Proposing video diaries as an innovative methodology in tourist experience research

Abstract

Tourism is a highly visual experience, yet word-based approaches dominate travel and tourism research methods. Video diaries are one innovative methodology to understand the tourism experience; they capture visual and verbal representation of the participant's reality, as participants choose the scenes worth filming based on personal meaning. This approach is therefore underpinned by the ontological hermeneutic assumption that understanding and interpretation are part of human existence, and that participants may therefore interpret their own experiences. A research project interpreting “home”, a complex, value-laden and personal concept, among returnees from long-term travel is presented here to demonstrate the execution of ontological hermeneutics through video diarising methodology, supplemented by conversational interviews based on empathic understanding through active listening. In short, video diaries are argued here to supplement traditional word-based approaches used in tourism research in order to privilege an insider's perspective of the tourist experience.