Conceptualizing tourist videography

Abstract

Tourists increasingly record video during their vacations. By introducing tourist videography as a distinct practice from tourist photography, this conceptual article starts to develop the foundation for a theory of tourist videography. It contributes to the literature on visual culture in tourism by exploring the differences related to the technology as well as in the social practices of (re)presentation between tourist photography and videography. The key technological differences are displays of visual continuity and multiple moments in time, multiplicity of cues (audio-visual), and ability to show motion. The article emphasizes the ability of new recording equipment—specifically, wearable cameras and drones—to film from different perspectives. Videography’s key differences in social practices are high-profile editing, the concept of digital distance, the idea of storytelling inherent in the media form and the emphasis on tourist activities rather than destinations. The paper further conceptualizes videography’s impact on the structure of tourist experiences. The key differences in mediation are tourists’ increased immersion in the experience, continuous interaction with the screen, ongoing performativity and collapse of the linearity of the tourist experience. Besides outlining future research needs, this article presents practical examples and emphasizes implications for experience design, site management, and marketing related to tourist videography in order to highlight the practical relevance of the developed theoretical differences.