Paper short abstract:

This paper examines processes of transformation and re-shaping taking place when cruise passengers walk from the cruise berth, located on the outskirts of Visby, into the city centre. During a route on which passenger becomes visitor and the city a heritage destination.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper autoethnography is used to study the 1.3 km long route which cruise passengers coming to the island of Gotland are supposed to walk from the cruise berth to Visby’s historical centre, by following signs and maps. By analysing the information provided on the signs as well as the sensual experiences of the path I investigate how path, signs, texts, and maps shape the city as a cultural heritage destination and transforms the passengers from being cruise passengers into becoming visitors.

Theoretically I combine theories of materiality and of performativity in order to ascribe agency to both materiality and text.

By using autoethnographic method and walking the route myself, I get a deeper understanding of how it is experienced by cruise passengers by using all of my senses. The main material for my study is therefore my field notes and the information texts provided on signs and maps. I also use articles from local newspapers and interviews with official actors within the tourism industry to place the route in a bigger context.

This paper is based on a pilot study conducted within the scope of a doctoral thesis in Nordic Ethnology, in which I study how cultural heritage discourse is shaped and re-shaped in interplay with or in conflict with tourism, with the islands of Gotland and Åland as case studies. The aim is to examine what is included, or excluded, in the cultural heritage discourse in a place that is very much defined by its history.