Tourism-dependent Communities Research Articles

Community perceptions to place attachment and tourism development in Finnish Lapland

Tourism in the Arctic is increasing rapidly and affecting local communities through land development pressures. In addition to providing economic opportunities, this development trend is affecting more intangible areas of life such as place attachment. The aim of this paper is to examine place attachment in tourism-dependent communities in the Arctic through place dependence and place identity. This is done through mapping sites with personal meanings and locally valued tourist sites in two communities in Finnish Lapland. The attachment is expressed in two different ways: currently, the economic activities are manifested almost exclusively through tourism development in Kilpisjärvi and Saariselkä, of which the most important sites are located in the natural landscape. As a result, the communities’ dependency on the natural surroundings is evident. The attachment also occurs through non-economic activities and is present through consumption-related actions, (e.g. fishing) as well as through less tangible issues, such as connecting with nature. The economic and consumption-related activities link with place dependence, whereas the more intangible factors with place identity. Mapping and calendar exercises helped to identify where the intensities of place attachment are located, and how they vary in space and time. Whilst considering place attachment and future tourism development, this paper also draws attention to changes in the local environment as a result of human activity, which may be amplified by climate change. When considering future tourism (or any) development, place attachment should carry a larger role in community and development planning.

Perceptions of climate change in a tourism governance context

Climate change is projected to be a major change factor for many tourism-dependent communities around the world. While this fact is broadly acknowledged in the academic community, there is still lacking evidence of how local tourism actors in different geographical settings perceive climate change, and how climate change impacts are projected to affect the respective tourism governance systems in the future. Based on empirical evidence from a mountain-tourism community in the Alps, the perceived vulnerabilities are laid open in a participatory focus group research approach, and future development paths as well as their effect upon local destination governance are discussed. Special attention is given to existing and future cooperation patterns, with the overarching goal to understand how perceptions of climate change influence future adaptation paths, and what role cooperation plays in implementing climate change adaptation measures on a local and regional level.

Rethinking “Place” in Tourism Development: A Conceptual Framework of Place for Tourism Planners and Sociologists

AbstractThe notion of place has been discussed within many different fields. Nonetheless, not many conversations are happening between the different fields that study this concept. This has resulted in the creation of a body of knowledge that, on instances, tend to be secluded from the knowledge created in other fields. Among them, the gap between planners and sociologists is significant. For instance, only a small number of planning articles mention the human/emotional connections to place, while sociologists often overlook the potential contribution of the physical environment in their observations. In here we propose an integrated framework that includes these two fields. We provide insights into why these two fields think differently about place and why we need an incorporated framework of place by indicating the strength and shortcomings of each field. Furthermore, we will extend this framework to the context of tourism-dependent communities to suggest how this concept can be applied in the tourism s...

Governing resilience building in Thailand's tourism-dependent coastal communities: Conceptualising stakeholder agency in social–ecological systems

In current scientific efforts to harness complementarity between resilience and vulnerability theory, one response is an ‘epistemological shift’ towards an evolutionary, learning based conception of the ‘systems-actor’ relation in social–ecological systems. In this paper, we contribute to this movement regarding the conception of stakeholder agency within social–ecological systems. We examine primary evidence from the governance of post-disaster recovery and disaster risk reduction efforts in Thailand's coastal tourism-dependent communities following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Through an emerging storyline from stakeholders, we construct a new framework for conceptualising stakeholder agency in social–ecological systems, which positions the notion of resilience within a conception of governance as a negotiated normative process. We conclude that if resilience theory is proposed as the preferred approach by which disaster risk reduction is framed and implemented, it needs to acknowledge much more explicitly the role of stakeholder agency and the processes through which legitimate visions of resilience are generated.

Sun, sea, sand and tsunami: examining disaster vulnerability in the tourism community of Khao Lak, Thailand

The impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on coastal tourism communities highlights the vulnerability of tourism destinations to external shocks. Based on fieldwork conducted in Thailand in the wake of this disaster, this paper addresses one fundamental question: what sociopolitical and environmental conditions contributed to the vulnerability of the affected tourism community of Khao Lak in the southern Phang Nga Province. We argue that an understanding of the root causes of destination vulnerability is vital not only for the successful implementation of regional recovery plans, but also for building long‐term resilience against future shocks. In the absence of an appropriate tourism vulnerability framework, this paper analyzes Khao Lak's vulnerability through an innovative theoretical framework comprised of the sustainability vulnerability framework, relational scale and place. The findings reveal that Khao Lak's vulnerability is shaped by 13 interlinked factors. These are the complex outcomes of social norms and developmental and dynamic governance processes driven by the competing agendas and scaled actions of key government and industry stakeholders. The identification and understanding of the drivers of Khao Lak's vulnerability and a strong vulnerability framework have significant implications for the wider tourism community. First, the empirical findings provide tourism communities with a blueprint for understanding the foundations of their vulnerability to external shocks. Second, the tourism vulnerability framework presented here provides destination communities and government stakeholders with an analytical tool through which to analyze their unique sociopolitical conditions. Together, these empirical and theoretical contributions bring us closer to securing sustainable livelihood futures for tourism dependent communities.