There is a groundswell of opinion in tourism, transport and cognate academic fields, that the travel and tourism industry is profoundly environmentally flawed (Gössling et al., 2010; Wheeller, 2012). Deeply embedded in neoliberal consumer society and entrenched in the structures of late-capitalism (Harvey, 2011), efforts to address the environmental failures of global tourism have, for the time being, rested largely with the consumer. This edited book has interrogated the behavioural and psychological dimensions of (tourist) mobility consumption, highlighted the complexity of consumer decision-making and drawn into question the efficacy of a consumer-led industry response to the climate crisis. The chapters in the first part of the book explored psychological understandings of climate change and tourism mobilities. These chapters unpack some of the key barriers to behaviour change in sustainable mobility, focusing on the attitude-behaviour gap as a significant hurdle to actualising behavioural change, the importance of identity and emotions to consumer decision-making in tourism and transport contexts, and how the hedonic and affective representations surrounding tourism spaces make them particular tricky settings for enacting sustained positive behaviour change. The chapters show that the barriers to unlocking behavioural change amongst consumers are considerable, and that the travelling public is unlikely to change “spontaneously” on the basis of environmental awareness alone. The socio-psychological insights in this part instead point towards increased governance as paramount in developing more sustainable mobility practices, if these changes are to be significant and in line with global climate policy. Part II of the book turned to behavioural aspects of climate change and tourism mobilities, and dealt with issues such as how carbon offsetting can ironically induce more travel rather than deter it, and the multiple ways in which time and distance are implicated in mobility decisions, including how changing information technologies can redefine these concepts. Longer-term planning horizons, and the impacts of individual lifestyles on demand modelling are explored, as well as how public transport can be promoted to visitors in urban destinations. The chapters in this part span a range of behavioural issues as they relate to (un)sustainable mobility, from localised ground transport and real-time travel information, to mega-events and the perceived cultural value of longdistance travel. The final part of the book focused on governance and policies based upon psychological, behavioural and social mechanisms. It commences with a comprehensive review of the cognitive, experiential and normative approaches to climate change communication before proposing an integrative conceptual framework for enhanced communication interventions. This aims to narrow the gap between awareness and attitudes on one hand, and behaviour on the other, that is evidenced in many of the other chapters. The part concludes with a challenge to move beyond socio/psychological approaches that attempt to foster sustainable mobility behaviour, such as nudging and social marketing, and question more seriously the systems of provision that perpetuate these practices. Significant structural change will require more radical approaches to governance, but the wheels of change turn slowly and in the case of anthropogenic climate change time is in limited supply. Overall, the chapters support earlier insights that increasing climate awareness and environmental concern has little bearing upon tourism consumption (Cohen et al., 2011; Eijgelaar et al., 2010; Hares et al., 2010; Higham and Cohen, 2011; McKercher et al., 2010), but they provide new perspectives as to why this might be the case. Travel decisions, the book shows, are deeply embedded socially and culturally, and intimately related to emotions, identity, time, happiness, performances of self or the attainment (or avoidance) of “possible selves”, all of which represent subconscious and little investigated psychological factors that bear upon travel decisions. The wide disparities that are apparent in domestic (“home”) and tourism (“away”) decision-making and behavioural contexts (Barr et al., 2010) cement the conclusion that the autonomy of individual pro-environmental response, when set within the systems of provision in latecapitalist consumer society, is fraught with challenge.
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Increasing youth travel has led to young people being labelled as ‘nomads’. This paper examines the phenomenon of youth nomadism in the tourism literature as well as examining recent empirical evidence. A review of the literature around youth nomadism identifies two major themes: analyses of the growth and development of youth travel niches, such as backpacking, volunteer tourism and educational exchange, and broader approaches linked to the rise of the mobilities paradigm. A major global survey of youth travel (34,000 respondents) indicates three major travel styles related to different forms of ‘nomadism’: the backpacker, the flashpacker and the global nomad. The traditional backpacker can be seen as a form of ‘neotribe’, gathering in self-sufficient enclaves. In contrast, the flashpacker, or ‘digital nomad’, utilizes existing digital and logistic infrastructure to maintain a fluid, individualized lifestyle. The global nomad, or ‘location independent traveller’, tries to integrate with the local community, while trying to avoid the strictures of ‘system’.
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The debate on tourism in cities, both academically and in practice, has for a long time taken place in relative isolation from urban studies. Tourism is mostly addressed as an external agent and economic force that puts pressure on cities rather than as an interdependent part of city systems. The recent debate on city touristification and excessive dependence on the visitor economy, as well as the associated processes of exclusion, and displacement of local city users, serves to highlight how tourism is an integral part of urban developments. A wider urban perspective is needed to understand the processes underlying the tourism phenomena and more transdisciplinary perspectives are required to analyze the urban (tourism) practices. The current article seeks to contribute to such a perspective through a discussion of the literature on urban and tourism studies, and related fields such as gentrification, mobilities, and touristification. Based on this, theoretical reflections are provided regarding a more integral perspective to tourism and urban development in order to engage with a transversal urban tourism research agenda.
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This paper seeks to highlight underlying issues of the tourism system that have led to tourism extremes of too much or too little tourism. Five phases are recognized that reflect different ways of dealing with too much tourism over time, after which the impact of a sudden lack of tourism is investigated in light of future renewal processes. This discussion highlights the remarkable capacity of the tourism industry to adjust to rapidly changing circumstances and crises, even when these cause anguish to individuals and within societies at large. The paper thus seeks to contextualize the current discussions regarding the transformation of tourism post COVID-19. It highlights the complexity of changing a tourism that multiple stakeholders depend on or have grown accustomed to. To come to a more balanced tourism, it is necessary to not only come up with alternative visions and strategies, but also to engage with the political economy nature of tourism development. A future research agenda should therefore also discuss facets of entangled power, social exclusion, inequalities and class differences to come to new reference points of what actually constitutes a more inclusive tourism success.
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One of the freedoms enjoyed by European Union (EU) citizens is the freedom of movement for workers within the EU (since 2011). This includes the rights of movement and residence for workers, the right to work in another Member State and be treated on an equal footing with nationals of that Member State. EU Mobile Citizens (EUMCs) are often not treated on an equal footing. In the Netherlands, the struggle to register and house EUMCs has been continuous since the start of the enlargement of the EU with the EU-11 in 2004. For this study student-led research was used to look at registration and housing policies in three countries, Sweden, Spain, and Germany to look for good practices applicable in the Dutch context. Students interviewed a municipal worker and a business representative (employer of EUMCs) in seven selected municipalities. The findings from this exploration highlight the complexity of addressing the needs of EU Mobile Citizens within local governance structures. Across the case studies, three critical themes emerged that shaped the dynamics of registration and housing for EUMCs: the capacity of local governments, the roles of employers, and the influence of national-level policies.
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This paper introduces and explores the psychological and social factors that both contribute to and inhibit behaviour change vis-à-vis sustainable (tourist) mobility. It is based on papers presented at the Freiburg 2012 workshop. Specifically, it reviews climate change attitudes and perceptions, the psychological benefits of tourism mobilities, addictive elements of mobility and social norming effects, the attitude-behaviour gap (i.e. cognitive dissonance between understandings of, and responses to, climate change), the psychology of modal shifts, the psychology of travel speed/time and psychological explanations for the perceived importance of long distance travel. It notes that anthropogenic climate change is an inescapable reality and that tourism's share of greenhouse gas emissions appears set to rise substantially. There is little prospect of technical solutions adequately addressing this problem. The paper concludes that, while a comprehensive understanding of tourist psychology is necessary to inform policy-makers, it alone will be insufficient to achieve emission reductions, and bring tourism to a climatically sustainable pathway, if treated in isolation. Radical change in the structures of provision is also necessary. That change may take the form of infrastructure planning, including financial and economic infrastructure (e.g. taxation regimes and emission trading schemes) for sustainable mobility.
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This review article traces the development of cultural tourism as a field of research over the past decade, identifying major trends and research areas. Cultural tourism has recently been re-affirmed by the UNWTO as a major element of international tourism consumption, accounting for over 39% of tourism arrivals. Cultural tourism research has also grown rapidly, particularly in fields such as cultural consumption, cultural motivations, heritage conservation, cultural tourism economics, anthropology and the relationship with the creative economy. Major research trends include the shift from tangible to intangible heritage, more attention for indigenous and other minority groups and a geographical expansion in the coverage of cultural tourism research. The field also reflects a number of ‘turns’ in social science, including the mobilities turn, the performance turn and the creative turn. The paper concludes with a number of suggestions for future research directions, such as the development of trans-modern cultures and the impacts of new technologies.
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Despite a growing contribution to climate change, tourist and traveller behaviour is currently not acknowledged as an important sector within the development of climate policy. Whilst tourists may be increasingly aware of potential impacts on climate change there is evidence that most are unwilling to modify their actual behaviours. Influencing individual behaviour in tourism and informing effective governance is therefore an essential part of climate change mitigation. This significant volume is the first to explore the psychological and social factors that may contribute to and inhibit sustainable change in the context of tourist and traveller behaviour. It draws on a range of disciplines to offer a critical review of the psychological understandings and behavioural aspects of climate change and tourism mobilities, in addition to governance and policies based upon psychological, behavioural and social mechanisms. It therefore provides a more informed understanding of how technology, infrastructure and cost distribution can be developed in order to reach stronger mitigation goals whilst ensuring that resistance from consumers for socio-psychological reasons are minimized. Written by leading academics from a range of disciplinary backgrounds and regions this ground breaking volume is essential reading for all those interested in the effective governance of tourism’s contribution to climate change now and in the future.
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This paper addresses the in- and exclusivity of, and of (in-)visibilities in the city for people with physical impairment by drawing on a participatory student research project. Students at the University College Groningen collaborated with students from the Art Academy Minerva and clients at the Noorderbrug, an organisation that provides housing and care for people with acquired brain injuries. The project entailed some specific challenges of communication (e.g. Sometimes mediated by eye-tracking speech computers) and rhythms and mobilities, yet the research teams (with members of each of the above institutions) were encouraged to explore and experience the city together. Their journeys were documented using visual methods and these visuals (photos and sometimes video) formed the basis of a public exhibition both at the Noorderbrug and the University College. In this exhibition, the research teams convey a sense of in- and exclusivities, of (in)visibilities, of difference and sameness through presentations, representations and experiential, interactive exhibits. The paper will largely focus on the process, co-creation, relationships and impact.
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