Beyond Fun and Excess

This essay provides a brief introduction to party tourism, that is travel (typically undertaken by people under 30) for the explicit purpose of indulgence in drinking, dancing, and other party behavior. Though the phenomenon (of which the US Spring Break is the most well-known example) has generated...

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Main Author: Alix Boirot
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online 2023-11-01
Series:Journal of Festive Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.h-net.org/jfs/article/view/188
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author Alix Boirot
author_facet Alix Boirot
author_sort Alix Boirot
collection DOAJ
description This essay provides a brief introduction to party tourism, that is travel (typically undertaken by people under 30) for the explicit purpose of indulgence in drinking, dancing, and other party behavior. Though the phenomenon (of which the US Spring Break is the most well-known example) has generated strong disapproval since its emergence in the 1950s, I argue that it is important for scholars to not reject the practice as simply vulgar, dangerous, and/or exploitative. Embracing it as the go-to solution to revitalizing or diversifying a city’s assets under the umbrella term of the night-time economy (NTE) is equally problematic. Staying away from both moral panic and festive-touristic enchantment, this essay thus strives to uncover the complexities of party tourism and presents it as an advantageous entry point to a variety of subjects, including the construction of masculinity, the evolution of urban space, the tourist gaze, and more generally, racial, economic and social inequalities.
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spelling doaj-art-4f1b714e11e24ffdb3f95eadee452da82025-08-20T03:19:20ZengH-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences OnlineJournal of Festive Studies2641-99392023-11-01515016610.33823/jfs.2023.5.1.188161Beyond Fun and ExcessAlix Boirot0EHESS LAIOSThis essay provides a brief introduction to party tourism, that is travel (typically undertaken by people under 30) for the explicit purpose of indulgence in drinking, dancing, and other party behavior. Though the phenomenon (of which the US Spring Break is the most well-known example) has generated strong disapproval since its emergence in the 1950s, I argue that it is important for scholars to not reject the practice as simply vulgar, dangerous, and/or exploitative. Embracing it as the go-to solution to revitalizing or diversifying a city’s assets under the umbrella term of the night-time economy (NTE) is equally problematic. Staying away from both moral panic and festive-touristic enchantment, this essay thus strives to uncover the complexities of party tourism and presents it as an advantageous entry point to a variety of subjects, including the construction of masculinity, the evolution of urban space, the tourist gaze, and more generally, racial, economic and social inequalities.https://journals.h-net.org/jfs/article/view/188party tourismspring breakmoral panicsnight time economytourist gaze
spellingShingle Alix Boirot
Beyond Fun and Excess
Journal of Festive Studies
party tourism
spring break
moral panics
night time economy
tourist gaze
title Beyond Fun and Excess
title_full Beyond Fun and Excess
title_fullStr Beyond Fun and Excess
title_full_unstemmed Beyond Fun and Excess
title_short Beyond Fun and Excess
title_sort beyond fun and excess
topic party tourism
spring break
moral panics
night time economy
tourist gaze
url https://journals.h-net.org/jfs/article/view/188
work_keys_str_mv AT alixboirot beyondfunandexcess