Tourist immersion or tourist gaze: the backpacker experience.

Abstract

This chapter draws on the findings from an empirical study of backpackers in Thailand to highlight the disparity between the ideology of backpacking and the actual behaviour of backpackers. By analysing the data obtained from interviews, it shows that far from immersing themselves in the host culture backpackers do little more than gaze at the people they encounter. Such superficial immersion is felt to be the cause of negative social impacts for the host society.

Tourism development and the backpacker market in Highland Scotland

“…This theory is partially based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as anomic tourists are typically at the base of the pyramid with love and belonging needs, while ego-enhancement tourists can be associated with the self esteem need. Anomie and escape from a perceived mundane environment coincides with Buddhabhumbhitak’s (2010) findings in that ‘escape’ was one of the seven themes identified in their research. Cohen (2004) also states drifters seek escapism in the form of abandoning conventional ways of life and to experience more primitive surroundings; associated with avoiding materialism and confronting the pure self (Binder, 2004).…”

The Tourist's Gaze: From the Perspective of a Muslim Woman

“…When first introduced, the concept drew attention to the often subjective nature of tourism experiences, as well as to the perception of these experiences. This reflects the idea of the tourist gaze as the way that the tourist perceives their experience (Buddhabhumbhitak, 2010), but it also serves as a conceptual link with a number of other tourism subfields, such as tourist behavior and social and cultural geography. Urry (1990) states:…”

“…However, in tourism, many research studies make oblique reference to the role of the tourist gaze (e.g., Buzinde, Santos, & Smith, 2006;Soja, 1989;Urry, 2000). For example, Buddhabhumbhitak (2010) uses the tourist gaze as "the way a tourist perceives the tourist experiences, which has been socially created by tourists themselves. Simply, tourist gaze is what is in a tourist's mindset.…”

Show me the prison! The development of prison tourism in the UK

“…As Urry (1990) contends, inherent in the tourist ‘gaze’ is the power of judgement. This can be shaped not just by what the tourist sees but what s/he expects to see (Buddhabhumbhitak, 2010). Thus, not surprisingly, the prisons that now have a second life as tourist attractions in the UK are, without exception, those that fit closely with an expected architectural form.…”