Património, turismo e emoção

• Main Author: Carlos Fortuna
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centro de Estudos Sociais da Universidade de Coimbra 2012-06-01
• Series: Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais
• Subjects: heritage; memory; objects; places; sociocultural practices; tourism – psico‑emotional aspects
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/rccs/4898

After discussing the relationship between heritage and tradition, this text deals with the complex process of assigning meaning to heritage, to objects, places and sociocultural practices. Tourism is seen as a powerful means of enhancing the emotional significance of such objects, places and practices. The current pursuit of emotional experience leads to an intense exploration of memory tourism, as well as dark and reality tourism. The different modes through which these experiences are perceived signal a social dispute over meanings, including postcolonial tourist narratives. Today’s valorization of psycho‑emotional tourist experiences suggests the possibility of a worldwide increase in tourist supply of a strong emotional kind.