The Working Class on Holiday: British Comedy in Benidorm and Classed Tourism

Abstract

In drawing from the popular TV comedy Benidorm this paper seeks to engage with research and discourses held around working class tourism. The paper will at first discuss Benidorm, focusing upon the characters within the show and asking how is social class presented and performed? And ask who or what are we really laughing at? The paper then moves to examine the background to the birth of the package holiday and the development of the mass tourism resort in Spain. It then draws on writing and research focused around social class and tourism, in particular the work of Andrews (2009, 2011b) and O’Reilly (2000). MacCannell’s (1999) focus on ‘authenticity’ in the tourist experience and Cohen’s (1979, 1988) modes of ‘doing tourism’ are then discussed. Throughout the paper Benidorm and its diverse characters are referred to in relation to the many theoretical ideas drawn on within the paper. In so doing the paper discusses how both working and middle class tourists are positioned in the show and how they are theorised within wider discourses held around tourism. This article suggests that the continued success of the show, and more importantly the resort of Benidorm itself reflect a worth for a much wider engagement with working class tourism and its embodied experiences.