David Timothy Duval

Tourism and Post-Disciplinary Enquiry

In recent times there has been discussion about whether studies of tourism are variously a disciplinary, multi-disciplinary or inter-disciplinary pursuit and how these relate to the institutional landscapes and practices of higher education. For some academics, these discourses are somewhat arid, but we would contend they are vital as they serve to set the epistemological terms of references for tourism scholars and play a not insignificant role in orchestrating knowledge production about tourism. This paper revisits some of these concerns relating to disciplinarity, and it suggests that disciplines as we understand them today are an artefact of previous academic divisions of labour which still dominate current institutional regulatory regimes. The purpose of the paper is to suggest that tourism studies would benefit greatly from a post-disciplinary outlook, i.e. a direction ‘beyond disciplines’ which is more problem-focused, based on more flexible modes of knowledge production, plurality, synthesis and synergy. Three possible approaches to the post-disciplinary study of tourism are identified by drawing on lessons from studies of political economy. While post-disciplinary studies of tourism have considerable potential to further our understanding of several major contemporary research themes, their introduction may be frustrated by the tourism academy and frameworks of academic governance.

When Hosts Become Guests: Return Visits and Diasporic Identities in a Commonwealth Eastern Caribbean Community

The broad intent of this paper is to further contribute to the existing literature that addresses VFR tourism. It suggests that the return visit may ultimately be positioned as a form or type of travel within the larger category of VFR tourism, but a form or type that has built within it a more clear understanding of historic and social contexts and processes. The other broad intent of the paper is to highlight the importance of the relationship between the returning visitor, originating from diasporic communities abroad, and the host community as a stage for the negotiation of identities. The return visit is shown to reflect such underlying processes yet continue to incorporate aspects of individual motivation, which when taken together demonstrate the fluidity of diasporic spaces and transnational identity structures. Using data obtained from ethnographic fieldwork among social networks within the Commonwealth Eastern Caribbean community in Toronto, Canada, it is suggested that return visits are used to retain social histories and contextualise social and cultural backgrounds after migration. The implications for VFR tourism and the relationship between diasporas, transnationalism and tourism are discussed, as is a conceptual model of the return visit.

Security and tourism: towards a new understanding?

Abstract The article provides a review of the expansion of the concept of security and the relationship of security to tourism. It is argued that the concept of security has become transformed from one of collective security and common defence to embrace notions of common and cooperative security. Despite the damage done to the concept of collective security because of the United States led invasion of Iraq, the development of common security structures through collective, multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations remains important for the expansion of security concerns to cover the environment, health and economic threats. The article also notes that tourism and supranational tourism organizations have little influence on peace and security agendas although such agendas are important for tourism. Nevertheless, particularly at the micro-level, appropriate tourism development may serve as a means to ward off potential future conflict over resource and environmental security.

Mobilizing Tourism: A Post-disciplinary Critique

Tourism has been the subject of considerable academic attention over the last three decades. Recently, there have been notable criticisms over the nature of tourism research and an alleged lack of theorization. Published exchanges have also focused on the contested disciplinary status of tourism. In this paper, we revisit these debates and consider them in light of increasing calls for post-disciplinary modes of investigation. In particular, we emphasize the need to understand tourism as just one form of human movement in a wider spectrum of mobilities. The consequences of pursuing a post-disciplinary approach are discussed. If studies of tourism are determined to reflect contemporary conditions, they should move away from traditional inter- and multi-disciplinary approaches to more flexible forms of knowledge production.

Critical issues in air transport and tourism.

Abstract The paper is a review of current issues and literature on air transportation as it is related to tourism. It focuses on three salient issues facing international commercial air transport and their resulting implications for global tourist flows. First, the wider aeropolitical environment is reviewed. This is followed by a review of recent developments in airline operations. Finally, the issue of carbon pricing on aviation is addressed. On the basis that tourism and air transport are intricately linked, the paper advocates for forward planning by tourism destinations that include reviews of the external operating environments faced by airlines. This, as it is argued, will assist with securing accessibility and connectivity.

The Return Visit-Return Migration Connection

The purpose of this chapter is to explore a tentative conceptual connection between return visits, as a form of visiting friends and relatives (VFR) tourism, and return migration. To illustrate this connection, data from a recent study of return visits among members of the Commonwealth Eastern Caribbean community living in Toronto, Canada is presented (Duval, 2001).

Grid/group theory and its applicability to tourism and migration.

ABSTRACT Grid/group theory, as advanced in the social sciences (particularly anthropology) is used to explore the relationship between migration and tourism. By building on the notion of transnationalism as previously applied to migrant mobilities, the paper suggests that grid/group theory can be conceptually married to the concept of temporary mobilities and migration as a means through which migrant behaviour is examined. Manifestations of grid/group, modelled using continua of grid (as those constraints, socially derived, that affect behaviour) and group (the extent to which social activities are governed and mediated by attachment and association to social collectives), are used to rationalize post-migratory mobilities.

Tourism and Postdisciplinarity: Back to the Future?

This article revisits postdisciplinary approaches to the study of tourism that were first proposed around a decade ago. Specifically, it sets out to examine the extent to which such approaches have continued relevance to tourism scholarship moving forward. Basic literature searches suggest that the world has changed, yet the tourism academy has not. Traditional disciplines, especially in the social sciences, continue to be the basic building blocks of knowledge production in tourism. However, if a more sophisticated approach is taken to analysis, there is ample evidence of more reasonable, flexible approaches to inquiry about tourism—in particular in the areas of tourism mobilities and climate change. Free from disciplinary dogma and orchestration, these take as their initial cues issues, questions, or problems and how best to tackle them. Indeed, the evidence points to a future trajectory even further in this direction. Many of the major issues facing the research community are so wide in scope and complex in nature that they require academic coalitions to tackle them. Discipline-specific or discipline-exclusive approaches will not suffice on their own. More than 10 years ago, the move toward postdisciplinary modes of inquiry was argued to be inevitable, mainly from intellectual grounds. Although this rationale remains valid, the article argues that unfolding institutional structures and the organization of higher education are also far more encouraging of postdisciplinary approaches. Research investment, especially in advanced economies, is increasingly being targeted toward grand challenges and transformative research.

Geography and Tourism Marketing: Topical and Disciplinary Perspectives

s (N 5 25) with at least one Geography PhD author 80% with no Geography PhD author 20% Author Affiliations (N 5 41) Geography Programs 29% Non-Geography Programs 71% Alan A. Lew and David Timothy Duval 231

Current Issues in Method and Practice

Since the Current Issues in Method and Practice (CIMP) section of Current Issues in Tourism was launched in 2006, the range and scope of published papers has been vast. Each contribution represents cutting-edge advances in tourism research methods and methodologies, ranging from quantitative data modelling to incisive commentary on knowledge creation and understanding. The section was introduced in response to a need for the development of a continuous platform designed to disseminate of the very latest in thinking about research in tourism. My inaugural editorial (Duval, 2006) suggested that it was launched ‘as a means to facilitate discussions on how tourism research might/could be operationalised and, by extension, what it means to examine tourists and tourism’. In the realm of tourism studies, there has been continuous refinement of existing methods as well as a willingness to explore new ways of acquiring, shaping, understanding and positioning data. Five years after its introduction, the published papers in the Method and Practice section bear this out. For example, Picken (2006) explores the discourse of subjects and objects of study within tourism research, while Szarcyz (2009) reminds researchers to ground phenomenology in its philosophical roots. Weed (2006) helpfully reviews various approaches to research synthesis in tourism, while in the same issue Feighery (2006) communicates the importance of reflexivity. Detailed interrogations of both existing and new methods have also appeared in CIMP. Pike (2007) outlines the use of repertory grids to tease out destination image attributes; Hitchcock and Wesner (2008) demonstrate a novel approach to fostering democratic, community-based participation and planning; and Raymond and Hall (2008) introduce appreciative inquiry and demonstrate its potential in tourism research. Both Briedenhann and Butts (2006) and Northcote, Lee, Chok and Wegner (2008) review the use of Delphi as an applied technique in tourism research, while Rakic and Chambers (2009) provide insights into the use of visual ethnography. Quantitatively, Volo and Giambalvo (2008) diagnose problems of official tourism statistics used by policymakers and offer suggestions for improving reliability of measurement and use; Jones, Munday, and Roberts (2009) investigate the use of tourism satellite accounts at the sub-national level; and Stergiou and Airey (2011) discuss the use of Q-methodology. Without question, the existing suite of CIMP papers demonstrates an increasing sophistication in the employment of methods and framing of methodologies. Such innovation deserves an audience beyond the confines of a ‘method’ section in a larger published article, and such is the purpose of the CIMP section. In order to build on the excellent series of articles already published, we welcome submissions on any numbers of areas, including, but not necessarily limited to