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.     

Commentary on ‘Of Africa's brightest ornaments’

Recent work exploring the racialization of place tends to focus on the racialization of marginalized group space. This paper shifts attention toward the racialization of dominant group space, namely, the creation and maintenance of white places. Using the case study of the software workplace, I argue that white places are formed through a process of whitewashing, which simultaneously denies race and superimposes white culture. Whitewashing wields language and invisibility to deny race and promote a particular kind of multiculturalism, while cloaking the workplace in a culture of informality and business politics. The whitewashed workplace, like a whitewashed wall, is seen as colorless rather than white as white culture becomes universalized as high-tech culture. I draw my findings from in-depth interviews on workplace satisfaction, relationships, culture and diversity with black, Asian and white employees in Seattle-area software firms.     

Participative critical enquiry in graduate field-based learning

This paper outlines a critical pedagogic approach to field-based learning (FBL) at graduate level. Drawing on student experience stemming from a FBL module and as part of an MA programme in Environment, Society and Development, the paper addresses the complexities associated with student-led, participative critical enquiry during fieldwork in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The paper examines emerging student discourses through a group assessment and a series of individual reflective journals. Both are contextualised in relation to FBL module learning outcomes. Finally, aspects of fieldwork influencing the feasibility and effectiveness of participative critical enquiry as a field-based pedagogic endeavour are considered.