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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Tourist Gaze Reconsidered

subject

description

The term tourist gaze was coined initially to represent those superficial expectations that tourists have on destination communities; tourists impute their ideas of authentic experience upon destination residents and their social structure and see what they have predetermined to see. This is made more real when local communities consciously act out the desired roles for financial reasons. Thus, gaze leads to surreally authentic experiences. However, does this always happen? Say, in community-centered tourism where empowered destination communities choose tourists, tourists do not have the privilege to gaze. These communities might even be able to apply their own versions of gaze upon the tourists. Although we propose resident gaze here, it is not examined by any other serious researchers. In this chapter, we call for a critical relook at the literature on gaze. Another factor making us rethink gaze is the role of new forms of tourism such as virtual tourism. Say, how differently does gaze act upon in virtual environments? Finally, gaze may not be a unidirectional phenomenon, unlike how John Urry conceived it. There may be a reverse gaze, probably equal yet opposite in direction from the other side. Again, this is a new term that we propose for further investigation.