Travel agent discourses of mass tourism: beyond stereotypes?

The widely used term ‘mass tourism’ is often considered as a self-explanatory concept that refers to an unpleasant and an overcrowded form of tourism. Nevertheless, contemporary mass tourism is a complex phenomenon and different actors within the tourism industry conceptualize it in different ways. In this study, mass tourism is understood to be socially constructed and negotiated through discursive practices. This is a case study that analyses how Finnish travel agents of mass package tour operators engage with mass tourism. The discourse analysis of pair-interviews is focused on the attitudes and aims of agents’ responses. For the travel agents interviewed, the term ‘mass’ evoked outsider perspective, negative meanings and was mostly considered as a historical and taken-for-granted category. Through practical examples of package tourism, they challenged the stereotypes of ‘mass tourism’. Package tourism was illustrated through discourses of restriction, possibility and dynamism, whereas mass tourism was articulated through discourses of scale, negatively distinguishable, cultural tradition and uncertainty. I argue that personal experiences or embodied practices and open-minded attitudes are key issues in understanding the ‘truths’ of package tourism. Mass tourism is not a static but dynamic and multifaceted concept. Thus, further research on mass tourism focusing on the relationship between discursive practices and experiences is needed.