Love, Romance, and Behavior: Finding Juliet, Finding Meaning

Abstract In Verona, Italy, one site attracts global tourist interest: the courtyard and balcony made famous in Shakespeare’s tragic play Romeo and Juliet. There is a collision of fact and fantasy in declaring this site to be the one in the famous play. More importantly, the contemporary space labeled as Juliet’s balcony is a commercial tourism hub, attracting a truly diverse international audience who are arguably at least intrigued by the potential for contact with a site embodying love and a tragic romance. Using the time tourists spent at the site as an organizer, combined with TripAdvisor ratings, the researchers revealed how authenticity was variously rejected, redefined, and constructed through the tourists’ behavior.