Outdoor lighting design as a tool for tourist development: the case of Valladolid

Practices of outdoor illumination have dramatically changed in the last decades as functional lighting has progressively given way to a more qualitative vision of light. Its traditional role for security purposes has been progressively matched by the use of illumination for city beautification. This is now a major consideration for new lighting strategies. As a result, a growing number of European cities explicitly include the development of nocturnal tourism among the objectives of their lighting policies. However, little attention has been paid by academic research to this growing trend. Focusing on the internationally renowned lighting project ‘Ruta de los Rios de Luz’, this research paper explores the use of lighting design for tourism purposes. Through interviews with individuals who played an important role in the project, the discussion below scrutinizes the lighting design decisions and the economic, environmental and political objectives that inspire the growing utilization of spectacular forms of illumination for tourism purposes.     

Becoming ‘enchanted’ in agro-food spaces: engaging relational frameworks and photo elicitation with farm tour experiences

Abstract

Ecofeminists maintain that seemingly diverse and naturalized socio-ecological issues are in fact rooted within a particular cultural framework that perpetuates inequality and severs relationships among human and more-than-human communities. This important yet perhaps abstract understanding can be made tangible via examination of the ‘conventional’ food system, in which human and more-than-human communities are simultaneously otherized, marginalized, and exploited, realities largely hidden in a global industrial food system that disconnects production from consumption and obscures embedded relationships. Yet as consumer awareness rises, more people wish to know and move closer to the sources of their food, fueling community-based agro-food alternatives. When endowed with an ethic of care, such alternatives can be transformative for individuals and communities across scales.

This article situates conventional and alternative agro-food systems within relational frameworks of ecofeminism and care ethics and uses participant-driven photo elicitation (PDPE) to engage with experiences of consumers participating in a community farm tour. Findings suggest that such ‘enchanting’ experiences can begin to (re)embed food ‘products’ within contexts of place, people, and process, contributing to a relational consciousness that is central to an ethic of care. Findings also illustrate that PDPE can serve as a valuable window into experiences of reconnection, particularly useful for feminist researchers interested in learning more about enchantment and the transformational potential it holds.     

TEFL tourism: the tourist who teaches

ABSTRACT

There is evident lineage between the concepts of teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) and tourism, represented through evocative marketing material, the commoditisation of the TEFL product, teacher motivations and experiences. Yet, to date there has been little attention paid to this relationship. The amalgamation of the two concepts brings rise to the introduction of the niche form of tourism ‘TEFL tourism’, where the tourist travels outside of their usual environment to teach English as a foreign language and whose role shifts between tourist, educator and educatee at various points in their trip. The TEFL tourism phenomenon is explored through the use of a two-phase research approach employing the qualitative examination of blogs written by TEFL teachers and quantitative surveys. Drawing parallels with associated tourism forms including volunteer, education and philanthropic, it is concluded that TEFL tourism is an entity in its own right, with unique characteristics and motivations presented by TEFL tourists. The use of logistic regression facilitated the analysis of TEFL teacher types, presenting a typology classifying tourists as leisure-minded, philanthropy-minded, career-minded and expatriate-minded. This case-study examination facilitates initial comprehension of the TEFL tourism industry, providing basis for subsequent research to be undertaken to enable enhanced sustainable management of the TEFL industry worldwide.     

Exploring stakeholder groups through a testimony analysis on the Hawaiian aquarium trade

ABSTRACT

A remote archipelago, Hawai'i, offers a plethora of sought after coastal and marine tourism experiences. The same unique marine fauna that draws tourists also makes Hawai'i a major player in the international ornamental aquarium trade. For many residents of Hawai'i, the marine realm is part of their island home and interactions with tourists and tourism activities are a part of everyday life. For many residents, the ocean is an important resource and for some a staple source of livelihood, be it through tourism, fisheries, or the aquarium trade. This variance between extractive and non-extractive marine resource use creates conflicts between stakeholder groups in Hawai'i. This study thematically analyzes public testimony records, which included 1652 individual testimonies, from proposed legislation aimed to establish ‘an aquatic life conservation program in the Division of Aquatic Resources to implement conservation measures, including limited entry areas and certification requirements, to regulate the collection of fish and other aquatic life for aquarium purposes. Public opinions evident in individual testimonies are representative of the disagreement in the literature regarding the stability and health of reef fishes populations in Hawai'i and broader resource-user conflicts. This study aims to better describe the user conflict between stakeholder groups in the marine resources of Hawai'i by exposing themes concerning change in natural environments.     

Towards inclusive tourism? Stakeholder collaboration in the development of accessible tourism

ABSTRACT

Stakeholder collaboration is increasingly being lauded as important in the development of accessible tourism. The purpose of this study is to explore how stakeholders collaborate in the development of accessible tourism. Drawing on research conducted in Western Australia, the study utilises qualitative approaches in its exploration. The evidence from the study strongly indicates that there is minimal collaboration between stakeholders in the development of accessible tourism. The findings suggest that when there are multiple and diverse stakeholders at play, an organic, circulatory and developmental approach to stakeholder collaboration should be adopted to innovatively move towards inclusive tourism – an ideal that aspires to equal access and inclusion for all. To this end, four emergent interrelated themes are considered: control and coordination, communication, clarity of roles and responsibilities and collaboration and integration. From these themes, a framework that can be applied to encourage collaboration is proposed.     

Introducing inclusive tourism

ABSTACT

Tourism is often understood and experienced as an exclusive activity. In supporting the concept of inclusive tourism, this volume seeks to counter that tendency by seeking out ways in which those who are typically marginalized by, or excluded from tourism can be brought into the industry in ways that directly benefit them, or that they can gain more control over tourism. This introduction to the special issue first presents a conceptual article that defines the concept of inclusive tourism and discusses seven different elements, which may constitute lines of inquiry in investigations of tourism's inclusiveness. It then presents five empirical articles that illustrate some of the ways in which an inclusive tourism approach might inform discussion of the potentials and limitations for tourism to generate wider social and economic benefits. The examples provided are from a wide range of geographical contexts, from Cambodia to Australia, Sweden, Turkey and Spain. Inclusive tourism is offered here as both an analytical concept and an aspirational ideal. We do not ever envisage minimum standards for inclusive tourism. We rather hope that there will be a restless quest to find ways to include new actors and new places in tourism on terms that are equitable and sustainable.     

Space,time and history in the Polish People’s Republic: the trilogy Sami swoi,Nie ma mocnych,Kochaj albo rzuć

Abstract

The article discusses the meanings of popular culture, authenticity and history in People’s Republic of Poland. As an example it uses a popular film trilogy. The trilogy Sami swoi, Nie ma mocnych and Kochaj albo rzu? (‘All friends here’, ‘Take it easy’ and ‘Love or leave me’) was shown in Polish cinemas between 1967 and 1977. The reviews were written just after the premières. The article uses the concepts of time and space elaborated by Mikhail Bakhtin and Doreen Massey to analyze the different chronotopes of the films. It analyses both the films and the reviews as strategies of creating authenticity and creating cultural meanings: the meaning of history and the meanings of rurality. I will show how history and present, memory and society are interwoven in the light of popular production. In addition, I will emphasize the diverse interpretation possibilities resulting from this micro-historical view and the transnational critique of modernism highlighting the small and local which emerged throughout Europe in the 1970s.     

Moshe Dayan: “Israel’s No. 1 Hero” (in America)

This study explores how and why Moshe Dayan became the symbol of the modern Israeli hero in American culture. Through an examination of variegated evidence it is possible to discern patterns that illustrate the ways Dayan’s image crystallized, first, in the American Jewish arena, and then more broadly, in wider American public consciousness. With his trademark eye patch and irreverent personal style, Dayan, who more than any Israeli military-political figure captured the imagination of American Jewry, became not only the most recognizable sabra on the American scene but also a chief exemplar of the “new Jew.” Beginning with the War of Independence (1947–49) until roughly the Six-Day War (1967), Dayan symbolized Israel’s youthful, virile, and savvy hero struggling to build a home against all odds. From the Yom Kippur War (1973) to the Camp David Accords (1978) and his death, he came to exemplify a generation of Israelis who wrestled with the Jewish state’s existential geopolitical challenges. Investigating Dayan’s public persona enhances our understanding of his impact on the American arena – the man and the myth – and the ideational linkages so critical to the developing bond between the United States and Israel in the second half of the twentieth century.     

Talking to others: analysing tourists’ communications on cultural heritage experiences

In the area of cultural heritage, tourists’ experiences emphasise not only the moment and its personal nature but also socio-cultural traits. These experiences when expressed (social communications) are an important gateway to knowledge about tourists’ sense-making processes. This paper reports on the mediation between tourists and heritage sites via comments on a digital platform (TripAdvisor) about two Spanish tourist destinations with opposing characteristics and four heritage sites, which are analysed. The methodology used seeks to transcend the individual and anecdotal aspects of tourists’ comments. Indeed, the results obtained show the relevance of the humanisation and the discursive weight of heritage contexts in emotional/personal stories. Tendencies observed in non-regulated contexts confirm the role of a complex negotiation at cultural heritage sites and highlight the need to explore possible exchanges of sense in tourists’ encounters with such sites.     

A hyperreal first-place: Portugal dos Pequenitos theme park and the narrative of origins

Abstract

This article analyses a nation-theme park in Portugal. Located in Coimbra and built in the 1940s, when Portugal was a colonial empire and was under the rule of a right wing dictatorship, the park was designed as a pedagogical device for children to learn about the nation. In the park, the whole of the nation was represented by miniature replicas of buildings representing European Portugal and its overseas territories. Seventy-five years after its construction and with little changes to its material structures, this theme park is the most visited tourist attraction in Coimbra. This paper presents the result of ethnographic work carried out with Portuguese visitors to the park so as to understand the affect the place has over Portuguese visitors. The work undertaken with the latter has allowed to identify a narrative of ‘firstness’ that constructs the park as a hyper-real first-place by Portuguese visitors.