STORYTELLING AND PRODUCT STOCKING: STRATEGIES APPLIED BY DIASPORA TOURISTS TO SYMBOLICALLY EXTEND THE VISIT TO THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

Purpose – Purpose of this study is to understand how diaspora tourists as a specific tourist segment symbolically extend their holiday in the country of origin upon returning to the country of current living. Methodology – Aim of the research was to disclose underlying meanings of this specific consumption pattern. Data was collected through 24 semi-structured in-depth interviews with diaspora members from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Analysis was inductive, starting with microanalysis, proceeding then with axial coding around the revealed concept. Throughout analysis the comparative method was applied, alongside researcher's diary and memos as analytic tools. Findings – The concept of ‘bridging’ explains how diaspora tourists cross over from one reality to another on a symbolical level, i.e. when travelling back from the country of origin. It also is a symbolical bridging between complex of identities: the past identities and the present identity, which they have constructed in countries of current living. They seem to use two major strategies: storytelling and product stocking. Contribution – This paper reveals a new concept among diaspora tourists, i.e. their approach to extend their visit to the country of their origin on a symbolical level by using symbolically laden products. The research is further contributing by disclosing that diaspora tourists apply two different strategies in order to symbolically extend their home country holiday: the story telling strategy and the stocking strategy. Finally, it also suggests that the stocking strategy has two phases; the first phase being 'symbolic representation filling phase' and the second phase labelled as 'mainstream trend purchase phase'.