Travel 2.0: The Emerging Web 2.0 Virtual Travelscape
Nanjing u tourism incognita
1. Prof. Alan A. Lew
Dept. of Geography, Planning
& Recreation
Northern Arizona University
AlanLew.com
Tourism Incognita: On the Edge
of Destination Places
Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
12 November 2012
2. Objects we ardently pursue bring little
happiness when gained; most of our
pleasures come from unexpected sources.
Herbert Spencer, 19th c. British philosopher
14. I'm looking for the unexpected.
I'm looking for things I've never
seen before.
Robert Mapplethorpe, Photographer
15. Terra Incognita North America - 1566
• Latin “Land Unknown”
• Cartography: Regions not yet mapped or documented
– 16th – 19th centuries – European Age of Exploration
– Earlier cartographers used “HIC SVNT LEONES” (Here Be Lions)
17. The Tourist’s Terra Incognita
• Terra Cognita: place and spaces that are known to
tourists, or at least to the mass tourism industry
– most often listed in tourist guide books
• Terra Intimidus: known places that are avoided by
most tourists
– reputation for danger, risk, or discomfort - intimidating
places
• Terra Incognita: unknown to tourists
– “inept sites” = unknown places that have tourism potential
– “inert sites” = tourists have no special need to know about
– = most of the world
Lew & McKercher (2006)
18. Safety and Risk
• The Unknown = Lack of Certainty = Fear
– Uncertainty = lack of / imperfect place knowledge
– Reasons for tourist “guides”
• Cultural Theory of Risk (Douglas 1992)
– Perceptions of Danger & Reduction of Risk = Basis of Culture
• Social norms prevent social and natural disruptions
• Some cultures & people more risk averse than others
• Tourism Environments
– Almost Always Structured for Safety
– Creating models of Efficiency, Predictability & Control
• Theme parks, cruise ships, hotels; shopping malls
19. Tourist Motivation
• Are Efficiency, Predictability & Control the primary
experiential goals of leisure time?
– If yes, then just stay home and watching television
• Variations in Risk Tolerance among tourists
– Safe, Familiar & Guided v. Risk, Novelty & Exploration
– Plog’s (1974) Psychocentric - Allocentric Model
20. A Tourism Incognita Framework
Tourism Cognita Tourism Incognita
Home & Destination Periphery & Beyond
Known / Safe Unknown / Risk
Home Destination Periphery
21. Cognitive Experiences in Tourism
“TOURISM COGNITA” “TOURISM INCOGNITA”
• Iconic / Mass Tourism • Individual / Unique
• Planned / Predictable • Unplanned / Serendipity
• Safe / Familiar / Easy • Risk / Exotic / Challenge
• Passive / Educational • Adventure / Exciting
• Staged / Contrived • Authentic
• Front Region • Back Region
• Role Conformity • Role Transformation
• “Psychocentric” • “Allocentric”
• “Evoked” Sites • “Inert & Inept“ Sites
22. I thought that
one thing was
going to
happen, but
something else
entirely
happened.
Kathryn Shulz, Journalist
and Author
33. Nearly all the best things that came
to me in life have been unexpected,
unplanned by me. Carl Sandburg, 20th c.
American author and poet
34. Marketing Tourism Incognita
• What would the marketing of tourism incognita look like?
• How can tourists be encouraged to explore terra intimidus and
terra incognita?
• How does tourism incognita exist in our contemporary tourism
economy?
• Finding Tourism Incognita
– Known, Unknown & Avoided Geographic Places
• Easy to identify and map
– “Alternative Tourisms”
• Most likely to playing in tourism incognita
35. Playing with Tourism Incognita
• 1 - Adventure Tourism
– Outdoor environments, physical challenges
– Thrill experiences: White water rafting, Scuba diving, Trekking
– Active tourism (sport activity) & Extreme tourism (very high risk)
• 2 - Volunteer Tourism
– NGO/non-profits: Faith-based groups, Environmental advocates,
Scientific and museum societies
– Possibly alleviates the guilt of mass tourism
– Serious Tourism - Most tourists are not interested
• Both:
– Immersive Experiences
– Promise of Entering Back / Hidden Regions
– Highly Structured Experiences
36. Other Alternative to Mass Tourism
• Slum Tourism • Industrial Tourism
• Ecotourism • Village Homestays
• Disaster Tourism • Working Farm or Ranch Stays
• Religious Tourism & Pilgrimages • Working Mine Tours
• Aboriginal and other Ethnic • Extreme Tourism
Tourisms
• Mostly Benign Regions of Tourism Incognita
• Transcending the Superficial and Commercial
• Authentic, meaningful & back region experiences
• Reality Spaces & Serious Tourism
• Ethical Issues: Wealth, Power, Class relationships
37. Unplanned & Unguided Tourism
• Unguided Tourism
– “wanderlust” - “drifter” – “Traveler”
– "A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on
arriving" - Lao-Tzu
• Degrees of Unguiding
– Tourists slip in and out of guided & unguided states
• Unguided Travel Games / Untours
– Simultaneously structured & open, guided & random
– To transcend the structure
• Mission:Explore website - “to experience the world in
new ways by doing vitally important random and
warped challenges”.
38. Self-Guided Tourisms
• Free and Easy Tour Packages
– Transportation & Accommodations
– Tourist fills in other activities
• Self-Guided Travel
– By-pass Travel Agents
– Self-guided Walking and Driving Tours
• Greater risk and responsibility for outcomes
– if it is exceptionally good, then it could be an
experience of a lifetime.
39. Structure or Agency or Both?
• All Examples Above
– Structured in the tourism economy
– Extending tourism economy into tourism incognita
– Guided in some way (person or paper)
– Mostly insured against harm to tourists = safety
bubble
• But also:
– Self-reflective - Seeking Opportunities for authentic
encounters with terra intimidus and terra incognita
– Aware of becoming too commercialized and mass
tourism oriented
40. If you do not expect the unexpected you will not
find it, for it is not to be reached by search or
trail. Heraclitus, Greek philosopher, 500 BCE
51. Creativity comes from looking for the
unexpected and stepping outside your own
experience. Masaru Ibuka, co-founder, Sony Corporation
52. Conclusions
1. Curiosity / Novelty Seeking
– Drives Learning, Innovation & Creativity
• Emotional Extremes
– Risk of Disappointment - Opportunity for Euphoria
– Tourism would not exist if people were not curious about
other places
• Potential for euphoria, insights or discoveries
2. Serendipity
– Unplanned Opportunities – job, career, friendship, & more…
Tourism Incognita
– Holds the greatest curiosity for the tourist
– Drive for discovery shared by explorers, travelers & tourists
53. A Tourism Incognita Model
TOURISM COGNITA
- Terra Domus (house)
- Terra Viator (traveler)
TOURISM INCOGNITA
- Terra Intimidus
- Terra Incognita
54. Balancing Safety & Risk
• Tourists & Destinations are Complex
– Knowns & Unknowns, Safety & Risk, Desires/Attraction &
Revulsions/Rejection
• Safety is Absolute in Tourism Marketing
– Safety builds trust needed to for tourists to spend money
• Few market Unknowns, Uncertainties & Risks
• Most prefer sure things with lower rewards over risk
• But … Risk is Essential in Marketing Imagination
• Beyond the day-to-day routine
– Adventure tourism & Amusement rides = Safe Thrills
– “Exotic” Destinations = Insights into “Tourism Incognita”
55. You have to take risks. We will only understand
the miracle of life fully when we allow the
unexpected to happen.
Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author and music lyricist
56. The earth is big
enough, people are
small enough, and
life is unpredictable
enough that there
will always be new
realms of tourism
incognita to lure us
out of terra domus
and beyond terra
viator in search of
insight, discovery and
exhilaration.
