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Controversies in Tourism
Submission guidelines
Please submit short proposals, abstracts or draft
papers to Dr. Omar Moufakkir by January 11, 2010. Questions about
the book should be directed to the editors: Stenden University School of Service Management University of Brighton Omar.moufakkir@stenden.com P.M.Burns@brighton.ac.uk +31 (0) 582441301 +44 (0)1273 643897
Tourism is a dynamic global phenomenon: an agent of change and a significant factor in social, cultural, and technical evolution. Such evolution, especially those driven by tourism, are almost certainly followed by a variety of induced controversies. A look at the current spectrum of tourism studies illustrates the importance, timeliness, and even necessity to set these controversies out for serious debate beyond the simplicities of journalistic headlines. A critical analysis of the contexts, causes, and consequences is required. Failure to comprehend the basis of a tourism controversy may (more than not) produce myopic tourism development policies of the sort seen in countries ranging from Turkey to Kenya.
This book will make a substantial contribution to the understanding of tourism controversies. Its purpose is to provide a platform for open debate and intellectual discourse with a variety of views on perceived controversies or manifest conflicts firstly within tourism (endogenous controversies), but also the multidimensional contexts of environment and civil society (exogenous context). Accordingly, the first part of the book will focus on established controversies in tourism, while the second and substantive part will identify and comment upon new and emerging conflicts, dilemmas, paradoxes, and disputes within tourism contexts.
The ‘classic’ controversies derived from and rooted in tourism (such as dark/thanatourism, tourism development, tourism planning, employment in tourism, malpractice with tourism statistics, heritage tourism, sustainable tourism, sport and mega events, tourism and sex, gaming, events and authenticity or commodification of culture, adventure tourism, eco-tours) are well established in the tourism literature, whereas contemporary, or emerging examples (such as medical tourism, political tourism, tourism related to poverty, volunteer tourism, wildlife tourism), are less documented and under-researched in academia.
The editors welcome contributions that deal with the mentioned controversies, but are also open to other ideas, especially those related to emerging controversies.
Example of controversies in tourism
Development Spretnak (1999) and Shiva (1999) ask whether the discourse of development and action a matter of economics rather than livelihood. The real effect of modern ‘development’ policies has been a substantive increase in the suffering of the local community. Does tourism in less developed countries exacerbate or alleviate poverty, due to Western interventions and development policies? Does tourism represent an effective or realistic means of achieving development? Who benefits from development? (Sharpley, 2002).
Employment and human resources
Issues and controversies in relation to
employment in tourism are by no means new. One of the challenges
which any discussion of human resources in international tourism is
how to resolve the many contradictions that are evident within the
industry, considering the contradictory tensions between, on the one
hand, the process of empowerment and on the other, pressure toward
standardization and de-skilling in the delivery of products and
services (e.g. Ritzer’s notion of McDonalization). Tourism investment Ethical investment and tourism projects: There can be controversies over investment in tourism in foreign countries by entrepreneurs from countries that are seen as undesirable by the international community (Swarbrooke, 1999).
Heritage tourism On-going controversies epitomise the nature of the conflicts in heritage-related tourism: one side supports the project for economic and social reasons (ie., jobs) and the other side opposes them for cultural or ecological reasons (damage to the integrity of the cultural or natural heritage). One side is interested more in bringing in tourists, the other is more interested in the intrinsic value which heritage has for the community (Ollrich, 1994).
Sustainability Thendran and Baum (2000, p. 404) noted that the concept and practice of sustainability are “mired in contradictions and controversies”, when discussing preservation and development issues. Among several other (e.g., Buttler, 1996; Maclellan, 1997) Callins and Baum (2003) asked whether sustainability as a concept has been “hijacked by the tourism industry through eco-labeling and eco-selling”.
Sex and red light districts The issue of sex tourism has been discussed by several authors. For example, Carter and Clift (2000) looked at the use of red light districts as tourist attractions and discussed the line between commercial sex and tourism and how they become blurred. They also discussed the behavioural intent of travellers as well as structural, social and power inequalities dimensions that inform the issue. Hall (1996) argued that “in order for sex tourism to operate successfully it requires several things: a labour market in which women are economically desperate enough to enter prostitution; male travellers from affluent countries who are able to draw on a rationalized ideology”.
Authenticity and festivals As a recent tradition the rebirth of Carnival has given rise to controversies in cities where festivals have either been revived or sometimes even newly invented. This gives rise to questions of authenticity, commercialization, and a balance between residents and tourist involvement and needs (Smith and Forest, 2006).
Planning Even in tourism planning controversies often arise. Gunn et al. (2002, p. 26) argued that because of tourism complexity, planners at the destination should encompass several interest groups –residents, businesses, arts and humanities, cultural and natural resources, protection advocates, civil leaders, and professional designers/planners.
Adventure tourism Adventure tourism has controversies. While environmental and social impacts are not new to the tourism industry, they can be exacerbated in the Adventure Tourism setting due to the need for prestine environments, often intense connection with the local population and culture. (Ewert and Jamieson, p. 81).
Dark/Thanatourism Dann (2003) looked at “the dark side of tourism” and examined the controversies inherent in managing dissonant heritage, emphasizing problems of political bias and selective interpretation, issues of local resonance versus tourist detachment.
Wildlife tourism Akama (1999) examined wildlife hunting and acknowledged that this type of tourism will lead to large-scale extermination of wildlife, especially the much sought-after mega species such as elephants, lions, leopards, giraffes and cheetahs. Within this scenario, local subsistence hunting has come to be termed as “poaching” (p. 73). Shackley (1996) discussed the issue of the keeping of animals in captivity as regarded by many as ethically indefensible, even if the reason is primarily education. Others would argue that a conservation message can be conveyed far more effectively if visitors can see and empathise than watching them on TV.
Example of themes and chapters that could be included in the book
Township/ Favella / slums tourism: Making money of poverty
Submission guidelines
Please submit short proposals, abstracts or draft
papers to Dr. Omar Moufakkir by January 11, 2010. Questions about
the book should be directed to the editors: Stenden University School of Service Management University of Brighton Omar.moufakkir@stenden.com P.M.Burns@brighton.ac.uk +31 (0) 582441301 +44 (0)1273 643897
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