Gazing upon the kingdom: An Audience Reception Analysis of a Televised Travelogue

This inquiry examines the meanings audiences attribute to an episode of the televised travelogue, No Reservations, which features the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia. The episode in question engages post 9/11 discourses but it also actively constructs Saudi Arabia as a lucrative travel destination. Drawing on reception theory, this paper examines the ways in which two interpretive communities, Saudi Arabian and American participants, render the touristic narrative endorsed by No Reservations intelligible through their (dis)engagement of 9/11 news media discourses. Although the two groups drew on different modes of reception, both highlighted the influence of post 9/11 discourses on their meaning making process. This exploratory study contributes to the discussion of the role enacted by tourism in mediating intercultural relations.

► Audience reception theory was applied to the interpretation of a televised travelogue, No Reservations, on Saudi Arabia. ► Findings indicated audiences’ (dis)engagement with post 9/11 discourses in their interpretation of the televised travelogue. ► Different modes of reception were found between the two racial/ethnic audience groups, American and Saudi Arabian.