Creating the Tourist Product in the Opposition Between Self-Actualization and Collective Consumption

Abstract

Being a popular way of traveling, charter tourism has received an often derogatory image. This may be related to dominating societal ideals promoting self-actualization and individual exploration. However, not much is known about the development of motivations and behaviors among charter tourists. By use of ethnographic fieldwork methodology, this exploratory study investigated a group of Danish charter tourists traveling to Gran Canaria. Results show that the charter tourists were active in navigating between central dichotomies posed by the consumption of a mass product in an individualized societal context, thereby shaping their experiences to form a desirable tourist product. Implications of these findings are discussed in detail.