Title: Tourism travel patterns and Mexican millennial women: a comparative study of their conditions and meanings

Authors: Rosa Adriana Vázquez Gómez; Maribel Osorio García; Denice Anel Ordaz Mejía

Addresses: Research Office, at ESDAI (Hospitality Management School) of the Panamerican University, Mexico City, 03920, Mexico ORCID: 0000-0002-4633-8985 ' Faculty of Tourism and Gastronomy, Tourism Research and Studies Center, Autonomous Mexico State University, 50090, Mexico ORCID: 0000-0002-3336-6231 ' University Center, Autonomous Mexico State University, Texcoco, 56259, Mexico ORCID: 0000-0002-2871-3868

Abstract: This paper presents a comparative study of the living conditions, practices and meanings of tourist travel for young millennial women in Mexico City's metropolitan area within the framework of youth tourism in order to identify how travel contributes to the social construction of their identity. Through comparative, mixed and gendered research, a methodological convergence strategy was applied in which quantitative research was carried out through surveys and qualitative research through interviews, aimed at two groups of young female students in different educational institutions, with different economic situations, and located in a central area vs. the outskirts of Mexico City. The results reveal similarities in both groups' travel practices, but there are differences with respect to the meanings they grant them and, therefore, the role that travel has in constructing their identities.

Keywords: tourism; millennial youth; travel; identity; meanings; living conditions; lifestyle; Mexico.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTA.2021.116090

International Journal of Tourism Anthropology, 2021 Vol.8 No.2, pp.107 - 128

Received: 23 Apr 2020
Accepted: 02 Oct 2020
Published online: 09 Jul 2021 *