ABSTRACT
This chapter explores that conceptual contribution to the complex relationship between media representations of the animal kingdom and the demand for wildlife tourism experiences. The discussion will pay particular attention to the types and delivery of natural history programmes, social representations of animals and animal performance, and the role of television media in creating anticipatory images of animals. The chapter argues that culminate in a reality based on selectivity, myth-making and storytelling where animals ultimately become interesting and sought after subjects in a tourist's world. It also provides a conceptual framework that illustrates a cyclical journey from the production of natural history programmes and audiences anticipatory images of wildlife to the ultimate tourist experience and a then-continued popular social representation of the animal kingdom. Davin suggests that the worlds of tourism and television overlap as a complex web of texts and hypertexts, and points to the possibility that the boundary between television watching and tourism can indeed become very blurred.
