Social Distribution of Leisure Taste and Tourism Tendency (Case Study: The Health Sector)

One of the most important principles in tourism planning is to identify the differences in the leisure time of different stratums of society. Today, due to the importance of constructive and positive effects of favorable utilization of leisure, scholars and policy makers, especially tourism planners, have emphasized on leisure time. This paper seeks to examine whether the various occupational-educational groups working in health sector due to the differential accessibility to the various kinds of capital have different leisure taste , or not? And, that the tendency to tourism among the various occupational-educational groups working in health sector significantly different or not? A critical Review of empirical researches and theoretical approaches in this field shows that each of them to explain the leisure time and tourism have emphasized on special variable. The first set of studies emphasizes on individual factors, such as life stage, needs, abilities and personality. The second group of research examines the social and environmental factors such as social context, employment and income. The third categories of research try to study the situation and services including the resources, facilities and programs. This paper takes a sociological approach to the study of the influence of social factors on the leisure taste and tendency to tourism. In this regard, this article has studied personnel of Health Sector as a one of the most important target groups in tourism planning.