I've studied the content in the tourist gaze in tourist guides concerning Sweden, Norway and Denmark written in Swedish and published between 1950-2000. I show how denial of coevalness is an important part in the tourist guides from the seventies and eighties but disappears during the nineties. In none of the cases the coevalness of locals or complete societies is denied; instead the gaze is directed to places and surroundings. When locals are described generalisation is used and there is always an invisible barrier with the locals placed as the Others In guides who concern Sweden this is attained through a regionalisation such as "Gotlandians" instead of "Swedes". I show how three categories or concept covers all the different types of generalisations that is made, generally praising, locals as experts and exotisizing.