Hot and Cool Tourism; Tourism as Media

Abstract

Tourism is a communication system that, unlike other communication systems, not only transfers the message but the entire communication system with all its human and cultural characteristics, and the debate on the greater importance of the message or the tool, which is one of the fundamental debates in communication studies, becomes meaningless in tourism. In this system, the human being is the center of communication, and the communication is face-to-face and has simultaneous feedback. Comparative studies between the concept of media and the concept of tourism explain this issue. Now, McLuhan’s theory on the thermal division of media into two spectra of hot and cool can also be applied to the field of tourism studies.This study attempts to develop the concept of hot and cool tourism, hot and cool tourists, and hot and cool destinations. It argues that development in the realm of language and concepts can lead to development in the real world and the lived experiences of individuals and communities.Is McLuhan’s philosophical view of media, which classifies it into two groups of cool and hot, applicable to the field of tourism? What are the characteristics of cool and hot destinations? And what do hot and cool behaviors mean to tourists?Hot tourism is a purposeful journey in a harmonious and value-added system, without voluminous information, numerous visits, and tiring comings and goings. On the other side of the cool tourism spectrum, is characterized by a plethora of information and costly and unproductive visits that exhaust and depress the tourists. Despite the criticisms of this conceptualization, some of which are mentioned in the article, this generalization can be effective in managing individual and social tourism.

Keywords

• rural development
• rural landscape
• place-based tourism
• culture