Tourist Sites

Author(s): Nick Webb

Source: Visual Arts Research, Vol. 28, No. 2, Visual Culture (2002), pp. 64-76
Published by: University of Illinois Press
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Tourist Sites
NickWebb
Nova Scotia School ofArtand Design
more colonial days when being Britishwas
enough. But on theChannel ferry,itdid not
The paper commences witha descriptionof the
seem tomatter whether Iwas comparing
to attract tourists.
author's own city's attempts
the Britishwith French, German, Dutch, or
The author offers a complex view of the
Italians?as a nation, we were not cool.
between
local
businesses,
relationships
While Iwore a pair of National Health
and
tourists.
governments,
ordinary citizens,
glasses and sported porcelain white knees,
an
in
his
historical
framework,
analysis
Situating
tanned continentals pushed their sun
The paper
he develops a psychologyof tourism.
glasses up onto their upper foreheads
concludes with a list of practical classroom
where, inexplicably, they stayed. Gold
activities that focus student attentionon the
of
tourism.
glinted fromwrists, necks, and teeth;white
complexity
trousers showed that ifyou were foreign,
The paper begins by suggesting the
dirtwould ignore you. They had cool suit
cases, cool cars; they didn't get seasick;
possibility of "reading" tourist environ
ments. Itgoes on to provide a historical
theywere ... perfect from the "genes" on
context fortourism togetherwith some con
up.
As a young man in 1973,1 tookmy first
temporary observations. Itconcludes by
tripto theUnited States. Everyone was big
making suggestions forteaching contexts.
As a child Iwas luckyenough to visit
ger than I. In6 weeks, Idid 11,000 miles
on Greyhound buses and have never taken
continental Europe every summer, and the
a bus since. Oklahoma City blended with
cross-Channel ferrybecame forme a sym
bol of impendingstrangeness. Growing up
Amarillo and Kansas with Nashville. Dazed
I
most of the time, I lost20 pounds. My hair
inpre-tunnel England, was
acutely aware
of our British isolation. But I not only rec
grew and Ialmost got a tan. I learned that
I
I talked funny,and of the cultural impor
social
and
cultural
differences,
ognized
was jealous of them; after all, the English
tance of donuts. I returned changed.
never sat outside fora cafe lunch.Conti
More recent trips to Asia and Africa
added experience, not just of cultural dif
nental streets smelled of cigars, of exotic
ference but also of cultural disorientation.
cigarettes, of fresh bread, and of coffee
But cultural vertigo is as enabling as it is
which the English had still not learned to
make. Signage was testing, languages fast
disabling, since we never voluntarily
and mysterious. Shops were riveting,
change our most basic cultural coordi
menus bewildering. But strange was good.
nates. Dislocating ourselves isone way of
The generalized jealousy that perme
place to reflect
achieving a distance?a
from.Otherness becomes apparent only
ated my sense of greener grass found spe
cific focus in the world of fashion?not in
when we are visitors. I haven't stopped
the extremes of haute couture but in the
reflectingon my identity. Indeed, being a
transplant, one who has spent as much of
everyday. UntilCarnaby Street discovered
and the United
itcould sell Union Jack underwear, theBrits
my adult life inCanada
were a dowdy bunch and I knew iteven
States as inthe United Kingdom, compari
sons are a fact of life.Being an alien, an
then. Khaki shorts and pumps reeked of
Abstract

64

VISUAL ARTS RESEARCH

? 2003 by theBoard ofTrustees of theUniversityof Illinois

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immigrant,confirms constantly that "things

ain't necessarily so." But ifbeing a tourist
or a transplantgives me access to theother,
simply hailing fromsomewhere gives oth
ers access toyou?you may be the subject
of their reflections.Why do folks come to
my town?Where are they from?What do
they see? Do they see what I see? What
do theywant? Isour cityattractive? Do they
thinkwe are quaint? A littlesurprised that
anyone would care, inHalifax, Nova Scotia,
we are adapting to those "fromaway." In
1981,1 could not have given you a tour ina
rickshaw, a London double-decker, or a
Mississippi paddle steamer. Now I can, if
you come. Halifax iscleaner now.We have
a farmer's market, and malls as big as
yours.We have moody restaurantsand we'll
bringour history rightto your lobster-deco
rated table.We have lotsof flowers, flags,
and famous stuff.
We rebuiltthewaterfront
and added a casino. We welcome buskers.
We are contenders. Ifyou were here in
1981, you would not recognize us now. I
was and Idon't either. Shouldn't there be
or banning: strategic civic plant
laws limiting
double-decker
buses, souvenir shops,
pots,
and randombagpipers? These thingsdo not
express our identity... do they?
While what follows provides selective
historical and political contexts for think
ingabout tourism,our experience and ob
servations contribute as much to building
models and theories?we can look at the
residue of tourism.
Travel and tourism enrich us?new
smells and tastes, new sights both synthetic
and natural, new sounds of language, mu
sic, and living.So we are partway to being
justified inexpecting an aesthetic of tour
ism.The fact thatmany touristsseek beau
tiful
destinations, and thatnewness isa fac
tor inour choices, should be furtherevi
dence of aesthetic interest.But our inter
ests are also historical;we recordour lives.
Among theways we recordare the tour
ist pursuit of telling snapshots and the
search forsouvenirs. Itmay be that holi
day snaps have no aesthetic component,
that theyare familial relics dutifullyprinted
because some grandchild has a right to

thrill
at Grampy's knees. Maybe we all have
a duty to bear witness to the lives of oth
ers, and cannot escape a more or less ethi
cal commitment to documenting experi
ence. Maybe our efforts are to be more
cynically interpreted as colonization
throughphotography (Sontag, 1973), since
today everything exists to end ina photo
graph (1979). Perhaps holiday snaps ex
hibita combination of partial or stereotypi
cal aesthetic sensitivities thatnevertheless
represent a genuine commitment todo jus
tice to extraordinary experience. Perhaps
the poses, props, and proclivityforthe pic
turesque are ways we signal difference.
Our commerce with touristsouvenirs is
no less interesting.These souvenirs may
be chosen quickly?often bus tours are
given onlyminutes to "symbolize" theirex
I learned at a gift shop in
periences.
Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, that a large
proportion of tourists on a particular bus
may purchase the same item.This sug
gests that the function of souvenirs as
memory triggersmay be more important
thanany aesthetic qualities theymay have.
Perhaps, like snapshots, they are instru
mental inmarking disruptions in the pat
terns of our working lives. But these par
ticular visual residues of tourism are not
my focus. My primary interest is inthe resi
dues of place: how we and our environ
ments respond to the touristgaze, and in
whether we are instigatorsor victims. Iam
interested inwhat makes a sight a site.
Out of sites, out of mind: A case study
As travel and tourism have increased, so
has the realization by municipalities that
financial advantages accrue to those who
take theirguests seriously: "A tourist isas
valuable as a bale of cotton and twice as
easy to pick" (anon, in Rosenow and
Pulcipher, 1980, p. 183). But these munici
palities also recognize that "it is possible
that images ... may have as much to do
with an area's tourism development suc
cess as the more tangible recreation and
tourism resources" (Hunt, inRosenow and
Pulcipher, 1980, p. 179) and that
TouristSites

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65

...
People
develop
images which are an
individual's representation
of reality. The
significance of this process of image con
struction is that people base decisions and

theiractions on what theythinkrealityis

and so visitorscan be influencedtovisit
...

by the

marketing

images portrayed through the

... of individual cities.
(Page,

1995, p. 223)
Civic change reflects not necessarily
how we are, but how we would have oth
ers see us. Villages, towns, and cities vie
to become magazined destinations. The
search for regional personality begins so
that we can stop somewhere becoming
anywhere. The civic residue is physical
and itseffects are both social and psycho
logical.
It is often easier to draw conclusions
about our identityfromour ambitions to
ward other places than it is to articulate
exactly how we relate to, and are molded
by,our own place. Perhaps we can achieve
some objective insightonly when, forex
ample, visitors arrive to see our town or
city.Whereas we are generally able to de
velop a hierarchy of sights and sites for
theirconsumption, our choices may say as
much

about

who

we

are

as

about

our envi

rons. Hough (1990) makes a similar point

in the context of developing an ecological
perspective fortourism: "Modifyingthe de
structive aspects of tourism ... may be a

matter best resolved by understanding the

culture and environment of one's own
home place" (p. 155).
construc
As examples of image/identity
tion via tourist sites inmy home town, I
undertook 1) to ride the Halifax double
decker tour bus, and 2) to walk the new
waterfront boardwalk.

immigrants to Canada

Economics
The major
industries of Halifax
tainer traffic, Christmas
trees,
and tourism.
blueberries,

are

con

gypsum,

Britishties
HalifaxCitadel?Sentry wears a British
and theChanging of theGuard
uniform,
occurs

just as

in London

Citadel groundsboast a clockgivenbyUK

PointPleasant Park given byUK
The First/the
Biggest
The Xerox tower,first
buildingintheworld
to use seawater

in itsair-conditioning

sys

tem
1917 Biggest

non-nuclear

explosion

in the

world

Oldest Yacht Squadron inNorthAmerica

Oldest militarylibrary
Oldest public gardens?the gates from
Scotland

Oldest Board ofTrade

Oldest firehall
Province

Oldest

inCanada

House

The oldest housewithaddresses on three

streets

inNorth America

The firstlawschool
The tallestgranitespire inNorthAmerica
The

second-deepest

1752

harbor

first newspaper

in the world

inCanada

1755 first
post office inCanada
Institute of Oceanography?one

intheworld

of top 3

The birthplaceof Samuel Cunard - first

transatlantic

scheduled

service

institutes of higher learning?most

inNorth America
educated
community

Seven

most expensive
city ad
Young St.?the
row -33 millionaires
dress?millionaire's

on Titanic

1) The Bus Tour

These notes represent a relativelycompre
hensive description of the tourcommentary.
History
1751 Halifax founded
1759 Naval dockyardsestablished
1867 DominionofCanada established

66

Pier 21 processed

Halifaxhosted theG7 in1996

Shipyards recently
purchased by Irving?
one of thewealthiest families inNorth
America
Culture

Halifax ishome to theArtGalleryofNova

Scotia

Halifax

is home

to the Maritime

museum

which includesTitanicmemorabilia

NickWebb

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Minorities

Sidewalk

material

Two

exposed

aggregate,

Jewish

synagogues

Street lights,threedifferent
nauticalde

The Pope visited in1984

The

curses

three Mic-Mac

prior to the

openingof theMcDonald Bridge in1955

Basin Parkwas the townofAfricville
until
1967 when

the black

residents were

relo

cated
Miscellaneous
Canada
of which
The

has only three submarines,

are nuclear

none

a sports

open

Halifax

Commons,

brick, selective cobble,

wooden
decking

space, is thesubject of a bye-lawwhich

stillallows folktograze theircows there
Titanic graves found in three different
churchyards

Allmalls open till9:00

signs, and a Victorian

reproduction

Signage
Signposts carved wood store signs with
gilt, visitor map and interpretation boards,
to
bulletin boards,
"Welcome
Heritage
Halifax" signs

Landscaping
Concrete planters,mulched beds edged
with8x8 treatedlumber,
saplings,shrubs,
strategic treated lumber boardwalk
raised

benches,

lumber "stages"

Monuments
Two marble war memorials,
bronze sailor,
sculpture, marble relief from people

wave

ofVenice, SheratonHotel reproduction

of

original warehouse

Summary

clock, naval dockyard

clock rehousedand paintedwithheritage

notes were dispersed appropriately

throughthe ride.My categories were added
lateras an attempt to unravel themessage,
intendedor otherwise. Clearly, thecompara
provides theprimary
tive/superlativecategory
theme. Designations of firstormost capsu
lateefficiently.
Allusions tominorities ensure
inclusiveness. References to theTitanic re
inforcea contemporary fascination thathas
potentialmarket consequences. The provi
sion ofmall opening hours hintsat Halifax's
commercial sophistication. It iseasy to criti
cize butmuch harder to formulatethe kindof
information
thatportrays fairly
and entertain
inglyall aspects of Halifax or any other loca
tion.Afterall, the route chosen and the ac
companying textmay constitute theonly lens
available ina tighttouristschedule. But it
seems fairto conclude that themessage is
thatHalifax is old but not old-fashioned?
history-conscious but forward-looking.

These

2) The Halifax Boardwalk

I used Halifax's Historic Properties as the
northeastern limitand Pier 21- the newest
the
city-orchestrated heritage site?as
southwestern limitformy walk. My notes
are included only as an example ofmy re
flectionprocess:

the "boat playground,"

boards,
Place Arch

Summit

Decor
Ship's

rope coils, dories

anchors,

invari

ous states of disrepair,ship's mast flag

room as ticket office, buoys,

pole, wheel
nets, barrels, sea chests, orna
capstans,
mental
metal
rusted corrugated
sheet,

piped Celtic music, Nova Scotia tartan,

flags,bunting,treated lumberlattice,old
railcar

names

Business

Back-In-Time

Photos

Table

Captain's

The HarborLook-Off
Murphy'sCompany Store
Cable Wharf
Sunnyside

on theWaterfront

The Bounty
Seaside Peddler
The LowerDeck
Salty's
The Waterfront Warehouse
Attractions

Paddle steamer boat rides

Yacht rides
Rickshaw
London

rides
bus city tours

TouristSites

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67

Summary
Inmy city,both Halifax's government and
commercial sector target the historicityof
the city: itsseafaring past; its role in the
evolution of Canada,
itsconnection to the
UK, particularlyScotland, and itsseparate
ness from the United States. The procla
mations of theTown Crier reinforce these
themes and reflectwhat the city ought to
be, given selective parts of itshistory.The
newly extended boardwalk has "cleaned
up" thewaterfront, but some bemoan the
replacement of the fishmarket with the
Nova Scotia Crystal company (actually a
reincarnation ofWaterford Crystal in Ire
land), arguing that ithas stripped the area
of itsonly remaining "original" business.
The children's playground, constructed to
resemble a trawler, is popular and the
treated lumber "stages" that provide ven
ues forsummer theatre and buskers send
a clear message thatHalifax welcomes the
arts. Skateboarders glide, albeit illegally,
up and down The Wave sculpture. Tour
ists flock to take rides on culturally incon
gruent rickshaws, and concession stand
titles boast connections toMaritime life.
But lifehas returned to thewaterfront;
lifethat iscleaner and somehow less omi
nous than thedark shadows of the rum-run
ners' warehouses. Noone lurksnow; every
one takes a whale-watching trip.Pier 21
smoothly plays itsdouble role as dock and
museum. Cruise ships passengers
are
an
kilted
and
array of
greeted by
bagpipers
market stalls selling city logos and more or
less artisanal wares. More inquisitivevisi
torsdiscover thedesigner-industrial spaces
of the Chrysler Welcome Center and the
"highly interactive"holographic exhibits of
immigrantsand refugees arriving by ship
to a fledglingCanada. The gaping ware
house spaces overlooking Georges Island
are now escalatored and comfortably dis
tanced and framed by expensive vista win
dows. The Multi-Cultural Gallery features
differentcultures every twoweeks?during
my visit, I learnmore about Tibet.
It is hard not to feel ambivalent about
the new Halifax. It is clean; there are toi
68

lets to spare and the trafficstops forpe

destrians. It is easy to take. Halifax is like
any other destination; ithas an increasingly
which pre
complex tourist infrastructure,
vents the veneer from chipping. But the
question of authenticity nags. Doesn't the
winding boardwalk and surrounding land
scaping steer visitors through a pleasant
fiction?But what does authenticity require?
Leaving the area dilapidated would be no
more authentic. Times change after all?
we don't need a rope maker or a dory
builder; we do need more amenities. Per
haps the turningof sights into sites is a
public service. Tourism crafts itineraries
and "itinerariesare imaginaryconstructions
..." (Harbison inZurick, 1995, p.112), con
structions that build with abbreviated and
digestible images constituted or empha
sized by visual markers. These construc
tions are often built on the past and tai
lored toour taste fornostalgia?a taste that
is a prime factor inwhat I shall describe
below as a psychology of tourism.
My observations thus farhave been on
the surface of my city. I am reading the
marketing. We can get further inside the
city by dwelling longer on particular
choices?on

public

art, on

street

furniture

such as signage or street lighting.Who

chose? What criteriaguided decisions? But
we can also complement our specific and
practical observations with more general
and potentially theoretical inquiry into the
historyand nature of tourism.
A Selective

History and Some

Contemporary Distinctions
"A traveler isnow called a tour-ist"(Pegge,
1814, inOED)
What was known as the Grand Tour in
the period 1700 -1825 was only for the
privileged few; richand eligible male heirs,
futurediplomats, and militaryofficersspent
at least two years visiting France and Italy
inparticular. Itwas a riteof social and cul
turalpassage, rather than a vacational ex
perience. But the socially privileged were
soon to find unwelcome company. Nine
teenth century social change?stemming

NickWebb

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fromnew levels and kinds of commerce

and industrythat, inturn,saw a redistribu
tion of wealth and the rise of the middle
new travelers. Increased
class?spawned
leisure and income motivated the curious
and adventurous. In addition, the great
exhibitions (London 1851, Paris 1875 and
1889, Chicago 1893) demonstrated that
improved communications and transport
were making the world more accessible.
The world could be encapsulated and the
exotic could be commodified. By the turn
of the century, thedeprecatory tone of tour
ismwas entrenched. Derivatives such as
tourize, tourette, and even tourification
were inuse and commentators complained
of "a Venice vulgarized byCook's touristry"
(OED). Tourism was "a shallow waste of
time, a ramble/excursion" (OED). Almost
a century laterWebster's defined tourist
as

class

"cheap".

What must I add to the concepts of

travelor vacation to get tourism? Inbeing
designated a tourist,can Iescape feeling
accused? IfIdescribe myself as a traveler,
am Imore or less than a tourist?This dis
tinction is not new and again, 19th century
history is relevant. Given the evolution of
a tourismthat includedvarious levels of the
middle class, the richer and better edu
cated saw the need fora way to distance
themselves fromthe perceived vulgarityof
the hordes:
Rome

is pestilential with English,?a

cel of staring boobies, who go about

par
gap

ingand wishing tobe at once cheap and

magnificent.
We

are

(Byron,

1817,

inBuzzard)

inour

island, wherever we
from the people
separated

always
midst of whom we are.

inBuzzard)

(Thackeray,

...
go
in the
1851,

There I stood and humblyscanned, the

miracle thatsense appalls
And Iwatched the touristsstand, spitting
inNiagara

Falls.

(MorrisBishop, Public Aid forNiagara

Falls)
There isbutone word to use inregardto
[the Americans
Their

vulgar.

abroad]?vulgar,

vulgar,

ignorance?their

stingy,

grudging,

defiant, attitude

thing European?their
of all things to some

towards every
reference

perpetual
American

standard

orprecedentwhichexistsonly intheir
own
On the other
unscrupulous
windbag...
hand, we seem a people of character, we
seem to have energy, capacity and intel
I
stuff in ample measure.
What
pointed at as our vices are the ele
ments of the modern man with culture left
lectual

have

out.

It's the absolute

and

incredible

lack

of culture that strikes you incommon trav

to his
elling Americans.
(Henry James
mother,

13 Oct.

1869,

inBuzzard)

Shelley, Byron,Wordsworth, and com

pany supplied a romanticapproach todem
onstrating cultural superiority. Distinction
could be achieved by being more sensi
tive,travelingfurther,"gettingoffthe beaten
track,"searching out exotic and lonesome
experiences, and findingaesthetic experi
ences in the face of the authentic.
In short, the tourist/travelerdistinction
in the 19th century can be construed as a
snobbery based upon cultural or educa
tional privilege rather than the aristocratic
privilege of the 18th century. It is interest
ing to note thatas early as themid 1700s,
itwas
that any benefits
recognized
accruing to travel were as much the re
sponsibility of the tourer as of the tour,
an attitude summed up in the proverb,
"Travelmakes a wise man better,but a fool
worse."

The excitement of the 1920s postwar

period was cut short by theDepression and
thena world war. But the 1950s saw a sec
ond wave of travel and tourism. The end
of a second war, the establishment of com
mercial air travel, massive advances
in
the
relevance
communications,
increasing
to national economies of currency ex
change markets, all contributed to the
interna
growth of more or less classless
tionalmass tourism. By 1970, British and
German working people had leased or pur
chased virtually the entire east coast of
Spain. Young people traveled indepen
dently?high school students in the U.S.
"did Europe" as a graduation present. An
entire generation traveled Route 66 or
headed off to Nepal (Turner and Ash,
TouristSites

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69

1976). At the same time,new national tour

istgroups such as the Japanese presented
extensive opportunities forentrepreneur
ial hosts.
Tourism is not a trivialpursuit. Travel
occupies 40% of free time (Williams and
Shaw, 1988, p.12). Growing at 5-6%
annually, it is estimated that tourismwas
the world's largest employer by the year
2000 (Urry, 1990, p.6) servicing over 1
billion tourists (Turner and Ash, 1976,
p.280). Between 1976 and 1986, visits
abroad by UK tourists increased from
11.5 million to 25 million. Between 1960
and 1987, touristsites inthe UK rose from
800 to 3000 (Urry, 1990, p.5). These de
velopments are not just of quantitative in
terest. The fact that leaving our home na
tion has become a possibility for the ma
jorityof the population indeveloped coun
tries, leads to potential qualitative
inour personal ambi
changes?changes
tions and attitudes. But italso produces
employment, accrues capital, and changes
physical environments. In short, the evo
lutionof tourism isa significant context for
social change on both individualand com

munity levels.
It is unlikely that the tourist-travelerdis
tinction is any easier to draw convincingly
now than itwas in the 19th century. Buz
zard (1993) notes theetymological connec
tionof travelwith travail,and notes the "gritty
endurance" of the traveler. Incontrast, the
tourist is "the cautious, pampered unitof a
leisure industry"(p. 2). Most of us balk at
being called a tourist,traveler isdoubtless
themore flatteringappellation. Imay be a
spiritual traveler and claim, albeit prosai
cally, thatmy journey ismore importantthan
my destination. Imay be a more physical
traveler and consider myself as a cultural
voyageur rather than a cultural voyeur. As
a traveler, Iam revered forthe stories Ihave
to tell?after all, you had to be there and I
was. Thus itis thatold people and travelers
may lieby authority.
With guidebook inhand (Buzzard, 1993,
Chapter 3), I am a tourist. I am there to
cover ground, not to dig in it,and to tell
others that Imade it. Idrove fromParis to
70

Rome inone day, wish you were here, and

I'llbe back on Monday. Too harsh perhaps?
My desire to taste the elixirs of the cultur
ally strange inmy threeweeks of summer
bail is surely to be admired. Imade the ef
fort. It is interestingthat,whatever the ex
tentofmy employer's generosity, the con
cept of tourism has a tightschedule wired
in. If I can explore Paris and the Loire in
twoweeks, then Ican manage threeor four
countries in threeweeks, despite the ob
servation that traveling becomes dull ex
actly inproportion to its rapidity.Tourism is
an achievement word. But it isalso a per
sonality word. Ican vaunt my snaps and
tellmy grandchildren that I reallywas quite
a lad inmy time.
But perhaps a convincing distinction
between traveland tourismwill focus most
on ourmotivation. Perhaps tourism is travel
with an attitude?an attitude of assertion
rather than of openness, of appropriation
and judgment rather than enquiry and re
spect. Perhaps being a tourist is rightlya
defensive activity fromthe beginning. Per
haps Fussell's distinctions between explor
ers, travelers, and tourists are as refined
as we can expect:
All three make
seeks

journeys,
the undiscovered,

but the explorer

the traveler that

which has been discovered by themind

in history, the tourist that which
working
has been discovered
by entrepreneurship

and prepared forhimby thearts ofmass

publicity(inZunick, 1995, p.87).

Sights intosites
Hough (1990) suggests that "tourism has
the potential to be a major force inthe pro
tection and maintenance of regional char
acter" (p.149), but that often airlines and
multinational corporations decide where
tourismwill achieve criticalmass. He also
points to the sheer scale of potential influ
ence, citing, forexample, that in 1973, 60
million people visited the French Riviera?
one thirdof all internationaltourists forthat
in
90% of foreign exchange
year?and
Barbados comes from tourism (p. 151).
Hough seeks to demonstrate the contra

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diction that,as we seek cultural difference,

we condemn others for doing the same;
it'sa good thingwe came now, soon itwill
be spoiled. It is not just a question of num
bers. The touristseeks the excitement of
being away fromhome while avoiding the
loss of home comforts. But this conve
nience inevitably changes the lifeof the
communities being visited. Hough's ex
cerpt froma tourist leafletmakes the point
sharply:
the an
today are discovering
in ...
of Sheba
realm of the Queen

Travelers
cient
Yemen.

They

can make

a round of sights

notdissimilarto thoseof the 15thcentury

and stillend theirday ina jacuzziwhirl
bar (p.154).
pool or an air-conditioned
He makes a parallel point innoting that
areas of particular ethnic character add
color and character tomany cities, but "the
very elements thatmake the culture inter
esting for the visitor are those that help
change it....One of tourism's dilemmas is
in ... the urge to make people conform"
(p. 163). Cohen made a related point in
1972, hypothesizing that the largerthe flow
of mass tourism becomes, themore insti
tutionalized and standardized tourism be
comes, and, consequently, the stronger the
barriers between the touristand the lifeof
the host country become.
Turner and Ash (1976) have given this
ecological view a political perspective.
They pointed out that in 1971, 95% of the
world's population did not cross a border,
and thatonly 1% had flown inan airplane
(p. 13). But however small the number of
tourists is in terms of total population, the
effects, not juston the traditional"pleasure
periphery"but on developing nations, have
been extreme. They argue, "The tourist is
involved innothing less than the rewriting
of the economic and political geography of
theworld" (p. 251), and that "international
tourism is likeKing Midas inreverse (p. 15)
... a

force

... a
corrosive
force
severely
malign
... the
... a new
form of colonialism

geographic dispersal of the rich (pp. 249

51). Insum "A holiday isa political action"
(p.181).

Toward a psychology

of tourism

Lowenthal (1985) notes that, ifthe past is

a foreigncountry,nostalgia has made itthe
foreign countrywith the healthiest tourist
trade. Lewis notes that "nostalgia is a
growth industry"because many "long to be
rooted ina world of permanence" (cited in
Hough, 1995, p. 157). A psychology of tour
ism can be approached by reviewing as
pects of this nostalgia as revealed by, for
example, our search forauthenticity and
our readiness to embrace the myths and
simulacra, which often stand in the place
of both the historical and contemporary
realitieswe seek. Itmay well be that "nos
talgia emerges most intimes of discontent,
anxiety, and disappointment" (Hewison in
Urry, 1990, p. 109), and that "now that the
present seems so fullofwoe ... the profu
sion and frankness of our nostalgia... sug
gest not merely a sense of loss ... but a
general abdication, an actual desertion
from the present" (Wood in Urry, 1990,
p. 105). Itseems thatanyone else's life is
somehow more "real" thanour own and that
those other lives are to be found inolder
times or inother places. Reality is often
seen, not just inbeing old and exotic, but
also inthe simplicity, integrity,
pastoralism,
and artisanal culture that we see as
grounding those qualities (Stewart, 1993,
p. 133). An advertisement by an Isle ofMan
tourism agency guaranteeing the holiday
of one's childhood isapposite: "You'll look
forwardto going back" (Urry,1990, p. 102).
Lowenthal, innoting the growth of muse
ums inthe UK, cites a commentator's quip
that "Britainwill soon be appointing a cu
rator instead of a prime minister" (cited in
Urry, 1990, p.110).
This search fortheauthentic is reflected
by our satisfaction in seeing "the very
place," "theactual pen" (Van Den Abbeele,
1980, p.6), or by our search for the real
site that attests to our understanding of a
larger cultural context. For example, we
search for the "real" French cafe that au
thenticates our impressions of open-air,
romantic,and relaxed French life(p.7).We
search forundeveloped communities and
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71

reimagine them as unspoiled hamlets, ha

vens of authenticity inan artificialworld
(McKay, 1988). Even at home "we see res
taurant decor inwhich preindustrial hand
tools are tacked on thewalls as iftheywere
prints or paintings" (Stewart, 1993, p. 144)
and we witness "the radical generational
separation ...which results incertain nos
talgic formsof lawn art... wagon wheels,
donkey carts, sleighs, and oxen yokes"
denoting "occupants who have become
tourists of their parents' ways of life"
(p. 149).
Nostalgia thrivesonly on loss. As mass
tourism produces homogeneity in the cul
tures ittouches, itsimultaneously provides
simulacra to fillthe gaps inauthenticity.So
when the French cafe ismarked as real or
genuine, it is, in the marking, designated
as distinct fromother unmarked examples,
that is, itbecomes inauthentic (Van Den
Abbeele, 1980, p.7). Inshort, it is not just
our "weakness" inseeking the security of
the old, or escape into the exotic, that fu
els nostalgia, but also the myths that are
consciously constructed by the tourist in
dustry.A kind of political paternalism oper
ates wherein airlines, travel agents, hotel
managers,

and

governments

act

as

surro

gate parents increating or reinforcingthe

myths inwhich "our proclivityfornostalgia
can dwell under supervision"(Turner and
Ash, 1976, p. 150).
In the context of a people's spirituality
or cosmology, myth may be the lie that is
true. But Barthes (1973) has pointed to a
more sinister interpretation inwhich myth
is thought to deprive objects and people of
theirhistory.Myth, Barthes, said, acts eco
nomically, abolishing the complexity of hu
man actions and providing only the sim
plicityof essences. With myth there is no
going beyond what is immediatelyvisible.
were with
Myths organize theworld as ifit
out contradiction and without depth. Myths
wallow in the evident. They establish a
blissful clarity,appearing to mean some
thingwithout reference to anything else.
Myth provides for the establishment of
1993,
"scripted continents" (Buzzard,
chap.3) and are the fictions that allow us
72

to reimagine the authentic. Heritage func

tions in the same way as Barthes' myth.
Heritage can be seen as bogus history.
Unlike history,which iscontinuing and dan
gerous, heritage is dead and safe: "Ifwe
reallyare interested inour history,thenwe
may have to protect itfrom the conserva
tionists" (Hewison, 1987, p.98). McKay
(1988a) makes a similar point: "This colo
nization of the past by capital and the capi
talist state in the interests of increasing
tourism revenue poses a threat to the hon
est dialogue between past and present" (p.
30). McKay's context is the development
of what he calls "Maritimicity,"
particularly
inNova Scotia. He is critical of the prov
ince in that ithas orchestrated touristex
perience, particularly since 1960 (1988b,
pp. 29-37). He cites the new festivals de
signed to look old, the use of Scottish tra
ditions and "strategicGaelic." He notes the
marketing of the Tall Ships "focussing on
vessels that often were simulacra of non
existent originals" (p. 34). On the architec
tural preservation policies of Halifax, he
argues that:
The redevelopment
of thecity'swaterfront
has allowed

old, functional buildings to be

that they
"saved," but only in the sense
now convey
a vague,
stereotypical
while new build
"pastness" or 1860s-ness
ings, such

as

the Sheraton

Hotel,

canni

Scotia

to es

balize plain early 19th-century

styles all
the better to highlightthe brass-infested
opulence within,(p. 35)
His conclusion
One
cape

does

is that:

not come

the postmodern

to Nova
sense

of unreality,

but to feel itssharp cuttingedge, not to

recoverthehealthyfolkpast beforecapi
talismbut to glimpsewhat will happen

everywhere

once all images are commodi

motivated, (p. 37)

ties,and all signs fully

But these accounts mark the touristas

part victimand part fool.Certainly, our pre
paredness todwell in layeredsimulacra may
be surprising. Urry's (1990) example of
Manchester's Granada Studios construct
ingcopies of the sets used in the Corona
tion Street television series is a fine ex

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ample. Here, tourists take photographs of

a representation of a representation of a
representation. But the strengthof our tour
istconvictions may be tellingus thatwe are
dealing with a deeply felt lack inour work
ing lives that is not filledby the implicit,or
explicit,derision of any postmodern critique.
The development of a "postmodern mu
seum culture" (Urry,1990, p.107) may in
deed be a response to experience, which
is "increasinglymediated and abstracted"
(Stewart, 1993, p. 133), but our response
is no less felt.Urry is one of the few com
mentators prepared to admit that,although
heritage may be an abbreviated or mythic
version of history, itprovides a mechanism
forcontact with history at some level. He
notes that heritage history is distorted be
cause itisprimarilyvisual, but that itspeaks
to a largeand interestedaudience. For ex
ample, in 1990, the UK National Trust had
a membership of 1.5 million,which was the
largestmass organization in that country.
We may hope forhigh standards of histori
cal inquiry,butwe cannot deny people the
rightto engage inhistoryat some level. I
tend to the view that themyths we seek to
authenticate are operable ways of ordering
the past and validating experience, and that
these activities are as much therapeutic,
and thereforeconstructive, as theymay be
self-delusory.Similarly,we should likelynote
that touristshave a variety ofmotives, and
although we may believe the excesses of
the tourism industry,
and disrespectful tour
ist behavior, warrant the apportioning of
blame, the desire to see the other issurely
in itselfhealthy.After all, seeing the other
without blame iswhat we are encouraging
when we insiston multicultural images in

of the object but of the possessor. Stewart

notes that" the souvenir moves history into
private time" (p. 138). This isnot an absurd
desire, since the increasing sense ofmor
talitythatwe all develop as we age requires
thatwe mark significantevents, forthe itin
erary of our lives slips easily intotheworth
of our lives. Moreover, inaffirminga past
leisure-timeevent, the souvenir separates
us from the present, from the more mun
dane world ofwork. Itallows us escape from
the impudent reality thatwe must liveour
lives predominantly inone place. The nar
rativeswe build are cumulative.We collect
our lives,and throughour collections, come
to recognize ourselves. Such collections,
when separated fromtheirowners indeath,
may lose their contextual value, but if
handed on to family
members have extraor
dinary power insymbolizing a lifeand be
coming fertileground forbuilding new nar
ratives onto those inherited.
Turner and Ash noted in 1976 that "al
ready the 1960s are coming toseem quaint
and loveable: nostalgia threatens to over
take itself" (p. 131). Perhaps this should
not surprise us as paradigms disintegrate
and we are challenged to livewithout the
security that "universal values" offered.
There isa sense inwhich "people are much
of the time 'tourists' whether they like
itor not. The tourist gaze is intrinsically
of
part of contemporary experience,
postmodernism" (Urry, 1990, p.82). The
disconnection or longing that the gaze im
plies may be the natural corollary of
decentering notions of place. We may all
speculate how we shall engage the ironies
that surface when homogeneity emerges
fromthe drive to be plural.

our classrooms.

A psychology of tourismcan and should

develop perspectives on themementos that
tourists treasure. Such treasuring isclearly
not the resultof owning material worth, but
of owning personal and singular experi
ences. As Stewart (1993) notes, "We do not
buy souvenirs forevents that are repeat
able, only forthose thatare reportable" (pp.
135-6). Those events exist through the in
vention of narrative,and thisnarrative isnot

Conclusions
The continued growth of tourism is inevi
table. The fact that only 7% of U.S. citi
zens had passports in 1990 (Urry,1990, p.
51), and the rapid development of such
countries as China, suggest that traditional
touristdestinations likethe French Riviera
and theCaribbean will be even shorter on
capacity and patience, and thatmany new
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73

destinations will be forged fromwilling or

unwilling hosts. Ihave tried to balance the
pessimistic arguments concern
rightfully
ing the eradication of cultural differences
and the construction of fake identities,with
themore optimistic view that travel has al
ways been a potentially broadening expe
rience. It is facile toargue that the solution
to the plasticizing of the travellingmind is
to stop travelling, just as it is presumptu
ous to suggest that Iought not to hold on
tomy myths about French romanticism or
Russian stoicism. Clearly, the phenomenon
of mass tourism poses problems for the
maintenance of cultural identities, as do
some formsof multiculturalism. The pace
of global mobility has outstripped the de
velopment of our coping and adapting strat
egies. One response is thatour academic
persona will be able to put the entire en
terprise of tourism inquotation marks. We
will become "posttourists" (Urry, 1990,
pp.100-102). But one of the problems of
postmodernism is itstendency to forgetthat
we have to act in the world. We can be
frozen into domesticity by guilt over our
cultural insensitivityor we can act to dis
cover our own cultural context and identi
ties.And this isa challenging theme forany
postmodern art educator.
Thoughts on Education

Practice

We began inHalifax. Itseems fittingto re

turn there for a moment to example the
kinds of teaching activities that can bring
out interpretationsof local identityand its
conscious development. The Summit Place
arch marks a G7 gathering in 1996 with a
construction lefttoo late to be "designed."
The federal government was concerned
that the views from and immediate sur
rounds of the building chosen forthe sum
mit should be fittingfor the importance of
such an occasion. Parking lotswere paved,
the boardwalk was extended, and trees
were planted. What was missing was a fo
cal point inthe formof a historical marker,
a monument, a photographic prop. What
better form than an arch? L'Arc de
Triomphe, the Marble Arch provide a per
74

feet lineage. An arch isa doorway, a pas

sage through. Itmarks specialness. Unfor
tunately both time and money were short
and so the cityworks departmentwas given
the job of building an arch forwhich no
plans had been drawn up. Perhaps thearch
isa tributeonly to good intentions.
In lookingat theSummit Place arch, the
formalist inme notes its lazy lines celebrat
ingneither curve nor angle. The craftsman
inme notes the visible seams. The de
signer inme notes that the identifyingtext
fights the arch at every step. Its plywood
and stucco construction deny ornament
thearch
and specialness. Most importantly,
connects nothing?it just is. Should I take
a more ironicstance? The arch is a play
on traditional archness. Unlike itshistori
cal counterparts, itcan be maintained by
caulking and paint. The lettering is delib
erately askew, forthis arch denies the au
thorityof graphic conventions. The Arch
can connect anything we want?it is po
tentiallymobile. This isa postmodern arch.
So, do you want itforyour city?What would
you want connected? Would you change it
inany way?
The most recent addition toHalifax civic
clocks is the original navy shipyard clock,
refurbished and rehoused. The result pro
vides a contrast between the industrial
gantry and the softness of the cedar
shingles and rounded dome. Gas lightrep
licas and nautical lights,exposed aggre
gate, symmetricalgarbage cans, a heritage
plaque, and an informationboard help to
make this a "site." Does your city have a
What isyour reaction to it?
similar retrofit?
The largewelcome signs situated at the
periphery of the Halifax downtown core
appeared around 1993. They were com
missioned by the Downtown Business Im
provement Commission and had a "this is
where the action is"message. The origi
nal lilac, green, and yellow, togetherwith
the anarchic axes of the Halifax font,es
tablished an '80s Miami graphic quality.
Perhaps thiswas an intentional linkto the
Nova Scotia license plate epigram that
read,

"Canada's

Ocean

Playground."

Re

painted in1999, the colors are stronger and

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more sedate and the web address has

been added. On the reverse, thewords "Do
even more?Halifax Downtown" also have
been added.
Dartmouth,Halifax's neighbor across the
harbor,makes an instructionalcomparison.
The Dartmouth downtown sign presents a
coat of arms, a scroll, chiseled gold letter
ing,and, oddly, a windmill. Heritage is the
central message. This is interesting in that
Dartmouth has a poor recordof articulating
or preserving itshistory,and is lesswealthy
thanHalifax. Perhaps pointing to the future
ratherthan the present is the point. Halifax,
secure in itsreputationas old and interest
ing,can afford topresent other dimensions
less well established?its
technological
connectedness and itsvibrancy.
The increase incruise ship traffichas
caused the city to review the infrastructure
thatsurrounds such visits.Where are pas
sengers received? What are their firstim
pressions? How do we get them to the
downtown core? Pier 21 was formore than
a century the firstpoint of entry for immi
grants to Canada. As both dock and mu
seum, the site infrastructurehad to be re
viewed. Do you see evidence of such in
frastructurechanges inyour community?
In Halifax, as elsewhere, restaurants,
bars, and shops are themajor component
of the downtown core district.Businesses
typicallyseek to reinforceheritage through
the decor of theirbuildings. Can you iden
a connection inyour communitybetween
tify
business decor and community identity?
For those involved ineducation at any
level, I hope that the foregoing examples
have suggested
potential
teaching
projects. Ihave worked with universitystu
dents on the followingactivities, but these
sorts of projects may also be readily inter
preted and adapted for secondary level
school students:
1. Take an inventoryof identity
markers,
historic and otherwise:
heritage
plaques, signposts, information
panels,
welcome signs, and so on. How are
theysited? Is therea consistent style?
Can you findout who designed, pro
duced, and sited them?What were the

2.

3.

4.

5.

criteria for the decisions made? What

is the intended atmosphere? How is
tourist traffic,motor and pedestrian,
manipulated through the structures of
the site?
Complete a visual/writtenanalysis of a
touristsite that you know, noting the
site markers and their relationship to
the site. (Amarker iseverything froma
signpost or a fence to a giftshop or a
leaflet). Is itclear where the historical
site isor has itbeen generalized? How
does the "street furniture"
contribute to
the site? Can you comment on the au
thenticityof the site and itshistorical
context, and on the nature of market
ingstrategies employed? Are thereany
bylaws that relatedirectlyto thesite(s)?
How are tourists routed?
Go to your local touristoffice and pre
tend to be a tourist.Try to collect infor
mation on touriststatistics as well as
on the sites themselves. Visit your air
port, trainstation, bus station, and so
on, and describe the products offered
to tourists as they firstarrive. Try to
articulate the official texts,writtenand
visual, spoken or unspoken. Could you
findexamples of areas of your town/
city that exude "authentic" character
and compare them to those thatdem
onstrate a more packaged character?
Now, design an "antitourist"tourof your
area. Include textand images. This is
a tourforthosewho want toexperience
the "real thing."
Produce a map of the area that con
tains your touristsite(s). What kinds of
business
have developed
in and
around thesite(s)? Are theyyear round
or seasonal? Does the exterior/interior
decor relate to the site(s)?
Interview tourists; take their photo
graphs. Where are they from?How did
theycome? Why did theycome? What
did theyexpect? Are theysatisfied/dis
satisfied? Inwhat ways? Can you find
data providing informationon where
tourists to your area come from?Can
you tracewhy touristscome fromthese
areas and not others? Present your
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75

findingsby making a chart, a map, or

a video documentary.
6. Visit a typical tourist/souvenirshop. Try
toclassify themerchandise. Talk to the
owner. Document inwrittenand visual
formwhat are the most popular gifts
and souvenirs. Develop your own
theory of why particular items and
these shops ingeneral are so popular.
Why do we buy souvenirs? What quali
tiesmust a souvenir have to be attrac
tive to a tourist?
7. Imagine you are a tourist inyour own
Buy a guidebook or a set of
town/city.
leaflets.Take the suggested tours.Take
photographs accordingly. To what ex
tent is your experience structured by
the 'touristauthorities," that is, by city
council or commercial attractions? Do
you walk on designated
paths or
streets? Is therea tourist"flowpattern"?
Exhibit your snaps and tryto articulate
why you took them,and what you have
learned about your own area.
8. Design and produce a souvenir fortour
istsvisitingyour area.
9. Conceptualize and design a touristleaf
letforyour state, province, county, city
or town.What histories or myths will
you focus on? What sites will you pick
as exemplary? What interestsare you
appealing to?
10. Conceptualize a travel poster foryour
country.What are the stereotypical in
terpretations of your national charac
ter?What message do you want to
send about the people and the places?
How will you condense your invitation
so that it iseffective as a selling tool?
11. What are the locations, images, and at
that make you feel "at
mospheres
home" inyour community? Are these
the images that touristswould seek?
Do these images coincide or compete?

Trans.).

76

R.

Cohen, E. (1972). Toward a sociology of interna

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182.
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industry. Lon

Hough,M. (1990). Out ofplace: Restoring iden

tityto the regional
Press.

landscape.

Newhaven:

Yale

University

coun
Lowenthal,D. (1985). The past isa foreign
Press.
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Cambridge:Cambridge University
McKay, I. (1988, Summer). Twilightat Peggy's
a genealogy

Toward

Cove:

of maritimicity.

Border/Lines,
pp. 29-36.
(a)
I. (1988). Among
the fisherfolk: J.F.B.
McKay,
Livesay and the invention of Peggy's Cove.

Journal of Canadian Studies, 23( 1and2)

pp.23-45. (b)

Page,

S.

(1995).

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