The Melodramatic Structure of New Age Tourist Desire

Abstract

This essay explores the relationship between media form and tourist imaginations of Sedona, AZ, USA. In particular, it examines the ways in which a pervasive narrative form – melodrama – maps onto New Age tourists’ expectations and experiences. This essay builds on Crouch et al.’s (2005a) notions of media and tourist imaginations and posits that in the case of New Age tourism in Sedona, the tourist imagination is melodramatic. The position in this paper forwards three conceptual ideas. First, conversations about the intersections between media and tourism should extend beyond the dominant focus on media content to questions of the influence of media narrative forms. Second, conversations about media and tourist imaginations should not necessarily be thought of in binary ways, even as ideal types. Third, conversations about media and tourism need to better consider how tourism is embedded in a complex, layered media environment.

The role of visual media in religious tourists’ destination image, choice, and on-site experience: the case of Tinos, Greece

“…Using visual media including TV news and documentaries religious authorities often even develop what Baudrillard (1981, p.85) calls "strategies of desire", through which tourists are mobilized to visit particular places. The visual projection of material objects such as the fame of miraculous icons inscribe places with fantasies and memories and motivates people to visit sacred places to encounter these objects (Cloke & Pawson, 2008;Coats, 2011;Selwyn, 1996;Tilley, 2006). Therefore, through the selection of an emblematic trait or historical event (i.e.…”

The role of visual media in religious tourists’ destination image, choice, and on-site experience: the case of Tinos, Greece

“…Using visual media including TV news and documentaries religious authorities often even develop what Baudrillard (1981, p.85) calls "strategies of desire", through which tourists are mobilized to visit particular places. The visual projection of material objects such as the fame of miraculous icons inscribe places with fantasies and memories and motivates people to visit sacred places to encounter these objects (Cloke & Pawson, 2008;Coats, 2011;Selwyn, 1996;Tilley, 2006). Therefore, through the selection of an emblematic trait or historical event (i.e.…”