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Tourism and extraordinary ordinary life

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Shaohua
  • Verschuuren, Bas
  • Hamzah, Amran
  • Blasco, Dani

Abstract

This study examines how nature-based tourism and everyday life intertwine to shape meaning and personal transformation. Drawing on constructivist grounded theory and evidence from observations in four protected areas alongside thirty-eight interviews with Chinese tourists, it identifies a four-stage process of becoming: departing, encountering, returning, and transforming. Informed by Deleuzian philosophy, tourism is reimagined as an immanent and open-ended force embedded within the rhythms of everyday life rather than a temporary escape or quest for authenticity. Findings challenge binaries between the ordinary and the extraordinary, showing how subtle affective encounters can profoundly reshape self and world. The study proposes a more inclusive and ontologically grounded understanding of tourism, while questioning modernist, class-based assumptions.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Shaohua & Verschuuren, Bas & Hamzah, Amran & Blasco, Dani, 2026. "Tourism and extraordinary ordinary life," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:116:y:2026:i:c:s0160738325001835
    DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2025.104077
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    References listed on IDEAS

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