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the human subject. The global system of attractions
arises out of the naming of things. But no
matter how much the tourist wants to identify with
the attraction, by having a photograph taken
beside it or by telling the story of the visit to it,
he or she is always blocked by the protective
railing, the velvet cord, the `official' viewpoint.
Once an object, place or event is named as `an
attraction', it can never be experienced for what it
is. The Statue of Liberty is not liberty. Visiting the
Statue of Liberty is not to be free. The system of
attractions blocks identification with the very
values the attractions are supposed to embody.
The tourist can approach, but never fully enjoy,
never become `one with' the values encoded in the
attraction.
References
Jules-Rosette, B. �1984) The Messages of Tourist Art:
An African Semiotic System in Comparative Perspective,
New York: Plenum Press.
MacCannell, D. �1989) The Tourist:A New Theory of
the Leisure Class, New York: Schocken Books.
ÐÐ �ed.) �1989) special issue on `The semiotics of
tourism', Annals of Tourism Research 16�1).
senior tourism
DEAN MacCANNELL, USA
Defined variously by age, individuals as young as
50 may be included in the senior market, and ages
55, 62 and 65 also serve as benchmarks. Tourism
behaviour of the US mature market has been
found to be similar to the rest of the public, with
somewhat lower rates of business and outdoor
recreation and higher rates of entertainmentrelated
travel.
service
MICHAEL A. BLAZEY, USA
Service can be seen simply as those points of
interaction between service providers, normally the
employees of an operation, and their customers. A
broader description would include all the elements
service 527
that go to make up a complete service package or
experience, which might include, as in a hotel, a
complex mixture of products and services. The
nature of the service act means that operations
have a number of particular characteristics that
affect their management. It is possible to apply a
range of different perspectives to service management
focussing on the encounter itself, the
management of the operation, marketing and the
role of services in an economy.
Services are often described in contrast to goods.
While the latter are tangible items that can be
created and then sold or used later, a service is
intangible and perishable. It is usually created and
consumed simultaneously. Services can be grouped
into five areas: business services such as consulting,
finance and banking; trade services such as
retailing maintenance and repair; infrastructure
services such as communications and transport;
social/personal services such as restaurants, hotels
and health care; and public services such as
education and government. It is possible to
distinguish between goods and services by identifying
the percentage of the price that represents the
cost of physical goods in the purchase. Operations
will then range on a continuum from high goods
content purchases such as self-service groceries to
high service content purchases such as hotels or
consultancy. Placing businesses along this continuum
soon reveals that there is not a clearcut
distinction and that the majority of purchases
actually represent a package of goods and services.
A service package consists of four interrelated
elements that must provide a consistent image to
the customer. First, facilitating goods are the
materials purchased or consumed by the buyer or
the physical items that an operation uses during
service delivery. For a restaurant, this would
include the food and drink consumed by the
customer as well as the cutlery, crockery, china and
linen that it uses during service. Second, explicit
services are the readily observable or sensual
benefits that the operation delivers. For a restaurant,
these could include not only the presentation,
aroma and taste of the food but also the speed of
delivery, the accuracy of the order, the menu range
and so on. Third, implicit services are psychological
benefits that derive to the customer from using
a particular service. For a restaurant, this would