TOURISM
Travel writers tend to perpetuate
cultural stereotypes for tourists
Melissa Mitchell,
News Editor
(217) 333-5491; melissa@illinois.edu
8/1/03
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —
Picture this: You’re
on vacation in Portugal, strolling through the winding streets of a quaint village,
described in a travel story you read in your hometown newspaper as an "enchanted
paradise … where time stands still." Suddenly you witness two locals
engaged in a loud, boisterous verbal exchange, which you perceive as some kind
of argument.
In that situation, the average American tourist might get nervous, said Carla
Santos, a professor of leisure
studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "You would
probably think they are fighting," Santos said. But in reality, the pair
probably is having a friendly, though animated, discussion. The tourist’s
disconnect with reality is easy to trace, however. That’s because, according
to Santos, our perception of the culture is likely shaped by accounts of travel
writers, who tend to perpetuate certain myths and stereotypes about tourist
destinations, who rarely interact with natives of the culture, and as a result,
portray countries and cultures in limited, unrealistic and sanitized terms.
Santos notes that travel writers are often subsidized by convention and visitors
bureaus or other vested interests in the locales they write about. Therefore,
their reports more closely resemble marketing and advertising, rather than objective
reporting. And, as Santos observed in her research and analysis of travel reporting
on Portugal, which she presented recently at a meeting of the Travel and Tourism
Research Association in St. Louis, writers also tailor their accounts to their
audience, framing their reports in ways that conform with the cultural expectations
and biases of their audiences. The result, she said, is "negative effects
for both sides" – tourists as well as native populations.
"We, as tourism researchers, need to call into question these interpretations,"
Santos said. "There needs to be a plurality of voices – including
local voices – along with more education. Tourists need to be provided
with alternative viewpoints. And if the goal is to understand the culture, you,
as the tourist, need to go beyond narratives by travel writers. Otherwise we
just have one big Disneyworld."
But, Santos believes, most tourists have little interest in digging deep into
their host country’s economic, social or political roots and becoming
acquainted with the everyday realities of its people. "Tourists want to
be able to talk to locals in the context of servitude … for instance,
‘What can you do for me?’ The possibility for a political discussion,
however, rarely occurs."
And that’s unfortunate, she said, particularly in light of what she refers
to in an article scheduled for publication in an upcoming edition of the journal
Annals of Tourism Research, as "the decline in amount and authority of
international news, that has lead some to argue that our understanding of the
world is increasingly produced and dependent on such non-fiction entertainment
as travel writing. Since news media manufacture representations and images of
the social world," she wrote, "then travel writing contributes to
the definition of a destination’s social reality."
The key to reframing that reality, Santos believes, is increased media literacy
among tourists.