Sensational Senses

The gaze by John Urry can be seen as a view within a socially constructed platform. Hence, that theory focuses on your vision, your sight. But do only the eyes matter? No! Because what would be the fun of 'muscular tourism' then, which includes mountanbiking, rafting or other activities where you have to use your entire body and hear, smell and feel your environment?

According to Lindstrom and Kotler (2005), our experience of the world is experienced through multiple senses. This theory has recently been supported and extended in different disciplines, including tourism. Hence, although the gaze by John Urry is still supported, many scholars now point out that this view neglects other senses (than sight) that influence the tourist experience. Consequently, new theories emerged. The more-than-representational theory contains the idea that body, nature and other elements such as tourism are interconnected and that all aspects of the body attribute to the tourist experience. The bodily experiences mostly are tactile, auditory and gustatory, hence feeling, hearing, and tasting. (T. Edensor, 2009). The new theories have gained awareness and are now even implemented in the marketing of tourism (Isacsson, A., Alakoski, L., & Bäck, A. (2009).

In Jordan I have tried to pay attention to my other senses. The one site where the senses excluding sight are extremely relevant for the tourist experience is… The Dead Sea!! The salty water felt smoothly on your skin and the taste of it in your mouth was disgusting. The water in your eyes was actually painful. But mostly it was so strange that you just could not sink, which actually interfered with your cognitive understanding. The dead sea was a sea full of weird senses! Only the vision would definitely not explain the experience. Hence, all the senses together form the opinion about an experience.

This knowledge also criticises the tourists that only take pictures and forget about the other senses. So if this sounds familiar, keep in mind that the other senses are definitely not less important!

References:

Urry, J. (2002). The tourist gaze. Sage.

Edensor, T. (2009). Tourism. Elsevier

Dann, G. M., & Jacobsen, J. K. S. (2002). Leading the tourist by the nose. The tourist as a metaphor of the social world, 209-235.

Isacsson, A., Alakoski, L., & Bäck, A. (2009). Using multiple senses in tourism marketing: The helsinki expert, eckero line and linnanmaki amusement park cases.
Kotler, P., & Lindstrom, M. (2005). Brand Sense: Build Powerful Brands Through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound. New York.