Sightseeing on vacation: what defines a sight?
Sightseeing on vacation: what defines a sight? November 10, 2020 by drbyos
W hat do we look at on vacation – and why? Tourism researcher and psychology professor Martin Lohmann studies what makes tourists tick. On the 75th birthday of Unesco, he explains what distinguishes the World Heritage title from a McDonald’s sign, why a train station can beat Cologne Cathedral and why holidaymakers like to marvel at the shop window of a supermarket.
Question: Mr. Lohmann, the Unesco World Heritage title is often seen as a guarantee for more visitors, but the numbers often level off again quickly. What effect does the title have?
Martin Lohmann: I imagine the effect as that of a seal of quality, for example for sustainability in tourism: has a certain message, but is hardly attractive in itself. It’s not like a McDonald’s sign that is on the street and that many people can associate with.
Question: When is a sight a sight?
Lohmann: If one starts from the word, then that is an activity, seeing, and an evaluation, namely worthy or valuable. Both are on the side of the beholder. It is not defined by the object, but by the amazed, rejoicing person. What we collectively view as a sight is a social convention – no idea what a visitor from the distant star would find worth seeing.
Question: Who decides what is worth seeing and what is not?
Lohmann: Actually, everyone can decide for themselves. I remember an American tourist who stood between the world heritage site of Cologne Cathedral and the train station and stared at the train station in admiration. There is nothing to be said against that.
Is Cologne Central Station more worth seeing than the cathedral next to it? Everyone can decide for themselves
Source: Getty Images / Hans-Peter Merten
But of course there are institutions that have a certain degree of sovereignty over the formation of opinions. These are essentially media and travel guides, which – the Baedecker started with – mark points as particularly worth seeing. This of course draws attention and arouses expectations.
Question: But why do you want to look at the Eiffel Tower, even though you’ve seen it 1000 times in magazines and films?
Lohmann: Actually, the fact that you have seen the Eiffel Tower many times in the media is almost a prerequisite for the desire to see the original. Precisely because I have a lot of information about him, I’m curious to see him in real life, alive, so to speak.
It is the same for us with wild animals: a tiger in the photo has often been seen, a tiger in the zoo is a different number and a tiger in the wild would be the crowning glory.
Question: In spite of this, with some sights you have already asked yourself: Why am I looking at this now?
Lohmann: A strong driver is our social environment, which draws our attention to something and, so to speak, says “look”. There are two people standing on the beach, the moon is just rising, and you say to each other: “Look, how beautiful the moon.”
We learn from this communication. If we get the same information from many channels – keyword social media – then something becomes more worth seeing and more important, because so many say that it is worth seeing.
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Question: Are we so hungry for things to see that we are content with fictional sights like Juliet’s balcony in Verona?
Lohmann: The balcony in Verona, whose inauthenticity is beyond question, is worth seeing because this great story is behind it. He brings the story of Romeo and Juliet to life. The Gaudí Cathedral in Barcelona is also worth seeing because it is not finished. The history of the long construction period makes them interesting.
Through history, an object can suddenly become worth seeing, which in itself does not deserve it. If the story were missing, then the balcony in Verona would simply be a too small balcony on an old house.
Tourists are magically drawn to this balcony in Verona, although Julia never stood on one in Shakespeare’s play
Source: Getty Images / Atlantis Phototravel
Question: When does a certain disappointment occur? When is the arc overstretched?
Lohmann: If you have to wait two and a half hours in a crowd in Florence to be allowed into the cathedral, then the impression of this cathedral diminishes considerably – because it is too crowded, the building does not look good and you have lost interest.
In short: disappointment occurs when the experience is restricted by the framework conditions. That could be other tourists, unfriendly bouncers or your own ailment – has nothing to do with the sight, but still diminishes the experience.
Even wrong expectations confronted with reality lead to a possible disappointment. If you imagine the painting of the Mona Lisa as a big ham and then see this small-format picture in the Louvre, it can be sobering.
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Question: Even those who prefer to go off the beaten track can make a pilgrimage to the famous sights. Can’t nobody escape this attraction?
Lohmann: Visiting a sight depends not only on how beautiful something is, but also on my prior information about it, on the accessibility and reachability. All of this is of course much better with the grandiose sights that we know so well than with unknown ones.
The most beautiful Mayan temples in Yucatán are probably the ones that are still hidden in the forest. But you don’t know that they exist and you can’t get there. So you go to Chichén Itzá.
However, tourists do not always only deal with the greatest highlights. Rather, vacationers are almost constantly busy looking at something. And if there is nothing there, they look at the shop window of the grocery store in the village. That too can be entertaining.
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Question: Sometimes you also get the impression that for one or the other it is almost more important to be able to post a nice photo than to look at the place itself.
Lohmann: This may have something to do with the social effects of travel. Posting a photo, showing it to others, is a nice basis for conversation, but also always a certain self-expression: I make myself a sight, so to speak, that gets a bit of the shine of the sight in the background. Me in front of the Eiffel Tower – there I am the sight, and the Eiffel Tower is the set that also makes it clear that I am in Paris. Japanese tourist all alone in Machu Picchu The Corona crisis brought unique luck to a Japanese tourist in Peru: he was allowed to enter the world-famous Inca site Machu Picchu as the sole visitor. Source: WELT / Nicole Fuchs-Wiecha
Question: Do you have any advice on how to get the most out of visiting an attraction?
Lohmann: You get more from viewing when you know the historical context in which something was created. The ceiling painting by Tiepolo in the Würzburg Residence is really awesome. Anyone who happens to come by or take a look because it is famous is sure to be impressed.
But if you know something about the history of its creation and the challenges of its manufacture, then this attraction becomes even bigger and more important. So it’s better to only take on one highlight and inform yourself beforehand instead of looking at five that you cannot really appreciate.
Question: What did staying at home in times of the Corona teach us?
Lohmann: There is also much in the vicinity that is worth appreciating and seeing. You can also enjoy the forest or the lake nearby, the animals in the pasture, which in themselves are not spectacular, but for me at this moment they are very nice to look at. And if you want to score points at home or with your followers: A photo with a cow is always popular.
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Prof. Martin Lohmann heads the NIT Institute for Tourism and Pool Research in Northern Europe in Kiel and teaches consumer research and tourism as a professor of psychology at the Leuphana University in Lüneburg.
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