Meaning of place and the tourist experience

Abstract

When visiting a place, people sometimes experience something which goes beyond physical or sensory properties. This is often referred to as ‘sense of place’ or ‘genius loci’. In urban design literature, sense of place is often attributed to three elements namely physical setting, activity and meaning. This presentation will consider one element, namely meaning, and examine the extent to which meaning of place impinges on the tourist experience. Buildings and urban spaces communicate meaning. Meanings are partly the result of codification based on a system of pre-determined meanings and partly are acquired over time as people give to space historical associations derived from events. The meaning of buildings, spaces and artefacts are subjective and can be read and interpreted differently by different people in accordance to their background and culture. Narrative is one of several ways how the tourist can derive meaning from the experience. By means of narratives, tourists are able to visualise past events, a process reinforced by heritage sites which enable tourists to see, and even touch, tangible evidence. This makes the narrative more real and thus the tourist experience more interesting and enjoyable. The narratives may be about the people of the place and therefore they provide an insight to the national identity of the country or region. Different typologies of tourists can be identified including those whose primary motivation for the tourism activity is a search for meaning. To illustrate the relation between tourism experience and meaning, I refer to my doctorate research on the tourist experience in Valletta.