How tourists see other tourists: analysis of online travelogues.

Abstract

The study, based on the content analysis of 120 samples of
\nonline travelogues written by Japanese and Americans,
\ninvestigates how tourist-tourist encounters are reported. Eight hundred and thirty eight episodes were extracted from
\nthe sample travelogues and coded according to the types of
\nencounter (absence, direct presence or indirect presence of
\nothers), attitude of the writer (positive, negative or neutral) and also the types of tourist(s) encountered (same or different nationality). Overall results show that Japanese and Americans see other tourists differently. For example, when Japanese describe other tourists, they tend to make clear distinctions between Japanese and non-Japanese and to have more direct contacts with
\nJapanese tourists than with tourists from other countries.
\nAmericans, on the other hand, seem quite the opposite: they are willing to make personal contact with non-American
\ntourists. Some of the factors that lead to these differences
\nare discussed and include differences in cultural characteristics and home environment.