ABSTRACT
This chapter questions the often tacit assumption in the literature of an inverse relationship between mass tourism and the intensity of the tourist experience, namely that individual tourists, particularly backpackers enjoy opportunities for authentic ‘peak’ tourist experiences, denied to organized mass tourists. This assumption is under-researched in the literature. Following a critique of the concept of ‘mass tourism’ as used in the literature, I argue that opportunities for ‘peak’ experiences emerge in two contrasting mass touristic situations: those of enhanced sociality among mass tourists, leading to collective ‘peak’ experiences, resembling communitas; and those of reduced sociality, facilitating individual ‘peak’ experiences. I then turn to the current processes of medialization of tourist experiences in Smart Tourist Destinations and argue that the attempt to create planned opportunities for spontaneous ‘peak’ experiences represents a post-modern version of ‘staged authenticity’.
