Qualitative tourism research: Focus groups

Focus groups advance knowledge about products and services in the tourist field. This chapter outlines the characteristics and purpose of focus groups, highlights the advantages and disadvantages of focus groups and details the role of the facilitator. Factors influencing focus group participants are listed and the composition of focus groups is investigated. Processes involved in conducting focus groups and the nature of the data collected follows. The use of focus groups in tourism research is examined and is followed by a case study of 'transformative heritage tourism experiences', which illustrates one of the many ways available for using focus group methodologies in tourism studies.