PSICOLOGIA DEL TURISMO

The course aims to highlight some themes of psychology that can be useful on the one hand to understand the needs of different types of tourists, on the other hand to implement a correct and effective tourist communication. The course therefore has the main objective of providing the student with knowledge and tools that will make him able to recognize the psychological variables concerning tourist behavior and explain it in the light of the main psychological theories of reference, mainly concerning General Psychology but also Psychology Social, Labor and Organizations. Furthermore, he will be able to connect this knowledge and apply it to the understanding of the tourism phenomenon, using a multidisciplinary methodology, pertaining to psychology and socio-economic sciences.

The course deals with the analysis of the tourism phenomenon in terms of knowledge of the tourist's behavior and the psychological mechanisms that distinguish it.

In particular, the lessons will focus on the following contents:
- Study and analysis of cognitive schemes.

- Consumer / tourist perception and learning mechanisms.
- Functions, reasons for the tourist experience.
- Process of choice and interpretative models.
- Types of tourists.
- Social and cultural impact of the phenomenon.
- Tourist product-service.
- Quantitative and qualitative research on the psychological structural characteristics that distinguish the tourism phenomenon.

- Customer satisfaction.

• Maeran R., Psicologia e turismo. Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2009. seconda edizione
• Maeran R. (a cura di), Ricerche di Psicologia del Turismo. Bologna: Patron Editore, 2006.
• handouts by the teacher