Fanship and imagination: The transformation of everyday spaces into Lieux D'Imagination

This project investigates fans who participate in media tourism, a niche facet of the tourist industry, at Platform 9 3/4 in King's Cross Station, London. The kaleidoscope of fans who gather at this single brick wall within the train station transform an everyday space into a lieux d'imagination, a place for fans to experience a collective social imagination (Reijnders, 2011a). This study adopts an anthropological perspective to explore the lived social experiences of tourists who visited the attraction. Findings reveal two central imaginative behaviors which advance the transformation: demarking space through impermanent theming, and entering an imagined world. Both theoretical and practical implications, such as expanding the understanding of tourist experiences and destination image, are discussed. Findings are transferable to other media tourism attractions and fan communities. (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.