Who are they? Visitors to Louisiana's River Road plantations

ABSTRACT

This article examines the responses of 448 tourists to an exit survey at four Louisiana River Road tourist plantations. We investigate and discuss the relationships between the demographics of the tourists and their interests as they relate to tourist plantations. Cluster analysis of the visitors' interests indicates that visitors typically fall into one of four interest clusters: “Everything is great!”; “Culture and the Enslaved”; Culture without the Enslaved”; or “Everything is just Okay”. Several plantation managerial and theoretical implications are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research directions.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourism
• tourist interests
• River Road plantation
• tourist demographics

Notes on contributors

Candace Forbes Bright is an associate scientist in the Department of Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs at The University of Southern Mississippi, USA. She graduated from The University of Southern Mississippi International Development Doctoral Program in 2014. Her research interests focus on health disparities and disaster, racial geographies, and social networks. As a member of the multi-institutional Race, Ethnicity, and Social Equity in Tourism (RESET) research team, she has focused much of her research on the inclusion of slavery in the narratives of tourist plantations.

Perry Carter is an associate professor of geography at Texas Tech University, USA. He received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 1998. His research interests focus on human, social, urban, and economic geography. He gives specific focus to geographies of consumption, travel, tourism, and space and how these geographies construct racial identities. As a member of the multi-institutional Race, Ethnicity, and Social Equity in Tourism (RESET) research team, he has focused much of his research on the inclusion of slavery in the narratives of tourist plantations.