Musical Topophilia : A critical analysis of contemporary music tourism: Muzikale topofilie : Een kritische analyse van hedendaags muziektoerisme

textabstractMusic tourism is an increasingly popular practice. Why would people be interested in visiting places related to music? How can something abstract like music lead to tourism, and what makes this activity meaningful to those concerned? In this dissertation these questions are answered by analyzing music tourism as a form of ‘musical topophilia’: creating, developing and celebrating an affective attachment to place through and with music. Interviews with tourists and participant observation of seven examples of music tourism across Europe support and refine this theory. Thereby, this dissertation captures the complex and often quite abstract ways music, place and tourism are connected in practice, showing how and why music literally moves people