Keith Bosak

Measuring Geotourism: Developing and Testing the Geotraveler Tendency Scale (GTS)

Geotourism is tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place, including its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a scale measuring geotraveler tendencies (GTS). The GTS consists of 35 items across eight subscales measuring both attitudes and behaviors of travelers. Confirmatory factor analysis tested each scale for construct validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and nomological validity, and demonstrated that all eight scales of the GTS were valid and reliable measures of the dimensions of geotourism. Standardized factor loadings ranged from .52 to .92 and construct reliability scores ranged from .72 to .94 for the eight attitudinal and behavioral scales. For destinations interested in promoting geotourism, the GTS provides a tool to determine if visitors traveling to their area embrace geotourism values of sustaining and enhancing the geographical character of place.

Deconstructing the ‘Crown of the Continent’: Power, Politics and the Process of Creating National Geographic's Geotourism Mapguides

Abstract Maps can take a variety of forms from simple symbols to complex, interactive layers of information. Given their widespread use and potency as symbols and tools, maps are often assumed to be objective representations of reality. However, map creation involves an implicit privileging of certain perspectives. That maps are actually socio-political constructions has implications for how they can be used, by whom and for what ends. This paper explores the process of creating National Geographics Crown of the Continent geotourism mapguide. Geotourism mapguides, like all maps, are influenced by social and political factors and thus act as a persuasive form of communication and an articulation of particular values despite being founded on scientific triangulation. In this paper we deconstruct the Crown of the Continent mapguide in order to shed light on why these maps should be viewed as socially constructed representations of space that are power-laden and have the potential to create a place-myth for the Crown of the Continent that is not representative of the values of the people of the region.

Moving beyond tourists' concepts of authenticity: place-based tourism differentiation within rural zones of Chilean Patagonia.

This paper explores the potential for rural and remote zones of emergent destinations to base their tourism development on endogenous resources and place-based differentiation through analysis of a two-phase case study within the geographic zone known as Patagonia. The first phase of the research explored independent tourism consumption within a new independent travel circuit designed to integrate rural zones of the Aysén Region of Chile with adjacent tourism zones in the Santa Cruz Province of Argentina, including the iconic Mount Fitz Roy and the town of El Chalten. This phase sought to understand perceptions and preferences relating to authenticity. Results highlighted differences between host and guest concepts of welcomeness; which, negatively impacted consumption in the rural Chilean zones of the circuit. The second phase explored local service provider perspectives within these zones, surfacing place-based customs and practices that; while authentic, were not recognized, understood, or valued by the visitors who participated in phase one. Discussion proposes that subtle aspects of local cultures, such as those identified by the current study, represent unrecognized endogenous assets that can be leveraged within differentiation strategies for place-based development, thus providing emergent destinations with alternatives to place-neutral strategies, like commodification and standardization.

Tourism, Development, and Sustainability

This chapter approaches sustainable tourism by first conceptualizing tourism as a form of development that depends on conservation of the resources that attract tourists. With this lens, sustainability becomes a top priority as tourism destinations attempt to maintain and enhance their attractiveness to tourists. Concurrently, tourism is an economic activity and is a driver of and is driven by global capitalism. As such, there exists a tension between tourism and sustainability. That tension is explored in this chapter through the question: What is to be sustained? The answer to this question is explored in the context of socio-ecological systems and ideas of resilience. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how re-framing sustainable tourism could be implemented through a set of tools.

Going Global: Livelihoods and Globalization in the Niti Valley, Garhwal Himalaya, India

This paper explores the way in which the tribal Bhotia people of the Niti Valley have operated within and across scale and constructed scale in order to adapt to livelihood changes brought about by globalization. A series of events beginning with the closure of the border between India and Tibet have affected the Bhotia in various ways, creating boom and bust cycles in the local economy and opening up their lives to the forces of globalization and modernization. These events all illustrate the global-local continuum at work within the NDBR. The Bhotia have had to adapt their livelihood activities to the changes that globalization has brought to their location. On the other hand, the Bhotia have also seen that the continuum between the global and local is not a one-way street and that they must not only react to global events that change local livelihood activities but also must portray their local struggle as one of global importance in order to combat marginalization. Within this context, scale and the politics of scale play an integral role in how the Bhotia of the Niti Valley have engaged global discourses in their effort to maintain viable livelihood options.