Abstract:
This thesis examines the preoccupations of the social-scientific research institute the Studienkreis für Tourismus with mass tourism in the Federal Republic of Germany between 1961 and 1990. In particular this thesis focusses on the interrelation between mass tourism, cultural diplomacy and the role of scientists in shaping the behaviour of tourists. In three chapters, it is investigated how researchers affialiated to the Studienkreis envisioned mass tourists as grassroot diplomats and how they sought to shape their behaviour by organizing various interventions. The first chapter analyzes the foundation of the Studienkreis in the context of the breakthrough of mass tourism in the BRD. The second chapter scrutinizes how West-German mass tourism to the Global South was problematized and how the Studienkreis sought to moralize mass tourism. The third chapter analyses the involvement of the Studienkreis with youth tourism. As such, this thesis explores the tension between different visions of mass tourism and the role of scientific experts in employing tourism as a political instrument.
