Tourism and national identities: connections and conceptualisations

Abstract

This edited volume explores the multiple ways in which aspects of tourism and national identity intersect, overlap and traverse. Tourism has broad appeal on account of the opportunity it gives individuals to travel to a range of destinations and become involved in a variety of new experiences reflecting aspects of their national identity. The area where cultural tourism and national identity interconnect has been largely overlooked in the academic literature to date. This complex relationship between the two domains (and, indeed, the multifaceted strategies used to define that relationship) is a subject worthy of considerable analysis. The overlapping area in need of further research attention is shown in the middle of the Venn diagram in Figure 1.1. The tourist may develop a deeper appreciation of a destination by understanding it through the lens of national identity, and in the same way tourism marketers and planners might be better equipped to promote and manage it – particularly with regard to the expectations of the potential visitor.