Consuming the spectacletourism and communication technologies in Santiago de Compostela

Resumen

The city of Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, Spain, has long served as a magnet for religious pilgrims. Contemporary tourism has been greatly enabled and reshaped by the introduction of digital information and communication technologies. This chapter explores how cyberspace both reflects and in turn affects the landscapes of Santiago, as tourists acquire information, and often stereotypes, over the web. Because digital images are vital to local place promotion, the city’s representations on the Web have significant material impacts. Tourist expectations and behavior lead to the creation of Santiago as a “city of spectacle” designed to be consumed by non-locals. The chapter also addresses the impacts of technology-inspired tourism on the region’s Galician culture. Its aim is to demonstrate the unity of the cultural and the economic, the real and the virtual, the global and the local, in a concrete urban context.