Where’s the Music? Understanding Sense of Place in Asheville North Carolina Through Tourism Guidebooks and Stakeholder Interviews

Abstract

My study seeks to investigate music’s role in Asheville’s tourism message. The significance of my study is the opportunity to add to existing music tourism research on mid sized cities in geographic literature. Data will be collected by using on- on-one interviews and content from Asheville tourism guidebooks to explore the development of Asheville’s tourism promotion The respondents will be local musicians, venue promoters, and Asheville’s tourism officials and discourse analysis will be done on guidebooks and interview responses. My study will benefit Asheville’s tourism industry and local community as well as fill in gaps in tourism development in midsized cites based on cultural characteristics such as music.