines the mechanisms through which excursions influence tourist behaviour and destination development. The findings indicate that excursions function as structured guided experiences in which interpretive narratives, symbolic coding of space, group interaction, and participation scripting shape socially legitimized patterns of perception and behaviour. The article proposes a typology of social programming within excursion experience, encompassing normative, behavioural, cognitive, emotional, symbolic, ritual, and discursive forms of influence. It also adapts a five-stage sequence of social-programming influence to the excursion context, spanning cognitive framing, emotional engagement, value internalization, behavioural intention, and sustained post-tour impact. The study demonstrates that excursions may serve as a mechanism of soft social influence and offers practical implications for designing excursion products that foster responsible tourist behaviour, strengthen local cultural identity, enhance community participation, and support sustainable destination development.
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