Gender and Tourism Identity of Travel in Hamilton - Term Paper Example

Introduction This travel blog takes you through the Hamilton famous travel destination in order to give you a feel of what the Hamilton experience is like. In addition, the blog is aimed at investigating the realities on the ground as far as Frohilick’s tourism theory on gender, place and space in tourism is concerned. As such, the blog concentrates on gender and tourism. As such, the blog will focus on different spaces and place opportunities offered by the Hamilton travel destination including masculinity and femininity as well as the ‘other’ identity (homosexuality). As such, the blog will seek to establish whether travel in Hamilton depicts place and space for specific gender, heterosexuality or even homosexuality. As such, the blog will explore Frohilick’s assertion that women are only participants in soft adventure while their participation in hard adventure is wanting. The blog will serve the following objectives; a) Illustration of the correlation between space and gender identity by Susan Frohilick’s work. b) The difference role of masculinity and femininity will be demonstrated based on tourists’ identity in Hamilton site attractions. c) Illustrate how space construct tourist regarding gender and tourism identity. Overview of travel in Hamilton Hamilton offers numerous exciting and memorable tourist attractions that one can choose from. The most famous of them is the Hamilton gardens that offer a number of magnificent garden collections located on 58 hectares of land. The Hamilton Zoo is also an interesting site. It hosts over 600 New Zealand exotic animals and is an interesting site to visit. Also to be found in Hamilton is Waikato museum where one can have opportunity to explore Hamilton region’s arts and cultural history. The Waitomo region also offers interesting action adventure paradise that has glowworm caves among other exciting attraction. Hamilton is also a reputable conferencing destination that hosts conferences on various issues. As such, a visit in Hamilton will in no doubt be an exciting one. This blog uses as Branson (2010) puts it; there is a correlation between space and gender identity in tourism which is what this blog aims to investigate. The Hamilton Gardens My Hamilton tour experience begins at Hamilton gardens. My visit to the gardens is motivated by the fact that the gardens are Waikato region’s most famous tourist attraction site. According to Janet (2010), the gardens attract over 600,000 tourists annually and hold more than 2000 annual events. By visiting sites such as the stunning Paradise garden collection, cultivator garden collection, productive garden collection and landscape garden collection, one will indeed find this an unforgettable experience. It is no doubt therefore that such a big number of tourists and families find the Hamilton gardens their destination of choice. Although I observe that all genders are represented in those who have come to visit, there seems to be more women than men. This seems to rhyme well with the appearance of the gardens which is a more depiction of femininity than masculinity. This is also observed from the way the gardens are advertised. Although all genders appear in the advertisements, the Hamilton gardens have been largely designed and advertised as a place for families, romance places as well as for heterosexual couples. This seems to agree with Frohlick (2005) assertion that women are portrayed as participants in simple tourism and adventure activities but when it comes to complex tourism and adventure activities, women’s presence is lacking. In addition, my visit coincided with some of the garden events including flower festivals specifically designed for females, families and gardeners. Lack of men’s participation in such events informed my conclusion that the gardens mainly attract female visitors. Despite Hamilton gardens portraying femininity, the gardens portray place and space for diverse genders not only the female gender but also the other forms of sexuality. The Hamilton Gardens has been portrayed as a heterosexual tourism destination as is evidenced by wedding and romance space although there is a bias on femininity. Since all bodies including the ‘other sexuality require space, I conclude that Hamilton gardens is a femininity space as can be seen from the flowers in the garden although it has also opened to accommodate those considered as ‘other’ sexuality such as men. The Extreme edge indoor climbing wall Hamilton My Hamilton takes me to the Indoor climbing wall Hamilton. I am motivated to visit this specific site since I want to verify Florihick (2005) claim that women are only soft participants in tourism while men are hard participants. The extreme edge indoor climbing wall is the largest indoor climbing rock facility in Hamilton. It has quality climbs for both beginners and advanced climbers. Most participants do it for fun and it attracts people from all genders and ages. In addition, everyone is free to attend while beginners are given free lessons. Despite the facility being open to people of all ages and gender, it seems to be a more depiction of a masculine affair than feminine. This can also be seen from the number of women participating in the use of the facility. The facility’s advert also portrays a man climbing hence giving the notion that climbing is a man’s affair. Hence the place and space of women in climbing has been diminished in this particular site. The absence of many women despite the facility being open for everyone I thought is as a result of cultural orientation that its only men who can participate in tough things and hence hard adventure. As such, the numbers of women participating in the climbing facility is not as high as that of men. As such, this is one of the sights in Hamilton that confirms the notion that hard adventure is a reserve for masculinity as put by Frohlick and Johnson (2011). However, it should be noted that the facility opens to people of all sexuality regardless of age and gender. However, the participation on the ground portrays the climbing facility as a masculinity facility while femininity is portrayed as the ‘other’ sexuality. Although this is an indoor climbing representation, it definitely does represent the happenings even in actual adventure in mountain climbing. This is in line with Frohilick’s assertion that women are only portrayed as participants in simple adventure but when it comes to complex adventure such as mountain climbing, women are portrayed as lacking. Hamilton city centre visit Next I visit the Hamilton city centre. My visit to the city centre is mainly centered around visiting the various shopping malls in the city centre. The shopping malls are open to all regardless of their gender and ages. As such, I observe large numbers of all people, men and women alike. This informs my conclusion that the shopping malls are place destinations where every gender has a space and a place and hence they actively take their role, place and space. Similarly, my visit to eating places as well as film places, I observe that this is also a place destination for all regardless of their gender, age or race. However, it is worth noting that within this multigender space and place, varying gender identities have been created. For instance, it is easy to encounter heterosexual identities expressing affection in various ways such as holding hands. However, owing to social norms and cultural affiliations and people being aware of their sexual identity, it becomes hard to observe the’ other’ sexual identity. However, this is not to mean that the other identity is being excluded from the space. It is only that it was not observed. It is also worth noting that the gender space and place is also portrayed in the shopping malls. In some instances, I observed some men only shopping spaces which are only meant for men consumption while there were also women alone shopping spaces intended for women shopping entirely. However, in most cases the stores represented a heterosexual place and identity. The visit to Waitomo This is a visit that confirms Maxwell (2008) findings that the biggest challenge to feminine tourism is the stereotype that adventure is only adventure if it has a masculine touch of toughness. This is because the tour involves the tour of the famous limestone caves at Waitomo. Although the site is an engendered place for both heterosexual and homosexuality identity, it seems that the heterosexual identity is dominant. In addition, there seems to be a higher number of men participating in the adventure than women. This is probably because of the tough nature of the adventure or other cultural setbacks. However, I find Waitomo as an ideal place for adventure lovers regardless of their sexuality identities as it offers glowworm caves, black water rafting, cave eco tours, rappelling as well as picturesque landscapes. It is in deed an unforgettable experience4. The New Zealand Pip fruit conference Hamilton is also known for its conferencing facilities. The facilities also serve as a good illustration of the correlation between space and gender identity as fronted by Florihick in her work. A good example of this is the New Zealand Pip fruit conference which I had the opportunity to attend in Hamilton. In this conference, the difference in roles of masculinity and masculinity was clearly demonstrated. As can be seen from the photograph, the number of women participating in the conference was very small compared to that of men. As such, this seems to demonstrate conferences on important matters affecting the society as a place for masculinity identity. I concluded that to some extent, women role in hard adventure and travel activities is diminished while they participate in offering support services like catering and accommodation to men who are actual participants as claimed by Ferguson (2004. Kawhia Harbor My visit to Hamilton also brought me to Kawhia harbor. This harbor is located 40 kilometers southwest Hamilton and is one of the largest natural inlets to the Tasman Sea coast off Waikato region. The town surrounding the harbor is a tourist resort and offers various water activities and tours. It is however worth noting that most tourists are attracted by the geothermally heated water on Te Puia Beach. I observed that the harbor provides a space for heterosexual couples and children. However, no one is exempted from visiting the harbor. The resort town also provides a tourist space both for the heterosexual as well as the ‘other identity. However, the number of women tourists participating in this great adventure was also observed to be lower than that of men may be due to the masculinity connotation of adventure as well as social norms. The Hamilton Zoo My next visit was to Hamilton Zoo which is the main zoological garden in Hamilton. The zoo covers 25 hectares and is found on Bryner road towards northwest Hamilton. I observed that the Zoo is mostly visited by parents and their children. The zoo provides changing rooms for the families, playing ground for children as well as eating areas. Despite the zoo being depicted as a family destination, the zoo is not specifically considered a heterosexual place. The zoo just like other zoos around the world is a popular tourist destination despite being socially constructed for the specific market niche of families. The zoo uses exotic animals in its advertisement for tourist gaze. During the visit to the zoo, one observes different kinds of people including women and children. However, the zoo is also open not6 only for heterosexual identities but also to ‘other identities who are willing to pay a visit to the zoo. As such, the Hamilton zoo in my opinion is a tourism destination mostly visited by tourist and acts to contribute in the profitability of the zoo. The Hamilton Museum This is the last place I visit in Hamilton. The Waikato museum displays valuable information regarding culture of Hamiltonians as well as the entire New Zealand. However, I observed that the Waikato museum is a gendered place for all genders including heterosexuality and homosexuality or the ‘other’ identity. I consider the Waikato museum a tourism destination contributing to the construction of place. Spaces provided in the museum provide a conducive environment for all bodies’ engagement within hence producing their own discourse regarding the museum depending on their gaze. In addition, I observed the Waikato museum as being a place for social construction. In other words. The various articles displayed in the museum are mainly geared towards tourist attraction while also enabling individuals from all sexualities whether heterosexuality or homosexuality learn and understand about their past. However, to a great extent, the Waikato museum is greatly portrayed as a children as well as heterosexual couple’s space. However, this does not imply that the ‘other’ identities are exempted from participating in the museum activities. Through the various articles and events that take place in the Waikato museum, one is able to discover the performance of various gender roles. In addition, one discovers the power relations between the concerned parties as well as the social interactions engaged in within this space. This confirms Hughes (2009) assertion that sex and gender interact to construct a tourism space. Conclusion According to Frohlick, tourism spaces have the potential of making tourists to feel included or excluded depending on their gender as well as sexual identity. From my experience, Hamilton gardens has successfully depicted and created a place and space for diverse sexual identities including the ‘other’ sexuality despite its femininity appearance. Hamilton gardens appearance through its appearance created by the flowers depicts a femininity place although it is also open even for those considered as ‘other’ bodies. On the other hand, the Extreme edge indoor climbing wall Hamilton, Waitomo and Kawhia harbor although being a heterosexuality space seems to be more of masculinity space and place than femininity space due to the low number of women who are seen in these sites. On the other hand, the Hamilton center, the zoo and museum all portray a heterosexuality tourism space. The visit to the Hamilton tourist destinations has been an interesting experience since they provided me with many areas that have been highlighted in the blog. The blog has successfully used the various sites in Hamilton to explore Frohilick’s thoughts on gender, identity and tourism. References: Frohlick, S. 2005: That playfulness of white masculinity: mediating masculinity and adventure at mountain film festivals. Tourist studies 5(2), 175-193. Mackinnon, T. 2009: Gender and tourism: International Tours and travel 12(2), 25-30. Maxwell, H. 2008: Gender, sexuality and tourism: interpretation research 10(25), 22-35. Frohlick, S&, Johnson, L2011, Naturalizing bodies and places: Tourism media campaigns and heterosexualities in Costa Rica and New Zealand, Annals of Tourism Research: Asocial science Journal, vol.38, no.3. pp. 1090-1109. Janet, B2011, An overview of Hamilton as a tourist destination, Tourism and Hospitality management Journal, Vol.18, no.4, pp.1201-1222. Branson, D. 2010: Heterosexuality of tourism: tourism and hospitality research 25(18) 142-147. Ferguson, N. 2004, Women and tourism: hospitality and tourism administration 152(2), 108-112. Hughes, J. 2009: Tourism in the modern world: culture, tourism and hospitality research 148(6), 65-78. Read More