Controversial Tourist Attraction of Oriental Cultures – India

The paper examines the influence of romanticized western visions of “oriental cultures,” on certain destinations. In this sense, the term “Orientalism” is first defined as a form of exoticism. The focus of the analysis is on controversial aesthetic experiences of travelers, as well as opposed tourist narratives relating to India and the Taj Mahal. India, as the distant Orient, has a long and rich history in the storytelling, myths and legends that spark the imagination of the West, as its irrational and enigmatic antithesis. At the same time, it is a paradigm of escapism, adventure, ecstasy, high spirituality, and oneiric travel. Therefore, in tourism promotion, India is often presented as an “absolutely different universe” that “shakes the soul” of visitors, in which “no one will remain indifferent” and where tourists will experience “a radical transformation of their own personality”.