RGS Tourism and Development Session
Session Convenors:
- Dr Sheena Carlisle, Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Events, Cardiff Metropolitan University. Email:scarlisle@cardiffmet.ac.uk
- Dr. Caroline Scarles, Department of Tourism, University of Surrey. Email: C.Scarles@surrey.ac.uk
Abstract:
Reflecting the theme of the RGS-IBG annual conference, this session seeks to explore the ways in which tourism development mobilises manifestations or security within tourism destinations. In particular, the session focuses not upon interpretations of security in relation to issues such as terrorism, fear or vulnerability in touristic encounters, but rather upon developing confidence in stakeholder practices, partnerships and collaborations that mobilise peace, security and well being of tourists and residents via: knowledge exchange and transfer, language, opportunities for learning and education, cultural interaction and understanding through touristic encounters (see Moufakkir and Kelly 2010). Indeed, while realising the importance of understanding the impacts and potentially destructive forces of tourism that are addressed within the rich literature of sustainable tourism (Sofield 2003; Weaver 2006; Hall, Gossling and Weaver 2009; commodification and cultural stagnation (see Greenwood, 1978, Jafari 1996; Boniface 1998), exploitation or repression through the host-guest relationship (Smith 1983; Boissevain 1996), or the inherent selectivity of the tourist product as focusing on that which is distorted by the romanticised tourist gaze (Urry 1990 and 2001 ), are all ongoing impacts that underlie the need for effective partnerships and collaboration. This session calls to attention the opportunities afforded by tourism for generating positive, mutually beneficial exchanges between stakeholders that generate and nurture opportunities via mutuality in behaviour and practice. This is not to deny the complex pluralities of motivations, opinions and principles underpinning the behaviour of agents within the tourist experience, but rather is to explore the unfolding opportunities of mutuality of experience that may arise. Thus, security as it is performed and constructed, facilitates an emergent hopefulness through mutuality that can renegotiate instances of frustration, fear, indifference and insecurity that permeates (to varying degrees) through many destinations. The aim of the session is therefore to explore theoretical and empirical applications of how tourism can mobilise improved cultural understanding and relations, as well as economic and social frameworks between stakeholders in the tourist experience.
The session therefore welcomes papers that address security and tourism through issues such as:
- Migration and labour opportunities and emergent mobilisation of skills, knowledge and expertise,
- The role of Government and industry (e.g. leading by example, examples of best practice, advisory codes, corporate social responsibility, providing knowledge-based experiences, regulation and legislation)
- Ethical consumption and empowering the tourist as knowledgeable, active and skilled consumers,
- Reconceptualising the host: mobilising autonomy and empowering residents
- The importance of understanding, appreciation and empathy in stakeholder relationships
- Interplays of stakeholder agency, power and politics in the tourist experience
- Identifying the challenges of mobilising security and mutuality within the tourist experience
- Theoretical conceptualisations of security in tourism
Deadline for Abstracts: 31st January 2012
See www.rgs.org/ac2012 for more details on the conference
