An extended view of tourist gaze theory: Proactive gaze in picnics

Abstract

This research suggests an added view of proactive gaze to expand tourist gaze theory by conducting an exploratory qualitative study in the picnic context. The results reveal that there are two themes for picnic experiences: crafting external presentation and striving for recognition. The notion of ‘proactive gaze’ was further proposed based on the theories of narcissism and impression management, which is an intense desire and motivation to be gazed at by others through performing and presenting. During this process, tourists also fulfilled the role of acting as the host. Most importantly, while active gazing at others, tourists may voluntarily design, construct, and project tourist resources to other tourists (either on-site or online). The overall experience can be significantly influenced by new technology, i.e., social networking sites. It is expected that the newly developed concept of proactive gaze can be applied to explain diverse leisure/tourism activities.