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Literary tourism involves visiting places related to works of fiction and their authors. It has been practiced for centuries, with interest growing in the 19th century. Cities have capitalized on this by creating tours of famous writers’ homes and taverns. Electronic devices have sparked new innovations, with authors writing novels that offer a virtual travel experience or a new way to enjoy a destination.
Literary tourism is the practice of visiting cities and sites related to works of fiction and their authors. Combining literature with travel and cultural experiences, literary tourism is by no means a recent event and has been practiced for several centuries. Using electronic devices to participate in the experience of literature tourism has become popular and has added some new twists to this form of tourism.
Interest in traveling to places associated with poets and novelists grew in the 19th century, when, according to historical accounts, curious travelers began visiting the homes, graves and favorite spots of famous writers. Travelers also visited the sites and cities described in famous poems and novels. During this period, Stratford, England was commemorated for Shakespeare, while Abbotsford, England was revered for Sir Walter Scott. The Bronte sisters were remembered for their home in Haworth, England.
Crossing the lines between literature and cultural studies, literary tourism invites readers to experience imaginative experiences. Literary tourism allows travelers to immerse themselves in the local culture while increasing their knowledge of authors and literature. To cater to the tastes of this specialized group of travellers, many cities have capitalized on this phenomenon by creating walking and cycling tours of famous writers’ homes, places where they wrote, and taverns they may have visited.
For example, London, England has tours honoring Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Homes. A tour includes a house dedicated to fictional characters from the novel. In Ireland, a Dublin Literary Pub Crawl invites tourists to step into the shoes of writers such as James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and WB Yeats. The walking tour is led by actors and guests are invited to participate in a literature quiz with prizes.
The development of electronic book reading devices has sparked new innovations in literary tourism, with authors writing novels that offer readers the option of a virtual travel experience or a new way to enjoy a travel destination. The travel guides in some of these novels allow the reader to visit sites remotely or gather information for a vacation. Some e-tourism novels encourage readers to visit a city by engaging them in a game where points are awarded for visiting different places. One example is a novel by Japanese author Higashi Moriyama, who partnered with the city of Kyota, Japan to attract tourists to the city.
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