Popular Culture Tourism

PopCulTour is a research project that focuses on how value is created in popular (pop) culture tourism, i.e. tourism induced by for example film, television and literature. The research project employs both a destination and a consumer perspective and identifies pop culture.

We research the scope and content of pop culture tourism such as travels to film locations, places featured in literature, and fan events. We are also interested in the use of social media and its relation to the planning of tourism the wake of popular cultural phenomena in for example film, literature, television shows and music. In recent years we have focused on research on the international pop culture phenomena The Twilight Saga and ABBA.

On this site you will also be able to find latest news on our research. You can also follow us on Twitter and YouTube.

Our Research Featured in Media
Our research on pop culture has received extensive attention from media. Here are some examples:

Research on ABBA tourism
ABBA The Museum, which is part of the Swedish Music Hall of Fame will open on May 7, 2013 in Stockholm Sweden.

Our research on ABBA include a survey of visitors to ABBA the Museum and an on-line survey of ABBA fans and their travel related behavior. An open access scientific publication on this research can be found here: Traveling in the Footsteps of ABBA.

Read about the closed project "Literature, films and music as drivers of tourism"

Publications

Lexhagen, M., Lundberg, C. and Chekalina, T. (2019). Travelling in the Footsteps of ABBA, The Journal of Popular Culture, 52(6), 1408-1432.
Lexhagen, M., Chekalina, T. and Lundberg, C. (2019). The ABBA fandom – an online survey. WP 2019:1, Etour, Mid Sweden University.
Lexhagen, M. (2018). Music fans as tourists: the mysterious ways of individual and social dimensions. In C. Lundberg and V. Ziakas (eds), The Routledge Handbook on Popular Culture and Tourism, Routledge, UK. Chapter 21, pp. 234-247.
Gyimóthy, S, Lundberg, C, Lindström, K, Lexhagen, M. and Larson, M (2015). Popculture Tourism: A Research Manifesto. In D. Chambers and T. Rakic (eds.), Tourism Research Frontiers. Tourism Social Science Series, Emerald: Bingley, pp. 13-26
Lundberg, C. and Lexhagen, M. (2014). Pop culture tourism: A research model. In A. Chauvel, N. Lamerichs and J. Seymour (eds), Fan Studies: Researching popular audiences. Inter-Disciplinary Press: Freeland (U.K.). pp. 13-34
Larson, M., Lundberg, C. and Lexhagen, M (2013). Thirsting for Vampire Tourism: Developing Pop Culture Destinations, Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, 2 (2), pp. 74-84.
Lexhagen, M., Larson, M. and Lundberg, C. (2013). The virtual fan(g) community: Social Media and Pop Culture Tourism. In S. Gyimóthy, A. M. Munar and L. Cai (eds), Tourism Social Media: Transformations in Identity, Community and Culture, Tourism Social Science Series, Vol. 18, Emerald: Bingley, UK, pp. 133-157
Lundberg, C., and Lexhagen, M. (2012). Bitten by the Twilight Saga: from pop culture consumer to pop culture tourist. In R. Sharpley. & P. Stone (eds), Contemporary Tourist Experience: Concepts and Consequences. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 147-164
Lundberg, C., Lexhagen, M., Mattsson, S. (2012). Twication – The Twilight Saga Travel Experience, R 2012:29, Östersund, Sweden: Jengel Förlag AB
Lundberg, C., Lexhagen, M., Mattsson, S. (2011). Twilight + Vacation= Twication©, R 2011:28, Östersund, Sweden: Jengel Förlag AB.
Lundberg, C. and Lexhagen M. (2010), The popular culture tourism service system: the case of Twilight. In Polese, F. and von Friedrichs, Y., Perspectives of Service Science Research, Journal Impresa, Ambiente, Management, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 439-458.