Graham M.S. Dann

Tourist motivation an appraisal

Abstract Dann, Graham M. S., Tourist Motivation: An Appraisal. Annals of Tourism Research 1981, VIII(2):187–219. Tourist motivation has been treated in a number of ways by researchers. This essay surveys the recent literature and highlights seven different, though sometimes interdependent, uses of the expression. The paper also examines various allied terms, often employed as synonyms for tourist motivation, pointing out areas of similarity and difference. Explanation for lack of consensus over definition is attributed to multidisciplinary of treatment and plurality of theoretical perspective within a given discipline. In order to overcome some of the above difficulties, a description of the phenomenon is offered. Finally a methodological problem is investigated which deals with the unwillingness or inability of tourists to disclose their motivation to researchers.

Methodology in tourism research

Abstract This exploratory article attempts to highlight some areas of tourism research which are believed to lack sufficient methodological sophistication. The origin of such research is outlined, together with the ambivalent attitudes displayed by practitioners and outsiders alike. By means of a four quadrant model, the interplay between theoretical awareness and methodological sophistication is explored, but only in one quadrant is sufficient balance said to be achieved. To substantiate these points, examples are drawn from tourism research and from a meta-analysis of articles featured in two leading journals. Theoretical awareness and methodological sophistication are then spelled out in more detail and are seen to coincide at the conceptualization stage of the research process. Contributions to this special issue of Annals are introduced and possible areas for further research are briefly examined.

The tourist as a metaphor of the social world.

This text contains a selection of papers from the Research Committee on International Tourism presented at the World Congress of the International Sociological Association, Brisbane, Australia, July 2002. It provides a sociological and anthropological critique of existing tourism theory as well as some directions for its future development and research. While much of the present understanding of the tourist and tourism is grounded in metaphor (e.g. tourism as a sacred journey, tourism as play, the tourist as a child) such analogies need to be linked to transformations in tourism generating and receiving societies. Hence the focus on the tourist and everyday life, socio-psychological dimensions of the tourist experience, the tourist and conflicting expectations, and the tourist in a changing world.

Sociology and tourism

Abstract The sociology of tourism is as yet an ongoing enterprise. Since there is no universally accepted sociological perspective, it follows that there can be no single “sociology of tourism”. In order to substantiate this claim, the authors trace the development of sociological theory and the emergence of a variety of approaches. Differences in perspective in turn lead to alternative ways of conceptualizing tourism. They are also conducive to the stressing of a number of themes and to the omission of others. In various ways, they collectively contribute to a furtherance of a sociological understanding of the multifaceted phenomenon of tourism.

Slavery, contested heritage, and thanatourism

Summary This article introduces a collection of eight revised papers that focus on the connection between slavery and tourism. After tracing the history of the former from its origins to the present day, and after providing some examples of related attractions, it confronts a number of dilemmas associated with their juxtaposition. A brief overview of the contributions to the volume is supplied, along with some epistemological and methodological concerns that they raise. Slavery tourism is finally contextualized within a framework of thanatourism, dark tourism and dissonant heritage, a field which in turn poses several questions for further research into this new and exciting phenomenon.

Tourism as an Anthropological Subject [and Comments and Reply]

This paper provides a critical evaluationof the growing number of anthropologically oriented studies of tourism and proposes a conceptual framework for future studies. A cross-culturally viable definition of tourism is offered. This definition, which conceives of the tourist as a person at leisure who travels and of tourism as a variety of leisure activity, suggest a transactional view of tourism that involves an encounter between tourist-generating and host societies. Such an encounter may be conceived of as a process or a system. Following this definition, it is possible ot identify tourism at all levels of sociocultural complexity. At present it does not seem possible to discover the causes of tourism, but one can begin to account for intra-or intersocietal touristic variability. Anthropological consideration of this latter is not well developed. Rather, interest has been centered on the consequences of tourism for host societies, particularly in the developing world. So far, thought, these studies have not demonstrated much methodological or theoretical sophistication. Though some variety of exchange theory may ultimately prove the best way of organizing an overview of the touristic process or system, less ambitious perspectives would seem to be, for the moment, indicated.

Writing out the tourist in space and time

Abstract This paper examines the ways in which travel writing manages the distinction between traveler and tourist. In exploring this complex literary genre, the study also tries to account for its continued popularity as a promotional medium. By writing out the tourist via the universal categories of space and time, writers can appeal to the anti-tourist who resides in every tourist. The metaphor of a journey to the timeless periphery may also strike a chord in many a reader since it speaks of life itself as a form of travel. By way of illustration, typical works of three contemporary, Anglophone travel writers are selected and compared.

Ecological rationalization and performative resistance in natural area destinations.

A discursive analysis of natural area destinations is presented in this article, where it is argued that the management and use of natural areas for (eco) tourism is influenced by economic and institutional practices that contribute to rationalizing ‘Nature’ and the visitor experience. A brief look at some historical influences on nature-based tourism development in (post)-modernity sets the context for illustrating paradoxical discourses (e.g. neo-liberalism, ecological modernization and globalization) that structure and instrumentalize human relationships with the natural world. Viewing these natural areas as performance spaces helps to show how the multiplicity of discourses plays out and how nature and tourists are performatively engaged in these spaces. A conceptual analysis of performativity in relation to touristic spaces is presented and its potential to enable resistance to the rationalizations outlined in the article is examined. The possibility of a performative tourist ethic is discussed, based on a notion of reflexive praxis. Implications for (eco-) tourism research and practice are offered.

Noticing notices: Tourism to Order

Abstract This study examines one way in which order is imposed on tourist behavior—via notices as communicating signs. It argues that the relationship between marker and sight is more than informational or promotional. It transcends the ocular-centric to include social control. First a preliminary typology of inductively identified signs is offered, one that deals with variants of indirect social control: anticipatory, classificatory, boundary maintaining, demonstrative, identificationary, ambiguous and absent. A similarly tentative taxonomy is proposed which ranges across a number of direct forms of increasing social control exerted by notices: from the petitionary and advisory to the obligatory, hortatory and minatory. Several examples illustrate the elements of each classificatory scheme.

Supplanting the planters: Hawking heritage in Barbados

Summary After briefly examining the plantation-as-hotel model, this contribution focuses the remainder of its attention on the conversion of plantation slavery into entertainment on the Caribbean island of Barbados. First, and by way of contextualization, it is shown that an extensive and well-documented history of plantation life exists, one that is drawn from early accounts of travelers, missionaries and others, as well as later expert commentaries offered by indigenous and extra-regional scholars. Second, it is argued that the tourism industry has largely ignored or been highly selective in borrowing from this rich source of material in its attempt to supply the sort of a-historical diversion which it believes its clientele enjoys. Examples provided include the Open House Programme of the Barbados National Trust, the annual Crop Over Festival and Plantation Spectacular dinner shows. Finally, a few suggestions are advanced in order to try and understand the success of this type of tourism. They include references to postmodernity, nostalgia, dark tourism and varieties of promotion.