Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
destination highlights with the quotidian, everyday elements of place. This suggests the
importance of place-based tourism experiences. Tourists do not experience destinations as a
series of individual objects, but as a whole landscape - the objects of symbolic signifi cance to
place identity work in consort with the way the space is lived by local inhabitants (Rickly-
Boyd and Metro-Roland, 2010). Yet many of the commonplace elements of tourism land-
scapes are reproduced on a global scale. Ashworth and Tunbridge (2000) point to 'catalogue
heritage' appearing in cities worldwide, in which 'period' lamp posts, trash bins and signage
are creating 'tourist-historic' cities and calling into question even the quotidian and hence
authentic nature of touristed landscapes.
'Residents, visitors, and the wider tourism industry all participate in the continuous social
construction of tourism landscapes and their places,' argues Morgan (2004: 173); more specif-
ically, 'tourists tour, consume, and represent landscapes, places, and cultures that have been
produced, presented, and represented through tourism marketing'. Marketing of tourism
places includes strategies of theming, designation and re-visioning (Hughes, 1998). The
promotion of places is more than ephemeral imager y; it is ultimately tied up with the creation
of place
myths
facilitated by accompanying destination taglines - 'Enter a world of extraordi-
nary experiences' (Canada), 'Simply inspiring' (Germany), 'You'll feel free' (Denmark) and
'A love for life' (Hungary). While promotional media (brochures, websites, commercials)
provide potential tourists with place imagery and privilege the viewer's perspective, the
complex of imagery, text and context produce narratives of experience. The semiotics of
place promotion, therefore, produces place knowledges that circulate in global discourses of
place and meaning. As Morgan argues, tourism place promotion 'immobilises our dynamic
world, changing it to spectacle and straitjacketing it in cliché and stereotype' (2004: 174).
Tourism as a force of globalisation can thus result in landscape homogeneity. While
tourism place promotion includes symbolic highlights of destinations, working with the
ensemble of everyday elements of place, there is also a play on familiarity through the inser-
tion of global symbols. This is most evident in the process of theming (Paradis, 2004).
Globalisation produces and circulates social knowledges about places, as well as symbols of
consumption. Also referred to as 'Disneyifi cation' (Gottdiener, 2001) and 'McDonaldisation'
(Ritzer, 1993), the inclusion of global symbols of consumption in tourism advertising is
intended to assure the potential tourist that while in a 'foreign' landscape one can still fi nd
familiarity, creating an element of 'safety' to tourism.
This crafting of tourism landscapes, both physically and symbolically, brings to the fore
the question of authenticity. One of the most highly contested topics in tourism studies,
authenticity can be judged based on the object, site or experience of tourism. But can a land-
scape and the experience which comes from it ever be inauthentic? How far to take the labels
of authentic/inauthentic can become problematic when dealing with lived experiences in a
cultural medium. In fact, some argue the dichotomous view of authentic-inauthentic distracts
researchers from more important endeavours, particularly what motivates tourists and what
they take away from their experiences (see Bruner, 1994). So while one may argue that a trip
to Disneyland is inauthentic as a result of one's engagement with a simulated, fantasy land-
scape, the family memories are, however, very real and continue to be cherished over time.
And while it may be more applicable to consider authenticity in the context of cultural and
historical sites, one still fi nds that tourists' perceptions do not always refl ect scholarly
interpretations.
Tourists tend to rely more on historical verisimilitude and symbolic authenticity when
engaging with historical and cultural landscapes, as opposed to originality or genuineness. In
Dydia DeLyser's (1999) study of Bodie State Historic Park in California, for example, the
