Professional adventure tourists: Producing and selling stories of ‘authentic’ identity

Abstract

The ability to experience distinctive adventure appears limited today in comparison to the accounts of past exploring heroes. Even with these perceived limitations, there is continued growth in remote adventure tours. Guided by a Bourdieusian lens, this article examines the negotiation of authenticity, distinction and identity in the websites and blogs of companies and tourists during the 2010 spring Mt Everest climbing season. The interpretation suggests company blogs offer tourists an experience framed in mountaineering myth. The mountaineering guides’ capital derived from skill, experience and decision making ability make this experience possible. The tourists’ blogs offer authentically, recognisable environments, practices, and emotions disguising their limited mountaineering abilities. Tourist’s existential stories seek to transcend and appropriate mountaineering capital. For the females in this study, tour experience has supported careers based on mountaineering adventurer social identities. The companies’ tourism products facilitate the professional adventure tourist’s role model claims to ‘authentic’ adventurer identities.

Keywords

adventure tourism Bourdieu mountaineering field Mt Everest symbolic capital

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