Never give up the ghost: an analysis of three Edinburgh ghost tour companies

Fraser, Joy (2005) Never give up the ghost: an analysis of three Edinburgh ghost tour companies. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis is a discourse analysis of three Edinburgh-based ghost tour companies: Mercat Tours, Witchery Tours and City of the Dead. It explores the attitudes, values and aesthetics of these companies and their construction and presentation of self-images to their audiences. It identifies key characteristics of the tours and links them to important themes in scholarship on contemporary tourism. Firstly, the construction of an ideology of authenticity within the Mercat Tours discourse exemplifies the model of modem tourism as a "quest for authenticity" (MacCannell, Tourist). In contrast, the light-hearted performance aesthetic of Witchery Tours reflects recent scholarship on postmodern- or post-tourism, in which tourism is seen as a playful game rather than a serious quest. Lastly, the case of City of the Dead offers an insight into the role of fear as a motivating factor in visits to tourism sites.

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