Shifting Approaches (Asynchronous Session)
Socially-Responsible Travel: Case of International Service Learning to Costa Rica View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Pavlina Latkova
The study examines American college students’ international service learning (ISL) experience in Costa Rica. The ISL trips were designed to provide students with socially-responsible and environmentally conscious experiences as a way to raise their awareness of tourism negative impacts on Costa Rican Afro-Caribbean and indigenous communities they visited during their trip. Participants included 63 students enrolled in faculty-led international service-learning classes that traveled to Costa Rica between 2016 and 2019. Semi-structured interviews were conducted via Skype prior and after the trips. In addition, students reflected on their 10-day experience daily in their travel journal. The interviews were transcribed verbatim; interviews and journal reflections were coded to identify emerging themes. Participants reported the ISL was an important part of their trip because it facilitated cultural immersion, and enabled them to give back to the community and connect with people and natural settings they visited. The results of the study suggest there may be an increased demand for trips with a service learning component among college students, arguably because of service learning’s potential to facilitate a meaningful connection between ISL’s participants and destinations’ natural and cultural environment.
Motivations and Behaviours of Visitors to Pilgrimage Centers towards the Push-Pull Motivation Framework Insight into Contemporary Religious and Heritage Tourism View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Justyna Liro
Religious tourism is one of the fastest growing and changing sectors of the world tourism market because of, among other things, social-cultural changes in the 20th and 21st centuries (i.e. the development of transport and mass tourism, globalization, secularization, and commercialization). Pilgrimage centres are important destinations also for heritage tourism. Despite their global importance and growing popularity, there is still a lack of the knowledge about the complexity, multidimensionality, and diversity of journeys to pilgrimage centres. The paper is the result of a comprehensive empirical study on visitors’ motivations and behaviours to pilgrimage centres in Poland. A comprehensive and multi-faceted empirical study based on a wide sample (n=2412) can provide insight into contemporary religious tourism. The diversity and dependence of the main motivations, additional motivations, behaviours, and socio-demographic research sample indicators were analysed. The motivations and behaviours are varied and multi-faceted, and include mainly religious and tourist factors, but are also related to cultural heritage tourism, recreation, social/family life, and additional factors. A conceptual model is presented of the motivations of pilgrimage centre visitors based on the push-pull motivational framework, adapted to religious tourism, taking into account the importance of the religious element – as an innovative contribution – summarized the studies. In addition, the results shed light on some of the socio-cultural changes in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Featured The Gaps and Grey Zones between Mobilities, Migration and Tourism: A Bibliometric Analysis View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ekaterina Shebanova
The UN (2019) specifies international migration as one of four ‘mega-trends’ that characterise the global population today. Recent academic research has drawn great attention to the fields of mobilities, migration and tourism, raising the importance of movement as a concept. The objective of this paper is to comment on the relations (and lack of them) between three research areas. To do so, this research follows a two-step analysis. First, a deep literature review was conducted in order to explore conceptual links between mobilities, migration and tourism. We claim that a number of grey zones between these concepts exist. Besides, there are many umbrella terms, which implicitly discover links between these areas of research. However, the process of transition of identities, from being a tourist to becoming a migrant, is still in shade. Second, a bibliometric analysis was performed in order to create a key word network analysis with the help of UCINET software. Key words clusterization helps to visually acknowledge the relations (and lack of) between mobilities, migration and tourism. Our main finding is that these areas of academic research are linked together through the concepts of movement and lifestyle. Future research about changing identities between tourists and migrants is also outlined at the end.
Featured Literary Tourism and the Quest for Authenticity: The Ferrante Case
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Arianna Avalle
The “Ferrante Fever”, a term used to describe the contagious wave of enthusiasm for the Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante, has led to the creation of different commercial extensions (a theater show, a tv series, and travel guides) and inspired many readers to travel to Naples. In my study, I analyze the Ferrante phenomenon in the context of “Convergence Culture” (Jenkins) and cultural tourism, exploring the transmedial qualities of the Neapolitan Novels as well as the economic and cultural impact of the travel guide "Ferrante Fever: A Tour of Naples Inspired by Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels" by Danielle Oteri. The guide represents a full immersion for Ferrante’s fans in the world of the Neapolitan Novels and it also serves as a promotion tool for the city of Naples and the Campania region. Considering the link between this travel guide and the Italian identity, I hypothesize a possible exploitation of the “Italianità” of the novels to promote an “authentic Italian experience” as a selling point for this product. Overall, the Neapolitan Quartet seems to exemplify the economic potential of cultural products derived from the use of their symbolic capital for tourism purposes (Lavarone). In fact, by portraying an alluring image of Naples, Ferrante has “positively positioned” the city in the mind of her readers, re-branding its touristic image and turning her fans into literary tourists.
Costa Smeralda: How photography constructed the myth in the 1960s and has demolished it since the 2000s View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Francesco Buscemi
Costa Smeralda is the most touristy area of the island of Sardinia. Positioned in the north-eastern part of the island, it is actually totally detached from the rest of the territory. Like some areas of Cuba or Maldives, in fact, local people do not participate in its social or economic life, apart from doing there the least gratifying jobs. Differently from Cuba or Maldives, however, no one forces the Sardinians to remain extraneous to what happens in Costa Smeralda. It is a free choice, linked to the fact that Costa Smeralda has followed a totally different development process in comparison to the rest of Sardinia. This paper draws on Bourdieu and the sociology of taste, when they delineate the mechanisms through which tourism and leisure confer social distinction; and on cultural studies links between tourism and national or regional belonging. By adopting multimodal analysis, this paper investigates social media posts and messages on Costa Smeralda written by people stating to be Sardinian and regarding their feelings about this area. The results show that Costa Smeralda is actually seen as 'the island on an island', a land geographically considered Sardinian but culturally perceived as belonging to people from Milan (the industrial city which most of the tourists of Costa Smeralda come from). This sense of extraneousness and un-relatedness becomes in many analyzed messages a means to reinforce bonds of regional identity and pride (when they write 'I don't go to Costa Smeralda!'), and even hopes of a new-nation building.
Connecting to Nature through Dominant Sounds: What’s Noise Got To Do with It? View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Andrea Ednie, Karen Beeftink, Trace Gale
The Healthy Parks Healthy People (HPHP) concept demonstrates the interrelationship between how nature and parks can strengthen human health and how stronger connections with nature can improve the health of ecosystems. HPHP research examines relationships between healthier habits in nature and greater connections with nature; and the positive relationship between nature connection and personal environmental behaviors. Recent social-ecological resilience research emphasizes the importance of soundscape perceptions within human interactions with nature that occur in the PA context. Soundscape research about the development of nature connections has focused on natural sounds, rather than the role anthropogenic components may play. This paper reports on a survey (n=389) of recent visitors to the Coyhaique National Reserve in the Aysén Region of Chile about the most prominent sound experiences in the places they feel most connected to, and the acceptability and perceptions of anthropogenic sounds within those particular places. Prevalent and favorite sounds were open-coded, and anthropogenic sounds were rated for prevalence and acceptability. A number of trends were identified; for example, anthropogenic sounds represented a notably higher proportion of prevalent sounds as compared with favorite sounds, and increased in prevalence in parallel with their order of dominance. Soundscape pleasantness ratings were significantly lower for participants who indicated city sounds and vehicle sounds as dominant. Study implications consider displacement theory and coping strategies, and how dominant anthropogenic sounds, particularly vehicle and city sounds, may affect the health benefits people receive from nature, and in turn their propensity to support conservation of protected areas.
Tourism of Memory - a New Approach View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maria Joao Castro
Memory Tourism is based on qualifying a concrete tourism product whose starting point is a historical heritage that intersects with contemporary mobility. The main focus of this paper is based on the dynamics of the postcolonial return trip of those who seek to experience a heritage legacy transformed into a tourism product and able to provide a gaze on history helping to decolonise mentalities and respecting the other as equal. This return to a past with a common root through the leisure trip and as a tourist attraction owing to its coloniality has been emerging as one of the major drivers behind current mobility. Memory Tourism define-se a partir do tangible colonial built heritage, an architectural legacy petrified in time whose presence takes us back to an age that is already extinct in our ultramodern cities where the tourist now resides. This market segment has seen significant growth due in part to the demand by nationalities unrelated to colonialism and whose tourists are looking to visit charismatic places that are frequently classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, a stamp that creates a standard for categorising and recognising world tourism interest.
Examination of Online Leisure Communities: Hikers and Bikers View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Michael Basil
The internet allows connectivity with people anywhere in the world. Early on in growth of the internet, theorists predicted that virtual communities would develop so participants could share information on a variety of topics. There are many online subcultures, communities or “e-tribes” that are dedicated to specialized or narrow interest groups. This research used a qualitative netnographic examination of people’s participation in online Facebook groups dedicated to a variety of hobbies – hiking and bicycle touring. These groups appear to be online “leisure communities”. The results demonstrate that these groups provide a considerable amount of information and support to these niche communities. In this case hundreds of participants made use of these Facebook groups as their online community. Participants around the world requested and shared information and opinions on equipment, planning, routes, and experiences. Posters varied in their use of the online community, from frequently active to one-time users. Almost all requesters seem to benefit from basic information on equipment and routes. The discussion was overwhelmingly positive and supportive where more experienced hikers and bikers mentor and encouraged others. This study demonstrates that online communication can develop into virtual community or “e-tribes.” This analysis examined several Facebook groups across two leisure time activities. Although we hope they generalize to other e-tribes or social networks, we did not investigate how long people remained a member of the groups, or what percentage moved from novices to more experienced hikers or bikers, or what could lead to a lasting commitment to the groups.
Readiness Analysis for IT Adoption in the Hotel Industry View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maria Oikonomou, Evangelia Kopanaki, Nikolaos Georgopoulos
The hospitality industry faced unexpected challenges by Covid-19 pandemic and still struggles to recover. The social, political, and economic changes have created uncertainties and have accelerated the need for new technologies adoption in the hotel sector. The implementation of new technologies may lead to optimized business processes, improved customer services, and increased business performance. This paper examines and contributes to the understanding of how IT readiness, business readiness and stakeholder’s readiness affect business decisions regarding IT investment and transformation. To address these issues the paper uses the TOE (Technological- Organizational- Environmental) framework, which examines the important aspects and factors influencing the decision-making process of new technologies’ adoption and use. The technological context refers to the existing IT infrastructure, employees’ IT skills and their tendency to use new technological tools, all of which affect the technological readiness of a firm. The organizational context is associated with business characteristics, such as the firm’s size, culture, structure, and human resources affecting the business readiness to accept technological changes. Finally, the environment refers to the industry’s characteristics, periods of uncertainty (e.g., health crisis), competitors’ pressures, and legislation, which influence stakeholders’ readiness and engagement in the use of new technologies.
