ABSTRACT
Tourism geographical imaginaries do not arise randomly, nor do they particularly rely on the touristic experience of a place itself. Rather, they exist prior to a tourist’s visit, and it is when the tourist chooses his or her destination that this imaginary plays its greatest role. This image of a place and its people is formed from information learned at school, read in a book, a novel or a guide, or gleaned from images seen in newspapers, on the internet, or in museums, or viewed in films or on TV. Some of these texts and images are considered works of art; others are not, yet these too often refer, more or less deliberately, to artistic representations, by way of inspiration, imitation, quotation or parody. Consequently, Western (visual) culture, being notably indebted to artistic masterpieces, plays a significant role in the construction of tourists’ imaginings of places of travel; these artistic masterpieces being the things that (tourists’) dreams are made of.
