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Swimming with captive dolphins: current debates and post-experience dissonance.

Curtin, S. C. and Wilkes, K., 2007. Swimming with captive dolphins: current debates and post-experience dissonance. International Journal of Tourism Research, 9 (2), 131-146.

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Official URL: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltex...

DOI: 10.1002/jtr.599

Abstract

Dolphins have widespread contemporary appeal and anthropomorphic social representations of dolphins have fuelled a growing desire in tourist populations to seek interaction with them. This paper is concerned with the staged performance of swim-with-dolphin interaction programmes in aquaria. Qualitative interviews with tourists who have swum with captive dolphins identified their immediate recollections and stressed the grace, size and power of dolphins, but also a belief that the experience was too staged, too short and too expensive. Post-purchase dissonance focused on concerns with the size of enclosures and about captivity, too many tricks, limited interpretation and unfulfilled expectations of a quality interaction.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:1099-2340
Uncontrolled Keywords:Swimming with dolphins Tourist recollections Post-purchase dissonance
Group:Bournemouth University Business School
ID Code:827
Deposited By:INVALID USER
Deposited On:20 Apr 2007
Last Modified:14 Mar 2022 13:06

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