"Tourism Rules Everything Around Me" : A Case Study on Alienation and Tourism in the Alps

Sammanfattning: Tourism has become one of the largest and fastest growing industries of the global capitalist economy. In the case of Austria, it is responsible for nearly one sixth of the GDP. This development is connected to an incredible economic growth and structural changes in formerly remote mountain villages in the Austrian Alps. In this thesis, the impacts of the mass tourism developments on the local population of a popular tourist destination in the western part of Austria are critically assessed. More specifically, the effects of tourism on the ways of relating to oneself, the community and nature are examined by using an extended case method approach. The main argument builds around the hypothesis that mass tourism creates forms of alienation. Therefore, participant observation and qualitative interviews were used as research techniques and connected to the theories of ‘alienation’ by Marx and Rosa, which serve as a theoretical background. Among other conclusions, I find that mass tourism can create certain forms of alienation from tourism as a product, work, community, the self and time. Concerning the relationship with nature, it was surprising to find out that instead of being a sphere of alienation, it serves as a key point of identification and connection. This also applies to the relationship with place, which is strongly influenced by the emotional attachment to nature.