Transformative tourism: Tourists' drawings, symbols, and narratives of change

Using the theoretical lens of Interaction Ritual Chains theory, the study investigates how transformative tourism narratives are symbolized by transformed tourists. Transformative tourism focuses on pushing tourists out of their comfort zone, encouraging inclusive worldviews, promoting cross-cultural understanding and social empowerment. A creative qualitative multi-method approach is utilized where transformed tourists draw, answer sentence completions, participate in in-depth interviews, and interpret the symbols associated with their transformative narratives. Those narratives can be used by practitioners to market the unique nature of transformative tourism by using symbols that resonate with prospective transformative tourists and aligns with their desire to travel in a way that positively benefits destination residents.