Theories of ritual have their roots in religious studies. Because rituals are both symbolic and performative, and thereby communicative, they perform a double social function: as a means of integrating individuals into social structures and bridging social divisions.

Among the first attempts to integrate the concept of ritual into tourism theories was MacCannell’s (1999) The Tourist. Observing the “ritual attitude” of tourism, he conceptualized the general consensus of touristsightseeing behavior. He argued sightseeing is a modern ritual in the Goffmanian sense: “a perfunctory, conventionalized act through which an individual portrays […] respect and regard for some object of ultimate value to its stand-in” (1999: 42). Ritual in modern society takes on a sense of duty. Thus, the act of sightseeing, which lies at the heart of tourism, becomes an outlet for this ritual attitude by offering the individual the potential of social integration, albeit at the macrostructural level.

While also...