Mutual Semantic Formation and Semantic Discovery between Tourist and Tourism in the City of Hamedan

Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. Tourism has captured the attention of anthropologists because it often involves face-to-face encounters between people of different cultural backgrounds. Tourism has been studied by anthropologists as a form of cultural commoditization and/or cultural commercialism. In anthropological literature today, few texts are dedicated entirely to the anthropology of tourism, though authors of ethnographies sometimes include a section on tourism. Everyone can express his/her own personal observation of the phenomenon that has experienced. Its importance was recognized in the Manila Declaration on World Tourism of 1980 as an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, ecologic, educational, and economic sectors of national societies and on their international relations. Relationships between hosts and guests, how they form and change over time, have been of profound importance to the anthropological study of tourism, and should continue to be. Data and Qualitative research methods have a variety research approaches, the approach of the research is ethnography. In the study has been reviewed mutual symbolic and semantic role between tourist and tourism. This study, in all stages, has been affected the approach and methodology of “Goffman” and “Blumer” as a theoretical guide. This approach relies on the symbolic meaning that people develop and rely upon in the process of social interaction. The methodological framework is supported by the research paradigm and philosophical perspective of symbolic interactionism. As the name suggests, ‘symbolic interactionism’ focuses on the connection between symbols and interactions. Symbolic interactionism is based on the premise that human society is characterized by the use of symbols and meanings, meanings are derived through social interaction with “others” but can be modified by an individual. Symbolic interaction theory analyzes tourism by addressing the subjective meanings that tourists impose on objects, events, and behaviors. Subjective meanings are given primacy because it is believed that tourists behave based on what they believe and not just on what is objectively true. The field of study includes a number of famous tourist places in Hamadan. However, introduction of these places is just for determination of the field study where study on tourists has been done. The sample of study has been purposeful and the study has focused on “sampling with maximum diversity based on gender and age”. In order to gather the required information, the field observations and deep interviews have been done. Data has been analyzed based on “thematic analysis”. Discussion and Based on the proposed principles of symbolic interactionism by Blumer and Goffman; tourists trip based on the meaning of tourism and tourism places. Tourism is an act that is perceived through tourists’ interpretation and they define, describe, or rather, redefine it by their needs.13 categories have been extracted all derived of data. They are Search for authenticity, a Literary subject, Escape of everyday life, Individualism, Pluralism, Theology, Naturalism, Aesthetics, Valuable artifacts, Cultural interaction, a Subject famous, Attractions of Architecture, Favorable weather. This study is based on symbolic interactionism to inquire into the experiences of tourists with tourism places. From this perspective tourists have different interpretations of the concept of tourism and everyone looks at it from their own perspective. In fact, tourists interact with the world of tourism in this way and the role of semantic and symbolic interaction between tourists and tourism places as created from this interaction. So tourism in itself has no regularity but the meaning and interpretations are related to it by tourists. So each of categories is defined and reconstructed by tourists. Interaction between tourist and tourism is the dynamic process not a static structure. Tourists don’t accept en bloc everything in the world of tourism because of the capability of think and rethink, and they change it based on their subjective meanings and their conditions. Looking for semantic formation and semantic discovery in the world of tourism, the focus of the tourists’ mental activity shift onto the tourism places. Tourists seek to deepen aesthetic pleasure and organize their objective world through their patterns and cultural values. Formed interpretations of the tourist experience are very different from the one’s daily experience. Tourist‘s view is affected by socio cultural conditions of various places. Sign of tourism, history, heritage and etc. Based on derived subjective scheme and by considering the outstanding role and place of tourist, it should be said that the mutual symbolic and semantic role between tourist and tourism is a dynamic process and depending on vision, goal, schemes, values and cultural norms of tourists, their interpretation of tourism is different and has diverse aspects and interpretation and semantic formation cannot be reduced to one of these categories.