Abstract:
'Tattoo tourism', in which people adorn their bodies with permanent inscriptions while travelling abroad, has developed alongside the accelerated globalisation of both tourism and body-modification. Tourists' increasing demand for individualised niche tourism experiences; embodiment and sensuality; and the quest for 'authentic' experiences of the 'exotic' have collectively transcended boundaries and heightened touristic consumption of ritual tattoos. As scholarly analysis of this increasingly popular social practice is absent in academic literature, the purpose of this study is to bring tattoo into the field of tourism studies. Synthesising the notions of the 'globalised tourist gaze' and 'sensuous consumption', this thesis examines tattoo souvenirs as an extreme, sensuous and embodied tourist experience. The prevailing voice throughout this thesis is that of the tourist, as this project explores the experiences of six foreign tourists. The empirical focus explores the meanings, motivations and behaviour of active consumers of cultural tattoo artefacts. New Zealand's contemporary cultural Māori tattoo (Tā moko) practice is used as a case study to explore the emerging tattoo tourism phenomenon, illustrating a striking juxtaposition of the 'sacred' and the 'commercial'. Māori tattoo appeals to visitors on a number of levels. Being comprised of both physical and emotional elements, the acquisition of tattoo is a multi-dimensional experience that links concepts of place, identity, the material and the symbolic. In essence, tattoo and tourism are both part of the same economy of reworking the self. The findings engage with literature and debates from the body-modification and tourism disciplines and with illustrative narratives from the qualitative in-depth interviews to demonstrate ambiguities underpinning foreign tourists' acquisition of indigenous Māori tattoo. The experiences of tourists who took part in interviews are not only complex and controversial, but somewhat contradictory. Tattoo tourism provides a conceptual vehicle for exploring avenues of the critical tourism studies agenda and motivational elements of the broader tattoo community. Framing the discussion within a constellation of theory, the findings generate a series of insights, some of which build on existing research, while others are 'new' and challenge existing understandings.