The aeromobile tourist gaze: understanding tourism ‘from above’

ABSTRACT

While the impact of aeromobility on the growth of tourism and its destinations is well documented, the role of aeromobility in the process of experiencing and shaping place with specific regard to tourist destinations has received little attention from scholars. With the growth of commercial aviation and the increasingly mundane nature of the experience within mass tourism, I draw attention to the touristic experience of flying as the activity beyond its role in arriving at the destination. After a brief review of the genealogy of aeromobility and tourism, I reflect on examples of tourist aeromobility in Cape Town, South Africa in order to theorise the aeromobile tourist gaze. This paper analyses mobile testimonies from online travel reviews from airborne tourists performing helicopter ‘flips’ over Cape Town. Results highlight the need to focus on flying as tourism itself while they illustrate the role it plays in the aeromobile tourist gaze, a unique perspective and experience of the tourism destination as ‘tourism from above’ that emerges from the touristic dimensions of flight including the destination, the flying device and flight route. The findings underscore the role of flying-as-tourism. The aeromobile tourist gaze thus spectacularises the destination and disrupts the relationship between tourists and place.

摘要

尽管空中移动性对旅游增长以及旅游目的地的影响文献中已有详细的报道, 但是空中移动性在地方体验与塑造中的作用, 特别是旅游目的地地方体验与塑造中作用学者们鲜有关注。随着商业飞行的发展以及大众旅游中这种旅游体验的日益普及, 我研究了旅游者对飞行活动本身的体验, 而不仅仅是把旅游者送达目的地的作用。在简单综述空中移动性和旅游的谱系之后, 我为了对旅游者空中凝视进行理论思考, 反思了南非开普敦旅游者空中移动性的实例。那些在开普敦上空做直升机旋转表演的高空旅行者发布了在线旅游评论, 本文分析了其中的移动性方面的段落。结果凸显了有必要把空中飞行作为一项单独的旅游活动, 同时研究表明了高空旅行在旅游者空中凝视中所起的作用。空中旅游凝视是旅游者在旅游目的地上空旅游的一种独特的角度与体验, 这种空中旅游包含了飞行的目的地、飞行设备与飞行路线。研究结果强调了空中飞行作为一项旅游活动在旅游目的地景观化方面做起的作用, 同时它打乱了旅游者与地方之间的关系, 体现了空中移动是一种亲身体验的、富有情感的、实践性的地理学。

KEYWORDS:

• Aerial tourism
• aeromobility
• tourist gaze
• landscape
• netnography
• Cape Town

关键词:

• 空中旅游
• 空中移动性
• 旅游凝视
• 景观༛网路民族志
• 开普敦

Acknowledgments

I am grateful for the comments and suggestions from two anonymous reviewers, and to Gordon Pirie who continues to inspire mobilities scholarship in and about Africa.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In this research, I use the term ‘aeromobility’ following Cwerner et al. (2009) and Adey et al. (2007) to refer to the dominance of flying as a mode of international travel, and in this case tourism. Using the term aeromobility in this research underscores the power that airborne mobility has over terrestrial mobilities that are part of the tourist experience of place (Cresswell, 2004) and destination.

2. In South African Rand, this cost is approximately twice the average monthly salary of most domestic workers in the city.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bradley Rink

Bradley Rink is a human geographer who lectures geography and tourism at University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa. His research and teaching focuses on mobilities, tourism and urban place-making.