ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the tourists visiting Göreme and consider the changes, over different decadal periods, in what makes, and what affords, a good tourist story. The chapter initially describes how the predominantly Western backpacker tourists who stayed in Göreme during the 1980s–90s sought adventurous and authentic encounters and experiences. Since then, a gradual decrease in backpacker visitors coupled with an upsurge both in Turkish visitors and major new international markets has substantially changed the tourist profile in Göreme, along with the kinds of businesses and attractions created to service them. In addition to bringing new preferences and meanings in terms of what makes a good tourist story, new technologies – particularly in the form of mobile devices and social media platforms – have, during the past two decades, afforded new ways for these contemporary tourists to convey their stories and thereby to project their version of their perfect self(ie). The chapter discusses how these new tourists are viewed by local entrepreneurs and residents, concluding that with tourists’ focus switching from the places and people they are visiting to themselves, the tourists too have become a key aspect of the spectre of unlimited change.
