Upplevelser av rovdjursturism : en studie av resereportage

Sammanfattning: This essay contains a discoursive analysis of fifteen travel reports from five of the largest papers in Sweden. The travel reports contains recaptions from wildlife tourism experiences were the predators are the main target, or at least one of the main targets. Seven of the reports are from Sweden and eight of them from Russia, Rumania, Finland, Turkey and the United States. Predators in this essay aims to those in Sweden called ”the big five”, these are: bears, wolves, lynxes , wolverines and golden eagles. The purpose was to study the general but also divergent discourses in the reporters perceptions of wildlife tourism with focus on predators in these travel reports. The theories used in the thesis is about the ”tourist gaze” and the ”post-modern tourist”. The questions in my study have been formed based on these two theories and reads as follows: What was the unique object that the reporters wanted to experience? What specific symbols did the reporters highlight as important to the overall experience? Which parts of the experience were new to the reporters? What evidence did the reporters highlight to prove that the experiences were authentic? How did the postmodern tourist reveal itself in the travel reports? I came to the conclusion that the unique object that reporters wanted to experience were the predators, in cases when the predators were the only purpose of the trip. When the case was otherwise, the unique object contained of other cultural or natural values. The symbols that were important to the experience were different cultural and natural values that mainly focused on wilderness and rural traits. In cases where the predators were not the unique object they were rather symbols for the untamed, wild nature. The lifestyle and characteristics of the hosts in the form of locals and staff were also important symbols. Parts of the various experience rooms and the hosts natural lifestyles were new to the reporters and differed from the reporters’ modern lifestyle. The characteristics of the predators were symbols for the experience’s authenticity Other symbols were the hosts' stories about the place, about the predators and their everyday lives. While local food and other forms of local cultural expressions were also important symbols. The postmodern tourist spoke throughout the travel reports. This type of predator tourism can be considered to be very well adapted to the post-modern tourist. To watch and track wild predators in their natural environment is very suitable for the post-modern tourist's ideas about seeking out the authentic and natural along with a small group of travelers. The reporters consciously disassosiated themselves from the great hordes of mass tourists, highlighted the natural and authentic characteristics of hosts and experienceroom, something that tells that the postmodern tourist used the touristic gaze to look at and retell their experience.