Pearce, Philip L. (2012) Tourists' written reactions to poverty in Southern Africa. Journal of Travel Research, 51 (2). pp. 154-165.

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Abstract

This article reports the details of an investigation into tourists' responses to poverty in four Southern African countries. The study was guided by concepts from positive psychology, notably discussion on the value of emotions and emotional experiences. Initially, nearly 300 Internet travel stories were coded. These stories were drawn systematically from more than 5,000 stories about Southern Africa. Observations about poverty occurred in 11.5% of all stories. In a second phase of the work, the emotions expressed in the poverty-oriented accounts were used to guide the construction of a taxonomy of tourists' responses. These response types were defined as disengagement, compartmentalization, the lucky self, sympathy/empathy, and corrective action. The value and complexities of using travel Internet stories as data were considered. Further pathways between the present work and the complex issue of poverty alleviation through tourism were noted.

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