INTRODUCTION: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM
Global development of tourism
pre-modern, modern, post-modern: Discovery - Acquisition - Invention
Tourism is connected to movement ("tour"
- moving in a circle):
Basically, the touristical product is immobile, the consumer has to
travel to the product (but: post-modern development
- see below)
Like art, the touristical product only comes into existence
when it is consumed, exceeding the uno-actu principle for all services, the tourist is also a producer
Location of destinations influences Tourism, but Tourism also influences
destinations
Physically by
building infrastructure
changing land-use patterns
changing remote areas into resorts
keeping historic sites alive and threatening their
destruction at the same time
supporting ecological systems and polluting them at the same
time
creating totally man-made landscapes
Psychologically by
putting specific labels on places
changing the idea and experience of distance
dividing the world in sights and non-sights ("Sehens-würdig")
defining a specific status quo as "traditional", "authentic",
"Heritage" and trying to preserve its appearance
Tourism is changing the geography
of our planet in two ways: physically in our spatial use of the world and
mentally in our way of seeing and experiencing the world
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Tourism is selling a physically and psychologically man-made product.
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The "touristisation" of a destination,
the adjustment of the
- material,
- social and
- semiotic appearance
of a place towards to consumption by strangers is visible or invisible in different degrees to the
tourist/customer,
for instance in
a "traditional" village
a skiing resort
an old city center
a Robinson club
a "remote" place.
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