Urban Tourism Evolving from Heterogeneous Tourist Gaze

What is it about?

This study investigates the mechanism that creatively generates urban tourism, including collective images of cities, stemming from heterogeneous gaze mutually constructed through stancetaking between foreign tourists and host communities. The target cities are the historical areas of Budapest, informal urban districts of Mumbai, and revitalized areas of Hiroshima, which are experiencing a resurgence after overcoming harsh conditions such as war destruction, poverty, and domination by other ethnicities. Data was collected from the fieldwork of those cities and analyzed in light of sociological theories of city planning and urban tourism, stancetaking, and communication theories. The results demonstrate the rich diversity of tourism activities that have been creatively orchestrated, catering to the diverse needs of tourists by various entities. Intrinsic historical, cultural, and customary aspects and authentic ways of life in tourist cities are conveyed to those tourists in walking or cycling tours through communication tools including self-disclosure, thereby formulating impressions of those cities. The findings suggest that the effective coordination between on-site tourism activities and city-level initiatives collaboratively contributes to promoting creative urban tourism.

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