{"title":"BEYOND THE TOURIST EXPERIENCE: ANALYZING THE IMAGINATION OF PLACE AND TRAVEL IN EVERYDAY LIFE","authors":"","doi":"10.3727/109830421x16262461231783","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article advocates a new agenda for (media) tourism research that links questions of tourist experiences to the role and meaning of imagination in everyday life. Based on a small-scale, qualitative study among a group of seventeen respondents of diverse ages and backgrounds currently residing in the Netherlands, we offer an empirical exploration of the places that are of importance for people’s individual state of mind and investigate how these places relate to (potential) tourist experiences. The combination of in-depth interviews and random-cue self-reporting resulted in the following findings: 1) all our respondents regularly reside in an elaborate imaginary world, consisting of both fictional and non-fictional places; 2) this imaginary world is dominated by places which make the respondents feel nostalgic; 3) in this regard, the private home and houses from childhood are pivotal; 4) the ‘home’ is seen as topos of the self and contrasted with ‘away’; 5) the imagination of ‘away’ emerges from memories of previous tourist experiences, personal fantasies and, last but not least, influences from popular culture. We conclude that imagining and visiting other locations are part of a life-long project of ‘identity work’ in which personal identities are performed, confirmed and extended. By travelling, either physically or mentally, individuals anchor their identity - the entirety of ideas about who they are, where they come from and where they think they belong - in a broader, spatial framework.","PeriodicalId":41836,"journal":{"name":"TOURISM CULTURE & COMMUNICATION","volume":"81 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"TOURISM CULTURE & COMMUNICATION","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3727/109830421x16262461231783","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article advocates a new agenda for (media) tourism research that links questions of tourist experiences to the role and meaning of imagination in everyday life. Based on a small-scale, qualitative study among a group of seventeen respondents of diverse ages and backgrounds currently residing in the Netherlands, we offer an empirical exploration of the places that are of importance for people’s individual state of mind and investigate how these places relate to (potential) tourist experiences. The combination of in-depth interviews and random-cue self-reporting resulted in the following findings: 1) all our respondents regularly reside in an elaborate imaginary world, consisting of both fictional and non-fictional places; 2) this imaginary world is dominated by places which make the respondents feel nostalgic; 3) in this regard, the private home and houses from childhood are pivotal; 4) the ‘home’ is seen as topos of the self and contrasted with ‘away’; 5) the imagination of ‘away’ emerges from memories of previous tourist experiences, personal fantasies and, last but not least, influences from popular culture. We conclude that imagining and visiting other locations are part of a life-long project of ‘identity work’ in which personal identities are performed, confirmed and extended. By travelling, either physically or mentally, individuals anchor their identity - the entirety of ideas about who they are, where they come from and where they think they belong - in a broader, spatial framework.
期刊介绍:
Tourism, Culture & Communication is the longest established international refereed journal that is dedicated to the cultural dimensions of tourism. The editors adopt a purposefully broad scope that welcomes readers and contributors from diverse disciplines and who are receptive in a wide variety of research methods. While potential cultural issues and identities are unlimited, there is a requirement that their consideration should relate to the tourism and hospitality domain. Tourism, Culture & Communication provides readers with multidisciplinary perspectives that consider topics and fields extending beyond national and indigenous cultures as they are traditionally understood and recognized. Coverage may extend to issues such as cultural dimensions of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), gender and tourism, managing tourists with disabilities, sport tourism, or age-specific tourism. Contributions that draw upon the communications literature to explain the tourism phenomenon are also particularly welcome. Beyond the focus on culture and communications, the editors recognize the important interrelationships with economies, society, politics, and the environment. The journal publishes high-quality research and applies a double-blind refereeing process. Tourism, Culture & Communication consists of main articles, major thematic reviews, position papers on theory and practice, and substantive case studies. A reports section covers specific initiatives and projects, “hot topics,” work-in-progress, and critical reviews.