Abstract
AbstractWith advances in technology affordances, contents generated by individual tourists in the tourism context has become an influential source of tourism information besides contents channeled by traditional mass media such as newspapers and broadcasts. Specifically, Meme Tourism (i.e., meme phenomenon in tourism) becomes one of the biggest trends in imitating and transforming/evolving tourism contents online, which is a byproduct of participatory culture that use text and visual images as means of user-generated communications in online communities through the exchange, distribution, and transactions. Understanding the emerging phenomena of meme in tourism would provide insights on tourists’ desires and behaviors in modern traveling. This study conceptualizes three major perspectives in tourism; 1) media-induced tourism, 2) user-generated content, and 3) social media activities, reflecting meme phenomena in tourism. Given the foundation provided, this study calls for a new stream of study in tourism that examines desire, motivation, and behavior of tourists in technology-enabled modern travel culture.
Highlights
The rise of digital media - most notably social media sites – has provided commonly called “user democracy culture” [1]
A concept of meme is introduced as an example of ‘gene’ in the human body that is inherited to generation to generation, which can replicate itself through imitation based on the Darwinian [7]
Internet meme generated by tourists is a potential manifestation of the tourist experience embedded in their context, activities and experiences
Summary
The rise of digital media - most notably social media sites – has provided commonly called “user democracy culture” [1]. In an era marked by ‘networked individualism’ [4], internet meme has become a new digital culture, which connects tourism to a new territory. This new digital culture in tourism pave a way for opening new fields of research. The memorable scene is spread out to tourists the #jokerstairs by way of hashtag tagged on Instagram and recreate new image. Such the popularity of the location was briefly marked as a religious site on Google Maps. This research aims to explore ‘meme tourism’ theoretically and proposes a conceptual framework in explaining the phenomenon for tourism discipline
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
