Blindfolded tourism

A Blind Tour (also Blindfold/Blindfolded Tourism/Sightseeing or Cecitourism[1]) is a contemporary concept in tourism.[2] A form of experimental travel, it is a guided tour in which the tourist is blindfolded for the entire duration of the tour while being talked through the visited areas, as opposed to traditional sightseeing. A Blind Tour is a very different experience owing to the absence of one vital sense, sight, thereby stimulating the other relevant senses, namely hearing, feel and smell. The concept has been related to that of the "dark restaurant", where there is no light for diners to see what they eat.[3]

A "blindfold tour" to savour the smells of the City of London was proposed as far back as 1970.[4] More recently, blindfolded tours have been offered in a range of mainly urban locations, including tours of Prague Castle, [5] Tirana in Albania,[6] Vancouver,[7] and the Alfama quarter of Lisbon.[3] The German artist Christian Jankowski has undertaken two blind tours: one in Dubai[8][9] and one in Montevideo, where he led a group of blindfolded journalists.[10]

The activity has been featured in a list of "25 Craziest Things To Do Before You Die".[11]

In some cases a Blind Tour may involve offering the tourist a video of their tour following completion of the tour.[6]

See also

Sensory deprivation

References

  1. ↑ Frank Bures (14 July 2005). Joel Henry: Dean of “Experimental Travel”, World Hum
  2. ↑ 8 Reasons Why You Should Try Blindfolded Tourism, DIY Explorer, 24 November 2012
  3. 1 2 Robin Esrock (28 February 2012). Portugal: Blindfolded sightseeing in Lisbon, New Zealand Herald.
  4. ↑ Sheila Thomas (17 October 1970). You'll follow your nose in new tours proposed for London, The Montreal Gazette
  5. ↑ Blindfolded tours of a castle, EasyPrague, accessed 12 October 2014
  6. 1 2 The Blind Tourism Project, TrendHunter
  7. ↑ Marsha Lederman (29 January 2013). Why I walked blindfolded for two hours through the streets of Vancouver, The Globe and Mail
  8. ↑ Emma Tracey (16 July 2012). "BBC News - Sightseeing when you can't see". BBC News Magazine.
  9. ↑ Collaboration four: Blindfold sightseeing, BBC News Magazine, 20 July 2012
  10. ↑ Christian Jankowski, Proyectos Monclova, accessed 12 October 2014
  11. ↑ 25 Craziest Things To Do Before You Die: 21. Blindfolded Sightseeing, List 25, accessed 12 October 2014
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 16, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.