Territorios imaginados, lugares deseados y turismo de masas

Abstract

Este trabajo está centrado en la idea de paraíso entendida como espacio mitológico donde es posible hallar la felicidad para los seres humanos y considerada por todas las civilizaciones como una fuerza vital e imprescindible. Con una oportunista combinación de factores, la industria turística ha convertido el mito del paraíso en territorios imaginados y deseados como un componente esencial de la vida contemporánea. A través de un eficiente marketing publicitario fomenta la pasión compulsiva por viajar, visitar y contemplar lugares diferentes a los habituales.

This article is based on the idea of the paradise, a mythological space where it is possible to find happiness, with an extraordinary strength. In some cases the paradise is obtained through the formation of a perfect and egalitarian society, according to the most different proposals designed by dreamers and utopian experts alike. At the same time it is possible to get into the paradise through a physical visit. In both cases the tourism activity has transformed the myth of paradise in certain desired, perceived locations as an indispensable process of the modern society. An efficient marketing promotes the compulsive passion to travel, visit and glaze at different places within this paradise. So, the tourism business has opened the world to consumers and suggests them to live and enjoy unique experiences in their lives thinking ‘I was in the paradise’.