Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 9.9.
Come on foot!
is the one regarding elite tourism, dominating
until the 1930s, which counted on the presence
of important persons, in the style of vacationers
enjoying sun, sea, villas, grand hotels, casinos
and the atmosphere recalled with nostalgia by
Levanto's inhabitants. But at the same time, they
remember the enmity felt (and demonstrated)
towards those persons who were a concrete sign
of richness and affl uence coming from elsewhere
and fl aunting their wealth. The advent of mass
tourism obviously required changes, not only in
the whole touristic supply but also in the relation-
ships between locals and outside visitors.
Through Levanto's case study, we can
empirically observe - through the communica-
tive life-experience of the interviewees - the his-
toric, cultural and structural passages that led to
the coming out of the social system of tourism,
and to the subsequent openness of this com-
munity to strangers (McCannell, 1989). In other
words, through Levanto's experience we can
see the constitution of a reversible relation
between local and stranger explaining the birth
of an ad hoc social system, framed by touristic
communication (Gemini, 2008).
If in the past the foreigner was an individual
never establishing a real relation with the com-
munity, real and proper semantics on tourists
developed as an evolutionary step, fi xing the
principle of reversibility in the local/stranger
couple, and producing the 'host', i.e. a subject
interested in establishing a relation with natives
(Merton, 1986; Schutz, 1986; Simmel, 1995).
Obviously, those changes show an evolu-
tionary course that (in Levanto but not only
there) seems not be taken for granted. In fact,
knowing that the enmity towards foreigners could
turn into quarrels, as we were told by Levanto's
inhabitants, we can also understand why the
interviewees told us that carrying out an effective
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