By understanding tourist destinations through the lens of national identity, the tourist may develop a deeper appreciation of the destination. Further, tourism marketers and planners may be better equipped to promote and manage the destination, particularly with regard to expectations of the potential visitor. Tourism and National Identities is the first volume to fully explore the relationship between tourism and national identities and the multiple ways in which cultural tourism, events and celebrations contribute to national identity. It examines core topics critical to understanding this relationship including: tourism branding, stereotyping and national identity; tourism-related representation and experience of national identity; tourism visitation/site/event management and the relationship to cultural tourism. The book looks at a range of international tourist sites and events, combines multidisciplinary perspectives and international cases to provide a thorough academic analysis. The interconnecting area of cultural tourism and national identity has been largely overlooked in the academic literature to date. This book gives considerable analysis to the complex relationship between the two domains and indeed, the multifaceted strategies used to define that relationship. Written by an international team of leading academics, Tourism and National Identities will be of interest to students, researchers and academics in tourism and related disciplines such as events, cultural studies and geography.

To imagine a nation, nationalists must construct a national story about their history and culture that defines them as a people, and counters the negative story circulated by their enemies. This book examines the role of tourism in the construction of national identity.

"This is the first volume to fully explore the relationship between Tourism and National Identity and multiple ways in which cultural tourism, events and celebrations contribute to national identity. By doing so the book provides important insights into how planners and managers can better manage attractions and events in the future. The book achieves this by reviewing core topics critical to the understanding of this relationship including: tourism branding, stereotyping and national identity; tourism-related representation and experience of national identity (such as when tourists travel to particular nations and what this means in relation to their identity); tourism visitation/site/event management; and, the relationship to cultural tourism. The book looks at a range of international tourist sites and events, combines multidisciplinary perspectives and international cases to provide a solid thorough academic analysis. Written by an international team of leading academics this book will be of interest to students, researchers & academics in Tourism and related disciplines such as Events and Cultural Geography"--

In See America First, Marguerite Shaffer chronicles the birth of modern American tourism between 1880 and 1940, linking tourism to the simultaneous growth of national transportation systems, print media, a national market, and a middle class with money and time to spend on leisure. Focusing on the See America First slogan and idea employed at different times by railroads, guidebook publishers, Western boosters, and Good Roads advocates, she describes both the modern marketing strategies used to promote tourism and the messages of patriotism and loyalty embedded in the tourist experience. She shows how tourists as consumers participated in the search for a national identity that could assuage their anxieties about American society and culture. Generously illustrated with images from advertisements, guidebooks, and travelogues, See America First demonstrates that the promotion of tourist landscapes and the consumption of tourist experiences were central to the development of an American identity.

Studies of cultural tourism and indigenous identity are fraught with questions concerning exploitation, entitlement, ownership and authenticity. Unease with the idea of leveraging a group identity for commercial gain is ever-present. This anthology articulates some of these debates from a multitude of standpoints. It assimilates the perspectives of members of indigenous communities, non-governmental organizations, tourism practitioners and academic researchers who participated in an action research project that aims to link research to development outcomes.

From the dark shadow of civil war to the pastel-painted towns of today, Making Ireland Irish provides a sweeping account of the evolution of the Irish tourist industry over the twentieth century. Drawing on an extensive array of previously untapped or underused sources, Eric G. E. Zuelow examines how a small group of tourism advocates, inspired by tourist development movements in countries such as France and Spain, worked tirelessly to convince their Irish compatriots that tourism was the secret to Ireland’s success. Over time, tourism went from being a national joke to a national interest. Men and women from across Irish society joined in, eager to help shape their country and culture for visitors’ eyes. The result was Ireland as it is depicted today, a land of blue skies, smiling faces, pastel towns, natural beauty, ancient history, and timeless traditions. With lucid prose and vivid detail, Zuelow explains how careful planning transformed Irish towns and villages from grey and unattractive to bright and inviting; sanitized Irish history to avoid offending Ireland’s largest tourist market, the English; and supplanted traditional rural fairs revolving around muddy animals and featuring sexually suggestive ceremonies with new family-friendly festivals and events filling today’s tourist calendar. By challenging existing notions that the Irish tourist product is either timeless or the consequence of colonialism, Zuelow demonstrates that the development of tourist imagery and Irish national identity was not the result of a handful of elites or a postcolonial legacy, but rather the product of an extended discussion that ultimately involved a broad cross-section of society, both inside and outside Ireland. Tourism, he argues, played a vital role in “making Ireland Irish.”

This book explores the role of tourism as a means to express 'nation' and 'nationhood'. Based on field research in southwest and central Scotland it shows how various historical accounts, cultural icons and images, events and celebrations create a meaning of the Scottish nation. It examines the narratives, either explicit or implicit, produced at heritage-related tourism sites and how these become interwoven with the ideology of a nation. This volume will be of use to researchers and students in tourism and heritage studies, Scottish studies, culture and identity, nationalism and national identity; as well as to tourism and heritage industry professionals and policy-makers.