Rethinking authenticity and tourist identity: expressions of territoriality and belonging among repeat tourists on the Greek island of Symi

Abstract

This paper approaches the subject of tourist identity from an anthropological perspective, arguing for a culturally contextualized analysis that focuses on the interactive and processual nature of these constructions. Specifically, it explores the processes by which repeat tourists on the Greek island of Symi construct their identities as tourists in relation to the place of their vacation experience, local residents and other tourists. It highlights the competitive and often antagonistic way in which these tourists – drawing on ideas about authenticity and demonstrating sympathy with local concerns – seek to incorporate the island as an aspect of their own personal identities and, similarly, create a form of ‘local’ identity in Symi. The picture of tourists that emerges in this case study contrasts sharply with standard analytical formulations that portray tourists as transient and liminal figures, defined almost exclusively by their vacation preferences and experiences, and constituting a category of people that is clearly distinguishable (practically and ideologically) from local residents. As a consequence, it argues for an approach to tourist identity that seeks out linkages between tourists and locals, and which looks more broadly at the views and experiences of tourists beyond the time and space of the vacation.

Keywords:

• tourist identity
• authenticity
• territoriality
• repeat tourists
• Greece

Acknowledgements

I am exceedingly grateful to both the Graduate School and the Program in Hellenic Studies at Princeton University for funding the research for this article. In addition, I would like to thank Margaret Kenna for her many insightful comments on the manuscript. Finally, James Boon, Carol Greenhouse and Dimitri Gondicas were of immense help with earlier drafts of the material and, indeed, throughout my graduate career.

Notes

By way of example, Wickens (1994) identifies five subtypes of ‘institutionalized tourists’ specifically for the Greek context: the Cultural Heritage, the Raver, the Shirley Valentine, the Heliolatrous and the Lord Byron (p. 819). With their concern for security, familiarity and nostalgia ‘Lord Byrons’ are reminiscent of many of Symi's repeat tourists. However, the problem of oversimplification arises here as it does with all such typologies, since many of these ‘Lord Byrons’ also embody some defining characteristics of the Shirley Valentine and/or the Heliolatrous. For a related critique of the tendency towards typologies see Franklin and Crang (2001, p. 6).

White and White (2009) found that while important, relationships among tourists backpacking in the Australian outback were also typically ‘bounded, free of the obligation of ongoing attachment and consisting, for the most part, of ritualized exchanges’ (p. 143). In contrast, many of Symi's repeat tourists both seek – and achieve – more long-lasting friendships with fellow tourists, even arranging holidays so they will coincide year on year.

For a discussion of how ‘everyday life is pervasive even in terms of the tourist within the destination’ see McCabe (2002, pp. 70–71).

Unofficial figures from representatives of Laskarina Holidays and Manos Holidays (two of the British package holiday companies serving the island) put the number of return visitors as high as 60–70% during May, June, September and October (months that are favoured by repeat visitors). For many reasons, including the absence of official records of tourists and the fact that many visitors travel independently, a more accurate assessment of numbers was unfortunately impossible. The importance of this large repeat contingent is, however, widely recognized by islanders, tourists and tour companies, and is proudly cited by all as evidence of Symi's ‘special’ character.

Unfortunately, a more detailed and explicit theorization of this community is not possible here. Further information about how it intersects with and feeds both into and off the expatriate population, its implicit rules, the spaces its members typically inhabit and so on, can be found in Hough (2005, Chapters 4 and 5).

In addition to these tourists-turned-residents, the island is also home to a growing population of economic migrants from various Eastern European countries, and is a temporary base for a steady flow of asylum seekers arriving by boat from nearby Turkey (just 12 nautical miles away).

On Greek parochialism, see Just (2000); and Panourgia (1995, pp. 54–58). For a more recent discussion of the situation of foreigners in Greece, see Mestheneos (2002).

One interesting example of discrimination that explicitly reflected ideas about place and identity centred on the 2002 local elections. For a number of complex reasons, many European residents on Symi who were entitled to vote in these elections, were unable to get themselves put on the electoral roll, thus leading to accusations of discrimination on the part of Symiots (for details, see Hough, 2005, pp. 35–41). In contrast, many Symiots living essentially full-time in Athens, are registered on Symi's electoral role.

See Hall for an examination of the need for analyses to extend to ‘the many alternate phases of tourism’ (2005b, cited in Hui (2008)).

Wickens (1994) is a classic example of such an approach.

Cole (2007) presents a similarly broad analysis of the concept of authenticity, showing its instrumental use by government, tourists and villagers in Eastern Indonesia. Cole particularly draws attention to how debates about authenticity may reveal how tourism can be a potentially empowering force for the local people.

In a similar manner, the subjects of McCabe and Stokoe's (2004) analysis of users of the Peak District National Park sought to infuse their identities with an air of morality, by emphasizing the ‘naturalness’ and knowledge-based nature of their engagement with places (p. 617).

Ultimately, the advantage of the common background in initially attracting new customers appears to outweigh any surprise or disappointment those people may feel when realizing that this ‘traditional’ Greek island has a rather cosmopolitan demographic. Indeed, even (or particularly) for the most stereotypical authenticity seekers, the presence of this expatriate population is attractive because it hints at the possibility for the tourist to themselves become involved in the local community. Expatriate tourism workers are acutely aware of this, and will exaggerate their own integration in Symiot society when engaging with customers and repeat tourist friends.

The photographs from this period are unfortunately no longer available online (the original ‘Out’ and ‘About’ link on the Symi Visitor website (www.symivisitor.com) now links to http://www.symi-photos.com/where the same photo-diary format continues).

In a parallel fashion, it is predominantly the British expatriates, as opposed to the many other resident nationalities on Symi, that come in for the worst criticisms regarding cultural insensitivity and a failure to integrate with the Symiot community.

Such attitudes prompted one would-be visitor to submit the following complaint: ‘First time to this page, looking for info for upcoming holiday. It would appear this page is for a “select club”. I am thinking of cancelling the trip, and booking somewhere, where the clientèle have a more socially inclusive attitude. Shame about the few who spoil it for the majority and sadly also for the Symiots’ (Dawn, 2002).

Motorbikes, and the young men who ride them up and down past the roadside cafes and restaurants, seemingly without purpose, are the target for a steady stream of complaints from residents and tourists. The author has argued elsewhere that the young men who engage in this behaviour are typically those without particularly good economic prospects and they do so partly as a means of showing off and partly because they know it annoys the tourists and business owners (Hough, 2009).

In the local elections of October 2002, Symi's incumbent mayor duly lost his position.

A similar situation is described by Argyrou (1997) in Cyprus. Here, tourists, resident foreigners and the Cypriot middle-class, define littering as a social problem, while village and the working-class men view all forms of environmentalism as the product of a foreign, morally inferior European culture. As such, ignoring environmental directives becomes a means of resisting this influence.

In some cases, of course, there may be considerable overlaps between the values of both contexts.