Tourism Incognita: Experiencing the Liminal Edge of Destination Places

Abstract

In the age of European exploration, terra incognita referred to lands that were largely unknown to Europeans. In the world of contemporary tourism, tourism incognita refers to the lands and experiences that are largely unknown to the global mass tourism industry (tourism cognita). Tourism incognita includes specialty niche tourisms that operate on the edge and beyond of mass tourism, as well as the entire world of non-tourism places. Examples of tourism cognita and tourism incognita that are discussed include: Dubai and Oman’s Musandam Peninsula, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and the Tonle Sap, and the scuba diving destination of Manado on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Tourism incognita is shown to be vital to the success of the tourism economy because the places and experiences of tourism incognita are part of the imagination that drives the decision and desire to travel to a distant land.