Constructing extraordinary experience from everyday life: Zibo barbecue check-in vlogs’ digital narratives
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Examining the intersection of check-in tourism and travel vlogs within the context of Zibo, China—a destination popularized on social media platforms for its barbecue culture—this study analyzes 24 check-in vlogs from Bilibili platform. Through the rite of passage theoretical lens, this work investigates how vloggers utilize digital storytelling to shape and construct destination narratives. The research reveals how tourists assert agency over space by integrating place, body, and narrative elements, contributing to an extraordinary tourist experience comprising liminal moments of ordinariness and authenticity, thereby effectively (re)writing Zibo as a welcoming city of barbecue and a slow-life destination. This investigation provides insights into the evolving dynamics of contemporary tourism influenced by social media practices, highlighting the transformative role of digital narratives in shaping tourist perceptions and experiences, as well as meaning-making processes.
Source: Tourist Studies
Authors: Weiwen Guo, Liangwei Qiu
Institutions: Soochow University, Macao University of Tourism
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4402574768