Changing Dimensions
The Freedom to Roam: Old Legislation and New Challanges in Nature-based Tourism
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gaute Svensson, Arvid Viken
In Norway, the freedom to roam has a strong position. The freedom has both a legal platform as well as a strong normative anchoring. The legislation, The Outdoor act (Friluftsloven) was passed in 1957. Its main purpose is to secure peoples access to nature. The three main pillars are the right to; access and roam, camp, and harvest. These are all rights regardless of who owns the land. When the law was passed it had a strong public and political support as it aimed at securing the common goods for the commons. However, with rapid changes in tourism and outdoor recreation the freedom to roam is under pressure. Various stakeholders emphasize that there are emerging scenarios that resemble tragedy of the commons. When tourism use the freedom without any concern for the responsibility that comes follows, it does echo Hardins famous paper. In addition, the industry underline that the freedom to roam today reflects a vulnerability facing commercialization. At the same time, there are outdoor organizations that strongly oppose the idea of a statue law revision as this might affect the individual rights. However, the same organizations call out for the need of measurements taken when the unwanted consequences of tourism are debated. This is the ambivalence inherent in the freedom to roam. This paper is based on a research proposal that aims at pursuing the emerging paradoxes that exist within this cornerstone of nature-based tourism in Norway today. It rests on social anthropological research method.
The Development of Chinese Sustainable Tea Tourism Inspired by Wine Tourism in Tuscany
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Yaxin (Louisa) Li
There is an increasing trend of improving the interaction between products and customers (Colombini, 2015). According to Lavandoski et al. (2016), food tourism (including beverage) becomes a contemporary necessity for travel experience which could create financial, promotional and educational benefit. Instead of wine purchasing or wine tasting alone, wine tourism in Italy represents an excellent combination of local landscape, traditional activities (artisanship and agriculture) and local food and gastronomy. All elements work as complements which create additional value in tourists' wine experience but also generate economic opportunities to local business and transmit local culture. Similar to the wine tourism in Italy, tea tourism is experiencing a beginning stage of rapid growth in China especially in tea tours and tea museums (刘, 2014). Tea tourism as an essential part of the economy creates many opportunities and threats; wine tourism and tea tourism developed in an institutionalized environment. Social factors and regulations largely influence the development which could reflect in some activities in wine tourism and tea tourism in Italy and China respectively (Lavandoski, Pinto & Sliva 2016). While in China, there is a lack of focus on sustainable growth that consideration of economic development, landscape protection, and cultural delivery. There are a lack of regulation in the use of pesticides in tea plantation. When comes to the tea ceremony, international tourists would first think of Japan or Korea instead of China, even China is the original tea drinking country and owns the largest tea plantation area in the world (刘, 2014).
A Comparison of Wine Region Brand Images
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Robin M Back, Asli D.A. Tasci, Sevil Sonmez
While wine tourism has received ample attention globally including in the United States, and especially in states where climatic conditions enable the growing of Vitis Vinifera varieties, e.g., California., Washington, and Oregon, little attention has been paid to how regional reputation affects wine tourism or how wine tourism affects regional reputation and how this, in turn, impacts consumer preferences, willingness to pay, and purchasing behavior. This becomes even more important in the lesser-known wine regions and/or those where non-traditional grape species may be used, such as New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida. This study follows a quantitative method approach to achieve the objectives of the study. Cross-sectional survey design is used to collect data from a large sample of US residents. A structured survey was developed on Qualtrics and applied on Amazon MTurk. Seven-point Likert-type scales were used to measure the components of wine region brand equity, namely Familiarity, Image, Quality, Value, and Loyalty. Results will be shared at the conference.
