PROXEMICS

Territorial Proxemics and the Tourism Venture

Territoriality theory within proxemics examines how people take control of their space. When arriving in a new town as a tourist this claiming of space is critical for the holiday-making experience and so, too, for the business venture serving the tourist. This lecture is mainly a practical Web-Lab Work-Out, you will need to use Google Chrome and login to your Google+ Account. You will also need to use Microsoft MS Publisher, and I have designed a ready-made template for you to re-use.

When you step outside your tourist hotel for the first time to explore the tourist destination you find yourself in you are presented with the unknown. The first-time visitor to a town will be in that same situation, having no knowledge of which way to turn or where to go to make their holiday an enjoyable experience or to add value to their time in the destination. Today's Work-Out lets you prepare for that experience by using Google's Map tools to attempt to find a point of interest you would like to walk to in a reasonably short time from your hotel entrance door. Aim initially for approximately 15 minutes walking, Google offer a Get Directions option with a walking man icon. One example you might aim for is the edge of the quay or seaside. Then using Google Maps Street-View photographs attempt to pick out somewhere to sit for a drink or coffee, and one other point that would be worth seeing from your point of view. Track the route, making notes ready for the design part of your Work-Out.

When you have picked your 3 points and feel you know your route then transfer your notes onto your own Ramble Strip in MS Publisher. Imagine you are writing it with instructions for someone else to follow. When we visit Malaga, you will use your Ramble Strip to test it against the real experience, and share it to receive feedback on how others enjoy the tourist experience of following your route. Save it as both a PDF for uploading to your Google Sites web-site and as a JPEG so that you can upload direct to Google+ Communities as an image.

Please note: A MS Publisher template for the Ramble Strip is available for free download below. Please feel free to take your own copy, edit and re-use the design for your own projects. Consider sharing your new designs on our Google+ Community for Tourism Knowledge Transfer at this url goo.gl/AeS1oD

Work-Out: Working from the real world to design a Ramble-Strip will help you understand the phenomenology of the tourist experience, and present you with an opportunity to find a site for a new tourism venture. In this Work-Out ensure you have opened and linked your own YouTube account to your Google+ Account. Then download the App for shooting, making and uploading YouTube videos. The two points for this activity are Plymouth main railway station and the Jury's Inn Hotel just off Charles Cross. Using your smartphone video App follow a walking route from the station concourse exit into town. You, and the new visitor, are faced with an immediate choice of left or right. En route you must find somewhere to sit down for a drink or coffee for your visitor, and one other cultural attraction, eg the City Museum or the PAG University Gallery in the Levinsky Building. Then lead them to the door of their hotel, Jury's Inn. Then reflect, where could you open a new tourism venture on, or very close to, that walking route? What visitor services are missing that you could add?

References

Mansfield, C. (2014) Ramble Strip - Design of an Offline Smartphone Reading Experience for Tourists and Walkers, [online] Available at eserve.org.uk [Accessed 21.10.14] DOI: 10.13140/2.1.2456.8327 .

Download now from https://goo.gl/IKuWT2

Tussyadiah, I. (2014) 'Toward a Theoretical Foundation for Experience Design in Tourism' Journal of Travel Research 53(5) 543-564.

To Cite this Page:

Mansfield, C. (2014) 'Territorial Proxemics and the Tourism Venture' Toureme [online] Available at eserve.org.uk [Accessed 21.10.14].

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