Analytical autoethnography in tourism research: when, why, how, and how reliable?

Analytical autoethnography involves direct and detailed observation of a researcher's own perceptions, emotions, thoughts and actions. Approaches include retrospective, experimental, and collaborative. Data sources include records, multimedia, social media, and memories. Analytical autoethnographies can be combined with ethnographies, participant observations, or interviews. In tourism research, analytical autoethnographies have addressed experiences, tourists, attractions, and activities, especially adventure activities. Autoethnographic methods are a specialised tool, most valuable where a researcher's experience provides data or insights at greater depth or detail than available otherwise. Examples include tourism experiences that are ineffable, or those that affect only particular tourists, e.g. because of capabilities or demographics. A comprehensive research toolkit should include specialised as well as unspecialised tools, and analytical autoethnography therefore deserves broader application and greater familiarity amongst tourism researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]