Tourism in Lebanon : Dissonance between idealism and reality

ISBN-13: 9783639159332 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 92 str.

Ina Aurelia Issa

Opis

This study explores how the host community of Lebanon perceives the effects of tourism and how they react to the globalized, stereotypical and touristic representations of their land, heritage and culture. The process is studied from two generalperspectives; the abstract image as portrayed in tourism brochures and their manifestations at the lived and crude realities. Lefebvre s spatial triad was applied as a framework as this gave the opportunity to study the division of local tourism players based on the space they occupy in society, and the symbolic and imaginary nature of spatial formations. Findings came close to several studies on the effects of tourism that all point to social differences based on background, education, perceived costs and benefits of tourism, and political and demographic position in the society. Yet, stating this falls short of acknowledging the difficulty of reaching consensus on what images represents Lebanon as a tourism destination, and the contest of power and recognition rooted in the political situation. The study also draws implications for marketing and image creation from the results.

O autorze

Ina Aurelia Issa obtained her first master degree in
International Hotel and Tourism Management from Oxford Brookes
University (UK) and her second master degree in Middle Eastern
Studies from the American University of Beirut (Lebanon). Her
research interests include the social impact of tourism, tourism
planning and destination marketing.