Exploring thanatourism with nethnography: Combining complementary qualitative techniques for a more robust access to truth
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Title
Reconnecting Asia with Eastern Europe MAG Scholar Conference in Business, Marketing and Tourism 2019 (Europe) Conference Proceedings
Publisher
University of Mikolc
School
School of Business and Law
RAS ID
31770
Abstract
This heritage tourism project uses the combined qualitative techniques of ethnography with netnography to produce a practitioner acronym for managing visitor experience at commemorative places. The combined techniques referred to as nethnography involved simultaneously interpreting online social media data and participant observation in situ at the National Anzac Centre, in Western Australia. The result is deducing partial confirmation of Holt’s 1995 consumer model while inducing three unique themes. Firstly, the coopting of symbolic innocence and the resulting visitor empathy. Secondly, the use of digital technology and physical architecture to enhance visitor perceptions of space. Lastly, the judicious use of hero worship including its ability to facilitate engagement. These findings are combined to produce a practitioner acronym titled, HERITAGE.
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Comments
MacCarthy, M. (2019). Exploring thanatourism with nethnography: Combining complementary qualitative techniques for a more robust access to truth. In Reconnecting Asia with Eastern Europe MAG Scholar Conference in Business, Marketing and Tourism 2019 (Europe) Conference Proceedings, (pp 79 - 86). https://magscholar.com/