The spectacular and the mundane: Chinese tourists' online representations of an iconic landscape journey

Pearce, Philip L., Wu, Mao-Ying, and Chen, Tingzhen (2015) The spectacular and the mundane: Chinese tourists' online representations of an iconic landscape journey. Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, 4 (1). pp. 24-35.

[img] PDF (Published Version) - Published Version
Restricted to Repository staff only

View at Publisher Website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2014.11...
 
5


Abstract

Building on the theory of social representations, and some new lines of work asserting the importance of mundane components of the tourist experience, the aims of the study are to categorise and interpret Chinese tourists' online visual representations of an Australian iconic landscape: the Great Ocean Road. Over 10,000 pictures posted online were coded using a nine-part scheme developed by the researchers. The work builds an understanding of the content of Chinese tourists' photographs and highlights a way to uncover the social representations in such material. The study provides evidence that a two-part emancipated social representation characterises the online photographs: one portrays the spectacular physical environmental features of the setting, while the other represents many small-scale and mundane places, contacts and sites. The study articulates a role for mundane authenticity in tourism studies and provides evidence for this emerging perspective through the analysis of the photographs.

Item ID: 38153
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2212-5752
Keywords: Chinese outbound tourists, destination images, online visual representations, mundane authenticity, The Great Ocean Road
Date Deposited: 21 Apr 2015 01:10
FoR Codes: 15 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 1506 Tourism > 150606 Tourist Behaviour and Visitor Experience @ 100%
SEO Codes: 90 COMMERCIAL SERVICES AND TOURISM > 9003 Tourism > 900302 Socio-Cultural Issues in Tourism @ 100%
Downloads: Total: 5
More Statistics

Actions (Repository Staff Only)

Item Control Page Item Control Page