Popular Culture Review Vol. 10, No. 2, August 1999 | Page 15

The Trouble with Tourists:
Authenticity and the Failure of Tourism
On August 30, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died along with her com
panion and their driver in a car accident resulting from their attempt to escape
aggressive photographers, another tragic act in the theater of the absurd. In the
days following the crash, its sadness dominated the media, hundreds of people
placed flowers at the scene of the wreck (among other spots around the world),
and many scoured the area hoping to find mementos and souvenirs to help them
remember Diana.
This tragedy initially spawned much social commentary, some of it su
perficial, some of it profound. Momentarily, the press attacked itself and ques
tioned its behavior; momentarily, the public joined in this criticism. Then, after a
while, life for most people returned to the way it was before. The show must go
on. Something, however, has changed for ever. It occurred to me when I first saw
the blue flashing lights at the crash scene, again when I watched the crowds at the
Pont de I’Alma tunnel crash site, then again when CNN provided a map detailing
its location. In addition to marking the tunnel itself, this map also highlighted the
Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the Arc de Triomphe. If this map is any indicationand it is-then we have witnessed not only the sad and senseless death of a beloved
public figure but also the birth of a tourist sight. The crash itself marked the spot,
and within a few hours the cameras, the flowers, the tears, and CNN all helped to
authenticate it.
A middle-aged Parisian was one of the first to tour the crash site, and his
movements were captured by the CNN camera. He picked up a small piece of
metal he assumed-he hoped-came from Diana’s car. When a reporter asked him
why, he could offer no explanation other than to say he just wanted something, a
souvenir, a memory. Indeed, we have all wanted something, and as others-tomorrow, next month, next year, next millennium-visit this sight, they, too, will want
something to take home with them, something to remember by. What, then, will
be the expectations of these future tourists? How will they define their experi
ences at this new sight in Paris, and how many of those experiences have already
been defined by CNN, that early souvenir hunter, and by the countless others who
continue to follow?
In order to try answering these questions, we need to consider the nature
of the tourist experience at large. Although this specific example reveals an espe
cially poignant context for touristic behavior, it is simply a small part of our Tour
ist Age, an era wherein human experience increasingly derives from two ostensi