This study examines the role of visiting relatives (VRs) travel in enabling the interdependencies between transnational sojourners and their stay-behind family members. VRs travel is found to facilitate cross-border support exchange while preserving geographically stretched family ties. This study contributes to the theory by demonstrating that the current understanding of social exchange theory does not adequately explain the dynamics of VRs host-guest interactions, because some previously unidentified factors (e.g., felt obligation and family life cycle) also shape visiting and hosting behaviors. At a practical level, the findings help both sides better understand each other’s needs and respective roles in VRs travel. This study contributes new knowledge to the field of tourism planning and management, by revealing motives and patterns that lie behind VRs travel, while suggesting that the VRs travel market is more diverse than it seems to be, as parent and non-parent visitors tend to have different expectations of hosting.

中文翻译：

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探亲旅行中的相互依赖性：揭示主客互动的本质、意义和动态

本研究探讨了探亲（VR）旅行在促进跨国旅居者与其留守家庭成员之间相互依赖方面的作用。研究发现，虚拟现实旅行可以促进跨境支持交流，同时保持地理上延伸的家庭联系。这项研究通过证明当前对社会交换理论的理解并不能充分解释虚拟现实主客互动的动态，为该理论做出了贡献，因为一些先前未识别的因素（例如，感受到的义务和家庭生命周期）也会影响访问和接待行为。在实践层面，研究结果有助于双方更好地了解彼此的需求以及各自在虚拟现实旅行中的角色。这项研究揭示了虚拟现实旅游背后的动机和模式，为旅游规划和管理领域贡献了新知识，同时表明虚拟现实旅游市场比看起来更加多样化，因为父母和非父母游客倾向于对托管有不同的期望。