Jennifer Laing

Backpacker tourism: sustainable and purposeful? Investigating the overlap between backpacker tourism and volunteer tourism motivations.

Alternative tourism, particularly backpacker and volunteer tourism, has developed significantly in recent times. This rapid development has contributed to criticism of potential negative effects, notably of the environmental, cultural, economic and social impacts associated with backpacker tourism. Volunteer tourism, by contrast, has been seen in positive terms as more sustainable, combining altruistic motivations with the travel concept. This paper explores backpacker interest in volunteer tourism and identifies overlaps in motivations between the two forms of tourism; 249 self-administered questionnaires were collected from backpackers within backpacker hostels in central Melbourne, Australia. The findings of this study suggest that a motivational overlap exists between backpacker and volunteer tourists, indicating potential for the creation of volunteer tourism products catering specifically for the backpacker market. This may encourage more sustainable tourism experiences within the burgeoning backpacker market, thus addressing some of the negative criticism of the latter. This paper also discusses the implications of these findings for the marketing and development of volunteer tourism products for both the backpacker and volunteer tourism markets.

Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour: the role of sustainability-focused events.

Tourism is a potential setting for encouraging sustainable behaviour. One popular mechanism is to stage events with a sustainability focus, aimed at fostering behaviour change amongst attendees. This paper reports on a study of a sustainability-focused event in Australia. The Transtheoretical Model (TTM) was used to explore if and how this event could potentially promote pro-environmental behaviour change amongst attendees. TTM provides a five-stage framework, linked to a series of 10 processes of change, with both attitudinal and behavioural dimensions. The stages comprise pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. Findings suggest that this event attracts individuals already significantly committed to sustainable behaviour who are using the event as a source of encouragement and positive feedback for their lifestyle choices. They are not the audience that the organisers need to reach in order to achieve their aim of behaviour change on a broader scale. This event did, however, support the processes of change, particularly for those in the “action” and “maintenance” stages. This paper considers the implications of these findings and TTM as a research tool for the future promotion and marketing of these events to tourists, possible applications to tourism fairs and exhibitions, and to behavioural change in tourism generally.

The greening of music festivals: motivations, barriers and outcomes. Applying the Mair and Jago model.

Events are a growing sector, often attracting tourists to destinations. There is increased emphasis on achieving sustainability in event management; some festivals, particularly large outdoor music festivals, are leading in greening their events. This paper explores the drivers of, and barriers to, greening festivals and considers how events might be a vehicle for promoting sustainable behaviour. The application of the Mair and Jago model is tested. Long interviews were conducted with managers of six UK and Australian festivals that have won awards for their “green” performance and an organisation that encourages the greening of festivals. Findings suggest that managers of these festivals act both as a champion and a steward of greening and that the key drivers of festival greening are the personal values or ethos of the manager and/or the organisation, demand for greening from stakeholders and a desire to educate and act as an advocate of green issues. Barriers to greening festivals included the financial costs, lack of time and control over festival venues and the inability to source appropriate suppliers or supplies. Further research could explore these issues in other events contexts and examine whether events leave a lasting legacy in terms of influencing environmental behaviour.

Advancing conceptual understanding of partnerships between protected area agencies and the tourism industry: a postdisciplinary and multi-theoretical approach.

This paper reviews a range of theoretical approaches to partnerships working between protected area agencies and the tourism industry. While partnerships are a hallmark of contemporary thinking about protected area management, research to date leaves considerable scope for development, application and testing of theory. The paper draws eight theoretical approaches from the literature with potential application to a study of the contributors to partnership success. It progresses a postdisciplinary approach to partnership research. A 72-item questionnaire was derived from the theoretical perspectives and completed by 100 partners. Analysis identified features perceived as potentially contributing to a successful partnership as well as the key outcomes of a successful partnership. The findings indicate the prominence of institutional analysis and development, social capital, environmental dispute resolution and network theories in explaining partnership success. Given the centrality of partnerships in protected area tourism and ongoing societal interest in the sustainability of such areas, this paper provides vital insights to further multi-theoretical, postdisciplinary research, and to the successful management of partnerships.

Journey into Parenthood: Commodification of Reproduction as a New Tourism Niche Market

ABSTRACT This article examines the phenomenon of viewing life cycle stages associated with reproduction as commodities, and how this has paved the way for developing and marketing new tourism products and experiences. It traces the genesis of this trend and provides a conceptual review of this development by way of four examples—“babymoons,” hotel baby programs, reproductive tourism, and procreation tourism programs. It argues that parents-to-be and new parents form a new tourism niche market, and that these new products occupy the moral boundary of tourism marketing—packaging up previously sacred and non-commodified events for tourist consumption.

Lone wolves? isolation and solitude within the frontier travel experience

Abstract. The frontier traveller, venturing out into the peripheral parts of our world such as the poles, the peaks of mountains or the great deserts, must deal with the remoteness and riskiness of the setting. The traveller is mentally apart from friends and family, and immediate rescue may be difficult, if not impossible. This article explores the attraction of remoteness, isolation and solitude for the frontier traveller, using qualitative interview and biographical data collected in a study of frontier travel experiences. Some participants referred to intense, spiritual experiences at the frontier, with the remoteness and silence of their journeys facilitating reflection, both internal and external. Isolation and solitude appear to engender a sense of freedom and escape from the cares of everyday life in the frontier traveller, while the study also highlights the attraction of self‐sufficiency in remote settings, particularly during the solo frontier travel experience, where the individual is forced to make decisions and manage situations, without recourse to anothers advice, skills or experience. The resultant heightened challenge and risk was perceived as a form of authenticity by some participants. The links between isolation and opportunities for self‐actualization are also noted in this article. The implications of these findings for marketing tourism experiences are examined, given the potential for the peripheries to become more accessible to tourists in the future, as well as the role played by culture and privilege in these types of adventurous experiences in far‐flung locations.

Communicating persuasive messages through slow food festivals

As an active social and political philosophy, slow food aims to change the world, encouraging the public to opt for healthier food and reinvigorate traditional recipes and practices. Persuading people of this message is achieved through a range of methods, including media (particularly television, magazines and the Internet), restaurants, food retailers and food-themed festivals. In this article, we are examining how the latter are used to promote the persuasive messages of slow food. We use a comparative case study approach based on five international examples of festivals branded as ‘slow’ or that incorporate slow food elements into their theme or event concept. Two of the festivals are in Italy, where the slow food movement began and remains popular. The other three are from Australia and New Zealand, the countries which have embraced slow food, although lacking the entrenched cultural heritage of distinct regional cuisines. The event web sites present detailed and persuasive messages about what slow food is, how it is aiming to change patterns of behaviour and the rejection of modern fast-food cultures. Communication via these web sites is both multi-storeyed and multi-storied. There are complex uses of imagery and metaphor, the usage of well-known media food personalities as champions, and the strong marketing of slow food as authentic, artisanal and high-status.

Exploring the role of the media in shaping motivations behind frontier travel experiences.

This article explores the role of the media in shaping frontier travel motivations and experiences, using examples drawn from a qualitative study of frontier travelers�individuals who travel to places that currently lie at the fringes or extremes of our world or experiences, both geographically and socially/culturally. Long interviews were conducted to uncover motivations behind these experiences and the data analyzed using a grounded theory approach and interpretative paradigm. The interviews were supplemented by a content analysis of autobiographies and diaries. Interviewees referred to seminal experiences, often occurring during childhood, which were the genesis of their future frontier travel experiences. These seminal experiences involved image formation agents such as literature (both fiction and nonfiction), cinema, television, and pictures or photographs. The findings suggest that the anticipation stage of travel for frontier travelers incorporates a period well before they actively plan a journey, and their future plans are inspired or shaped, even at a subconscious level, by this early imagery and narrative. It would also appear that the association of frontier destinations and frontier travel experiences with the media, particularly that based on or reinforcing adventure or exploration narratives, may help to shape and personalize the creation of travel mythology, which then influences motivations. While a variety of image formation agents appeared to influence frontier travel motivations, literature had a particularly powerful impact in shaping fantasies or myths connected with the frontier. These findings may have implications for the future development or marketing of frontier travel experiences, including media selection.

Social capital as a heuristic device to explore sociocultural sustainability: a case study of mountain resort tourism in the community of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, USA

While many social theories and concepts have been used within the sustainable tourism literature to identify key elements, stakeholders, and relationships that are central to sustainable tourism development and the tourism–community relationship, there has been limited use of the social capital concept for examining the sociocultural dimension of sustainability, despite its growing appeal within the social sciences as an analytical tool. Based on ethnographic case study research within the mountain resort community of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, this paper adopts social capital as a heuristic device for examining tourism developments sociocultural sustainability. It explains the foundations of the social capital concept with networks, norms, and resources as key components, and the existence of bonding, bridging, and linking social capital. Findings suggest that mountain resort tourism has affected such social capital outcomes and sociocultural sustainability indicators as quality of life, community participation, and the associated notions of democracy, equity, and empowerment, in both positive and negative ways, leading to a spirit of community cooperation, friendliness, grass-roots initiatives and community action group development running alongside social exclusion, transience, and political powerlessness. These findings give empirical weight to using social capital as a guiding construct for the qualitative examination of socioculturally sustainable tourism.

The Future of Nature-Based Tourism in the Asia-Pacific Region

There appears to be widespread respect for and interest in nature among Asia-Pacific societies, which has strong cultural and religious roots, contrary to the popular view that this is mainly a Western concern. This article projects the growing demand for nature-based tourism in the Asia-Pacific region into the future, using examples of protected areas, zoos, and nature-based spas. The current status of nature-based tourism in the region is discussed, before exploring future scenarios. Findings suggest that this strong attachment to nature may manifest itself in overdevelopment and overuse of natural attractions by 2050, based on seven key drivers identified in this study, including the rise of an affluent and educated middle class, increased urbanization, and a “development at all costs” mentality.