The article written by Hal K. Rothman and entitled “Selling the Meaning of Place: Entrepreneurship, Tourism, and Community Transformation in the Twentieth-Century American West”, briefly but grippingly presents an overview of the different changes of tourism in the American West, from the beginning of the century until then end of the 20th century. According to Rothman, tourism is an unique industry in its capacity to anticipate and adapt to cultural trends. From reading his article, one can also relate to the significance of economic and social aspects. Rothman presents three stages in tourism in chronological order of appearance: heritage tourism, recreation tourism and finally entertainment tourism. For the first one, Rothman mostly focuses on the history of Grand Canyon and Santa Fe. For both places, he demonstrates how the transportation offered by the developing railroad industry helped for the emergence of those places as historic and touristic. What was also important for those places were the roles played by individual entrepreneurs, who chose to invest in their development and bring out interesting aspects. In Grand Canyon, for instance, making it attractive for heritage tourism was its symbolism as a true American (and not European influenced, like the East side) unique scenery, slowly organized with access via railroads, then roads, with hotels and other attractions. In a second phase, recreation tourism focused on different kinds of visitors, looking for different types of activities. Rothman focuses on the emerging skiing industry, and presents the examples of Sun Valley and Aspen. Before the 1920s and 1930s, skiing already had grown to be a popular activity in the East. It however became of interest in the West in the 1920s, and the idea was mostly to offer to wealthy people less crowded slopes, in some amazing areas. Sun Valley embodies such an example. Once again, it was under the impulsion of one man – W. Averell Harriman – closely related to the railroads industry (he was the head of the Union Pacific Railroad) that the place got prepared for American tourists. He bought the land, and then hired a public relations specialist to start promoting the place. The latter had in his mind a grandiose hotel that would attract affluent and famous people. Harriman aimed at the upper- and upper-middle classes, creating an accessible and enjoyable outdoor recreation space, organized in a nice resort. Finally, Rothman closes with a third chapter on entertainment tourism, the most famous example of this being Las Vegas. Emerging from the post-war period, this new type of tourism was no longer limited only to the sole privileged ones, but adopted a more general and leisurely approach. At that time, railroad was not the transportation industry that was so influent anymore; jet airplanes were the ones to largely contribute to the expansion of that kind of tourism. With its hotels, casinos, and also the unique shows that were brought there (Cirque du Soleil, for instance), Las Vegas expanded as a typical entertaining city, offering 24/7 recreational activities for everybody, that felt rather luxurious.
If the American touristic industry started as mostly entrepreneurial in the early 20th century, Rothman shows how it slowly grew into something bigger and more lucrative, drawing in the interests of corporate and institutional business in the second half of the century. Tourism became all about how to find the perfect spot and then make it agreeable to potential visitors or clients. Nowadays, it seems that the different types of tourisms described by Rothman are not that obvious anymore; a historical site can be made very entertaining; history, leisure and activities are brought together in an attempt to give people the feeling that they are learning something, coming closer to their past, in an amazing setting, while relaxing at the same time. Almost everything is about business and profit, isn’t it?
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Valerie, I agree with your notion that economical and social aspects, represented in the article are of a paramount importance. It appears, however, that the author put his emphasis on elite tourism when it concerns elite places such as Aspen; however, mass entertainment/tourism/attraction in places like Vegas is more accessible for many of us (if we would not go extreme on spending, of course). Tourist industry as we know it was a truly distinctive time spending – most of the middle class in 1960s and 1970s did not even thought of such possibilities, for they spent their vacation time – if they ever had it – elsewhere. Hence comes Las Vegas – place for any choice – the more the better. What I wanted to see in the article, I guess, is how peoples’ attitude towards consumption has changed, as their welfare progressed. In other words, how today’s mid-class family – like yours and mine would spent allocated vacation time – is it “first class flight to Paris” or “driving to casino to have fun”?
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