Stories that move: Fiction, imagination, tourism
Abstract
The subject of this article is media tourism: the phenomenon of people travelling to places which they associate with novels, films or television series. Existing knowledge about this phenomenon is fragmented and principally based on individual case studies of eye-catching examples. This article aims to go beyond the limited scope of case studies and to explore an underlying, more generic process. It investigates the stories that are remembered by individuals, the associations between these stories and existing places, and decisions about whether or not to undertake travel to these places. Based on a series of in-depth interviews, the article concludes that every human being has a small treasure trove of stories which they love and which are considered part of their identity. The interviews suggest that there is a strong relationship between the recollection of beloved stories and tourist practices – in terms of both destination decision making and tourist experience.
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Biographies
Stijn Reijnders (1976) is Professor in Cultural Heritage at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. His research focuses on the relation between media culture, popular heritage and tourism. He has published in, among others, Media, Culture & Society, European Journal for Communication, Cultural Geographies, Ethnologia Europeae, Area and European Journal for Cultural Studies. In 2006, he finished his PhD, entitled Holland op de Helling. Televisieamusement, volkscultuur en ritueel vermaak (Holland on the slide. Television entertainment, folklore and ritual), which was awarded the national Dissertation Award by the Netherlands School of Communications Research. In June 2011, he published his second monograph, entitled Places of the Imagination: Media, Tourism, Culture (Ashgate, 2011).
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Article first published online: August 18, 2015
Issue published: December 2016
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