Popular culture shaping tourism

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relevance of popular culture in a tourism context, highlighting how it can impact the future of tourism. Design/methodology/approach Drawing upon existing research, the popularity of popular culture is discussed, and future developments are transferred to the field of tourism. Findings It is expected that the demand for popular culture related tourism activities and experiences will continue to increase, providing opportunities for destinations for visitor dispersal, the distribution of economic benefits across regions, and the tackling of industry-based challenges. Originality/value The paper draws attention to the potential of popular culture in positive and tourism development that reduces negative impacts.

Popular Culture Tourism: Conceptual Foundations and State of Play

“…The literature even suggests that the future of popular culture tourism lies in virtual, hybrid, or augmented reality experiences. Specifically, “more immersive, interactional, personalized, meaningful, and engaging experiences are required that allow for community building that does not remain spatially and temporally restricted but extends beyond the space and place of the respective activity” (Reichenberger, 2021, p. 237).…”

“…The future of popular culture tourism may also hold the potential to address some of the challenges that this sector of tourism is facing, as popular culture fandoms can be leveraged to focus increased attention on civic, political, and societal challenges based on a connection between some fandoms and activism. One example is the appreciation of natural environments in Lord of the Rings, which can potentially be leveraged for promoting sustainable tourism, thus using popular culture to induce change in real life (Reichenberger, 2021). At the same time, popular culture tourism should become more sustainable in itself.…”

“…Often, the different ways we view cultural qualities, patterns, and signs in tourism scholarship may lead to confounding related phenomena. One such perplexing phenomenon is the emergence of popular culture as a driver of tourism (Connell, 2012; Reichenberger, 2021). Popular culture is a vexed concept often misconstrued as modern “pop vanity” that means, more or less, “bread and circuses” bringing profitable entertainment for the masses, and it is usually confused with cultural tourism and associated activities such as heritage, arts, and recreation.…”

K-pop music: the influence of pop-culture involvement and destination image on travel intention to south korea

“…Popular culture refers to cultural products that are produced for mass consumption to meet the commercialization objectives by being known and liked by a larger community (Brandt & Clare, 2019). In pop-culture, a reciprocal relationship between producers and consumers is formed, which can be concluded that pop-culture can influence the way individuals behave in response to certain topics (Lee &Bai, 2016;Brandt & Clare, 2019;Reichenberger, 2021). According to Lee and Bai (2016), the most commonly known pop-culture category is the entertainment category which contains music, movies, television shows, literature, pop-stars (artists, celebrities, singers), and also sports.…”

Editorial - How the world is changing: The role of micro trends

“…Bevolo (2019) discusses emerging trends in placemaking and digital destination management while providing a conceptual background on shifts in architectural design. To conclude the section, Reichenberger (2019) discusses the relevance of popular culture in a tourism context, highlighting how it can impact the future of tourism.…”