Cultures Of Mass Tourism (new Directions In Tourism Analysis)
by Penny Travlou /
2009 / English / PDF
4.1 MB Download
With more than 230 million international tourists a year, the
Mediterranean region is the largest tourist destination in the
world. Indeed, it is now less united by olive, grain and vine
cultivation than the fortnightly pulse of the package tour, the
circulation of resort types and the shared culture of sun-seeking
tourism. This book argues that its economic importance is matched
by its significance as cultural and aesthetic phenomena. Mass
tourism has brought about new social and cultural formations that
mix global, national and local influences. There has, as yet, been
little analysis of these new cultural formations. This book offers
a series of insights into some of the key sites of mass
Mediterranean tourism, including the beach, the island, the tourist
resort and the coastal hotel. It also focuses on the 'mass' element
and reflects on the 'banal' experiences of the package tourist, as
well as the serial and depthless spaces that are mushrooming along
the coast and the enchantments, dissolutions and dreams that
saturate them. Moving away from the notion of authentic places
corrupted by mass tourism, it examines new forms and spaces
created, co-produced by locals and tourists, seeing them as
postmodern with reworked meanings such as the recoding the ancient
with irony and kitsch. It also develops an approach which is
sensitive to social practices and embodied performances such as
photography, hotel activities and nightlife. Finally, the book
looks at the complex materilities of mass tourism, as well as the
many networks that make it possible. All in all, this volume
provides an up-to the minute key reference on the cultures of mass
tourism.
With more than 230 million international tourists a year, the
Mediterranean region is the largest tourist destination in the
world. Indeed, it is now less united by olive, grain and vine
cultivation than the fortnightly pulse of the package tour, the
circulation of resort types and the shared culture of sun-seeking
tourism. This book argues that its economic importance is matched
by its significance as cultural and aesthetic phenomena. Mass
tourism has brought about new social and cultural formations that
mix global, national and local influences. There has, as yet, been
little analysis of these new cultural formations. This book offers
a series of insights into some of the key sites of mass
Mediterranean tourism, including the beach, the island, the tourist
resort and the coastal hotel. It also focuses on the 'mass' element
and reflects on the 'banal' experiences of the package tourist, as
well as the serial and depthless spaces that are mushrooming along
the coast and the enchantments, dissolutions and dreams that
saturate them. Moving away from the notion of authentic places
corrupted by mass tourism, it examines new forms and spaces
created, co-produced by locals and tourists, seeing them as
postmodern with reworked meanings such as the recoding the ancient
with irony and kitsch. It also develops an approach which is
sensitive to social practices and embodied performances such as
photography, hotel activities and nightlife. Finally, the book
looks at the complex materilities of mass tourism, as well as the
many networks that make it possible. All in all, this volume
provides an up-to the minute key reference on the cultures of mass
tourism.