Transformations in destination texture: Curry and Bollywood romance in the Swiss Alps

Abstract

This article takes heterogeographical approaches to understand Bollywood-induced destination transformations in Switzerland. Positioned within the theoretical field of mediatized mobility, the study contextualizes Bollywood-induced tourism in Europe the concept of texture. Textural analysis (based on Lefebvre’s trialectics of space) combines the analysis of material performances and communicative representations converging in the production/consumption of tourism spaces. The article contributes threefold. First, it reviews the phenomenon of nonwestern popular cultural tourism through the theoretical lens of mediatized mobility. Second, the article offers methodological reflections on textural analysis and strategies to capture the entanglements of popular cultural representations and performances simultaneously. Third, through an analytical deconstruction of Bollywood’s imaginaries and disruptive new tourism practices in Switzerland, it discusses the placemaking potentials and challenges of concurrent narratives in cosmopolitan tourism destinations.

Keywords

Bollywood destination transformations emerging markets film tourism Switzerland texture

Introduction

In the past decades, nonwestern popular culture gained increased presence in the creative industries worldwide and has also opened up for new placemaking practices in European tourism destinations (Dudrah, 2012; Månsson and Eskilsson, 2013; Schneider, 2002). Most notably, the Indian film industry has become a significant player, attracting great international audiences through film festivals, international co-productions, cable channels, and other digital platforms. The globalized production and distribution of Bollywood films initiated a contraflow of Asian cultures, perspectives, and values (Hassam, 2009; Schaefer and Karan, 2012) which are also becoming present in European destination transformations. Bollywood films shot in Switzerland are a case in point. Since 1964, more than 200 romantic Bollywood productions took place in the Swiss Alps, greatly affecting the imaginaries and dreams of resident and diasporic Indians (Schneider, 2002) as well as the travel choices of 12 million Indian travelers heading for international destinations (Mittal and Anjaneyaswamy, 2013). Switzerland has become the ultimate romantic getaway for Asian honeymooners, and most package tours include a visit to a handful of specific shooting locations in the Berner Oberland (Gyimóthy, 2015).

Bollywood-induced mobilities have been addressed in diaspora tourism studies to understand transnational identity constructions (Bandyopadhyay, 2008; Monteneiro, 2014) as well as in recent articles focusing on destination awareness and choice (Josiam et al., 2014, 2015). However, the deeper connections between nonwestern popcultural phenomena and the rapid rise of Asian leisure mobility in Europe have not been researched so far. Following Appandurai (2002), this article considers heterogeographical approaches “to find out how others […] see the world in regional terms” as well as assesses the consequences of the oriental tourist gaze on European space (p. 7). More specifically, it aims at understanding Bollywood-induced destination transformations in Switzerland by asking the questions: What place imaginaries has Bollywood produced over four decades? What new tourism practices emerge in the wake of Bollywood films? How does the coexistence of European and overseas performances shape the texture of Alpine destinations?

This study is positioned within the theoretical field of mediatized mobility (Beeton, 2005; Connell, 2012; Månsson, 2011; Roesch, 2009). It is contextualized empirically through a brief cultural history of Bollywood-in-the-Alps and analytically through the concept of texture. Textural analysis was coined by media geographer André Jansson (Adams and Jansson, 2012; Jansson, 2007), noting that by combining performative and representational approaches, one can better acknowledge co-production and consumption of tourism spaces. The methodological section reflects upon the operationalization of texture and presents an eclectic methodical toolbox to assess the entanglements of material performances and communicative representations. These empirical findings are analyzed along these two dimensions of mediatized destination transformations, deconstructing Bollywood’s Swiss imaginaries and disruptive new tourism practices. The concluding section discusses the placemaking potentials and challenges of concurrent narratives in cosmopolitan tourism destinations.

The naissance of Bollywood-in-the-Alps

Combine a cruise on Lake Lucerne with an Indian dinner and enjoy the unique landscape of Central Switzerland while dancing to Bollywood music. A sumptuous buffet by the finest Indian Restaurant Kanchi awaits you and no wish remains unfulfilled. (SBB advertisement spot, 2017)

Mumbai and Lucerne are located at a great distance from each other—both in a cartographical and a cultural sense. The birth of Bollywood-in-the-Alps has not been paved by a shared colonial or immigration history, but a result of an arbitrary course of events in India’s cinematic history. In the 1960s, military tension in the Kashmir region forced Indian film crews to look elsewhere to shoot romantic productions (Gyimóthy, 2015; Schneider, 2002; Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF), 2000). The quest for exotic backdrops has led director Raj Kapoor to Switzerland, where he shot Sangam [Confluence] (1964) featuring story about a honeymoon to Europe. Sangam marked a phase shift in the development trajectory and appeal of Switzerland as a destinations in Asia, as it opened a shortcut (or in Thorne’s (1994) terms, a wormhole) to India’s film industry. The relative positionality of Mumbai and Central Switzerland changed radically, as Sangam and subsequent productions facilitated the flow of capital, people, and ideas between them despite the distance.

Among the numerous Hindi films shot in Alps, the most noteworthy are those of Yash Chopra, as nearly all his films include a scene shot in Switzerland. He pioneered and refined a particular cinematic genre framing romance within leisure consumerist practices (travel, fashion, dance) and the spectacular lifestyle of the super-rich (Dwyer, 2002). The iconic blockbuster Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge or DDLJ [The Bravehearted Will Take the Bride] (1995) has cemented Switzerland’s position among Asian audiences as a utopian landscape of love. In the five decades following Sangam, multiple wormholes came into existence, engaging not only filmmakers but also local tourism providers, Asian immigrant entrepreneurs, and London-based diaspora tour operators capitalizing on Bollywood’s passion for Switzerland (Gyimóthy, 2015). As a result, Switzerland is the third most popular European destination among travelers from the subcontinent, reflected in 724,000 Indian incoming tourists in 2016 (Federal Statistical Office (FSO), 2017). Despite the increasing significance of this overseas target market (with growth rates of 4%–5% p.a.), very little research is dealing with the drivers and effects of mobility preferences from India toward Europe.

Nevertheless, the consolidating Indian incoming tourism is leaving distinct traces in the Alpine landscape, in the form of new toponyms (e.g. Lake Chopra, Mount India) or Bollywood-themed experience concepts which are somewhat atypical for Swiss resorts. As such, mediatized mobilities produce spatial ambiguities (Jansson, 2007), perceptible in new narratives and performances, like the Bollywood-themed lake cruise in the opening excerpt. Bollywood’s love affair with Switzerland is not a singular cultural curiosity, but a powerful metanarrative, which inspired local documentarists (SRF, 2000), museum curators (Schneider, 2002), Swiss filmmakers (Switzerland Tourism, 2012) as well as film commissions in neighboring countries (Cinetirol, 2013; Euroscreen, 2015). The distinction between Indian texts and Swiss contexts becomes increasingly blurred as Bollywood’s meanings infringe upon the symbolic, imaginary, and material manifestations of Central Switzerland and the Bernese Oberland. This hybridity provides unique opportunities to investigate the forms and effects of nonwestern mediatization and the cosmopolitanization of the Alps at large.

Tracing mediatized mobility and textural transformations

As illustrated above, leisure and media mobilities are intricately linked to placemaking: tourism is significantly shaping the places visited. In the past decade, communication geographers initiated an exciting new cross-disciplinary field of inquiry to conceptualize the mutual contingency of space, communication, and mobility (Adams and Jansson, 2012; Couldry and McCarthy, 2004; Falkheimer and Jansson, 2006; Jansson, 2007, 2013). Approaching communication as spatial production, they depart from an extroverted, multi-scalar, and networked ontology of space (e.g. Appandurai, 2002; Harvey, 2006; Massey, 1999; Sheppard, 2002). This approach posits that places are constructed through their ties with the outside world, which are enabled through digital communication technologies, transcontinental mobility, particular social constellations, and a diverse mix of cohabiting ethnicities. As such, destinations can be seen as palimpsests, that is, seductive narrative constructions that are constantly reconfigured through new layers of meaning, which are produced by tourism and other mobilities. Communication geographers problematize the social, cultural, and economic connections between the local and the global, and address how “communication is producing and becoming space and how space is producing and becoming communication” (Jansson, 2007: 186). Jensen and Waade (2009) note that tourism space is hypermediatized, suggesting that media-driven ritualized tourism performances and preferences are changing the “sense of place” of destinations (Andrews, 2017; Ateljevic, 2000; Gyimóthy et al., 2015; Lundberg and Lexhagen, 2012; Månsson, 2011). This perspective requires methodological considerations which not only capture symbolic mediation (in this case, nonwestern/Bollywood representations of European space) but also the material and spatial transformations produced by these narratives.

In order to study fluid and intersecting place production and place consumption processes, Jansson (2007) introduces the concept of texture, which enables an in-depth analysis of socio-spatial patterns of mediatization. Etymologically, texture originates from the Latin textere (to weave), and as such, it denotes the spatial materialization of culture (Jansson, 2007: 195), that can be both observed and sensed. Texture has thus the potential to connect the interlinked realms of spatial production, entailing lived, conceived, and perceived space (Lefebvre, 1991 [1974]). Lefebvre’s trialectic framework simultaneously considers representational, performative, and imaginary dimensions of placemaking, hence it is suitable to map spatial transformations (texturation) as they unfold over time. As Jansson (2007) explains,

Texture is not only a mediator between material, symbolic and imaginative realms of space. It is also, in a way, similar to Giddens’ (1984) notion of structuration; a mediator between spatial structure and communicative agency; between regularities shaped behaviour; rituals and incoherencies; between the past and the becoming. (p. 195)

Acknowledging the mutually constitutive production of space and communication, Adams and Jansson (2012: 306) propose a conceptual framework to depict four main intersections in the space-communication nexus. The model (Figure 1) accommodates various spatial scales (moving from top to bottom) and spatial agency (moving from left to right). In the left column places/spaces are seen as content in, while in the right as container of communication. Representation and texture in the upper rows refer to communication geographies in particular places while connections and structures apply for generic spaces and systems. Through considering representations, textures, connections, and structures, Lefebvre’s (1991 [1974]) threefold spatiality (produced in symbolic, material, and imaginary realms) can be analyzed interdependently. For instance, representations of Swiss locations can be captured through various modalities of spatial conceptions; including maps, drawings, films, and promotional brochures. Textures on the other hand may be translated as Bollywood-induced performances and material manifestations of Oriental narratives in specific Swiss destinations. Connections can be depicted along meso- and macro-scalar analysis, charting Switzerland’s functional and administrative connectedness with other places. Finally, it is also relevant to consider structures, that is, communicative systems enabling and manipulating tourism mobilities along a distinct trajectory across Europe. Connections and structures leave traces in the strategic design of diverse transport and tour packages (Swiss Travel Pass, Golden Pass, Highlights of Switzerland), which in turn can be used to assess destination positionality and connectedness on a larger scale. A more detailed operationalization of texture analysis is presented in the methodical reflections below.

Figure 1.

Adams and Jansson’s (2012: 306) conceptual framework for the analysis of the space-communication nexus.

Research approach and design

This study focuses on place transformations; thus, the research was designed exclusively to seize placemaking processes connected to specific geographical locations. To select these locations, the empirical scoping of the study departed from an appreciation of macro-scale connections and structures shaping nonwestern mobilities in Switzerland. More precisely, the most popular Swiss destinations for Indian tourists were identified, by consulting the head of marketing at the Swiss Tourism Board as well as local operators specialized in the Asian market. Furthermore, the itinerary of four Indian tour operators’ Swiss Grand Tour was scrutinized. This exercise revealed that most groups are moving along a narrow beaten track stretching from Central Switzerland and the Berner Oberland (Figure 2). Typically, packages would include two of the three “double highlights,” such as Luzerne (with a visit to Mount Titlis), Interlaken (with a visit to Jungfraujoch), and Lausanne or Montreux (with a visit to Glacier3000). The tracing of a distinct, commodified beaten track across Europe and Switzerland enabled a structured understanding of conceived space (Lefebvre, 1991 [1974]) and also defined the geographical delimitation for the empirical study.

Figure 2.

Switzerland’s Bollywood hotspots (NewlySwissed.com).

Second, a list of Bollywood-related cinematic and touristic representations of Switzerland was assembled. This step aimed at scoping the imaginary realms of placemaking (perceived space) captured in nonwestern cinematic imagination. From the 200 odd Bollywood productions shot in the country, the 15 most popular films were selected for analysis (Table 1). These were identified through the Bollywood location-list compiled by the place marketing agency Newly Swissed (2014) and specialized tour packages (the Enchanted Journey offered by Kuoni as well as Erwin Fässler’s Bollywood tours). These productions were screened for their portrayal of Switzerland. Surprisingly, the locations featured in the films include mostly unknown churches, lakes, bridges, or meadows, bypassing Switzerland’s most iconic attractions (e.g. the Matternhorn). Furthermore, only a handful of these films offered a plot in which Switzerland appeared as a location propre (listed in bold in Table 1). To understand this anomaly, the Zurich Museum for Gestaltung und Kunst exhibition volume “Bollywood: Indian Cinema in Switzerland” (Schneider, 2002) was consulted, which dealt with the artistic significance and cultural meanings of Indian cinematic productions in the Alps. Subsequently, the analysis was focused on deconstructing the representational style of these selected films.

Table 1.

Shortlist of Swiss Bollywood productions featuring in the representational analysis.

Sangam (1964)

An evening in Paris (1967)

Prem pujari (1970)

Silsila (1981)

Faasle (1986)

Vijay (1988)

Chandni (1989)

Darr (1993)

Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge (1995)

Mohabbatein (2000)

Mujhse dosti karoge (2002)

Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai (2002)

Veer-Zaara (2004)

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (2007)

Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008)

The final step was focusing on lived space, that is, the material realm of placemaking. The secondary data collection was followed up by an ethnographic fieldwork in May 2017, with the aim of mapping textural transformations and unfolding consumption patterns in the destinations and locations identified during the representational analysis. The fieldwork was conducted during an intensive 10-day period in Luzern, Engelberg (Mount Titlis), Interlaken (Jungfraujoch-Top of Europe), and Gstaad (Glacier3000). Adopting a phenomenological approach, focus was directed at identifying material and performative aspects shaped by Bollywood imaginaries. Hence, a multimodal data collection was designed to access these dimensions of texturation (Table 2). During the fieldwork which was primarily centered on participant observation, the author collected over 20 snapshot interviews with Indian guests (in English), as well as 500+ photographs, 50 videos, and 15 audio recordings. The diversity of methods enabled to appreciate affective and sensuous aspects of tourism performances in a multilingual context, where conversations in English were not always possible.

Table 2.

Field trip data sources, detailed list.

Date	Participant observation (venues and activities)	Short interviews (duration in brackets)	Semi-structured interviews
16 May 2017			Erwin Fässler, manager Erwintours (Bollywood-themed guided tours)
		Receptionist 1, Hotel Terasse, Engelberg	Urs Eberhard, Head of Markets, Switzerland Tourismus
17 May 2017	Luzern-Engelberg train ride	4 young women, Cable Car, Mount Titlis (10′)
	Mount Titlis, day trip	Family 1, Mont Titlis (5′)
	Gourmindia Café, Engelberg	Couple 1, Mount Titlis (5′)
	Engelberg walk	Family 2, Mount Titlis (15′)
		Family 3, Mount Titlis (10′)
		Single man 1, Engelberg (30′)
18 May 2017	Interlaken-Jungfraujoch-Interlaken, day trip	Waitress, Jungfraujoch (5′)
		Family 4, Jungfraujoch (10′)
		Couple 2 Jungfraujoch (5′)
		Family 5, Jungfraujoch (10′)
19 May 2017	Interlaken walk	Outdoor adventures staff (20′)
	Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel, lobby, Interlaken	Receptionist 2, VJ Grand Hotel (10′)
	Hotel Weisses Kreuz, Interlaken	Receptionist 3, Hotel Weisses Kreuz, Interlaken (45′)
20 May 2017	Gstaad walk	Receptionist 4, Sporthotel Victoria, Gstaad (15′)
21 May 2017	Glacier3000 day trip	Family 6, Glacier3000 (5′)
		Couple 3, Glacier3000 (10′)
		Family 7, Glacier3000 (15′)
		Family 8, Glacier3000 (10′)
		Couple 4, Glacier3000 (30′)
22 May 2017		Gstaad Tourist Bureau
23 May 2017		Waiter and ski lift operators, Glacier3000 (35′)	Bernhard Tschannen, manager of Glacier3000
24 May 2017	Luzerne, lake cruise	Couple 5, Luzerne (15′)

As elaborated above, texture is the spatial materialization of culture, in which communication creates patterned performances, also referred to as signifying practices (Hall, 1997). In order to capture the spatiotemporal production of texture, these multimodal recordings were assessed in terms of rituals and performances, temporal regularities (timing, tempo, repetition), as well as shifts in moods and ambiances. During the analytical process (and as a part of bracketing), efforts were made to identify unremarkable practices beyond conspicuous and cliché-ridden rituals. This was achieved by contrasting various data modalities, for example, visual material (e.g. documenting individual group performances of photographing), with snapshot interviews or audio recordings during the interpretation process. The transcribed interviews were not only searched for reflections and assessment of Switzerland but also for sensory recollections to give additional depth to the understanding of texture. In a similar vein, observation notes were contrasted and transposed with visual and audio files in order to map sensuous and affective dimensions of destination experiences.

Reflections on positionality and bracketing

Swiss mountain resorts are multicultural and cosmopolitan spaces, in which researchers must be conscious about their own positionality. Despite a long experience with conducting qualitative research in mass tourism destinations, the author was confronted with her own cultural predispositions from the start. For instance, the notes from the very first fieldwork day witness an overt preoccupation with the Otherness of Asian visitors. During the shuttle trip between Engelberg and the cable car station of Titlisbahn, observations focused on disruptive sensory differences (louder pitch of groups, the scent of spicy snacks, and unfamiliar clothing styles). In the coming days, conspicuous and divergent performances (i.e. unusual mooring and mobility practices) and tourism products tailored for new markets were consciously searched for and recorded.

Prior to embarking on the field trip, bracketing (Tufford and Newman, 2010) was not part of methodological reflections, given its radical phenomenologist departure. However, it became clear that the intention of capturing lived experiences without imposing cultural meanings is a challenging task, when oneself has been raised and disciplined in a European tradition of appreciating mountain landscape. This was further confirmed when frontline staff reproduced “othering” attitudes in our short conversations. Hotel receptionists, waiters, and ski lift operators simultaneously framed the Indian guests as either exotic or uncivilized and indirectly suggested European tourism practices being appropriate and superior. To avoid ethnocentric/eurocentric interpretations, bracketing was implemented in pragmatic ways. During data collection, the author consciously sought trivial and inoffensive bonding opportunities arising in public spaces or exploited fleeting interactions that would naturally take place among fellow tourists. Small acts of generosity (such as taking pictures, offering sunscreen, accepting invitations for shared food consumption, and being stand-in tour guides) provided an equalizing platform and suspended asymmetric positions. Second, during the analysis of the data, the author always attempted to reflect upon the cultural and spatial embeddedness (and contrasts) of disruptive materialities and situations. Bracketing considerations included the following: What kind of normative frameworks shape the interpretation of tourist performances as “normal” versus “disruptive”? Are these performances typical and common in other contexts? How are “old” and “new” tourism practices are framed as western and nonwestern and how these perceptions interfere and shape each other? These questions enabled to mitigate a biased assessment of textural transformations owing to the positionality of a white middle-class academic.

Analysis

The findings are organized by following Adams and Jansson’s (2012) framework of texturation in specific places. First, the results of the representational analysis are presented, deconstructing Bollywood’s portrayals of Swiss and Alpine places. Second, new and disruptive tourist performances are explored, revealing sensuous, affective, and material dimensions of an increasingly cosmopolitan destination. These two analytical streams are then woven together to inform a discussion on Bollywood-induced destination transformations.

Representations: Bollywood imaginaries of Switzerland

Bollywood films in Switzerland follow a consistent melodramatic script of unfulfilled or unrealizable romance between lovers. The locations featuring in each of the films are typical Alpine countryside settings and mountain sceneries (creviced snowy peaks, lush green meadows, blooming villages, and pristine lakes), representing nothing more than a picturesque backdrop for dreamlike musical interludes. These song-and-dance scenes are built up by eclectic images of lovers crooning in each other’s arms, in which the Alps (or Switzerland) as a proper location is not explicitly related to the plot. The storyline of several productions (Chandni, 1989; Darr, 1993; Veer-Zaara, 2004) takes place almost entirely in India and only contain single “Cut to Switzerland”-sequences. In a few, but iconic productions Switzerland is represented as a tourist destination in its own right, embedded in a road movie-inspired narrative, where the lead characters are mimicking Western tourism practices. For instance, Sangam (the very first Bollywood film shot in the country) showcases a honeymoon to Europe, in which the protagonists are affluent travelers. Their consumption preferences and style are similar to the jetsetting elite visiting Switzerland during the Belle Époque (Humair and Narindal, 2014). The couple appears as gastronomic connoisseurs and bon-vivants, sporting in Tyrolian hats, western fashion garments, and sunglasses. Even the lead musical interlude is inspired by western aesthetic (a schlager), in which the newlyweds play on a snowclad slope while the lyrics are sung in European languages (“Ich liebe Dich, I love you, Je vous aime”). Iconic signifiers are perceptible across the entire Swiss sequence, including the national flag, alpine horn, folk costumes, and cowbells.

The later films are not solely inspired by western aesthetics. Although elite traveler depictions and Swiss signifiers are heavily referenced in Yash Chopra’s films, he also draws upon Hindi iconography and traditions as well. In DDLJ (the longest running film in Indian cinemas) and the more recent Bachna Ae Hasseno (BAH), the romantic coupling is often set in implausible leisure consumption situations. For instance, in the song Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Mein (DDLJ), we see Raj and Simran (two non-resident young Indians on a Eurail tour) winding up and flirting at various locations. In a dreamlike collage of 4 minutes, they are playing in a haystack, chasing each other on village streets and a mountain locomotive, buying confectionary and a red dress, dancing around a bonfire, and rolling in the snow—all this while singing and teasing each other. These highly intimate situations mimic the advertising aesthetics of lifestyle products, in which romance, sensuality, and consumption are increasingly intertwined. The scenography mobilizes contemporary middle-class status symbols (fashion, leisure consumption, exotic destinations) to highlight the romantic plot. However, as Schneider (2009) notes, the artistic inspiration is equally taken from nineteenth-century Hindi oleographs, which depict the erotic love-play of Krishna and Radha. In traditional Hindu imagery, Krishna’s love-play is set in the Himalayas, which epitomizes Kashmir’s snowclad mountains as a divine and utopian space (Schneider, 2009). In Chopra’s films, Kashmir’s divine imaginary qualities are transferred to Switzerland.

This might also explain why the location of the landscapes and sights featured in Bollywood films is uncertain and in general, do not include Switzerland’s most iconic attractions. In the films selected for the analysis, location references are entirely missing, rendering Switzerland to a utopian Disneyland of love (Schneider, 2009; Shedde, 2002). The featured locations (i.e. Zweisimmen’s train station, the church and bridge in Saanen, or the confectionary shop in Gstaad) are picturesque, but have no iconicity or specific recognition value. This stands in stark contrast to classic and more recent Western productions shot in the Alps (Sound of Music, James Bond), consistently indicating the precise spot (i.e. subtitles indicating the proper location name). As Schneider (2009) argues, the fantastical situations and the Swiss setting function solely as an imaginary space for the love-play of the protagonists. Bollywood produces escapist cinema, which projects dreams on utopian, foreign locations. With its snowy peaks, pastoral idyll and peaceful meadows, Switzerland is an allegory of traditional Hindi landscapes of romance (Dwyer, 2002). An iconic, recognizable location reference is thus pointless. Shedde (2002) notes that Swiss mountains represent a pastiche paradise for Asian audiences, standing in stark contrast to the mundane realities of the Indian countryside, often represented as a space of poverty, labor, and unrest. This comparison of India and Switzerland was reiterated by the Indian tourists on the field trip, who praised Switzerland for hygiene, safety, and service (“We have the Himalayas, yes, but here everything is better organised. Everything is so clean and so tidy …!”).

Switzerland as a hypermediatized tourist space and cosmopolitan commodity

DDLJ had a powerful impact on Indian popular culture and tourist imaginaries, and after 20 years, it is still running in Indian cinemas. The film Bachna Ae Hasseno (BAH) [Watch Out Girls] from 2008 made several intertextual references to DDLJ and reused some of its locations in the Berner Oberland. But BAH also imitated the anticipation of Swiss romance mediatized by DDLJ, embedded as a gig of magical realism (with the exclamation “Love in Switzerlaaaand ….!”). For instance, the confessionary voiceover of the lead character in the opening scenes of BAH is an excellent example of hypermediatization (Jensen and Waade, 2009):

Ok, now I have to lie that I went around with 4-5 girls during this holiday. But I did not know that there was a sweet, romantic girl in the same train … so romantic that after watching DDLJ 17 times, she left on Eurail, hoping that she might also find her Raj, like Simran.

DDLJ has also left its trace on the marketing communication of Switzerland Tourismus and local destination promotional material (in Lefebvre’s terms, conceived space). The simplified route maps of Swissmade Grand Tours, the Highlights of the Geneva package, or Kuoni’s Enchanted Journeys are following a representational logic of a Bollywood theme park, bringing previously unknown or bypassed locations in the fore of the main tourism routes.

The hypermediatization of Swiss space is apparent in the most recent Bollywood films and travel documentaries (NDTV Swissmade Grand Tour), which are keen to portray the conspicuous consumption of high-end products and experiences. Yash Chopra’s productions provide a normative frame of reference for would-be travelers, by depicting the touristic practices and appearances of well-off, cosmopolitan consumers. The protagonists are attractive and fit, dressed in casual but stylish Western outfits, and view Switzerland as a chic dating space. The contemporary occidental gaze can be illustrated through the opening dialogue of BAH (2008), taking place between the male protagonist and his friends on the train:

Raj:

What is this?! There are only cows, and grass in the entire Switzerland … and mountains.

Sachin:

Wrong! Imported cows, imported grass, imported mountains!

Raj:

It’s your fault! What will I do with imported grass? Where are all the imported girls?

Sachin:

You should thank me. It was the cheapest tour.

Raj:

Then even girls would be the same.

Sachin:

Yet, not a single girl tried to entice me …

The claim of inauthenticity (i.e. the imported nature of classic Swiss icons) is, in fact, a remark of commoditized tourism space; Switzerland is reduced to a postmodern, post-industrial consumption arena. BAH also reflects upon a change in consumer tastes, in which unspoilt and pastoral Swiss landscapes do not represent a value per se. In a similar vein, a traveloguer from NDTV Good Times embarking on the Swiss Grand Tour lamented on using a whole day visiting Jungfraujoch, as “there are no cars—so what’s the point?” These aspects echo Eva Illouz’ (1997) assertion of an emerging, new kind of romance among the middle classes that is tied to consumerism and manipulated by the mass media. To see how these imaginary spaces of romance are appropriated by commercial endeavors and mundane tourist practices, we now turn our focus to the textural analysis.

Textural analysis: Bollywood’s material and sensuous manifestations

Swiss mountain resorts in the Bernese Oberland and Central Switzerland have long tradition of catering for an international and wealthy clientele. For more than two centuries, they have matured into exclusive retreats for European royal families, noblemen, and later also for the North American jet-set and Russian oligarchs (Humair and Narindal, 2014). Geneva, Montreux, Luzern, and Interlaken have become synonymous with understated, laid-back luxury as spaces to perform high society vacations. Today, affluent societas are increasingly represented by wealthy individuals from the Middle and Far East, which is also reflected in the services tailored to the Asian market. The textural analysis thus draws attention to both radically new tourist offerings and disruptive tourist practices.

New offerings in the wake of cultural contraflows

Along the main shopping street of Interlaken, the high-end retail boutiques are clearly targeting the Asian visitor. Chinese-speaking staff is widely employed and there are helpful signs in Chinese, Arabic, Korean, and Hindi. Luxury brands as well as local companies use Bollywood actress-celebrities in their promotion (e.g. Tissot’s brand ambassador is Deepika Padukone, while the Nostalgia Photostudio in Engelberg features Amisha Patel in Swiss folk costume). Commercial businesses were always eager to capitalize on popular culture fandom by using film stars as sponsored opinion leaders to trigger new consumption desires (Lundberg and Lexhagen, 2012). However, the brand synergies between Bollywood’s exclusive universe and Swiss luxury commodities represent cultural contraflows (Schaefer and Karan, 2012), which destabilize the hegemonic impact of Hollywood on consumer cultures.

Textural transformations are not only confined to high street advertising space or brand ambassadors hand-picked from Indian popular culture. The gastronomic landscape of Engelberg and Interlaken is changing, offering Asian streetfood alongside with the more traditional pizzerias and fondue restaurants. The hot and spicy food (desi snacks and masala chai) served from mobile food vans challenge the signature dairy-and-potatoes-based palate of the Swiss countryside, and augments the olfactory register, which was previously dominated by the scent of fresh hay and cows. International and Swiss foodscapes creolize in the most remarkable ways. For instance, bratwurst, noodle soup, and samosas can be enjoyed in most Gourmindia cafés, with a mixed interior décor consisting of cowbells, winter sport accessories as well as statuettes of Ganesha and other Hindu deities (Figure 3).

Figure 3.

Gourmindia Spice Bistro at the valley station of Mount Titlis. Note the decorative cowbells and cows on the side wall.

Other catering concepts are built explicitly around Bollywood films and fandom. There exists a Restaurant Bollywood on the top of Jungfraujoch and the middle station of Mount Titlis, richly decorated with photos, memorabilia, and autographs from Shahrukh Khan and other superstars. The package tours culminate in exclusive Bollywood-themed gala dinners, accompanied by filmi music and dance. However, the duration of these staged events is relatively short in contrast to the other, more mundane aspects of the tourist experience, which will be discussed in the next section.

Encountering the exotic Other

The increasing presence of new visitors in the transitscapes along Bollywood hotspots is widely discussed by locals, who note the different habits and values of the exotic Other:

On the train from Luzern, I overhear the discussion between an Austrian resident Swissman and a non-resident Indian [NRI] couple from Germany. As an unsolicited, but very willing guide, the Swissman shows various points of interest through the window. Suddenly, he points at a mountain top and begins an entertaining story of a rich Quatar sheik who bought it, just to come and visit in a private jet with his harem. (Engelberg, fieldwork notes, day 1)

The narratives of the eccentric Asian visitor often carry condescending overtones, describing their Otherness as “uncivilized” and disruptive. Some of the hotel receptionists I talked to conveyed stereotyping judgments of “them,” such as:

The Indians are … very difficult guests. They expect the most of you and bargain all the time. You have to be very strict. It is their culture—there are no rules. They don’t listen and they don’t read.

They are filthy and dirty. They don’t know how to flush the toilet. They take the rooms apart and when they take a shower, there is water everywhere.

You see them from afar on the looks, you hear them and they are very loud, always coming in big groups. […] They come in flipflops and summer clothes and then surprised that it’s cold.

In most cases, these negative comments are bound in a particular understanding of appropriate and desired tourism behavior, expected in host-guest encounters. The Swiss (as well as the non-native frontline staff) are upset by “masala militants” (Somasundaram, 2010) and their lack of respect toward the unwritten rule of hospitality: “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.” No reflections were drawn with similar incidences in the past, where the unfamiliar performances from new visitors at that time (Europeans or Russians) were deemed just as peculiar. As Frank (2016) notes, “it does not come to the minds of those telling such stories that these practices of dwelling are simply ‘different’, that they are simply ‘other’ ways of expressing social cohesion, conformal shopping behaviour or displayed snugness” (p. 524). In contrast, while noisy Indian groups were perceived as a nuisance by locals, a NRI family at Glacier3000 felt invigorated in the companionship of their fellow countrymen, expressing both nostalgia and homesickness (Field notes, day 6).

Indeed, the eclectic dressing style of Indian guests recalls images of itinerant nomads rather than Alpine chic (Figure 4). Many visitors combined traditional garments with practical hoodies and sweaters bought in discount stores. Late spring is low season in the mountains, but the most preferred time to travel overseas for Indians. Hence, when visiting the altitude attractions, the author often found herself being the only European tourist among large Asian groups. The overwhelming sensory (olfactory, auditory, haptic, and visual) dimensions of this experience were captured as follows:

Entering the cable car, I am confronted with 50-odd travelers wearing identical, bright blue/white sunglasses. Their clothing contradicts the rules of sensible clothing in high altitude, so they try to cope against the cold in different ways. […] an elderly Indian lady has wrapped a warm blanket around her sari and complemented it with a snowboarder headwear. When the cable car sets off, the entire group breaks out in an impulsive chant in Hindi (praying for arriving safely to the top). Instead of enjoying the spectacular views, everybody is filming or taking pictures with their cameras and mobile devices (Fieldwork notes, Gstaad-Glacier3000, listen with audio link to https://soundcloud.com/user-370904531/glacier3000liftoff)

Despite different appearances and the ritual chanting, Indian tourist performances were similar to other sightseeing tourists unaccustomed to mountains. The excerpt demonstrates, that becoming (Andrews, 2017; Scarles, 2009) a mountain visitor is a complex performative endeavor. A whole new set of competences are to be developed, such as learning layered clothing, protecting oneself from the sun, or coping with altitude sickness. Much of these is tacit knowledge, neither mentioned by guides nor guidebooks explicitly, but acquired along the way:

A family from Mumbai “adopts” me and offers spicy snacks on the way up (which would later be traded for a selfie). This spontaneous act of generosity triggers a discussion about food preferences, Swiss dairy products, snow and a chat about the unusual postures and bodily sensations during skiing. […] Later, the teenage boy confides me about his fascination of wilderness reality programmes (Man vs Wild) and how these formed his anticipation of Alpine holidays. (Fieldwork notes, Gstaad-Glacier3000)

Arguably, the fleeting encounters with fellow passengers in the cable car are particularly valuable to observe or exchange new know-how about travel and cultural idiosyncrasies. Transitscapes provide a confined, but short-lived “cloakroom community” (Bauman, 2010: 111), that may suspend the unequal positioning of European and Asian tourists. Unfortunately, such spontaneous intercultural exchanges are somewhat obstructed both by the package tour setup and the spatial design of mountain stations; which tend to segregate Asian groups from other individual tourists.

Figure 4.

Photo sessions in the cable car up to Glacier3000, Les Diablerets.

Romantic spectacles and obtrusive performances

Once arriving to the top of Titlis or Jungfraujoch, the cloakroom communities dissolve and people hurry to explore various outdoor experiences. Asian (Korean, Chinese, and Indian) tourists instantaneously indulge in the snow in creative and childish ways; for instance, by tasting it, making snowballs, snowmen, lying down to make “snow angels” and playing in the snow (Figure 5). Honeymoon couples take selfies, often asking a third party to throw snow on them while the marriage proposal is reenacted. On the panorama terrace of Titlis, there is a life-size cardboard poster of DDLJ’s Bollywood superstars, Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, prompting amused Indian tourists to make Bhangra poses [a fusion between Punjabi folk dance and Western dance styles]. On Jungfraujoch, a young Korean woman in a wedding dress posed alone for an hour on the Aletsch Glacier. Romance becomes a spectacle and honeymoons in Switzerland are performed along a list of compulsory rituals, paraphrasing the love-play scenes from diverse Bollywood films (Dwyer, 2002).

Figure 5.

Love-play and fascination with snow in high-altitude settings. Collage from Glacier3000, Jungfraujoch, and Mount Titlis.

The fieldwork also revealed other, somewhat obtrusive performances. For instance, when noticing carefully stored skis in front of the top restaurant at Mt Titlis, Indian tourists would pick a pair of skis to strike a pose with bent knees for the camera (Figure 6). Most of the time, they stepped on the skis with the tail in front and left them on the snow after the picture was taken. These innocent and playful enactments of “Swissness” and Alpine leisure practices triggered both amusement and irritation by other visitors. An older local skier approached them with a firm voice “Put the skis back!” Arguably, 15 busloads of Indian tourists a day would intersect with the routines of a small mountain station, and service providers attempted to manage massive visitor flows, based on Eurocentric imperatives. Signs in English and Chinese instructed tourists how to use the selective waste system, or asking them not to waste or share food, not to picnic, not to climb up on installations. Most of these domesticating signs were ignored, leaving the frontline personnel (lift operators, waitresses, janitors, and train conductors) with the task of disciplining the crowds.

Figure 6.

Playing with “Swissness” and alpine leisure activities.

At other occasions, Indian tourists demonstrated alternative appropriations of indoor transit spaces. Tired after hours of playing in the snow at Jungfraujoch (and perhaps having altitude sickness as well), many of them decided to take a nap on the station floor or even the window sills (Figure 7). This resulted in a chaotic situation, as other, transiting guests were unaccustomed to having “human obstacles” occupying the full width of the corridor. However, sleeping in public space while waiting (especially in railway stations) is a customary “mooring” practice in India, hence it might have never occurred to them that this would be disturbing fellow travelers. These examples excellently illustrate the contestedness of Alpine touristscapes, in which established “European” or “Swiss” practices are deemed the norm and therefore superior to emerging performances (Frank, 2016). Despite the marketed cosmopolitan identity of Interlaken and Gstaad, surprisingly little effort is taken to truly understand and accommodate the “Other.”

Figure 7.

Disruptive mooring practices at Jungfraujoch-Top of Europe.

Discussion

Mobility, interactivity as well as cultural convergence has condensed places into market commodities, so that place meanings are constantly rearticulated and recirculated. In this context, tourist destinations are comparable to the texture of a colorful patchwork: made up of a diverse “scraps of interwoven communicative threads” (Adams and Jansson, 2012: 308), including strategic and organic promotion, fictive representations, and digitally augmented tourist messages. As the analysis demonstrated, destination texture is also the site of ideological reproduction and negotiation of how space and communication is to be organized. Dominant tourist performances which signified the Alps for centuries are now disrupted and destabilized by new signifying practices (cf. Hall, 1997). Departing from Lefebvre’s (1991 [1974]) trialectical framework, this article recorded these unfolding textural transformations, by deconstructing the entanglements of representational, performative, and imaginary dimensions of Swiss tourist space.

The analysis charted the “Indianization of Switzerland” and emergent signifying practices in the wake of cultural contraflows from the global Indian film industry. First, a carefully selected set of films (between 1964 and 2008) was deconstructed to identify imaginaries of Switzerland projected by Bollywood to Asian audiences. The representational analysis revealed that Bollywood has consistently portrayed Switzerland as a dreamscape of romantic love as well as a space for leisure and travel, although with little or no references to particular locations. In the latest productions, there is an increasing focus on showcasing desirable consumer identities and preferences. This commoditizing gaze mixes traditional Hindi imageries of love-play with sensuous advertising aesthetics from tourism and luxury goods. Hence, Bollywood films consolidated a spatial conception of Switzerland as a commodity, which represents, above all, a stage for romantic rituals and identity positioning on the dating market.

To some extent, Bollywood imaginaries are compatible with the European imagination of Alpine destinations as exclusive retreats or active thrillscapes for the wealthy. Yet, they also present crucial differences with regard to the appreciation of nature and the outdoors, so dominant in European cultural history. Romantic imagination treats the Alps as a space of contemplation and relaxation, signified by laid-back leisure practices. Later, during the early days of Alpinism, Swiss landscapes and mountain wilderness was elevated into a stage to perform physically demanding outdoor activities. The imaginary created by seventeenth-century explorers is still valid; present-day mountaineers and skiers regard Switzerland as an adventure playground with character-molding hazard and challenges. In contrast, Bollywood’s imaginaries of Switzerland entirely lack the ethos of understated luxury, solitary reflections, or masculine narratives of discovery and quest.

As a consequence, Asian tourists in Swiss destinations primarily engage in activities that signify urban practices, such as sightseeing, shopping, and staging romantic spectacles. These consumption preferences are duly accommodated in the bigger towns. Both Luzern and Interlaken are becoming cosmopolitan tourist destinations, with highly skilled international staff, creolized foodscapes, and high street fashion stores branded by Asian celebrities. In fact, these destinations are turning into extended lifestyle malls, where the wider surroundings are also ordered into spaces of hyperconsumption. The highest chocolate factory and Swiss watch shop on the top of Jungfraujoch is an excellent example of mountain space being entangled in urban textures of gastronomic, cultural, or fashion consumption. However, the practices shaping and shaped by lifestyle malls are both global and transcultural, hence not specific for Switzerland. From Dubai to Macau, one can find similar, contrived shopping arenas, where indoor ski slopes and ice bars make the realm of snow and ice accessible for anyone.

Still, the experience of high altitude attractions of Switzerland carries the potential of real, sensuous explorations—unlike the artificial universe of shopping malls. Radically different ambient features (such as snow, low temperatures coupled with bright sun) augment as well as challenge the embodiment of Alpine spaces. Contrasted to the familiar romantic visuals of snowy peaks as an imaginary, the lived space of Jungfraujoch and Glacier3000 can be intriguing, but also alien and scaring. The findings highlighted coping practices (eclectic clothing, collective chanting) as well as playful material experiments (frolicking in the snow, posing with skis), through which international tourists performed being a mountain visitor for the first time. Some mooring and dwelling practices disrupted established habits of “appropriate” behavior in the mountains and triggered bemused comments from other tourists as well as service staff.

Apart from posing, dancing, and rolling in the snow, new tourist practices were not directly relatable to Bollywood films. They were equally performed by resident and nonresident Indian tourists as well other Asian groups (Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese). Very few respondents referred to DDLJ or other productions as the main trigger of their journey to Switzerland and instead mentioned other reasons for coming (because of the snow, the mountains, or the romantic landscape). It appears as if the repeated romantic representations of Switzerland became a standard tourism meme: “if it has to be romance or honeymoons, then go to Switzerland.” Bollywood’s incessant affection of Switzerland in the past 50 years has significantly strengthened the competitiveness of Central Switzerland and the Berner Oberland on the Asian market. On a broader level, Bollywood spurred new dynamics of regional development and innovations, by establishing cross-sectoral synergies between the global fashion, travel and entertainment industry, and local tourism and retail operators.

Conclusion: implications for research and strategic placemaking

This article assessed the consequences of nonwestern mediatization of European space. It contributes with a solid multimodal analysis of Bollywood-induced transformations of Swiss destinations along the mutually constitutive aspects of spatial production. The conceptualization of research goals invoked Lefebvre’s (1991 [1974]) trialectics of space, and took inspiration in the notion of texture (Adams and Jansson, 2012; Jansson, 2007), to analyze the entanglements of place imaginaries, communicative practices, and material performances. The analysis demonstrated that texture has strong potential in mapping the transformational effects and spatial materializations of popular culture. Compared with singular (representational or performative approaches), textural analysis may reveal complex, inconspicuous, and hybrid tourist practices and has the ability to address key issues and ideological conflicts underlying transcultural mobilities. In order to reap the full potentials of texture analysis, there is need for more methodological work that refines and operationalizes it as a research instrument in its own right.

The governance perspective of nonwestern placemaking is equally relevant research perspective for the future. The textural transformations of Switzerland presented in this article pose important challenges for destination branding and marketing practitioners. Despite the ever-increasing number of Asian tourists, a nonwestern sense of place and cultural contraflows are virtually absent in Swiss destination marketing materials. Websites and brochures are still dominated by White, middle-class couples/families and traditional tourism performances, while Asian/cosmopolitan tourist preferences and practices are largely ignored. Some sites along Bollywood’s beaten track are becoming contrived lifestyle malls, consolidating the status of Switzerland as a commodity, which targets untenable forms of global urban consumption. If place marketers recognized the potential in alternative narratives, playful embodiments of natural landscapes as well as the desire for cultural exchanges, this could open the way for more sustainable commodification strategies that are embracing both community and new visitor preferences. Balancing and combining established imaginaries with global popular cultural projections (rather than silencing or keeping them apart) may provide innovative opportunities for destinations targeting overseas markets.

Footnotes

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Szilvia Gyimóthy

Author biography

Szilvia Gyimóthy is an associate professor at the Tourism Research Unit, Department of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University in Denmark. Her primary research focuses on transformational placemaking, which highlights complex relationships between popular culture, globalization, tourism, and mobility. In the past few years, Szilvia has studied commodification strategies and competitive differentiation of European destinations along culinary inventions, outdoor adventures and Bollywood productions, as well as disruptive collaborative movements and platforms.

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