Mountain Tourism and Liminality

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to assess the origins of tourists and the motivations of mountain tourism in the Highlands of Scotland, with the use of bothies – extremely rustic small houses, usually made of stones, without any urban comfort – as accommodation. Through quantitative and qualitative methodologies, based on questionnaires, interviews and participant observation, were verified the origins and motivations of tourists who stayed on the Scottish bothies from April to June 2015. Data were reviewed in 2020. It was concluded that it is the citizens of small towns who feel the greatest need for social isolation that the mountains offer, seeking to enjoy an isolated and rustic place outside their everyday lives. Considering that there is a relatively limited specific literature on the subject, this work presents itself as a contribution to the subject, even as a subsidy for future investigations related to mountain tourism and experience tourism.