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Tourism and toponymy: Commodifying and Consuming Place Names.

Light, D., 2014. Tourism and toponymy: Commodifying and Consuming Place Names. Tourism Geographies: an international journal of tourism place, space and the environment, 16 (1), 141 -156.

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Toponymy%20and%20tourism%20%28revised%20version%207%20August%202013%29.docx.pdf

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DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2013.868031

Abstract

Academic geographers have a long history of studying both tourism and place names, but have rarely made linkages between the two. Within critical toponymic studies there is increasing debate about the commodification of place names, but to date the role of tourism in this process has been almost completely overlooked. In some circumstances, toponyms can become tourist sights based on their extraordinary properties, their broader associations within popular culture, or their role as metanyms for some other aspect of a place. Place names may be sights in their own right or ‘markers’ of a sight and, in some cases, the marker may be more significant than the sight to which it refers. The appropriation of place names through tourism also includes the production and consumption of a broad range of souvenirs based on reproductions or replicas of the material signage that denote place names. Place names as attractions are also associated with a range of performances by tourists, and in some cases visiting a place name can be a significant expression of fandom. In some circumstances, place names can be embraced and promoted by tourism marketing strategies and are, in turn, drawn into broader circuits of the production and consumption of tourist space.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:1461-6688
Uncontrolled Keywords:toponymy ; place names ; tourist sights ; souvenirs ; performances ; commodification
Group:Bournemouth University Business School
ID Code:21510
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:22 Oct 2014 15:23
Last Modified:14 Mar 2022 13:49

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