Blogging beforehand

Picture yourself a tourist: What kind of image is in your mind? It could be a guy in a pair of hiking trousers with matching shoes and a backpack, or a Dutch couple lying on the beach in Spain, next to their neighbours from Holland eating fries from Dutch snack bar ''Friet van Piet''. What kind of tourist are you thinking of?

Next question: What kind of tourist am I? This is what I will try to answer by use of this blog.

For the Honours we have followed a module about tourism which ends with a summer school to guess where.. Jordan! This blog will contain both theoretical parts about tourism, as well as my experiences in Jordan. To add something special to this blog and prevent me from repetition, it will cover three main objectives. The first one I have already mentioned: What kind of tourist am I? Theories have divided tourists in typologies; the recreational, the diversionary, the experiential, the experimental and the existential tourist (Cohen, 1979). I will explain the theories in the next blog.

Second, I will compare my travel experience in Jordan with other countries, since I now have the knowledge behind tourism and Jordan itself. Is it different to travel while being aware of tourism?

Third and last, I will focus on the turmoil in the Middle-East. Does the crisis in almost all the neighbouring countries have an influence on the level of tourism to Jordan and the emotion of travellers? Has there been hesitation to visit Jordan? And finally, are the tourists experiencing fear?

This first blog entry has mostly been an introduction of what is still coming. Of course I will add fascinating stories in the other blogs that are actually situated in Jordan so don't stop reading and enjoy! :)

References:
McCabe, S. (2005). ‘Who is a tourist?’A critical review. Tourist studies, 5(1), 85-106.

Edensor, T. (2009). Tourism. Elsevier

Cohen, E. (1979). A phenomenology of tourist experiences. Sociology, 13(2), 179-201.