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Destination Images As Tools to Form Expectations in Greenland

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Destination Images As Tools to Form Expectations in Greenland Destination images as tools to form expectations in Greenland Hannah Imogen Patterson (s1005853) MSc Human Geography: Cultural Geography and Tourism Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands Tutor: Prof. Dr Huib Ernste Contact: [email protected] Summer, 2018. In collaboration with Visit Greenland and Ilisimatusarfik (Grønlands Universitet) 1 Abstract The overarching theme of this study is to reveal the relationship between the tourist’s expectations of their trip to Greenland and their actual experiences. I intended to reveal how a tourist’s expectations of their visit to Greenland was influenced by destination images they observed prior to their trip and how these expectations moulded their performativity once they arrived. The study looks at the extent to which these images created a natural ‘frame’ of Greenland in which the tourist seeks to organise or locate their experience. It also investigates how the tourist performs throughout their trip to best marry their expectations and their experience. 2 Preface The overarching theme of the project has been to question the relationship between our expectations and actual experiences. This is a phenomenon that exists everywhere and while it may have been a great deal easier to conduct this study in a well photographed, weathered tourist destination like Paris or Barcelona I chose Greenland. “Does anyone actually live there? Don’t they all live in igloos on Greenland? Will you have to live in an igloo with the Eskimos!?” This was the response I got from peers and family members when I announced my plan. It does not suffice to say that the average person is ignorant towards learning about Greenland. Accurate accounts of life throughout this vast land are sparse. Save for snippets of Frozen Planet documenting the hardship of hungry Polar bears and worrying accounts of the rapidly melting ice sheet, the average person knows little about the world’s largest island and its people. Accounts of Greenland in news, documentaries, or other forms of visual media such as the destination image frame it as a place of wicked, wild, impenetrable nature. Figure 1: Tourist guide to Greenland. Source: Greenland.travel.com For those tourists fortunate enough to spare the funds for a trip to Greenland, tour operators, travel agents and Visit Greenland work hard to create a natural frame in which their dream trip to Greenland will take place (Figure 1). Snow-capped mountains, the midnight sun, floating icebergs, fjords, icicles the size of your body and the linchpin of all northern nature holidays: guaranteed sighting of the northern lights. The tourists gorge themselves on these images, convinced that the images they see are teasers of the real thing. This study will reveal how reality might challenge the natural frame in which Greenland is placed throughout destination images. 3 The greatest of thanks to Mads Skifte, Julia Pars and everybody at Visit Greenland for being so wonderfully warm and welcoming. Thank you Aviaja Lyberth for taking your time on my questions. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Prof. Huib Ernste, for providing support and comic relief throughout the many meanders this project took. Thanks to Robin Salomonsson, Jonatan Anderssen and Fredrik Peterssen from the yellow cabin, for letting me document your encounters with locals. To Lasse Kyed I thank you for taking the time to inform me of the local impression of the tourist and wish you much luck with opening Nuuk’s first natural history museum. Many thanks to the numerous tourists who donated sacred holiday time to our discussions and those who reflected on previous travels to Greenland. Thanks also to GG3900 for the times we had. To the people of Nuuk, Qujanarujussuaq, for your warm smiles and friendly demeanour that made a foreigner feel at home through the icy snow storms of ‘spring’. On a practical note this project would not have been possible if it weren’t for the generosity of Radboud University SNUF department for keeping me afloat amid astronomical living costs and to Per Arnfjord of Ilisimatusarfik for welcoming me as a guest student in Nuuk. 4 Contents Abstract .......... ........................................................................................................................................1 Preface ......... ..........................................................................................................................................2 Chapter One - Introduction 1.1 Why is tourism in Greenland important to study? ........... ................................................................7 1.2 Escape to the periphery ........... .........................................................................................................8 1.3 Issues with tourism to peripheral destinations ........... ......................................................................9 1.4 The search for purity ........... ...........................................................................................................10 1.5 Contribution ........... ........................................................................................................................10 1.6 Scientific relevance ........... .............................................................................................................12 1.7 Societal relevance .......... ................................................................................................................13 1.8 Thesis structure .......... ....................................................................................................................14 Chapter Two - What’s the problem? 2.1 The invasion of the destination image ........... ................................................................................15 2.2 Research questions and objectives ........... ......................................................................................16 2.3 Outstanding literature in the field ........... .......................................................................................18 2.3.1 Literature on motivational factors ............ ......................................................................18 2.3.2 Literature on the use of photographs............ ..................................................................20 2.3.3 Literature on performativity ............ ...............................................................................24 2.3.4 Literature on the use of social frame application ............ ...............................................28 Chapter Three - Methods 3.1 Investigating tourist motivation ............. ........................................................................................32 3.2 Investigating the role of destination images ............. .....................................................................33 3.2.1 The survey .............. ........................................................................................................33 3.2.2 Reaching out to the targeted tourist population .............. ...............................................34 3.2.3 Sample size and responses .............. ...............................................................................36 3.3 Measuring the performativity of the Greenlander . ............................................................37 3.3.1 Participant observation as a method............... ................................................................37 3.3.2 The sample group of tourists ............... ...........................................................................38 3.4 Measuring the performativity of the tourist. ...................................................................39 3.4.1 Gauging the interaction between the tourist and the Greenlander .............. ..................40 Chapter Four - The Relationship Between Expectation and Experience 4.1 Locating and attracting the ‘right’ tourists ................ .....................................................................43 4.1.1 The projection of Greenland towards various Market Segments ................ ..................44 4.2 The role of destination images in forming expectations ................ ................................................47 4.2.1 Destination images as a reflection of reality or fiction ..................................................49 4.3 The natural frame and rising visitor numbers ................... .............................................................51 4.3.1 Self-propelled tourist selection ................... ...................................................................54 4.3.2 Destination images and execution of nature versus culture activities........53 4.4 The financial importance of the Nature frame ................... ............................................................58 Chapter Five - Measuring performativity 5 5.1. The Greenlanders: Eskimo, Inuit or Human? ................... ............................................................62 5.1.1 Denmark’s continuation of the use of the word Eskimo ................................................64 5.2 The Inuit’s perception of outsiders .................. ..............................................................................65 5.2.1 Observations of the presentation of ‘culture’ to tourists ................................................66 5.2.2 Tourists: the new colonisers or a symbol of economic stability? .................. ...............68 5.3 The performance of the
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