Destination New Orleans

Abstract

This article uses a case study of New Orleans to illustrate the nexus of commodification and rationalization in the development of urban tourism during the first half of the 20th century. Tourism is exemplary of the consumption of space and involves the circulation of people to particular locations to consume local culture, nature, history, or otherness. I examine the role of urban literary writers, visitor guidebooks, and the New Orleans Association of Commerce in constructing a `destination image'. As a collection of symbols and motifs representing a locale, a destination image is a visual cue that acts both as an attraction for potential tourists and as a cultural framework for authenticating the tourists' experience once they arrive in the city. I argue that creating and (re)producing a destination image and assorted urban symbols requires an institutional system or set of formal organizations. Institutions and organizations create the rules, routines, and structures that shape how tourism markets and destination images develop, how actors present and arrange symbols to persuade people to invest in and travel to cities, and how actors develop promotional strategies. Analysis of rationalization and commodification in the production of a destination image offers a unique perspective for understanding tourism as a major consumption practice constituted by a set of `distant' processes and `local' practices.