Abstract
Tourist identity is an important component of the postmodern identity. This review paper unveils the role of travel guidebooks as identity construction agents at a time when tourism has become an important postmodern phenomenon. The review offers a processual look at roles played by guidebooks in tourist information gathering and formation of cultural tastes and preferences, and portrays the influence of guidebooks on social change. The review points especially to the lack of a broad theoretical perspective in the research of the role of guidebooks in tourist identity formation as well as tourist motivation and consumer behaviour formation. Consequently, the paper suggests that future studies of tourist identity should adopt a socio-historical and cultural interdisciplinary approach focusing on travel guidebooks, using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Based on this proposed framework, the article suggests several further research directions for the study of social construction of tourist identity within a spatio-temporal context.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 80-98 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Jan 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2015 Taylor & Francis.
Keywords
- cultural studies
- identity
- postmodernism
- spatio-temporal context
- tourist motivation
- travel guidebooks
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Cultural Studies
- Transportation
- Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
- Nature and Landscape Conservation