Sustaining places and participatory sport tourism events

Participant-based sport events like ultramarathons are becoming increasingly popular but little is known about how they influence key stakeholders’ understandings of place and how these understandings fit into the tourism discourse on sustainability. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to gain insight into the sustainability of this type of active sport tourism event by examining the way that residents and visiting runners understand place (Grande Cache, Canada) in the context of the Canadian Death Race (CDR) ultramarathon. Interviews about place inclusive of a photo elicitation component were conducted with 15 residents and 20 visiting runners during the 2014 event. Thematic analysis resulted in the identification of four themes including: identity, dependence, physical setting, and social setting. Although they shared basic understandings of Grande Cache as a place of industry surrounded by nature, residents expressed stronger place identity than runners. Runners identified more with the activity of running but were connected to Grande Cache through place dependence and embodied experience. This discrepancy suggests that the sustainability of the CDR is at risk. Runners currently exhibit a high level of place dependence on Grande Cache, but a growing supply of race options poses a substitution threat.     

Branding the destination versus the place: The effects of brand complexity and identification for residents and visitors

This article contributes to a broader understanding of how the branding of places affects both residents and tourists. While branding often relies on simplified messages, the effectiveness of such strategies for complex brands remains questionable. Residents in particular possess a confounded knowledge of the place and could disagree with simplified destination brands. To test the role of brand complexity for residents and tourists, we conducted two empirical studies (N = 765; N = 385), showing that, for residents, positive place attitude (i.e., place satisfaction, identification, and attachment) and place behaviour (i.e., positive word-of-mouth) increase with a higher brand complexity. The second study shows that the positive relationship of brand complexity is stronger for residents than for tourists, supporting the conclusion that brand complexity is relevant for place brands, but that the place brand for residents requires more complexity than a destination brand, while it imperative that both are integrative parts of an overall brand.     

Learning to leisure: femininity and practices of the body

Within this paper, I conceptualise practices of the body that are learnt and deployed as part of feminised body work within the cultural context of girls’ leisure. These are practices of the body that are engaged by young women in ways that allow them to (re)construct their subjectivities as well as ‘negotiate a physical sense of themselves’. Therefore, this paper begins by mapping the theoretical foundations upon which the analysis of femininity is couched. Predicated upon debates that distinguish between the girl as a passive, duped recipient of culture’s pedagogical signs and the girl as an active, autonomous ‘freely choosing’, ‘freely consuming’ citizen, I draw out the ways in which young girls’ body practices can shed light on the complex relationship between ‘choice’, agency, consumption and subjectivity. Drawing on data collected from workshops and focus groups, I locate consumption, body management and beautification as constituents and simultaneously constitutors of leisure time. I thus offer insight into the ways in which a group of twenty 13-year-old girls who attended a private (fee paying) school in the West of England account for, maintain, develop, and in places resist, localised appearance cultures. Structured around certain leisure activities – reading magazines, shopping for clothes, eating, engaging in physical activity, applying beauty products, make-up and hair styling – this paper concludes by highlighting the ways in which wider cultural discourses are having embodied effects and are being consumed, not without consequence, as commonplace everyday preoccupations.     

文学旅游地的社会文化建构:以凤凰古城为例

该研究基于文化环及其拓展理论,通过定性和定量相结合的方法探讨了凤凰古城作为文学旅游地的文化生产和消费。结论指出:(1)沈从文及其文学作品所构建的文学世界中的"湘西世界",旅游开发者和经营者所构建的"现实中的边城"与旅游者的"口碑中的凤凰古城"共同构建了"想象中的凤凰古城",即待阅读的"凤凰古城文本",并使这一文本公共化;(2)作为文化消费者,旅游者在文学旅游地的构建与重构过程中扮演了重要的角色,是联系整个社会文化建构过程的纽带。在此基础上,本研究构建了一个新的旅游地社会文化建构模型,以期对旅游地的文化生产和消费相关研究及具体应用进行补充和拓展。     

Social impacts as a function of place change

This paper argues that both impacts felt by and attitudes to tourism are a function of place change. Destinations are comprised of three types of place: tourism, non-tourism and shared. It is believed attitudes are generally positive when stasis exists among the three types, but deteriorate during periods of rapid place change. Likewise, impacts are felt when place changes, especially when non-tourism place is transformed into either shared or tourism place. This proposition is tested through a meta-analysis of more than 90 journal articles examining social impacts of tourism. Nine types of place change were identified as well as a relationship between place change and lifecycle stage.     

Forms of body usage in tourists’ experiences of flamenco

This study explores the role of the human body in tourism and focuses on cultural tourists’ experiences of flamenco dance and music in Seville, Spain. It is suggested that the tourists who fully engage in flamenco activities use their bodies towards different ends. First, through disciplined practice, tourists seek to remedy a lack of self-esteem. Second, bodies are used in order to fulfill the need for self-expression and self-exploration. Third, tourists use flamenco as a means to differentiate themselves from other social groups, and bodies are used to contest established social structures. These findings point to the centrality of the body in understanding tourists’ practices and the construction of embodied identities.     

More than just a cuppa coffee: A multi-dimensional approach towards analyzing the factors that define place attachment

This study primarily sought to examine whether Filipinos who frequent local coffee shops experience place attachment within the context of physical, social, cultural and environmental dimensions. It also measured how the characteristics of a third place, with home being first and workplace as second, are typified in the local coffee shops. Discussions elicited from a series of focus groups and insights from interviews with key players of the Philippine coffee industry served as reference in developing the survey questionnaire and in analyzing the survey results. Using random sampling, 272 respondents from seven coffee shops within the Greater Manila Area were selected to participate in the survey. Emotions and attitudes were considered in measuring the extent of attachment or non-attachment by the respondents to the coffee shops. Interrelationships among indicators and dimensions of attachment together with characteristics of a third place were measured through bivariate and canonical correlations.Findings revealed that physical and social dimensions defined the respondents’ attachment to the coffee shops. Data also showed that most of the characteristics of a third place are typified in the coffee shops surveyed. The study provides a new perspective of how Filipinos view coffee more than just a product but as an experience, or both. Paralleled to these results is the need for capacity maximization in creating marketing strategies that would accelerate the company's revenue growth and thus enhance customers’ coffee shop experience.     

The ideology of class and tourism confronting the discourse of advertising

Starting from Baudrillard's analysis of the ideological character inherent in all consumption, touristic consumption, for many reasons ,has a special place in this social semantic. Here, advertising plays an important if not essential role because tourism is a product consumed outside of normal time and daily social space. Therefore the social semantic asserts itselfless through the product itself than through its representation: the discourse of advertising. But advertising discourse is plural, each form having its own ideology, competing with others. Behind the commercial competition lies a competition of social classes, but with a new typology, no longer based on the capital/favor relationship. Four ideological models are analyzed and illustrated with their advertising messages: the traditional model, the clerical/executive model, the youth model, and the “intellectual class” model.     

Lessons from a conservation and tourism cooperative: the Namibian black rhinoceros case

Wildlife-based tourism is widely promoted as a conservation tool, yet controversy surrounds its net contributions. Procedural problems are under-appreciated and originate from an under-attention to people: their interactions, values at play, and matters of special, shared, and common interests. We offer a case in Namibia of black rhinoceros conservation tourism that attended simultaneously and systematically to the inter-related ecological and social processes involved. We demonstrate how an understanding of social context and the decision making process developed, how outcomes were evaluated and synthesized lessons into prototypic elements as a pneumonic that we term the ‘ACE approach’: (1) establish an Arena for inclusive, open debate; (2) identify and use Conservation-oriented messaging; (3) adopt participatory Evidence-based management for action, feedback, and learning.     

Events and online interaction: the construction of hybrid event communities

Events are per definition limited in time and space. However, the social interaction taking place during events can continue virtually. This can result in hybrid communities, existing of an offline and an online dimension. This paper explores the construction of hybrid event communities based on the following research questions: (1) What type of online practices can be identified before, during and after the event? (2) How do online and offline event practices and rituals influence each other? (3) How do combinations of online and offline practices contribute to the creation and maintenance of hybrid event communities?

The practices of three events were studied using qualitative methods. Fifty-six interviews were conducted, and participant observation took place during 11 editions of the events. This was complemented with an online study.

The findings identify different types of online practices around events such as connecting practices, recruiting practices and creative practices. Moreover, the combinations of practices lead to different types of event communities. The paper develops a framework of online/offline interaction processes that result in different types of event communities, contributing to our knowledge about the role that events can play in the contemporary network society.     

Creating family-friendly pub experiences: A composite data study

Pubs have traditionally been important social and community spaces, hosting multiple consumer segments. Successful pubs have broadened their appeal, for example by expanding their food provision and targeting family segments. However, little is known about the features and practices that make pubs appealing to families. Drawing on a ‘composite’ data set, consisting of 40 qualitative interviews and 387 responses to a directed online discussion thread, this paper examines what contributes to making pubs family-friendly. Data show how parental consumption intersects with parenting work, highlighting how physical and symbolic design features, tailored services, social interactions, and socio-material practices of the food offerings can shape consumption experiences positively and negatively. The paper thus contributes to practical knowledge by identifying how pubs can create family-friendly experiences. It also contributes to theoretical knowledge by conceptualising how ‘framing’ processes or effects, shaped by personal, situational and socio-cultural ‘imperatives’, influence consumer perceptions, behaviours and experiences.     

Tourism,place and placelessness in the phenomenological experience of shopping malls in Seoul

Despite the broad conceptualization of shopping malls as placeless, malls increasingly serve as popular tourist attractions and yet remain significantly under investigated in the tourism literature. With this in mind, this study investigates tourists' lived experiences and their implications for understanding contemporary manifestations of place and placelessness. It focuses specifically on shopping malls in Seoul, South Korea and adopts a phenomenological perspective to address two research questions: first, are there particular features that give rise to tourists experiencing shopping malls as placeless? And second, notwithstanding placelessness, what is the appeal of Seoul's malls to tourists? Findings propose that malls can be understood as a negotiated reality between the forces that create placelessness and those that enhance the appeal of malls. The study affirms contemporary notions of placelessness as symbiotic with experiencing place; reaffirming space as a production of human intention where social and cultural changes manifest themselves.     

BOOK REVIEWS

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the meanings recreationists tenting at an agricultural fair associated with the settings in which their fair experience occurred. Using a symbolic interactionist framework, our analysis of data collected through onsite observation and using photo-elicitation guided interviews illustrated that informants' place meanings were the product of interactive processes involving the individual, their social world and the physical setting. These interactions elicited meanings tied to place that were largely independent of the physical attributes that defined the setting. Most significant were specific place experiences shared with family and close friends. The importance attached to these relationships and experiences were embedded in the spatial contexts that encapsulated informants' fair experience. Findings from this investigation shed light on the social construction of place meaning within a built environment.     

EXPERIENCING FILM TOURISM: Authenticity & Fellowship

Authenticity, existential authenticity, sincerity, hyperreality and simulacra are overlapping concepts often used in accounting for the tourist experience. This study discusses these concepts in the context of a case study of Lord of the Rings film-induced tourism to New Zealand. Findings support an elaborated and extended version of authenticity that incorporates aspects of object and existential authenticity, sincerity of relationships and embodied experiences of place. These factors underpin tourists’ judgments and experiences of authenticity. Links are drawn between this analysis and the theoplacity framework for religious pilgrimage. It is concluded that value emanates not only from objects or sights but also from the moments of embodied interaction with place and others, which actively constitute those objects and sights.     

Beyond “culture”: A comparative study of forces structuring tourism consumption

Knowledge informing tourism management originating in Anglo-Western and/or capitalist societies is ill-fitted for understanding consumptive practices of tourists from societies with different socio-economic and political systems. Based on 75 interviews, this cross-national (China, Russia, U.S.A.) comparative research aims to delineate how tourism consumption is reflective of the broader social reality. Results shed lights on influential factors beyond personal agencies that include four society- (Economic development, Political shifts, Ideology, Wars/disasters) and three individual-level (Family, Life course mobility, Religion) consumption forming forces. We discuss the extent of these influences across the national contexts. Although the modus operandi in tourism is to understand tourism markets as global affecting a local environment, we argue that tourism consumption remains ingrained within a tourist's local societal contexts.     

From lost space to third place: The visitor's perspective

Although studies on place attachment in tourism have expanded greatly during the past decade, most have focused on nature-based settings, thereby neglecting the social dimension of place. The triadic relationship of activity involvement, place attachment, and visitor loyalty has received limited attention. In response, we investigated visitors' attachment to activities and settings within cultural creative districts (CCDs) in a manufacturing hub of China, with the aim to advance the theory of place attachment and elucidate geographic and psychological factors that can affect visitor experience. Results of an onsite questionnaire (n = 252) indicated that: 1) activity involvement positively affected place attachment; 2) attraction and social bonding were strong predictors of visitor loyalty. We identified a more effective way to implement CCDs as part of urban-regeneration strategies—namely, to become visitors' favourite third places, CCDs need to offer high-quality social encounters with a suitable mix of physical, cultural, and entertainment amenities.     

Micro-foundations of absorptive capacity in platform economy-based tour guiding companies

This study investigates individual absorptive capacity (ACAP) in a platform economy-based tour guiding company. In such companies, guides are not employees but work as freelancers that sell their services to the company. The study's objective is to explore the knowledge-sharing dynamics between lower company management, who depend on the guides' knowledge for product development, and guides, who need incentives to share their knowledge with a company that they work with, rather than for. Methodologically, the study is based on data collected through embeddedness in a relevant case company, consisting of in-depth interviews, as well as participant and direct observation. The study characterizes central ACAP processes in the study context, pointing to five specific categories of micro-foundations that drive or hinder these processes: experience and knowledge, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, (meta-)routines, social integration mechanisms and leadership. Finally, recommendations are provided on how to improve ACAP processes in these types of companies.     

Psychological contributions to the study of leisure—Part one

In this paper, the reasons for the current popularity of multiplex cinemas as sites of nighttime leisure and recreation in the UK is explored. By definition, such cinemas offer a choice of films and viewing times, are usually located in a peripheral urban location and provide free and plentiful parking. Drawing on interviews conducted in Leicester (UK), it is argued that multiplexes are popular with particular audiences because they provide a form of ‘going out’ that facilitates the maintenance of bodily comfort and ontological security. The paper accordingly concludes that we can only understand the appeal of multiplex cinemas by considering the embodied geographies of cinema going - a leisure practice that involves the consumption of place as well as the visual consumption of film.     

Health clubs and body politics: aesthetics and the quest for physical capital

At present, the western world wrestles with an obesity epidemic whilst, paradoxically, maintaining a fascination for the aesthetic ideal body. With the Scottish health and fitness industry providing the empirical backdrop, and drawing on the work of Bourdieu, this paper critically reflects upon processes of embodied production and consumption and the quest for physical capital and its referential symbolism. Using a range of qualitative methods across three case study facilities it is argued that as consumers seek to attain desired forms of physical capital, health and fitness clubs serve both to capitalize on and perpetuate cycles of embodied dissatisfaction. Although willingly subjecting their bodies to constant ocularcentric and objectifying processes, consumers are constantly reminded of their failure to attain the physical capital they desire. These processes not only mirror modern consumerism but also highlight a process of self‐imposed domination. With external medical and media discourses exerting persistent pressure on the embodied state, desire for physical capital produces a self‐legitimating and regulatory regime perpetrated upon the self within the internal environment of the health and fitness club. Therefore, as a venue for playing out aesthetic politics, health and fitness club spaces are anything but healthy as they oil the desire and dreamscape of physical capital, maintaining an aesthetic masochism and thus keeping the treadmills literally and economically turning.     

“I recycle,I turn out the lights”: understanding the everyday sustainability practices of backpackers

As holidays merge more intimately with the everyday lives of an increasing number of people, questions of sustainability in tourism contexts become ever more urgent. Using the concept of everyday practices, in which sustainability is thought to emerge in the routines of people going about their day-to-day lives, this mixed-method study aimed to understand how sustainability figures in the practices, of backpackers. Findings revealed sustainability to be of minimal concern to most backpackers who nevertheless performed a range of sustainable practices but unintentionally. Environmental sustainability was practised via reduced resource consumption and waste, economic sustainability by working and spending more money overall than other tourist types, and social sustainability through demonstrating cultural respect and community participation. The main factors encouraging sustainable practices amongst backpackers were their low-budget focus and their use as a labour source by industries that require temporary and flexible workers. When backpackers were employed, each facet of sustainability became mutually reinforcing. The results of this study are in contrast to usual perceptions of tourism as a time in which norms of sustainable behaviour are suspended, as backpacking was found to provide opportunities for the performance of more sustainable practices compared to home.