Abstract
Despite its century long existence, social distance is still a rare area of investigation in the tourism and hospitality context. In particular, there is a lack of attention on the empirical investigations about the relationship between contact and social distance in host–guest relations in a tourism setting. Hence, the purpose of this study is to determine whether there is such a relationship between social distance and different contact factors (previous visits and close friendships). An on-site survey on tourists and locals at a popular tourist destination, Mugla, in Turkey revealed partial support for these relationships under certain circumstances. Implications and future research suggestions are discussed.
Acknowledgements
The authors pay special thanks to Yvette Reisinger for sharing her Social Distance Scale to be used in this study.