Johan Richard Edelheim

Hidden messages: a polysemic reading of tourist brochures

It is self-evident that tourist brochures are selling a positive and attractive destination to travellers; what is not as clear are the hidden messages conveyed by the selection of certain pictures in the brochures produced. By coding each picture appearing in a series of tourist brochures according to their content this research aims at showing how the brochures are overtly aimed at different groups of travellers, while they simultaneously are reinforcing certain hegemonic views of society. The suggestion that hegemonic messages appear is not an accusation against the producers of the brochures of covert propaganda, but rather that taken-for-granted views of society as unproblematic truths portrayed in the brochures is not correct-the brochures should rather be viewed as highly sensitive polysemic constructs.

The tourism education futures initiative

The tourism education futures initiative Dianne Dredge, Christian Schott, Roberto Daniele, Kellee Caton, Johan Edelheim & Ana Maria Munar a Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark b Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand c Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK d Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, Canada e Multidimensional Tourism Institute, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland f Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark Published online: 28 Aug 2014.

Sober on the holiday – is it un-Australian?

Abstract Tourism media research is focusing on the nexus where two areas meet; either where tourism is impacted upon by media, or where the media is affected by tourism practices and industries. This paper will primarily be situated in the first of these categories by examining travelogues in womens magazines, in this case Marie Claire, and ask what influences the content of these can have on the consumers of the media. It could be argued that travelogues in actual fact would be part of the second category – simply subjective descriptions of actual tourist experiences. This paper will, however, suggest that the influence is to some degree mutual, and whereas the portrayals in travelogues do inform us about some experiences, they might simultaneously form a social tableau that readers are unconsciously emulating in their own behaviour. The extrinsic and intrinsic messages incorporated in travelogues will be examined here using qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis. The discussion of tourism and media influence will be related to debates regarding myths surrounding national identity construction, alcohol consumption, and Australianness. This paper rejects some of those constructs and raises further questions about the role media plays in naturalizing the link between alcohol and leisure, and about how Australian women might be shaping their beliefs, their identities, and their behaviour based on the media messages they are consuming.

The attraction of islands: travellers and tourists in the Cyclades (Greece) in the twentieth and twenty-first Centuries.

Islands have long acted as projection surfaces of ever-changing desires. Tourism organisations have drawn most vigorously upon the paradise metaphor in an attempt to position modern island holidays at the forefront of our minds – regardless of an islands location. Tracing the most recent history of our island-longing and illuminating the use of the island metaphor by tourist organisations is the aim of this article. A short account of the history of tourism in Greece (especially the Cycladic Islands) provides the backdrop to an in-depth picture and text analysis of nine official English and German tourist guides to the Cyclades, as well as the English-speaking version of the official Cyclades website. Images and text are coded according to pre-determined themes and contrasted with each other. Investigating islands from the perspective of tourists and tourist organisations, it becomes apparent that the official brochures draw on established island tropes and stereotypical island imagery as a means to attract travellers, and thus follow a long-established pattern of what Western culture considers unique for island locations. Dissonances, however, are emerging as our longing for island locations is contradicted by our need for ease and speed of access, thus negating the sought-after quintessential ‘islandness’.

Developing a taxonomy of 'award-winning' restaurants: what are they actually?

This article aims to clarify the term “award-winning restaurants,” by conducting a literature review focussed on answering six broad questions. The questions posed relate to what awards are; who are judged; who decides on awards; what are being judged; why do awards exist; and what awards are available? The paper is compiled with a set of definitions and categories to illuminate, in comparable terms, what is required of a restaurant to become award-winning. This paper has no empirical component; it creates a foundation for studies which can be used to ensure that quality assurance, rather than marketing objectives, is at the forefront when restaurant awards are in question.

What do conferences do? What is academics’ intangible return on investment (ROI) from attending an academic tourism conference?

ABSTRACT Conferences are funny events. They are self-evident elements of our lives as academics: meetings that occur, often annually; take place in various locations; and involve (hopefully) like-minded people, aiming to share their latest research findings. Conferences are actually so self-evident that very little research exists analysing what takes place at conferences, why people attend them in the first place, and essentially what the conference does to delegates as participants. This article is, on one hand, a reflective report from an academic conference: TEFI 9—Celebrating the Disruptive Power of Caring in Tourism Education. But it is also simultaneously an analysis of the implicit and explicit rationale and return on investment for attending academic conferences, in the words of three, at that time, PhD candidate rapporteurs and one professor rapporteur, who acts as this article’s narrator.

TEFI8 – Transformational Learning: Activism, Empowerment, and Political Agency in Tourism Education University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, June 4–7, 2014: Conference Report

Surrounded by the rolling hills and agricultural land of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, the University of Guelph was the location for the eighth annual Tourism Education Futures Initiative (TEFI) conference. The School of Hospitality, Food & Tourism Management (HFTM), home of Canada’s first hospitality and tourism degree program, hosted the TEFI8 conference. HFTM’s long-established tradition of offering applied, experiential, and flexible learning opportunities aimed at transforming students into mindful professionals made it an ideal venue for the 2014 theme, Transformational Learning: Activism, Empowerment, and Political Agency in Tourism Education. Lush green lawns, blooming flowers, and excellent weather provided perfect conditions for two and a half days of fertile discussion. Fifty-seven delegates representing 23 educational institutions and non-profit organizations from 11 countries interacted and shared their passion for transformational learning. The conference commenced with a welcome BBQ dinner at the Fireplace Lounge where many hugs were shared, and laughter could be heard as friends from all over the world reunited, new friendships began to form, and delegates anticipated the lively discourse that would begin the following day. During the opening session on Day One, TEFI8 Co-Chair Marion Joppe introduced Brenda Whiteside, University of Guelph’s Associate Vice-President of Student Affairs, who brought greetings from the university’s President. Brenda emphasized that it is imperative for educators to encourage young Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 15:294–299, 2015 Copyright

The meaning and purpose of leisure: Habermas and leisure at the end of modernity

Karl Spracklen’s ‘The Meaning and Purpose of Leisure Habermas and Leisure at the End of Modernity’, published in 2009 by Palgrave Macmillan is a good, although somewhat unbalanced, read. The book introduces two major theoretical concepts by Jürgen Habermas to Leisure Studies. In order to do this, the author divides the book into an initial theoretical section and a latter empirical section where Habermas theories are applied on Sport (Rugby League [RL]); Culture (Black Metal Music [BM]) and on Tourism (Authenticity in four different settings). Spracklen is a very good writer who engages his readers in a fluent and informative text. For a person without previous intimate knowledge about Habermas theories, the book provides an accessible insight into how to apply the concepts on practical cases. However, in my opinion the book is unbalanced in some parts due to sections of theory that digress from the topic and thus fail to make a solid argument. It is also unbalanced due to the surprisingly common verbatim repetition of sentences and full paragraphs in different sections of the book. The first chapter, Paradox of Leisure, provides the underpinnings for why Spracklen suggests that Habermas’ theories can be of importance to Leisure Studies scholars. The paradox he refers to is the divide between scholars following Mills, who view leisure as freedom what people choose to do outside their work constraints; the scholars who follow Marx, Adorno or Gramsci, who view leisure as oppression where leisure activities are formed and normed by external choices and powerful commercial interests and finally postmodern scholars who reject the aforementioned divide and state that most people are unaware of the external pressure on leisure choices but educated individuals can shape their own leisure time within and around the constraints. Spracklen suggests that Habermas’ theories offer a mediating way between these views and comes back to these arguments throughout the book. The second chapter is at times very heavy to read and at other times lucid and logical. The major argument is that Habermas was against postmodern indifference by showing that acceptance of certain truths and rationality is the basis for a functioning democracy. The two major concepts introduced are ‘communicative rationality’, which stems from human interaction and of the free exchange of ideas (for example, the aim and model of the Enlightenment); and instrumental rationality, which is a product of capitalism and the emergence of the modern Annals of Leisure Research, Vol. 14, No. 4, December 2011, 400 402