Scripting tourism: guidebooks and travel experiences

Paper to be presented Extra-in-between-seminar ISA - RC50 [International Tourism], 9–10 June 2005, Wageningen, The Netherlands

 

Jens Kr. Steen Jacobsen

University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway, and

Institute of Transport Economics, Oslo, Norway

POB 6110 Etterstad, NO-0602 Oslo, Norway

Phone: +47 22573870 Fax: +47 22570290 E-mail: jsj@toi.no

 

Abstract

Guidebooks have had and still have a considerable influence on tourists: to where they go, how they behave, and what kind of experiences they search for. This paper examines some central aspects of the development of guidebooks and their influence on tourists, such as risk reduction, traveller conventions, route choices, and the standardisation of leisure travel.