* Corresponding author. Tel.: #407-823-6202; fax: #407-823-5696. E-mail address: abraham.pizam@bus.ucf.edu (A. Pizam) Tourism Management 21 (2000) 395}406 The intensity of tourist}host social relationship and its e!ects on satisfaction and change of attitudes: the case of working tourists in Israel Abraham Pizam*, Natan Uriely, Arie Reichel Department of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, P.O. Box 161400, Orlando, FL 32816-1400, USA Department of Hotel and Tourism Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel Received 11 January 1999; accepted 3 April 1999 Abstract The results of a study conducted among 388 working tourists in Israel demonstrated that the higher the intensity of the social relationship between hosts and working tourists, the more favorable were the tourists' feelings towards their hosts, and the more positive was the change in attitudes towards hosts and the destination. Furthermore, it was found that the higher the intensity of social relationship between hosts and tourists, the higher was the satisfaction of these tourists with their stay and experience. Those who had the most intense social relationship with their hosts * namely the Kibbutz tourists * had the highest positive feelings towards their hosts and also experienced the highest positive change in attitudes towards them and the destination. On the other side, those who had a more super"cial social relationship with their hosts * namely Moshav and City tourists * had the lowest positive feelings towards their hosts and experienced the lowest positive change towards them and the destination.  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Working tourists; Long-term tourists; Non-institutionalized tourists; Tourist-host contact; Tourist satisfaction; Change in attitudes 1. Introduction The `contact modela of the Social Psychology of Inter- group Con#ict stipulates that intergroup encounters are followed by mutual change in feelings and attitudes among the interacting members. In the context of tourism situations, however, the relevant literature re- veals that the encounter between tourists and host does not necessarily lead to attitudinal change. Furthermore, various studies of tourist}host contacts reveal con#icting "ndings regarding the direction of change in the partici- pants' feelings and attitudes. The inconsistent reports regarding the e$cacy of the contact model raise the possibility of di!erent factors that determine the results of the tourist}host contacts. It seems that the nature of the tourist}host encounter and its resultant attitudinal change varies across di!erent types of tourists and travel arrangements (Var, Ap & Van Doren, 1994). It is sugges- ted, for example, that institutionalized tourists in organ- ized tours have fewer opportunities for direct and mean- ingful encounters with hosts than non-institutionalized tourists (Cohen, 1972,1974; Vogt, 1976; Riley, 1988). In line with the classi"cation of tourists across travel mo- tivations and arrangements, the current study di!erenti- ates between various groups of non-institutionalized tourists. Speci"cally, the main concern of this study was to examine the `contact modela across distinct types of non-institutionalized tourists who combine work with tourism. The various types of working tourists examined in this study di!er in terms of their work-and-travel arrangement and motivation. For instance, it was as- sumed that certain rural locations may o!er more intense and intimate encounters between working tourists and their hosts than urban locations in which working tour- ists sojourn. Furthermore, it was suggested that while some forms of work-and-travel arrangement may draw economically motivated working tourists, other forms of work-and-travel arrangements may be attractive to those who seek a unique touristic experience. Such di!erences in the experience of working tourists are taken into 0261-5177/00/$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 2 6 1 - 5 1 7 7 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 8 5 - 0