‘In a rush’: Time-space compression and its impacts on cruise excursions

Abstract

With the increase in large-scale cruise tourism worldwide, researchers have highlighted the inauthenticity of the cruise experience and the reconstruction of space. This research deals with new aspects: fast tourism through time-space compression, and the formation of enclosed, customized ‘tourist bubbles’ that confine the tourists and promote a constructed authenticity of the experience on-shore. The second aim is to advance applied research in slower cruise excursions, especially in emerging cruise destinations. The research is based on extensive field work conducted during nine cruise-excursions to the sand desert and an oasis in the Sultanate of Oman. Oman is in the early stages of developing mega-cruise tourism while having received little attention in tourism research. For this study, in-depth interviews were conducted with German-speaking cruise tourists, cruise employees as well as with local cultural brokers and the Minister of Tourism. Moreover, participant observation, travel ethnography and photography were applied. Results indicate while moving from one customized ‘tourist bubble’ to the next one, time is controlled and enhanced through fast modes of transportation and a tight schedule of the excursion. The tourists and their cultural brokers are ‘contained’ in time and space, while some are struggling for more authentic experiences. They are shielded off from the local environment, ‘grazing’ destinations within a short time.

Modelling the intra-destination behaviour of cruise visitors based on a three-dimensional approach

“…This reinforces the 'collective gaze' proposed by Urry (1990), as some cruise visitors do not usually behave actively with the attractions. Thus, the results of this study partially support the outcomes of Gutberlet (2019) and Li (2019), who conclude that the majority of cruise visitors take a superficial glance at the destination through passive activities. However, the results also reveal that other cruise participants prefer to bodily or cognitively engage with the attractions through guides, audio-guides, excursions, sport activities, and so on.…”

“…In relation to activities performed by cruise visitors, Gutberlet (2019) and Li (2019) point out that the vast majority of cruise passengers superficially contemplate the destination because they selectively consume the attractions and services quickly and intensely in a small part of the city, above all in historical centres. De Cantis et al…”

Reconsidering global mobility – distancing from mass cruise tourism in the aftermath of COVID-19

“…Overall, this industry is able to take full advantage of all the mechanisms of the neoliberal economy that allow it to accumulate and geographically fix the capital necessary for its expansion. The MCTI promotes the creation of relational spaces around port areas in the periphery, but also throughout host territories' regional and national space (Gutberlet, 2019) where new power games appear (Renaud, 2019). It goes without saying that this creates collisions at the economic, environmental and socio-cultural level.…”

Bubble-wrapped sightseeing mobilities: Hop on–hop off bus experiences in Copenhagen

“…While at this stop the bus waits longer than at the other stops, it is also telling of the rapid speed and schedule that the service must keep up with. It also confirms that a 5-minute window is all you need to see this place and it testifies to the ‘time hurried nature’ of sightseeing tourism (Gutberlet, 2019). In other situations, tourists stay put and linger and gaze much longer before they jump back on the bus.…”