Dean MacCannell on the economic dynamic of tourist snapshots

“Taking someone’s picture doesn’t cost them anything, not in any Western commercial sense, yet the picture has value. The picture has no value for the ‘primitive’, yet the tourist pays for the right to take pictures. The primitive receives something for nothing, and benefits beyond this. Doesn’t the fame of certain primitives, and even respect for them, actually increase when the tourist carries their pictures back to the West? It seems to be the most perfect realization so far of the capitalist economists’ dream of everyone getting richer together.”
–Dean MacCannell, Empty Meeting Grounds: The Tourist Papers (1992)

Posted by | Comments (2)  | January 12, 2012
Category: Travel Quote of the Day


2 Responses to “Dean MacCannell on the economic dynamic of tourist snapshots”

  1. Daniel Roy Says:

    Sorry, you lost me at ‘primitive’. What a silly way of putting things.

    Besides, what is ‘lost’ by the locals when someone indiscriminately takes their picture is the same things the photographer values back home: privacy, dignity, and control of their own image.

    A poor quote.