Exploring variations in humour use across tourism settings

The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the differences in humour use as perceived by tourists at four tourism settings in Far North Queensland, Australia. Twenty-nine focus groups were conducted with 103 participants to address the research aim. Findings highlight the variations of humour between the four tourism settings. For example, humour used as entertainment was more important at the wildlife attraction while humour used during the adventure tourism activity had a calming effect. Overall, for humour to be applied successfully, it needs to be relevant to the topic presented and consider the actual context of the particular tourism experience.