The experience of the bandit

Johan Edelheim, Southern Cross University

Abstract

The methodology used in this study is hermeneutic phenomenology as the intention is to show how the method can be used to illuminate tourist experiences that would be hard to fathom in quantitative terms. By describing the tourist experience of Thunderbolt it is not claimed that all experiences from that or any other attraction, would be similar, or even that they will include the same features. The intention is to use it as a metaphor for other experiences. The different features each attraction has have certain resemblances that should be highlighted in order to manage them better. The method used in this paper is to distinguish existentials that enable the reader to perceive the meaning of the separate parts of the attraction.

Two fundamental life-world themes called existentials of the experience are described in the paper. A corporeal experience is found in visiting the bandit’s tombstone at the cemetery, as it is claimed that physical presence of something tangible is needed for visitors to accept as true that a person has a connection to a place. An account of relational experience between the visitors and the information personnel shows how the tourist is never alone in the world. The way any attraction is experienced might be impossible to manage, as thoughts that the visitors are thinking when visiting an attraction does not need to have anything to do with the actual site, but they still shape the experience of it.

In order to understand the enjoyment of experiencing one of the attractions it is suggested that the concept of ‘suspension of disbelief’ should be used. Tourists visiting heritage attractions are involved in experiences that are similar to being an audience at the movies or theatre. They know approximately the narrative of the events that was played out at the place they are visiting, but they have to use their imagination to transform the scenery into the historic context of the attraction. The value of the attraction is understood as an intrinsic feeling, mostly depending on the tourists willing suspension of disbelief.