Search

Mobility accounts for the largest share of CO2 emissions generated by tourism industry. The extent of CO2 resulting from tourists' long‐distance travel depends strongly on the transport mode used. To reduce these emissions, destinations should engage in promoting a shift from flying and driving to traveling on rail. This study hypothesizes that the entire mobility chain, that is, long‐distance travel and mobility at destination, represents an interconnected bundle of services. Using data from a Discrete Choice Experiment conducted with visitors to a tourist destination in Austrian Alps, we estimated the effects of attributes of long‐distance travel by personal vehicle and rail (travel time, travel costs, number of transfers) and effects of attributes of local mobility services offered at the destination (transit frequency, carsharing, mobility hub). The outcomes indicate that local mobility services are highly relevant for transport mode choice of tourists and can increase the market share of rail significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the tourism economy, causing a severe global shock and effects on tourism mobility unevenly geographically distributed across regions. This paper detects changes in the global tourism flows network (GTN) in the period 2018-2020 due to COVID-19 and explains the GTN dynamics from a network science perspective. The analysis reveals the effect of underlying economic geography, as the pandemic introduced a new social distancing friction that induced centrifugal forces to the tourism network. The network’s topological pattern was described by small-world network characteristics before the pandemic outbreak, while during the pandemic there was a statistically significant reshape into more lattice-like characteristics accompanied by peripheral markets expansion of local hierarchy. The findings also demonstrate a reduction in the number of tourism flows and spatial connectivity, a simplification of the macroeconomic travel behavior, and a resilient performance of the main tourism hubs shaping and a distinctive core-periphery network structure. Overall, this paper contributes to a better understanding of the response of tourism mobility to the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study uses the methodological tools of network theory to investigate the spatial movements of tourists in the sample area, which is the South Transdanubian tourism region of Hungary. The basic idea of the study is that tourist movements across settlements in a larger tourist destination make a coherent network. As long as the approach is correct, this network can be measured by properties that are characteristic of networks, such as centrality or degree. A review of the methodology of similar studies previously published on the subject has been used to supplement the method of analysis used below. As a result, the study not only characterised the sample area municipalities in terms of network characteristics, but also classified them into clusters for strategic planning purposes on the basis of the mobility propensity of the tourists staying there.

Based on an ethnography incorporating interview, linguistic landscape and observational data, this research illustrates how temporary linguistic value is negotiated and how an Arctic tourism destination is made fit for consumption for a specific audience. Set within a tourism resort in the Finnish Arctic during two weeks in Winter when the region habitually receives a large influx of Russian-speaking visitors, we illustrate how Russian is conceptualized as a means of economic practice by stakeholders in the local tourism industry. While some offer services specifically for a Russian-speaking audience as part of a short-term high-risk/high-reward investment, others regard Russian as an expression of a negative niche market that compromises the overall image of the Arctic as a global tourism destination. We discuss these different understandings of commodity value and highlight, how stakeholders in the local tourism economy imagine and discursively construct Russian-speaking tourists. In doing so, this paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the conditions of language commodification and the processes involved in the valuation and devaluation of linguistic resources within temporary linguistic markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retirees' mobility patterns from origin cities to tourist destinations in pursuit of a "good life" have become a worldwide research topic as studies originating in Western countries spread to emerging economies. This study investigates if and how retirees' movement patterns influence their subjective well-being (SWB) and whether groups with different mobility patterns exhibit unique SWB. Data are drawn from a sample of 546 retirement migrants aged over 50 from the domestic tourist destination of Zhuhai, China. Empirical results show that population characteristics, mobility patterns, and living patterns are significant predictors of retirement migrants' SWB. Specifically, a better life ideally involves moving to a larger house in a tourist destination that features a warm climate and high-quality amenities. The destination should be of minimal distance from retirees' hometowns, enabling them to return with ease. We further identified four groups of retirees (peripatetic visitors, amenity migrants, seasonal migrants, and full residents), with amenity migrants having the highest SWB. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to focus on the development of a vision for the Lake Constance region, Germany, as an e-destination, i.e. a destination where tourism mobility would be predominantly electric in the future. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a scenario analysis based on factor analysis in addition to empirical data collected in 2016 and 2017 based on surveys and interviews with tourists and stakeholders. Findings – The scenarios contain the optimistic, pessimistic and realistic models, including one scenario called e-destination, i.e. a projection of the future where tourism mobility consists predominantly of electro-mobility (e-mobility). This specific scenario is supported by the results of the empirical data. Research limitations/implications – As the study focusses on e-mobility only, it leaves out other forms of mobility e.g. pedestrian or cycling mobility that also contribute to CO2 reduction. The sampling methods are not strictly randomised, but the tendencies they show are clear and supporting each other. Practical implications – According to the tourists and stakeholders interviewed, it is quite likely that the region will become an e-destination in the future, but only with government support. Social implications – The attitude-behaviour-gap was discussed as a possible explanation of tourists’ behaviour in the study. Originality/value – Studies on e-mobility in tourism are rare. (As far as the author knows) this paper presents the first analysis of the future of e-mobility in tourism using a German lake as a destination. Thus, it adds to the existing body of knowledge different possible projections of the future regarding e-mobility in a tourism destination.

With the extensive and in-depth exploration of the relationship between municipal infrastructure and carbon emissions in prefecture-level cities, the implicit internal relationship with traffic has become increasingly profound. Based on the Spatial Dubin Model (SDM) and mediation effect theory, the affiliation mechanism of transportation infrastructure affecting carbon emissions was investigated using a panel dataset of 286 cities in China during a 15-year period from 2002 to 2017. The findings revealed that carbon emissions may cluster in space, especially in developed regions in China, which exhibit high-high aggregation, and transportation infrastructure, industrial structure, energy consumption, and the improvement in Internet of things information technology promote communication and flow between prefecture-level cities, but the nexus between traffic system and carbon emissions is nonlinear and endogenous, especially road infrastructure exacerbating peripheral urban carbon emissions through industrial agglomeration effects and tourism mobility effects as mediating factors. In terms of nationalized industrial distribution, the strategy for large-scale development of western China and the shift in economic and industrial focus to less developed prefecture-level cities fit with the empirical results of this study. Moreover, optimizing the industrial structure and developing clean energy could effectively mitigate carbon emissions. Policy-makers could also change residents' cultural consumption perceptions by promoting green tourism and government subsidies to achieve China's carbon neutrality policy goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new global context has heightened the need for the sustainable mobility and recovery of the tourism industry. This study analyses how travel bubbles can contribute towards the sustainability and reconstruction of the tourism industry. Several examples have emerged worldwide, manifesting the strong need to create 'safe' routes to transform tourism. Through a theoretical approach and by drawing from previous research, official reports, and news media, this study analyses the rationale for travel bubbles and examines how they can support short-term responses to the pandemic and enhance long-term planning pertaining to tourism mobility for a sustainable future. It discusses the political, economic, psychological, socioeconomic, environmental, and hygiene impacts of travel bubbles. The study shows that sustainability can be achieved through a cooperative regional approach. It examines the challenges and opportunities of travel bubbles towards redeveloping tourism in neighbouring destinations and offers strategies to support sustainable tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as backyard tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though tourism (both domestic and international) is one of the main triggering factors of human mobility worldwide, some of its forms are unexplored. This can be partly linked with the lack of reliable data and obstacles related to data processing and interpretation. Mobile Positioning Data (MPD) allows us to identify various forms of tourism that are undetectable through traditional data sources such as accommodation statistics. Using MPD, not only same-day tourists but also the real time mobility patterns of tourists among various destinations can be revealed, and even hidden (i.e., unobserved) forms of tourism can be detected. However, despite the obvious benefits of such data, very few comprehensive studies exist to date on the processing, and interpretation of MPD in tourism research. In this paper, a case study is presented on the challenges and opportunities of processing MPD from raw to good quality researchable data offering a baseline tool for MPD-based research in the field of tourism. With the methodology introduced in this paper, it is possible to provide a more accurate picture of tourist flows regarding unobserved tourists, including same-day visitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In post‐reform China, Han Chinese urbanities traveling to Tibet have contributed to a new literary genre that documents tourist mobility as a means of self‐finding and self‐exploration. The sample of data in this study consists of 28 book‐length travel writings by Han travellers, and the primary research question addresses the relationships between tourism mobility and self‐making, a widely debated issue in cultural and tourism geographies. Engaging with the conceptual tension between an essential self and a socially constructed self, this study argues that while Han writers' travels to Tibet are germane to the hunt for an essential self as a hidden treasure to be redeemed, the self is by no means merely introspective, but intrinsically relational and constituted by social, embodied and materially mediated practices. For the purpose of reconciling and synthesizing the two theoretical positions, this study proposes an alternative concept known as the 'assemblage self', which tries to capture how the more‐than‐human and more‐than‐representational dimensions of mobilities can speak back powerfully to the phenomenology of the self. This concept is relational and performative in the sense that it is constituted by networks of discourses, practices, and materialities. We develop this concept by engaging with the recent literature on more‐than‐representational mobility as a conceptual nexus connecting the concepts of the essential self and the socially constructed self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study uses the methodological tools of network theory to investigate the spatial movements of tourists in the sample area, which is the South Transdanubian tourism region of Hungary. The basic idea of the study is that tourist movements across settlements in a larger tourist destination make a coherent network. As long as the approach is correct, this network can be measured by properties that are characteristic of networks, such as centrality or degree. A review of the methodology of similar studies previously published on the subject has been used to supplement the method of analysis used below. As a result, the study not only characterised the sample area municipalities in terms of network characteristics, but also classified them into clusters for strategic planning purposes on the basis of the mobility propensity of the tourists staying there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have investigated tourism demand forecasting from a mobility perspective. We explore whether population mobility data improve the ability to forecast tourist volumes in scenic spots. We selected Jiuzhaigou and Mount Siguniang in China as study cases and ensured the robustness of the results using single- and multistep rolling evaluation techniques. The findings reveal a significant correlation, long-term cointegration, and two-way Granger causality between intercity population flow and tourist flow. The comparison model with population flow as a variable outperforms the benchmark model. We prove the feasibility of leveraging population flow in tourism demand forecasting and suggest further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobilität und Tourismus gehören untrennbar zusammen, denn ohne einen Ortswechsel gibt es keine Urlaubsreise. Der Tourismus aber verursacht anthropogene Kohlendioxidemissionen, von denen etwa 75 % auf den touristischen Verkehr entfallen. Angesichts dieses Beitrags zum Klimawandel erscheint es notwendig, sich mit Wegen zu einer ökologischen touristischen Mobilität zu beschäftigen. Zur Untersuchung der Einflussfaktoren auf die touristische Verkehrsmittelwahl wurde ein Erklärungsmodell basierend auf der Theorie des geplanten Verhaltens entwickelt. Neben den Basiskonstrukten wurden als ergänzende Modellkonstrukte die persönliche Norm, das allgemeine Umweltbewusstsein sowie gewohnheitsmäßiges Handeln hinzugefügt. Eine empirische Untersuchung mit n=738 ermittelte durch multiple lineare Regression wichtige Ansatzpunkte für die Gestaltung von Handlungsempfehlungen. Mobility and tourism are inseparable linked, because there is no vacation trip without a change of location. However, tourism causes around 5 % of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, of which around 75 % is attributable to tourist traffic. In view of this contribution of tourist traffic to climate change, it seems necessary to deal with ways to an ecological tourist mobility. An explanatory model based on the theory of planned behavior was developed to investigate the influencing factors on the choice of tourist mode of transport. In addition to the basic constructs of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavior control, the personal norm, general environmental awareness and habitual behavior were added as supplementary model constructs. An empirical study with n = 738 identified important starting points for the design of recommendations for action using multiple linear regression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sports tourism as a segment is growing exponentially in Brazil. The sports mega-events that occurred in the period from 2007 to 2016 helped strengthen this sector significantly. This article examined tourism mobility during the Summer Olympic Games Rio 2016, hosted by the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This study expands the understanding of the relationship between tourism and city infrastructure, therefore being relevant to academics, professionals of the area, and to the whole society due to its multidisciplinary field. The existence of a relationship between means of transportation and the Olympic regions as well as tourist attractions for a possible legacy was observed. Data were collected from official sources, field research, and through participant observation and semistructured interviews. Data were coded and analyzed. The results indicate that the city was overall successful in its execution of sufficient mobility. New means of transportation were added and others updated. Bus rapid transits (BRTs) were the main use of mass transport to Olympic sites. However, a lack of public transport access was observed for the touristic sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how lifestyle tourism entrepreneurs manage the shift between their daily roles as entrepreneurs and tourists. Based on data collected through in-depth interviews and observations, the study produces a number of major findings. First, tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs seek to balance their personal life roles as tourists and entrepreneurs. Second, they use role identification and boundary management as strategies to manage their role shifting. Third, role conflicts are inevitable and frequent between the integrated work and life domains. This study contributes to our understanding of the challenges that lifestyle entrepreneurs face in tourism destinations from a micro role-transition perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International cruise passengers moving in urban destinations have particular time limitation that can make enabling and disabling elements of mobility meaningful on the quality of their visit. Identifying these elements is essential to improve their independent movement. Based on a staging mobilities framework that considers the dimensions of physical settings, material spaces, design (PMD), social interactions (SI) and embodied performances (EP) in situ, the research has analysed location-specific information in Helsinki, a popular port of call in the Baltic Sea. The study has used go-along observations and mobile application in data collection. The produced dataset was analysed by combining GIS-methods and content analyses. As a result, five categories were identified under the dimension of PMD: wayfinding tools, unexpected situations, lack of rest spots and walkability. Categories identified under the dimension of SI were local people, service providers and travel companions, and other tourists. Categories identified under the dimension of EP were traffic behaviour, occasioned activities, sense of direction, planning, and time-related anxiety. Urban destinations such as Helsinki can apply these results in practice, to make the movement of independently moving cruise passengers as effortless as possible, contributing to a better experience of the city space for both tourists and other city users. The proposed methodology could also be used to analyse other mobility-related phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature-based tourism is a mobile activity shaped by the capacity of tourists for displacement and the socio-material infrastructure allowing flows. However, the literature has scarcely addressed aspects of mobility in governing nature-based tourism. Taking the case of the National Park Torres del Paine we explore three aspects of mobility in nature-based tourism using the concepts of routes, frictions, and rhythms. Our findings show that the movement of tourists challenges spatially bounded forms of governance. Instead, we argue, new mobility-sensitive forms of nature-based tourism governance are needed that can complement the use of fixed-boundary conservation enclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Damit nachhaltige Mobilität im Tourismus nicht nur eine Vision bleibt, benötigt es maßgeschneiderte Mobilitätsangebote, die auch die „letzte Meile" mit berücksichtigen. Dies ist der Schwerpunkt des Interreg Europe Projektes LAST MILE, das unter österreichischer Leitung regionale Strategien für ländliche touristische Regionen beleuchtet. Innovativ ist darin die intensive Auseinandersetzung mit den notwendigen rechtlichen, institutionellen und ökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen. Darauf aufbauend entwickeln die Projektregionen nun konkrete Strategien um Barrieren für die Realisierung niederschwelliger flexibler Lösungen abzubauen. In order for sustainable mobility in tourism not only to remain a vision, it needs tailor-made mobility offers that also take into account the „last mile". Regional strategies for rural tourism regions are highlighted in the Interreg Europe project LAST MILE under Austrian leadership. Innovative is the intensive examination of legal, institutional and economic conditions. The project regions are now taking concrete measures to break down barriers in the realization of low-threshold flexible solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smartphones and mobile applications (apps) have become indispensable tools for travelers. Despite their pivotal role in the tourism industry and continuous advancements, our understanding of their usage and integration is limited. Adopting a bottom-up approach, we analyzed and characterized 347 tourism mobility apps, differentiating between globally-used apps and those that are developed and used locally in four renowned tourist destinations: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Venice, and Dubrovnik. The central attributes that characterize these apps were revealed through factor analysis, including tourist-oriented functionality, orientation and navigation, efficacy, effective mobility, social (interaction), and activities. Four types of apps, namely mobility, navigation, interact and experience, and social media, were then grouped using k-means clustering. Our typology facilitates a better understanding of the tourism apps market and the apps' added value. This topic is becoming increasingly important, considering the smartization processes that destinations are undergoing. • A bottom-up approach is employed to classify 347 travel mobile applications (apps). • Global and local apps from Amsterdam, Barcelona, Venice and Dubrovnik were surveyed. • Distinct tourism mobility apps characteristics and values are identified. • Some tourism mobility app types are more likely to affect destinations than others. • COVID-19 may prompt app developers to add features for safer travel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dominant sustainability discourses commonly situate Earth as the singular realm of human influence and position modern mobility as one of the primary means through which we are destroying the biosphere. The commercialisation of activities in outer space and the development of space tourism have resulted in drastically reduced launch costs, enabling an increased human presence beyond the biosphere. This paper argues that current debates concerning the relationship between tourism mobilities and sustainability are marked by increasingly untenable assumptions concerning the spatial and temporal parameters of human influence. We critique those assumptions by introducing the concept of a sustainable trajectory to examine the relationship between modern mobility and sustainability, a relationship that is being redefined by the rapidly advancing fields of commercial spaceflight and space tourism. Greater attention to space tourism and commercial spaceflights is required in order to develop a coherent, long-term conceptualisation of the implications of modern mobility for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nello scenario attuale la gran parte delle città è impegnata in investimenti nel settore turistico al fine di rendersi maggiormente competitive e di attrarre investimenti. Questo rinnovato interesse verso il settore turistico e del tempo libero ha generato una nuova tipologia turistica riconosciuta come turismo urbano, sviluppatosi sostanzialmente durante tutti gli anni Novanta. Partendo dalla consapevolezza che lo spostamento sia una condizione necessaria allo svolgimento della pratica turistica tout court e di quella urbana in particolare, l’articolo tenta di mettere in evidenza la capacità di adattamento dell’offerta di trasporto urbano alle esigenze turistiche. La relazione tra sistema di trasporto urbano e pratica turistica, se esiste, può essere analizzata alla luce dei principali interventi messi in campo per adattare l’offerta di trasporto alle richieste di un’utenza temporanea ma con una forte incidenza sul bilancio economico della città.This paper deals with leisure mobility that is a special form of mobility enabled by tourists in urban areas. As a matter of fact, tourism activity occupies a central role in the economies of cities today. Most of the processes of urban renewal actually still in progress always provide investment in tourism and leisure. The metropolitan areas as well as small and medium-sized cities, to redefine its development model stake on the rejuvenation of the tourism and culture in order to attract visitors and tourists. In this context, the urban supply system for tourism-oriented services has been enhanced with new ways of enjoying the city. Transport supply to enable travel within the city plays a significant role. Sometimes the mean of transport turns into a tourist attraction itself both giving value to tourist experience and improving accessibility to urban attractions. The first part of this paper refers to theoretical aspect of the tourism phenomenon. This is to underline how tourism is a complex phenomenon and it needs the construction of an analytical framework to synthesize its multidisciplinary aspects. The systems approach helps to reduce complexity by a simplified model allowing to understand how different elements fit together (Page 2003: 22). In such a vision, tourist demand and tourist supply can be considered as two sub-systems of the tourism system. Demand analysis is the basis of economic evaluations. Supply analysis mainly refers to what the city has to be attractive. To simplify, one can argue that demand activates by the need of change and supply is something that could be better arranged. So, in the tourist process, demand could be considered as a “push factor” while supply could represent a “pull factor”. The supply system can be regarded as composed of three major components: the local resources, the services in support of tourism and the facilities for mobility. The transport system is an important component of the supply system and it is a strongly attractive factors affecting tourist choice. In the second part of the paper some aspect of mobility are discusses. The aim is to demonstrate that some differeces exist between urban mobility and leisure mobility especially if we refer to the disposal of time and the way to move. In the final part, starting from the consideration that displacements are the “sine qua non” condition for tourism, the paper offers an overview of the main examples of tourist supply of transport aimed at improving the attraction of the city. Private sector is much more present than public in supporting innovative forms of moving in the city. Public sentor is much more engaged in managing the effects of tourism on the city. As the paper shows the integration between the urban transport system and tourism is a still difficult to achieve. Success depends exclusively on coordination between all actors involved.

The spatial distribution of tourists is uneven and it can include some areas at regional and/or sub-regional level. The social-economic and environmental impacts of tourism, are concentrated in different areas. Some recent contributions show the usefulness and the effectiveness of network analysis (NA) approach in revising the organization of tourist facilities and services. This paper proposes to apply methods borrowed from NA to map the spatial distribution of tourism mobility in Sicily. So, we analyze the network features of tourism in a multi-destinations net. By means of traditional measures of NA, we propose to measure the links among destinations. The study aims to connect destinations, represented as nodes, to define a territorial network of tourism demand. In the specific instance, the degree centrality, closeness centrality, betweenness centrality are used to localize central areas and the main routes. We test survey data collected on a sample of tourists leaving from airports and ports of the main Sicilian cities, who visited two destinations at least. Then, we study tourism mobility on those areas selected by tourists. Finally, employing measures derived from NA, the work attempts to set out territorial networks. This approach could be useful to plane tourism development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the attitude–behaviour gap from an identity perspective in order to better understand why tourists act sustainably at “home” but not when “away”. The majority of tourism-related CO2emissions stems from transport. Behavioural change is a possible way to reduce those emissions. However, research indicates that instigating behavioural change within tourism is problematic, because of the attitude–behaviour gap. Studies suggest that understanding the role of identity and tourism mobility could explain this gap; this paper researches that idea, using a narrative approach to explore the travel life histories of 24 participants, with a second interview to examine how interviewees viewed their tourism activity in the light of environmental debates and concerns. Data were analysed using thematic and narrative-based dialogic/performance approaches. The paper reveals how a need for personal identity can influence travel behaviour and that identity plays a significant role in travel decisions, sometimes overriding cost and environmental issues. The power of social identity is explored, noting increasingly powerful global VFR networks, along with the search for future selves, the need for personal differentiation and issues of multiple identities. Suggestions are made for ways to use identity research into policies seeking to achieve behavioural change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper seeks to understand how tourists might reduce their travel distances by better understanding their perception and “performance” of distances to destinations. Travel accounts for 75% of tourism's GHG emissions, the majority from flying. Tourist travel distances are growing rapidly, as are emissions, with little evidence of the reductions required to comply with emission reduction targets. This research used discourse analysis of in-depth interviews with Danish tourists to explore how they understand distance. Respondents rarely referred to physical distance (e.g. kilometres), but instead to scales including cost, time and cultural difference to express relative distances. Some distances were seen as “zonal”, (e.g. “away from home” or “sun and sea” or winter sports destinations), others “ordinal”, having degrees of difference, time or costs to cross. The desire for distance also resulted from links tourists make between physical distance and reaching cultural dissimilarity. Sometimes travel itself was integral with the holiday experience. While cost and time savings were important, the total holiday price was more important than the journey price. Measures are suggested for reducing the distances travelled and changing the modes used, and so reducing environmental impacts, including changing leave allowances, better marketing of nearby destinations with cultural differences, and promoting slow travel. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: It is hard to imagine tourism without the creative use of seductive as well as restrictive imaginaries about peoples and places. This article presents a conceptual framework for the study of tourism imaginaries and their diffusion. Where do such imaginaries originate, how and why are they circulated across the globe, and what kind of impact do they have on people’s lives? I discuss the multiple links between tourism and imagination, illustrating the overlapping but conflicting ways in which imaginings and fantasies drive tourists and tourism service providers alike. By applying this conceptual approach to international tourism in developing countries, I illustrate how the critical analysis of imaginaries offers a powerful deconstruction device of ideological, political, and sociocultural stereotypes and clichés. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]