Familiar tourists and familiar places: initial findings from the Mawddach

This working paper explores initial findings from British Academy/Leverhulme funded research into the phenomenon of familiar tourists and familiar places as experienced in the field setting of the Mawddach area of mid-Wales.... [ view full abstract ]

This working paper explores initial findings from British Academy/Leverhulme funded research into the phenomenon of familiar tourists and familiar places as experienced in the field setting of the Mawddach area of mid-Wales. Arguably overlooked in academic research and practice (Pearce, 2012), familiar tourists contribute to destination development and resilience. Focus group work conducted in Oxford with familiar tourists in general combined with face-to-face interviews with familiar tourists (21 interviews) and with business stakeholders (19 interviews) in the field location of the Mawddach produced findings that included familiar tourists visitation patterns and breaks, traditions and rituals relating to different consumption stages, the behaviour of seeking the unfamiliar in the familiar, specific use of operant resources, and the emergence of a tentative typology of familiar tourist - familiar place connections.