Tourism and Photography

Dear Colleagues,

Photography and photographs have long been fundamental to the modern phenomenon of tourism. Urry’s (1990) theory of the ‘tourist gaze’ hypothesized that tourists’ photographs are a key component of the system of reproduction of modern tourism, in which tourists are motivated to travel to see places represented in the photographs shown to them by tourism providers—in holiday brochures, on posters, and in media advertisements—such that they take photographs of themselves and their families at the same locations in order to prove that they have been there. It is perhaps surprising, therefore, that photography has failed to gain much traction in academic research, either in terms of studying holiday photography as an activity or using the resulting photographs as a source of data that can enable a better understanding of tourists’ cognitions, emotions, and behaviors more generally. Photographic practice therefore remains an under-studied subject, yet one that is worthy of attention in trying to understand how tourists interact with the cultural, economic, and natural environments of the destination they are visiting. The use of photographs as data, meanwhile, remains a relatively under-exploited resource for academic researchers to tap into. While photographs have long been used for the purpose of helping to enrich responses in surveys and interviews (a technique known as photo-elicitation), there has recently been a growing interest in using photographs uploaded to social media as ‘big data’, as well as in the use of participatory photography methods such as volunteer-employed photography. These methods are still, however, in their infancy, and there is much still to learn about how best to apply them. Their potential is also constantly being enhanced by the introduction of new technologies, such as the smartphone, and this requires best practice to be continually reassessed. This Special Issue will seek to address these subjects, as well as other related topics, examining not only the practices of photography in the tourism context but also the use of photographs as data in the study of tourism.

Prof. Dr. Brian Garrod
Dr. Nika Balomenou
Guest Editors

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• Photography
• Postcards
• Photo-elicitation methods
• Participatory photo methods
• Photographic practice
• Photos as (big) data