ABSTRACT
If a tourist is asked why he or she does not do something (say, does not visit an attraction) one reply may be 'lack of interest'. For product development and promotion we need to ask what this summary reply really means. It may be that the tourist genuinely lacks interest in an attraction or activity, not finding the attraction or activity cognitively stimulating; equally, the expression of lack of interest may be a rationalization of constraints, rather than true lack of interest. In the latter case lack of interest* really conceals the underlying motivations and constraints to behaviour. Similarly, other summary responses such as 'lack of time' may conceal the real reasons for not visiting. Jackson1 and others have noted that lack of time and money may not be barriers but excuses for nonparticipation. Such tourists are properly thought of as latent visitors to an attraction and in aggregate as latent demand.
