Tourism Discussion
Tourism is a very recent industry that re-organizes the world for visual consumption. In this tourist re-organization of the world, which includes extensive branding of sites, peoples, history, foods, architectures, emotions, experiences, etc. there are some places and experiences that are said to be “closer to nature” than others.
Respond to one of these two provocations:
Option1. What does the above quote mean? Why and how tourist representations of places as “being natural” or “environmental” might be problematic? For whom? And how? Who can ultimately afford to be an ecotourist?
Question 2. Go out and explore San Diego (or the places you are living now) tourist spots, physically or through the web. Bring a picture, a selfie an image of a tourist branding, marketing or place where you can guess “nature” (either danger, contemplation, etc) Elaborate on what you found using Urry’s text and the idea of the environmental gaze and/or ideas from the documentaries we have watched and your own experience!