The relationships and interactions encountered by tourists whilst on holiday are significant in the tourist experience. Interactions can be an integral component in the comfort and enjoyment of a place (White & White 2009). These interactions are inherent when tourists travel with family or friends, or in their encounters with fellow travellers, and the local communities, and the relationships can be a mechanism for a sort of co-creation (Campos, Mendes et al 2015) in the personal and social experiences for a tourists’ holiday. However, these relationships can possess challenges in the holiday experience, in that they can cause conflict or a sense of ‘psychological overcrowding’ (Pearce 2005). It is suggested that the holiday is an occasion for tourists to experience positive social relationships with others. This is inherent in the tourist experience in Outback Australia (White & White 2009), where the setting acts as a mechanism for social encounters.

Firstly, White and White published a paper in 2009 detailing experiences of tourists travelling through remote parts of Australia (White and White, 2009). The paper analyses the perspectives of multiple people and how they find comfort in the presence of strangers, having travelled across such vast empty roads. They further describe how tourists feel a far greater sense of satisfaction and intimacy with the trip (White and White, 2009). White and White’s paper strongly insists that the host communities play a major role in the success of someone’s outback holiday. Interactions with locals, and non-tourism sector individuals provides tourists with a far more authentic experience (White and White, 2009).

The ‘collective gaze’ has the potential to heighten a tourist’s perception of their holiday destination and their place within it (Pearce 2005), reinforcing the bond between the tourist and stranger as a harmonious relationship. This is inherent in a study conducted on older tourists from Japan. It was noted that there was a higher impetus to leave everyday life and seek holidays amongst others, to ultimately interact with locals (Ryu, Hyun & Shim 2015). Tourism in this scenario is presented as an opportunity where an individual can ‘express themselves freely’ and experience ‘“authentic” relationships’, by casting aside the ‘norms for social roles and daily duties (Ryu, Hyun & Shim 2015). It allows tourists to become their own ‘agents’ who construct personal meanings of “others” (White & White 2009) through social interactions.

The social players present in a holiday, namely, fellow travellers and the locals, can provide comfort and companionship when navigating a different terrain. However, these social interactions have the potential to create conflict between people. Conflict in this scenario, is described as ‘psychological crowding’ (Pearce 2005), identified as interpersonal and psychological factors in the holiday experience, rather than the amount of people present in a place. A feeling of ‘overcrowding’ is subjective and leads to a negative evaluation of the holiday. Conflict can arise within the comfort of familial relationships, often through interpersonal disagreements, as the confines of the holiday can make it more difficult to mediate conflict (Heimtum & Jordan 2012). The potential of conflicts can deter some individuals to travel with others, and to instead, travel alone to exercise more autonomy during the holiday.