Joseph Cheers speaks with Ethan Bottone about his research inot the Green Book.AbstractTourist homes, private residences that rented rooms to traveling guests, were once a popular form of tourist accommodation in the United States. Reaching their peak in the early 20th century, tourist homes largely became obsolete as hotels and motels were able to provide relatively inexpensive and standardized forms of hospitality. As a result of their meteoric rise and fall, and the private nature of the lodging, tourist homes have been neglected in studies of historical tourism and hospitality. However, tourist homes occupied an important position in providing welcome and other forms of hospitality to travelers, particularly Black Americans, in the first half of the 20th century, and this role deserves to be recovered and recognized. An exploration of tourist homes listed in the Green Book, a Black American-centric travel guide published during the Jim Crow Era, reveals that tourist homes not only lodged travelers overnight, but also significantly contributed to forms of mobile resistance against white supremacy. Specifically, through a conceptualization of hospitality as resistance, tourist homes enabled opportunities for Black Americans to gain economic and social capital through processes of welcoming and establishing ‘Black counterpublic spaces’. Particularly through constructions of home-like environments, tourist homes presented spaces that served as moorings within larger mobility networks, countering white supremacist attempts to immobilize and disadvantage Black Americans. Given these contributions to resistance and Black mobility, tourist homes deserve to be included in studies of tourism, hospitality, and Black geographies as important sites of welcoming, resistance, and resilience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Pratt interviews Dawn Gibson about their research in Samoa.ABSTRACTTourism is a global phenomenon yet non-Western travel and tourism mobilities are under-researched and lack theoretical development. In the South Pacific, a region which is increasingly receiving geopolitical attention, there is substantial knowledge of inbound tourism but outbound and domestic forms of travel are less known. To understand the travel and tourism mobilities of Samoans, a concurrent mixed methods design of surveys supplemented by interviews with both urban and rural Samoans was employed. Samoan understandings of travel and tourism are expressed via the concept of malaga, which has a range of meanings including ‘migration’, ‘movement’ or ‘travel back and forth’. For Samoans, travel was for cultural and familial purposes, including the maintenance of cultural bonds through fa’alavelave (traditional obligations) and visiting friends and relatives (VFR). The migration of Samoans to various Pacific countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the USA has generated more need for travel and has helped to make mobility a routine aspect of Samoan social life. The travel mobilities of both urban and rural Samoans were influenced by a mix of cultural and familial obligations, leisure and tourism goals, and work-related purposes, blurring the lines between tourism and other forms of mobility. This paper advances knowledge of Samoan forms of travel and tourism mobility, providing important insights into the travel practices of a Pacific Islander people at a time when the South Pacific is becoming a site of intensifying geopolitical competition. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Invited to Witness, Jennifer Lynn Kelly explores the significance of contemporary solidarity tourism across Occupied Palestine. Examining the relationships among race, colonialism, and movement-building in spaces where tourism and military occupation operate in tandem, Kelly argues that solidarity tourism in Palestine functions as both political strategy and emergent industry. She draws from fieldwork on solidarity tours in Palestine/Israel and interviews with guides, organizers, community members, and tourists, asking what happens when tourism is marketed as activism and when anticolonial work functions through tourism. Palestinian organizers, she demonstrates, have refashioned the conventions of tourism by extending invitations to tourists to witness Palestinian resistance and the effects of Israeli state practice on Palestinian land and lives. In so doing, Kelly shows how Palestinian guides and organizers wrest from Israeli control the capacity to invite and the permission to narrate both their oppression and their liberation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jaeyeon Choe speaks with Daniel Olsen about his researchCe Qu, Chaozhi Zhang, Shiwei Shen & Daniel H. Olsen (2022) Heritage conservation and communities’ sense of deprivation in tourism: the case of the Hani community in Yunnan, China, Tourism Geographies, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2021.2016936AbstractCommunities play a critical role in the development and maintenance of sustainable heritage tourism. However, conflicts often arise when these communities are ignored or marginalized in the heritage tourism development process. This paper examines whether the community located within the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, a World Heritage Site in China, views the designation and subsequent tourism development as beneficial or not. The findings show that there are significant differences in opinion between the local Hani people and non-Local Hani and outsiders who live in the heritage area. The local Hani feel a greater sense of deprivation due to de-empowerment and economic inequalities as compared with non-Local Hani and outsiders. This deprivation has reduced their motivation to conserve their own heritage, while the non-local Hani feel a greater sense of gain and a newfound appreciation for their personal and collective heritage identity. Frequent interactions between the two groups have led to local Hani people resisting the heritage preservation responsibilities enforced upon them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jamie Gillen interviews Niamh Espiner about her research on camping in New Zealand.You can reference it here:Niamh Espiner, Emma J. Stewart, Helen Fitt, Shannon Page & Stephen Espiner (2021) From tents and maps to vans and apps: Exploring camping mobilities, Tourism Geographies, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2021.1964588AbstractMobile camping in a tent or vehicle is an increasingly popular way for tourists to experience place and movement as part of their leisure travel. Allowing tourists to save money, stay close to attractions, and maximise flexibility in their travel, camping provides a convenient accommodation option for domestic and international tourists alike. In the past, camping research has often been conceptualised using theories related to place. Contemporary camping can be interpreted as increasingly mobile in both the movement of people and information, which complements traditional conceptualisations of camping in the literature and in management approaches. Through 17 exploratory qualitative interviews with camping managers in the Mackenzie and Waitaki Districts of New Zealand, this research considered camping manager perspectives on the increasing mobility of camping in New Zealand. Qualitative analysis of these interviews, using Cresswell’s mobilities concepts as a framework, revealed a dynamic camping landscape inextricably enmeshed with complex political meanings about campers and movement. The findings allow the characterisation of campers as Self-Sufficient Spenders, Basic Budgeters, and Kiwi Classics—each representing distinct profiles in relation to mobilities notions of rhythm and speed. Subsequently, we suggest that the increasing mobility of camping needs to be acknowledged both in management approaches and future conceptualisations of camping. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Pratt interviews Denis Tolkach about their paper: Globalisation and cultural change in Pacific Island countries: the role of tourismWhich can be found here: Denis Tolkach & Stephen Pratt (2021) Globalisation and cultural change in Pacific Island countries: the role of tourism, Tourism Geographies, 23:3, 371-396, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2019.1625071AbstractGlobalisation is often perceived as a threat to the preservation of traditional cultures. There are various approaches to understanding the impact of globalisation on culture. Pieterse’s three paradigms of globalisation and culture, clash of civilisations, McDonaldisation and hybridisation, provide a useful theoretical foundation for understanding how tourism impacts culture. The three paradigms of globalisation assess cultural change holistically. Cultural change in Pacific Island countries (PIC) due to globalisation, especially tourism’s role, in this change, is the focus. Data are sourced via interviews with various tourism stakeholders from Fiji, Tonga and Cook Islands. Tourism is only one driver of cultural change. Other forces include mobilities, migration, diaspora, geopolitical change, technology and popular culture. Examples of the clash of civilisations paradigm include geopolitical changes resulting in different tourism markets and the imitation effect from diaspora and tourists. Commodification of cultural performance for both tourist and local consumption and use of popular culture, for example the animated film Moana, are viewed as McDonaldisation of culture. Participants’ reflections on ongoing evolution of culture including the integration of PIC into the world economy, through increased mobilities and technologies, exemplify hybridisation. In general, the three PIC are found to be culturally resilient. Culture of these PIC is resilient with Pacific Islanders maintaining agency over change, however the impact of various globalisation factors demand effort in preserving culture in the long term. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jamie Gillen speaks to Julia Giddy about her recent research on uber in South Africa.You can read all about it here:Julia K. Giddy (2021) Uber and employment in the Global South – not-so-decent work, Tourism Geographies, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2021.1931955AbstractDue to its global standards and brand recognition, Uber has become an important form of transportation and is now found throughout the world. It has played a role in transforming local mobilities in many cities, particularly those lacking efficient public transportation options. Uber has played a particularly important role in increasing mobilities in places with security concerns, such as South Africa, due to their competitive rates, the accountability of drivers, and their innovative security features. Uber promotes itself as a peer-to-peer platform that connects drivers to riders, calling drivers ‘partners’, and vehemently dismissing any claims that it is an employer. The company advocates the ability of Uber to increase economic upliftment, particularly in the Global South. South Africa has staggering urban un-and-underemployment rates and, therefore, Uber can be seen as a potential tool for job creation or a means of supplementing low and inconsistent wages. A critical analysis of these claims demonstrates the manner in which Uber has emerged as an employment mechanism in South Africa within a ‘decent work’ framework. The findings are based on an analysis of detailed questionnaires distributed to Uber drivers based in South Africa as well as ethnographic research. It also draws on secondary sources, such as driver forums, newspaper articles and the Uber South Africa website. The findings demonstrate the many challenges faced by Uber drivers such as long working hours, low fares, subcontracting of drivers and concerns over driver safety. The paper introduces primary research in the form of driver surveys and questions the discourse propagated by the company as a mechanism for economic upliftment. In particular, the results show that working for Uber, according to these results, should not be considered decent work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Jamie Gillen interviews Jaeyeon Choe about her publication: Migration, tourism and social sustainabilityThe full article can be found here:Choe, J., & Lugosi, P. (2022). Migration, tourism and social sustainability. Tourism Geographies, 24(1), 1-8.AbstractIn practice, the distinctions between tourism and migration are blurred. Tourism often drives various forms of mobility, and an international workforce is central to maintaining functioning tourism economies. This piece sketches out some critical themes and issues concerning intersections of tourism and migration, considering their relationships with and impacts on social sustainability. It highlights the contradictory ways in which tourism and migration are approached as political, social and economic phenomena. Whereas tourism is often viewed more positively, migration is recurrently politicised, and seen to challenge social systems and cultural values, despite the reliance of tourism on migrant labour. The discussion outlines the relevance of social sustainability to studies of migration and tourism. These include the need to assess how tourism planning, development and governance of tourism impacts on the sustainability of communities, which consequently influences attitudes towards migrants and tourists. It also reflects on how migrant-local connections may evolve, creating opportunities for positive, symbiotic co-existence, alongside exploitative relationships. It concludes by inviting further studies examining new forms and interactions between migration and tourism, which considers how research can contribute to greater social sustainability. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joseph Cheer interview Revati Pandya about her recent research.Revati’s research and practice are in resource governance and community dynamics in India. Since 2011 she has worked in natural resource and protected area contexts, examining questions of local engagement with resources, forest rights, conservation governance and markets. Her work is grounded in understanding contexts, identities, positionalities and community dynamics in relation to structural processes. Her doctoral research was in political ecology of (eco)tourism and intersectional community dynamics at Corbett Tiger Reserve (Wageningen University and Research, Netherlands). She is currently a faculty in the School of Development at the Azim Premji University in Bangalore, India. The full paper can be read here:Revati Pandya, Hari Shankar Dev, Nitin D. Rai & Robert Fletcher (2022) Rendering land touristifiable: (eco)tourism and land use change, Tourism Geographies, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2022.2077425AbstractCritical research concerning ecotourism has revealed the activity’s socio-economic impacts, including low-wage employment-based dependencies for many rural communities. While these dynamics are important, a crucial aspect of the ecotourism industry that falls outside this conventional sort of dependency is land use dynamics, specifically land use change, sales and entrepreneurship. We examine these dynamics in Corbett Tiger Reserve, India, where promotion of (eco)tourism since the 1990s has influenced significant changes in local land use. These changes were initially facilitated by outsiders buying land and setting up hotels and resorts in villages adjoining the Reserve. Empirical research reveals that while this initial boom of outsiders buying land has waned, land owning villagers are now setting up tourism enterprises on their own land, thereby diversifying land use from agriculture to tourism. Critical agrarian research has shown that material and symbolic factors influence farmers’ decision-making regarding land use change. An agrarian studies perspective thus facilitates a nuanced understanding of tourism-related land use diversification and change. By bringing agrarian and ecotourism studies approaches together here, we contribute to both by emphasising the importance of (eco)tourism in agrarian change and of attention to land use change in ecotourism studies to understand how rural people negotiate and navigate (eco)tourism in relation to land use. We also contribute to tourism geographies more broadly by highlighting how land use decision-making shapes local spaces in the course of ecotourism development. We draw attention to the broader processes of and impacts of ecotourism that shift generational rural land use influenced by changing values of land outside a protected area. Rendering land touristifiable deepens villagers’ dependence on the market and alienates them from their land. Ecotourism commodifies nature, and we show that this commodification extends to rural land outside of ecotourism zones per se. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Mostafanezhad speaks to Heike Schänzel about Sexual politics in the field: gendered research spaces in tourism geographies.You can read the full article here:Schänzel, H. A., & Porter, B. A. (2022). Sexual politics in the field: gendered research spaces in tourism geographies. Tourism Geographies, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2022.2077426AbstractSexual violence and harassment in field research is an uncomfortable and under-discussed phenomenon in the social sciences. Tourism geographies, being cross-cultural, often require solo fieldwork that exposes one’s gender in geographically remote locations. There is a pressing need to normalise the discussion of sexual politics in the field, specifically concerning occurrences of gender-associated risks in fieldwork and report on the unexpected physical and mental health risks for women researchers. This study takes a feminist theoretical lens to unpack the hidden dimensions of women engaged in ‘voluntary’ risk taking by conducting field research in male-dominated research environments. Taking an exploratory approach within an interpretivist paradigm, this study is based on the fieldwork experiences of 13 women from diverse cultural and academic backgrounds with the participants sharing their subjective realities of researching in tourism geographies. A thematic analysis revealed the two key themes of risk/perceived vulnerabilities and wellbeing/care in the field as paramount for field research spaces for women, along with 11 subthemes. Findings reaffirmed the political nature of tourism geographies fieldwork and the need to challenge sexual politics and patriarchal domination, including for LGBTQ researchers. Further, the results highlighted the intersectionality of race and gender of women’s experiences of sexual violence and other risks in the field. Thus, the findings suggest an urgent need to provide an imperative for fieldworker safety, wellbeing considerations, and alternative ways of researching. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Jaeyeon Choe interviews Tom Jones about his recent published paper on zoning in World Heritage Site.The full paper can be found here:Jones, T. E., Bui, H. T., & Ando, K. (2022). Zoning for world heritage sites: dual dilemmas in development and demographics. Tourism Geographies, 24(1), 33-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1780631AbstractSince listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) in 1999, Hoi An Ancient Town in Vietnam has been transformed by tourism development with visitor numbers increasing more than sixteen-fold. Beyond positive economic impacts, tourism has generated considerable funds for conservation, with revenue assisting authentic restoration of the town’s historic center. However, tourism impacts have provoked criticism linked to social sustainability, examined in this paper using the core-and-buffer-zone principle - a neo-normative spatial planning framework. Our longitudinal, mixed-method analysis from development and demographic perspectives combines interviews and census data with spatial planning guidelines and maps. Findings show that architectural renovations, accompanied by stricter regulations and hierarchical World Heritage Site zoning, legitimized rapid development of Hoi An’s buffer zone in tandem with ‘museumification’ of the core, epitomized by the central clustering of traditional wooden architecture renovation projects. By 2010, population in the core had declined by 20% as ‘adaptive re-use’ of heritage buildings paved the way for conversion of private residences into shops or other services and the core transformed from living heritage into a tourism stage. Demographic and development trends reinforced the dual hierarchy, although attempts to mitigate museumification, including a series of craft villages around the perimeter, provided impetus for revitalization of the newly-expanded buffer zone. Our findings highlight certain implications of spatial zoning for social sustainability, pointing the way for better integration with adaptive re-use policies. Our study contributes to further the debate on social sustainability at a living heritage site by investigating the bipolarity between museumification of the core and concurrent development of the buffer zones. The implications of our study extend beyond the current context of developing Southeast Asia, as this paper draws parallels and expounds opportunities for more site-specific planning and management of World Heritage Sites. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Joseph Chee r interviews Eva Erdmenger about her recent publication on participatory destination governance.Eva C. Erdmenger (PhD) is currently working as a research associate at the University of Trier (Germany) where she also started her academic career in Applied Human Geography with a focus on tourism geography. Afterwards, she completed her Master’s degree in Tourism Destination Development at Dalarna University (Sweden). As part of her Master’s thesis, Eva specialized in tourism governance. Back at the University of Trier, she completed her PhD research project on inclusive urban destination governance, community PROsilience, and socially sustainable tourism development. From April 2023, Eva will be open to new challenges and is looking forward to the next step of her carreer.The full paper can be found here:Eva C. Erdmenger (2022) The end of participatory destination governance as we thought to know it, Tourism Geographies, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2022.2086904AbstractIn response to rising anti-tourism movements, the role of residents in destination governance has experienced a revival in tourism research. Participatory destination governance approaches have been advocated as problem-solvers for increasing conflicts, yet their implementation is still lacking. Besides a considerable amount of positivist research drafting the best participatory governance model, the socially constructed perspective of those who are supposed to participate has been widely neglected until now. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to reveal residents’ views on participating in tourism activities and destination governance processes. In pursuit of this, a mixed qualitative research method of focus groups and photo elicitation has been deployed in Copenhagen and Munich in 2020 following a social constructionist epistemology. The findings confirm that residents are not willing to participate in destination governance per se due to a lack of time, access, awareness, prioritization, knowledge, qualification, and opportunities. At the same time, residents were interested in a socio-cultural exchange with like-minded tourists and are generally proud to share their city. Ultimately, the perspectives of residents on tourism should be considered for the implementation of an inclusive urban destination governance. Via psychological, political, and social empowerment, destination governance should foster residents’ (1) motivation to connect with other city users (including tourists); (2) opportunity to influence local tourism development if they are affected by it; and (3) ability to benefit from local tourism (at least indirectly). Ultimately, by understanding how and to what extent residents’ are actually willing to participate in tourism and its governance enables tourism professionals to proactively realize a more resilient destination development while mitigating potential social conflicts caused by the renaissance of (over)tourism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joseph Cheer speaks to Loretta Bellato about her recent paper: Regenerative tourism: a conceptual framework leveraging theory and practiceThe full paper can be read here:Loretta Bellato, Niki Frantzeskaki & Christian A. Nygaard (2022) Regenerative tourism: a conceptual framework leveraging theory and practice, Tourism Geographies, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2022.2044376AbstractThe sustainable tourism development agenda is widely criticised for being co-opted to serve continual economic growth, driving environmental devastation and social inequalities. In response, calls for a fundamental paradigm shift have become louder. Subsequently, a novel approach has emerged, regenerative tourism, which belongs to a long lineage of regenerative development approaches drawing from Western science and Indigenous perspectives, knowledge systems and practices. The paper develops a conceptual framework consisting of five design dimensions and seven practice principles based on practitioner consultations and an appraisal of the theoretical and practical dimensions of regenerative tourism. Consequently, the conceptual framework offers practical guidance for tourism stakeholders working towards regenerative futures. Arguably, this is the most comprehensive review of regenerative tourism to date and contributes to scholarship through its examination of the transformational potential of the regenerative tourism paradigm and related approaches. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, the editors and members of the editorial board discuss the tips and tricks of how to get published in Tourism Geographies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Tourism Geographies Podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.