Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2009

Keywords

adventure travel, spiritual quest, quest genre, reverence

Abstract

Adventure travel narratives are often written within a quest genre. The quest as genre is a romantic narrative that follows a pattern of sequential steps: the call to journey, preparation, the journey, and returning home. This paper proposes that the quests in which adventure travellers embark upon are spiritual in nature. Therefore, the quest genre is a metaphorical vehicle for narrating a spiritual journey. The term “spiritual,” in this context, refers to connecting to something outside of oneself. The purpose of this paper is to describe adventure travel as spiritual questing and to illustrate this idea with three popular adventure travel narratives. It is important to understand the common themes and constructions within adventure travel narratives because of their ability to frame travel expectations and influence various factors in the travel and tourism industry (trip choice, travel mode, destination choice, and intention to travel).

Publication Title

Leisure/Loisir

Volume

33

Issue

1: Leisure and Spirituality

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/14927713.2009.9651438

Required Publisher's Statement

This is the author's post-print of the article. Please us this link, or the DOI, to access the publisher's version.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14927713.2009.9651438

Published by Taylor and Francis

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Travel writing--History and criticism; Spiritual biography; Quests (Expeditions) in literature

Genre/Form

articles

Type

Text

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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