It's All About Image

There are so many issues surrounding this piece in today's NY Times.  Please reflect on the following and please look back on your readings if you can for some help.  Must we always have a squeaky clean image when it depends on revisionist history or denial?  How are such points in history promoted? The politics?  Hey, I live in this state and from my perspective its reputation is well deserved. Chicago politics is, well, just that but I love the entrepreneurial tour operator.

Images are quickly lost when they are good and hang on forever when bad.   If I asked the average person for an image of London what do you think they often mention? 

Dark Tourism

These days we appear to have a rapidly growing number of niche or "fill in the blank" tourist market segments.  One that I find interesting is Dark Tourism (please see also: http://www.dark-tourism.org.uk/) and related places like WWII and cold-war military sites that appear to be increasingly popular.

In the summer of 2007 I took a small group of U of I undergraduate students on a study abroad trip to Poland and as a part of that visited Auschwitz-Birkenau.  That experience was moving to say the least and on the bus trip back to Krakow I don't think a word was spoken.  I assume you would all agree it fits somewhere within the notion of tourism but what about the motivation to visit these sites?  Have you visited such sites and if so, why and what was your reaction?  What about a visit to one of the 9/11 sites?  To what extent should these sites be exploited for their commercial tourist value?

OMG Reality Tourism - What Do You Think?

From today's NY Times.  Is this demeaning, crass or an important money-maker and development tool?  Ugh!  Get vocal!

The next post will be about Dark Tourism.  Wheres does tourism go, where is too much and how/if to stop? 

Conflicts With Indigenous Peoples

This report from the BBC is perhaps an extreme example of how the development of tourism can impact a native or indigenous peoples.  Anthropologists have for many years pointed out the negative effects such encounters have but one has to ask to what end does "protecting" such fragile societies serve?  Are they truly guinea pigs as the article suggests and who are we to say what is best for them?

Closer to home we encounter these conflicts often as a new resort or destination is developed in a small town or rural area or even when a quaint part of a city is "discovered" by the travel industry.  Don't we all want to be the last one to visit and close the door behind us?

Annals of Tourism Research

If anyone is interested here's the link to the latest issue of Annals of Tourism Research the leading journal in our field.

Appropriate Tourism Promotion

I suspect this link will generate some interesting commentary, so lets have it!  Now, just like the "large person" post earlier I'd like you to really focus on the ethical issues of touirsm promotion, not the visceral reaction to it.

Promoting Travel to the US Again

Some years ago the US Department of Commerce had a budget to promote international travel to this country.  However, during the Clinton administration that program was cut and the responsibility shifted to the travel industry rather than our Federal government.  I suspect the rationale for such a cut was that people were dying to come here anyway so why spend the money that did not directly have a local constituency here.  From what I understood the industry initiative didn't work as well, and then 9/11 came along followed by massive and burdensome changes in security and visa regulations for international visitors to say nothing of many new fees.  The net result was a significant drop on international arrivals and the economic impact they have.

Please click on the title of this post and read the news release.  Do you think this new approach will work?  Why or why not?  Is the fee structure fair and/or appropriate?  Will "educating" potential visitors work?  Feel free to and any other comments you have.