‘Memory Tourism’ and Commodification of Nostalgia - Tourism and Visual Culture: Theories and Concepts - page 34

fall of the Berlin Wall was transformed into a
supply of nostalgic touristic experiences.
Data were collected through direct obser-
vation and participant observation, and through
the analysis of both the scientifi c literature and
media products as indicators of media imagin-
ery (primarily newspaper articles, and the Heidi
novel and Japanese animated cartoons as dif-
ferent products of the media industry).
The visual data can be considered 'visual
indicators' that in this case were produced by
the researcher herself during fi eld observation.
Visual indicators are one of the tools used in the
methodology of visual sociology (Wagner, 1979;
Faccioli and Harper, 1999; Gemini et al ., 2006).
These visual indicators could be used in a sub-
sequent phase of the research, based on in-
depth interviews using photoelicitation with
actual or potential tourists. The visual indicators
that I will illustrate regard three different vari-
ables within the imagery of nostalgia tourism:

seen, bought, visited and so on (Figs 2.4-
2.7 and 2.13-2.15).
Visual indicators of 'nostalgia tourists'

●

(Figs 2.8, 2.9 and 2.16-2.18).

Case study 1 - Nostalgia of the pre-modern
past and of kindness: Heidiland and
Heididorf in the Swiss Alps

Heidiland and Heididorf, the region and village
of Heidi, can be found in the Swiss Alps, in the
northeastern region of Bad Ragaz. The link
between Heidi and this alpine region is not
casual, despite the fact she is a fi ctional charac-
ter. It was indeed in this mountain area that,
during the second half of the 19th century,
author Johanna Spyri spent her holidays and
the region most likely inspired her to use it as a
background for the story of Heidi.
The 'credit' for having invented the 'Heidi-
land' trademark must be given to the director of
the local tourism board in Saint Moritz, Switzer-
land, who registered it in the late 1970s, using
the name 'Saint Moritz in Heidiland'. In reality,
the fi gure of a humble little mountain girl was
inappropriate in promoting such an elite tourist

Visual indicators of 'nostalgia experiences'

●

that the tourism system 'promises' to tourists
(Figs 2.1-2.3, 2.10-2.12, 2.14 and 2.15).
Visual indicators of 'nostalgia objects': typi-

●

cal objects of memory tourism that can be

Fig. 2.1. Nostalgia experiences: take a walk along Heidi's path through the Heidi village.