| Abstract: | The way cultural tourists think about the people they visit impacts upon their travel experiences. Cultural tourism professionals can benefit by understanding this diversity of thought. By examining four travelogs concerning Native American cultures in the 19th century, the value of new research techniques from consumer behavior which employ methods paralleling literary criticism are demonstrated and related to the empirical evidence at hand. In particular, the works of Sir Richard Burton, Francis Parkman, Washington Irving, and Louis Henry Morgan are compared and juxtaposed. It is hoped that this combining of tourism theory with mythological theory will help the field to mesh with similar developments taking place in marketing and consumer behavior. |
