Staging Pilgrimage on Skopelos after Mamma Mia! (2008): Digital and Terrestrial Hospitality in Cinematic Tourism

The article explores the promotion of film-based tourism (cinematic tourism), with particular reference to the norms and practices regulating hospitality norms in the cybersphere and terrestrially. Focusing on the rumoured tourist boom in the Greek island of Skopelos after the release of the Hollywood musical Mamma Mia! (2008), it singles out the filmed site of Agios Ioannis. Carved on a steep rock, the chapel is currently promoted in digital networks as a destination for wedding tourists and hard-core cinematic fans. However, the staging of its digital tourist business is permeated by a heteronormative ethos that excludes Abba gay fans. The absence of this particular consumer group connects discursive circulations of honourable self-presentation in new digital public spheres to visuality, while excluding other sensory stimuli such as popular (Abba) music. This selectivity brings heteronormative discourses of MM tourism closer to elite versions of heritage/dark tourism.