Liminality in Tourism Spatial and Temporal Considerations

Liminality is not typically associated with tourism, even though it can be viewed as an intrinsic element of the social/cultural experiences of tourism. Liminality in Tourism: Spatial and Temporal Considerations aims to build upon the tradition of liminality as expounded in social and anthropological disciplines, elaborating on the theoretical principles and concepts found within certain aspects of the tourist journey and tourist product. The emergence of post-modern society has impelled a change in the tourist gaze towards a more experiential and adventuresome globalised experience. An important aspect of the tourist phenomenon of liminality is where a transformative experience is triggered by entering a liminoid tourist space, leaving the tourist permanently psychologically transformed, before returning to normalised society.

The narrative provides a new perspective on the tourist experience with a provocative examination into the multidimensional aspects of tourism, by exploring tourism within the spatial and temporal aspects of liminal landscapes. Covid-19 has further changed the rubric of tourism. Until the current pandemic, tourism has basically been a fun experience. In a post pandemic world, however, the tourist is now facing an unknown future which will almost certainly affect tourism liminality.

This book presents the reader with a wealth of examples and case studies closely illustrating the association between tourism and liminal experiences. The geographical perspectives explore the more subconscious outcomes of destination and tourist product consumption. The book should be a useful reader to tourism geography where the theory of liminality can be synthesized into tourist experiences.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Tourism Geographies.

1. Spatial and temporal tourism considerations in liminal landscapes

Robert S. Bristow and Ian S. Jenkins

2. The liminality in popular festivals: identity, belonging and hedonism as values of tourist satisfaction

Lorena Rodríguez-Campo, Fátima Braña-Rey, Elisa Alén-González and José Antonio Fraiz-Brea

3. Transformative landscapes: liminality and visitors’ emotional experiences at German memorial sites

Doreen Pastor and Alexander J. Kent

4. Dark tourism and moral disengagement in liminal spaces

Nitasha Sharma

5. Liminality and difficult heritage in tourism

Velvet Nelson

6. Communitas in fright tourism

Robert S. Bristow

7. South African township residents describe the liminal potentialities of tourism

Meghan L. Muldoon

8. Between space and place in mountaineering: navigating risk, death, and power

Maggie C. Miller and Heather Mair

9. Change within the change: pregnancy, liminality and adventure tourism in Mexico

Isis Arlene Díaz-Carrión, Paola Vizcaino-Suárez and Hugo Gaggiotti

10. Liminality at-sea: cruises to nowhere and their metaworlds

Bradley Rink

11. Liminality in nature-based tourism experiences as mediated through social media

Eugenio Conti and Susanna Heldt Cassel

12. Liminality Wanted. Liminal landscapes and literary spaces: The Way of St. James

Rubén C. Lois González and Lucrezia Lopez

Robert S. Bristow is Professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and Sustainability at Westfield State University, Massachusetts, USA. His research interests include cultural resource management in parks and protected areas and fright tourism.

Ian Jenkins was Associate Professor at the Department of Geography and Tourism, University of Iceland and is currently a visiting Associate Professor there. Published research includes the areas of festivals, sustainable tourism, literary tourism, adventure tourism, together with risk and safety management.