Tourism and equine heritage in France: the case study of the Cadre noir de Saumur and the Vendée Stud

ABSTRACT

The intention of this research project was to question the ability of tourism to promote the conservation of equine heritage in its diversity. I undertook two case studies examining emblematic examples in France: the ‘Cadre noir de Saumur’, the main depositary of Equitation in the French Tradition inscribed on the UNESCO list, and the Vendée Stud, in the Pays de la Loire. This was a qualitative project including a total of 32?h of in-depth semi-structured individual interviews with 15 stakeholders at the ‘Cadre noir de Saumur’, at the Vendée Stud and at the Ministry of culture in Paris between September 2017 and April 2019. The interviews were combined with a total of around 40?h of participant and non-participant observations, conducted during several on-site visits. The results are nuanced. Both sites demonstrate that tourism can contribute to the revaluation of this equine heritage, but it necessitates the incorporation of a profound socio-cultural change, including a redefinition of the way the horse is used. This evolution is based on the ability of the stakeholders to incorporate a tourism culture, one which requires the inclusion of multiple skills but also an ability to devise joint cultural mediation projects with local communities.     

Re-thinking Anne: representing Japanese culture at a quintessentially Canadian site

ABSTRACT

The Anne of Green Gables National Heritage Site in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada, centers around the farmhouse where author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, was raised, and serves as the setting for her classic novel, Anne of Green Gables (1908). This is thus a heritage site about a fictional character, but very real and historical to the author of the well-loved book. This paper centers on a 2015 visit to the site, where I encountered not only the expected thousands of Canadian pilgrims traipsing up and down ‘Lover’s Lane’, but a half-dozen Japanese college students interning for the summer – in costume, scattered around the site, demonstrating Japanese crafts and games for tourists. As a visitor to the site, I found myself asking: How do these Japanese traditions fit into the interpretation of this most quintessential of Canadian sites? And, how does their presence alter the touristic encounter for both Canadian and Japanese visitors? The presence of Japanese interpreters at the site will thus be used to interrogate notions of the production of knowledge about ‘the other’, as well as pointing to the creation of new narratives about cultural tourism, challenging traditional notions of heritage and authenticity.     

Tourist narratives about the dissonant heritage of the Borderlands: the case of South-eastern Poland

ABSTRACT

One of the important effects of the political transformation after 1989 in Eastern Europe is the development of tourism and increasing mobility of citizens from many countries, previously separated by the ‘Iron Curtain’. The process of economic and socio-cultural change justifies the debate regarding the future, but also on the legacy of the past. As for South-eastern Poland, tourism has been used as an important narrative tool for spreading, strengthening or weakening ethnic and national stereotypes by promoting cultural resources and performances that enable cooperation and mutual understanding. However, it can also be a source of potential fears or conflicts, for instance by creating controversial tourist attractions and stories about certain historical events. This paper discusses strategies of ‘past presencing’ of the heritage of South-eastern Poland border regions in public life, culture and tourism, drawing on a few examples which show different ways of restoring the memory of the former Eastern Borderlands. The theme village called ‘The Borderland Settlement’ and the historical reconstruction ‘Volyn 1943–2013’ relate to the main myths and the active memory concept that frame tourist narratives and contribute to the reinvention and reinterpretation of dissonant heritage.     

‘Personal memory tourism’ and a wider exploration of the tourism−memory nexus

This paper investigates the varied intersections between tourism and memory. It begins with a brief consideration of the parallel developments between the emergence of the ‘memory boom’ and that of the ‘tourism boom’, as well as the academic fields of memory studies and tourism studies, respectively. Memory is a crucial factor in choosing a destination; it impacts on the tourist experience at the destination and on the sharing of the experience with others after the trip, notably through narration, photography, and memory objects, such as souvenirs. Both memory and tourism rely on media and representation and on audience and consumption; both are allied with processes of identity formation. It is argued that tourism drives the memory boom as much as memory drives tourism. Bartoletti's [(2010). “Memory tourism” and the commodification of Nostalgia. In P. Burns, C. Palmer, & J.-A. Lester (Eds.), Tourism and visual culture (pp. 23–42), Vol. 1. Wallingford: CABI] conceptualization of ‘memory tourism’ as overlapping but distinct from ‘heritage tourism’ and Timothy's [(1997). Tourism and the personal heritage experience. Annals of Tourism Research, 24(3), 751–754] concept of ‘personal heritage tourism’ are discussed as foundations for what is then defined as ‘personal memory tourism’. The latter revolves around travel associated with personal memories – not only the revisiting of places associated with happy memories, but also the return to sites of personal trauma and suffering in a quest for healing.     

Tourist stereotypes and servers’ attitudes: a combined theoretical approach

Local attitudes towards tourism comprise one of the most researched topics in tourism. However, researchers still need to examine attitudes of specific local groups, acknowledge tourist stereotypes as an influential factor and test different theoretical approaches, to develop a broader understanding and explanation of attitudes. Based on an emic perspective, this study analysed servers’ stereotypes of a specific group of tourists – locally known as chilangos – and associated attitudes in a Mexican resort. By adopting a combined theoretical approach drawn from social exchange theory and integrated threat theory, this study’s results reveal that individuals who depend economically on tourism do not always have positive attitudes and that negative stereotypes on their own are not the strongest predictors of attitudes. By combining both theories’ postulations, the findings show that perceived economic benefits and personal positive contact together account for positive attitudes but that these factors are significantly counterbalanced by negative tourist stereotypes. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Wunderkammer 02 : An Exhibition of Art,Craft and Souvenirs from World Heritage Sites in Tasmania and Far North Queensland

With its focus on the regions of Tasmania and Far North Queensland, this exhibition (30 August – 20 September 2002) examines the objects and artworks collected today in the tradition of the Wunderkammer. It brings together artists and craft people who, in some way, have engaged with the tourist aesthetic and economy of souvenirs. Central to this project is a study of the representation of place culture and heritage through the agency of tourist art and souvenirs.     

Not a ‘museum town’: discussions of authenticity in coastal Denmark

ABSTRACT

This article investigates community perceptions of authenticity in connection to the fishing and tourism sectors and the relationships therein. Inspired by fieldwork in three Danish coastal communities, the article attends to discussions on fishing, tourism, and change, in which residents referred to ‘museum’ or ‘museum town’ as shorthand for an undesirable transformation. The article answers: (1) what are the underlying concerns of becoming a ‘museum town?’ and (2) how is authenticity employed by community members in connection to desirable and undesirable outcomes of transition? The analysis probes the ‘museum town’ expression as a means to understand host communities’ relationship to the fishing and tourism sectors and their expressed interest toward authenticity. Empirical material from semistructured interviews and ethnographic field observations initiates the thematic analysis, which then continues with a theoretical reflection on authenticity. Coastal community members understood authenticity through demonstrations of realness, waterfront and community activity, and a desired independence for the fishing industry. Being authentic required a working fleet, which carried deeper implications for transformation and the complementarity of tourism, as opposed to its suitability as a substitute for the fishing industry. Calls for the fishing industry to remain independent highlight the importance for cross-sector dialogue for local development.     

Provincetown queer: paradoxes of ‘identity,space, and place’†

Provincetown, MA, located at the tip of Cape Cod, has transitioned over the twentieth century from a predominantly Portuguese fishing village to a magnet for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals and queers, both as tourists and year-rounders. Newcomers have fostered change – economically, socially, and culturally – to which the town's predominantly straight old-timers have responded with a libertarian, generally accepting stance. Accommodation to newcomers – both ‘good gays’ and ‘sexual rebels’ – with its attendant social and cultural challenges, has not been without conflict. Today, economic gentrification and an influx of workers of color test the community's resolve to maintain and promote a culture of diversity and acceptance, as members cope with ever-more challenging economic issues, including escalating housing, and living costs. Provincetowners also confront other troubling demographic changes, especially declining school enrolments caused by the so-called ‘straight flight’ and an ever-increasing number of households without children, reflecting the transition to a GLBTQ majority. Today Provincetowners retain an edgy, risqué lifestyle, where community decisions are negotiated through small-town democratic institutions, and where citizens intersect across social, economic, and cultural divides. This paper examines Provincetown as a laboratory to interrogate how citizens accommodate others, as they grapple with uncertainties inherent in a predominantly seasonal – and diverse – tourist economy.     

The tourist experience of domestic VFR travellers: the case of Hungary

Visiting friends and relatives (VFR) is the main driver of domestic travel in many countries. This study is one of the first to analyse VFR travel from a perspective of tourist experience. This study aims to investigate the complex dynamics behind VFR-related travel, especially in aspects of trip activities and tourist experience formation. Based on a survey (N?=?879) examining domestic VFR travellers’ trip activities in Hungary, the paper discusses the formation of a tourist experience in context of short-haul domestic VFR travel, especially the role of influencing factors. The results reveal differences between the segments with trip motivation of visiting friends (VF) and visiting relatives (VR) – the two main types of VFR tourists. It was found that independent variables such as VF, staying for longer and participating in leisure and tourism-type activities have a positive effect on tourist experience evolvement; however, factors such as VR, being rather passive during such a visit and focusing on social acts and bonding negatively affect the formulation of a tourist experience. The paper’s novelty and uniqueness lies in applying a new perspective of analysing and discussing VFR travel: the theoretical concept of tourist experience formation.     

Historical blueprints of tourists’ paths from Poland to the former USSR

ABSTRACT

This article is a contribution to the developing body of research on tourism within the region of the Central and Eastern Europe. Our aim is to explore if and how Polish tourists to the former Soviet Union incorporate a historic past in their imaginaries. Sixty interviews carried out between 2008 and 2012 are analysed in order to establish if there are references to the past in tourist accounts although the fact history was not a major travel motivation. We were also interested in how the past co-creates tourist experiences and destination images. We found out that tourists may question dominant versions of historic memory in their straightforward references to the past. We also discovered that sources of memory are multiple and include not only first-hand memory but also family memory as well as non-representational memory. Some tourists purposefully suppressed the past. We suggest that more attention should be paid to ‘traces’ of the past in tourism imaginaries.     

Analysing affects and emotions in tourist e-mail interviews: a case in post-disaster Tohoku,Japan

ABSTRACT

This paper contributes methodological discussions on collecting and analysing international tourists’ affects and emotions. The method of data collection used is electronic mail interviews, in some instances corroborated by participant observation in the field, whereas the methods of data analysis employed are affective mapping and emotionality of texts. Such methods of analysis capture the on-flow and contingency of the tourist’s experience in post-disaster places. E-mail interviews are becoming an increasingly widespread method of data collection. In post-disaster contexts, the potential of email interviews allows researchers to conduct fieldwork even when they cannot obtain face-to-face interviews, or in cases in which participants feel more at ease answering from their home and can take their time to respond. Twelve semi-structured e-mail interviews have been conducted in 2016 with international tourists who visited the Tohoku region, Japan, hit in 2011 by a triple disaster: an earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. To explore and better understand participants’ affective and emotional experiences, we exemplify affective mapping and emotionality of texts drawing on tools like linguistic features of e-mails, imagework, short stories and anecdotes.     

The impact of daily tour service quality on tourist satisfaction and behavioural intentions in an island context: a study on tours to Isla de la Plata,Ecuador

ABSTRACT

This study assesses the impact of daily tour service quality on tourist satisfaction and behavioural intentions in an island context. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the analysis of data collected from 195 participating in a daily tour to Isla de la Plata (Ecuador) showed that all the services examined (transportation by boat, food and beverage, tourist guide and visits) had a significant direct impact on tour satisfaction, having the transportation the highest impact. Moreover, the indirect effect of the daily tours services on behavioural intentions mediated by the satisfaction with the tour was also significant.     

Motivational determinates of creative tourism: a case study of Albergue art space in Macau

ABSTRACT

Creative tourism is a new genre of tourism eliciting active tourist participation in learning and experiences. This study explores tourists’ motivations for participating in creative activities, as well as their perceptions of authenticity following a visit to the Albergue Art Space located in Macau, SAR, China. Empirical results indicate that vernacular heritage, service quality and participatory experience are key determinates for developing creative tourism. Sightseeing, social contact, self-improvement and escape emerge as primary motivations for participating in creative activities. In addition, tourist perceptions of authenticity in the context of creative tourism encompass objective and existential components. This study proposes to incorporate aspects of participatory experience into creative tourism products.     

Lack of progress in tourist information search research: a critique of citation behaviour and knowledge development

ABSTRACT

Knowledge construction is a crucial factor in the development of any field of study. While empirical papers sustain knowledge development in a field, systematic analysis of the literature and critiques of influential papers are core components of high-level knowledge construction. The aim of this paper is to critically evaluate Fodness and Murray’s ([1999]. A model of tourist information search behavior. Journal of Travel Research, 37(3), 220–230.) seminal paper on information search and to assess how the model has been developed by the subsequent literature. A critique of the model highlighted that the original work had a number of shortcomings, particularly given recent advances in information technologies. The method consisted of a meta-analysis of 575 studies that cited Fodness and Murray’s work. The meta-analysis demonstrated that none of the subsequent studies attempted to further develop this well-cited model. The analysis also highlighted that many of the citations to the original study were superficial, and in some cases, incorrect, raising serious questions about citation practices in the tourism field more broadly. The main implication is that, in order to advance our understanding of tourism, we need robust studies that confirm and build on past research efforts to move the field forward.     

Urban transformation and diffusion of tourist practices: visiting Alcântara at the turn of the twentieth century

This article examines the effects of tourism on the transformation of the perception of the urban world. I aim at exploring the role that tourist practices have played in the evolution of the organisation and uses of urban spaces or, in other words, in the way the city has been experienced and lived. The development of tourist practices and situations has contributed to framing the discontinuous progress of urbanisation. To better understand this process, I propose to move beyond exploration of specific tourist contexts and places, and to think about the complex relationship between, on the one hand, the material and social arrangements of the city, and on the other, the discourses and representations produced around it. My research draws on a specific case study, namely: The transformation of representations of the Alcântara neighbourhood in turn-of-the-century Lisbon, from an industrial suburb to a popular and ‘urban’ place [Vidal, F. (2006). Les habitants d'Alcântara. Histoire sociale d'un quartier de Lisbonne au début du XXe siècle [The inhabitants of Alcântara. A social history of a Lisbon neighbourhood in the early twentieth century]. Villeneuve d'Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion]. During the turn to the twentieth century, Alcântara became ‘visible’ and ‘visitable’. The former industrial suburb was thenceforth perceived as a pleasant and urban place, both in a practical way (patent, for example, in the experience of walking down the streets or of visiting industrial sites) and in a symbolic way (through the construction of neighbourhood identities and heritage policies).     

Australian climate concern and the ‘attitude–behaviour gap’

Anthropogenic climate change poses considerable challenges to all societies and economies. One significant contributor to human-induced climate change is tourism transportation, particularly aviation. This paper addresses the relationship between climate change concerns, the energy-intensive nature of tourist consumption, and unrestrained tourist air travel behaviour in the context of Australia. Following Barr et al. [(2010). “A holiday is a holiday”: Practicing sustainability, home and away. Journal of Transport Geography, 18(3), 474–481], it seeks to understand public climate concern within the context of routine everyday (‘home’) lives and occasional tourist (‘away’) decision-making, with a specific focus on air travel. It draws upon 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted in Australia between March and June 2011. The findings highlight the contradictory nature of environmental concerns and consumption decisions in everyday and tourist contexts. This is evident in widespread domestic consumer practices that are motivated, all or in large part, by climate concerns, set against almost complete disregard and neglect of responsibility to modify existing air travel practices. Our results highlight the magnitude of the challenge involved in shifting deeply entrenched air travel behaviours despite the growing urgency of radical emission reductions. It also highlights the need to consider consumer responses to climate change not in isolation, but in relation to industry drivers and strong government policy interventions.     

Giving voice to heritage tourists: indicators of quality for a sustainable heritage experience at Petra,Jordan

ABSTRACT

The tourist experience should be placed at the heart of management and planning process to achieve the goal of sustainable heritage tourism. The concept of indicators and standards of quality, which emerged in the field of natural resources and outdoor recreation management as a conceptual framework for understanding visitors’ experiences, has been widely applied in nature-based parks rather than cultural heritage sites. This study applies the concept of indicators to heritage experience at Petra Archaeological Park in Jordan. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 29 tourists to understand the tourist experience at the park, and to formulate indicators of the tourism experience. Results suggest that cultural and natural scenic value, crowding, attractions accessibility, vendor persistence, and odor of animals waste are potential indicators for the tourism experience at the park. Related management implications and recommendations are also discussed.     

Resident perception of dark tourism impact: the case of Beichuan County,China

ABSTRACT

‘Dark tourism’ has become an accepted terminology in tourism academics, but there are omissions in its research. Often it concentrates on the nature of the event and the psychological consequences for tourist. Rarely has the research considered ideas of the local residents. This study thus examines the perceptions and attitudes of local residents. Beichuan County in Sichuan Province of China, where the Great Sichuan Earthquake occurred in 2008, was considered as the research site. Survey questionnaires were undertaken in site plus the use of the web to capture the views of younger family members no longer working in the immediate area. The total sample numbered 516 respondents. Analyses indicated that in the dark tourism contexts residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts confirm the three traditional dimensions – economical, socio-cultural and environmental; residents tended to form positive attitudes towards dark tourism development. ANOVAs particularly found that no differences existed in the perceptions and attitudes towards dark tourism development among people who had experienced different levels of sufferings or economic losses. Such observations help to solve the debates between the proponents and opponents of dark tourism. Based on the findings, discussions and dialogues with the literature are provided.     

Situating the tourist gaze: from appropriation to negotiation

For decades, scholars have emphasized the power of the Western tourist gaze to construct Third World destinations as the ‘Exotic Other'. Scholars have also shown that ‘Third World’ tourism fuelled by media fantasies of the Other represents neo-colonization in the twenty-first century. However, considering all its intentions/claims of impartiality, tourism research has generally travelled in only one direction (from the West to the East). In this study, conducted in Goa and Puducherry, focusing on the social contexts in which people are viewed and photographed, we ask – what do the ‘Third World’ people think of Westerners gazing at them, and their surroundings? How do Western tourists react when photographed by domestic tourists? What are the power relations within which the photographer and the photographed are located? We recognize that no simplistic analyses are possible in the postcolonial context. Directing a critical lens at the tourist gaze, this essay moves from an understanding of the gaze as appropriating to that of the gaze as negotiated.     

Tourism and Afro-Antillean Identity in Panama

Throughout its history as a nation, Panama has emphasised its Spanish roots. Having become a postcolonial state, Panama now exploits its multiculturalism for the purpose of attracting tourists. In this context, Afro-Antilleans in the Archipelago of Bocas del Toro – historically marginalised and considered temporary migrants – are developing gendered and racialised identities for tourist consumption, in response to the state's tourism promotion and in pursuit of a complex cultural politics. Tourism provides an occasion for Afro-Antilleans to reposition themselves within the Panamanian nation, vis-à-vis the state and other ethnic groups. ‘Panamanian’ Afro-Antillean identities are also transnational, African and Caribbean; these constructions of difference in the touristic context are inevitably contradictory, at once national and diasporic. This paper explores these complexities and their complex origins: nationalism, regional and trans-Atlantic migration, and tourism. It concludes that so-called globalisation, in this setting, results in a proliferation of conflicting differences rather than in homogenisation.