Southern attraction, southern attractions: a photographic essay
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
ISSN: 1750-6182
Article publication date: 6 June 2008
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the ways various tourist attractions in the American South are presented to and experienced by tourists.
Design/methodology/approach
A sequence of photographs, made at tourist attractions across the south, is presented. Accompanying each photograph is a paragraph‐length text that draws from and expands upon information available in the visual image. In these texts, various observations about tourism in the south are made.
Findings
The paper comments upon the tourist experience in the south and highlights the central roles of historical tourism, heritage tourism, civil rights tourism, and cultural tourism. Highlights the problematic nature of packaging the region's sometimes troublesome past for tourist consumption.
Research limitations/implications
Because the findings are grounded in photographs made by the author, they are inherently “anecdotal” in character.
Originality/value
This original photographic essay shows and comments upon a wide variety of experiences available to tourists in the American South. It cautions against trying to make the southern past more palatable to tourists by glossing over unpleasant historical facts.
Keywords
Citation
Wharton, D. (2008), "Southern attraction, southern attractions: a photographic essay", International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 102-114. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506180810880683
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited