Focused Discussion
Presence Through the Screen: Sharing Online Experiences, COVID-19 and Beyond View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Lara Mertens
Online Experiences (OEs) are shared digital participatory experiences which involve social interaction between (on average 5-35) group members, based in activities which are simultaneously learned online and performed in the home. Whether by working out with an American Olympic champion, being part of an intimate houseboat concert with a band in Amsterdam or learning how to brew the best cup of coffee from an expert barista in Mexico City, participants are united via the Internet for about an hour’s time to experience something outside the quotidian and meet others from around the world who are also interested in doing so. In light of being unable to offer “physical” experiences due to pandemic quarantine orders, online experience economy platforms have opened e-experience branches for people to share leisure and touristic experiences, digitally. This ethnographic study explores how people socially interact and experience the shared space of online participatory experiences by way of ethnographic interviews and participant observation. Do participants feel a sense of “togetherness” as they engage socially with each other from a distance? How do hosts and participants of OEs enable digital sociality, experience experience and feel a sense of presence with one another? The focused discussion explores the cross-cultural connections being made through the screen and at home, ultimately complicating traditional frameworks of place-based and online tourism and leisure.
Senior Tourism with the Perspective of Sustainable Marketing in Mazatlan and Los Cabos View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Rocío Osuna Soler
The increasing participation of older people in tourist activities, combined with a demographic phenomenon that implies the aging of the world population, made governments and tourism providers in developed regions identify senior market as a priority. Tourism is a multidimensional activity that has increased substantially in the last years, challenging the destinations' ecosystems since tourism contributes to greenhouse gas emissions globally. Mass tourism has a significant impact on the environment; hence, sustainable tourism pops out in such circumstances. To the theme of sustainability, Mexico deals with important contrasts. This research outlines the main elements that tourism marketing (MT) could contribute in terms of sustainability as a competitive advantage of a destination that serves the international senior tourist segment, from the perspective of two case studies of sun-and beach tourist destinations in northwestern Mexico.
