Tourist-Sein oder nicht Tourist-Sein? Zur Reputation des Touristen.

What is it about?

The reputation of the social figure ‘tourist’ is neither in academia, nor in popular science very good. The number of negative connotations linked to the “tourist” is rather large and includes adjectives as well as animal labels and specific forms of conduct and practice. At the same time there is a clear deficiency regarding empirical data and evidence detectable. These could provide a better insight into the genesis of the (apparently) bad reputation of the tourist and help to gain a more differentiated picture of the forms of the existing criticisms, enriching the overtourism debate. This article presents the results of a study which is representative for the German population. The goal was to gain a better understanding regarding the connotations which Germans connect to the term ‘tourist’, based on empirical data. The results do surprise. It appears that the reputation of the tourist is at least to some extent better than expected.

Featured Image