Tourism place and space: British Stag Tourism in Poland

The British premarital stag tour to Central and Eastern European destinations is commonly associated with drunk and unruly behaviour. This link frequently focuses on the inappropriate use of public spaces by stag tour groups. Drawing on participant observation with British stag tourists Krakow, Poland, it is suggested that the meanings attributed to stag tour destinations are collectively defined within the group. A distinction is made between place, which is how the destination is anticipated and imagined, and space, which is how the city is engaged with physically and socially on the ground. Within this the definition of place and space created by stag tour participants is antagonistic and both directly and indirectly contested by other actors within the spatial setting.

► Stag tourism destinations are imagined by participants as a certain type of place which is suited to fun and release. ► The spatial configuration of the city as a destination is important in fostering desired disinhibited behaviour. ► Spatial practices of stag tourists are both facilitated and constrained by other actors in the setting. ► Much of the antagonism between stag tourists and other groups stems from competing definitions of place and space.