Abstracts for Session 9

  Celebrating proximity in tourism

 

 

Title: Proximity tourism: A thematic literature review

Authors: Tarja Salmela, Minna Nousiainen, Henna Nevala and Outi Rantala

Affiliation: University of Lapland 

 

In this presentation we discuss our recently conducted literature review on proximity tourism. The aim of the review was to build an understanding of the scope and amount of research published on the topic of proximity tourism within the tourism and hospitality literature. In addition to referring to a particular form of tourism that emphasises local destinations, short distances and lower-carbon modes of transportation, proximity tourism builds upon an idea of seeing our proximate, everyday surroundings anew. Despite the currency and relevance of the topic of proximity, the existing literature in tourism and leisure studies on proximity tourism is relevantly scarce. In addition, there is variance in the usage of concepts referring to proximity tourism. With these notions forming the motivation for our study, we conducted a systematic, thematic literature review of international research publications concerning the topic at hand. We identified a considerable potential in this emerging strand of research of proximity tourism to renegotiate tourism, its concepts and future(s). By re-examining the dichotomy between tourist and local; challenging the definition of tourism on the basis of distance as ‘nearness’ and ‘farness’ and; envisioning brave new tourism futures, the reviewed research literature of proximity tourism proved to disrupt the very basic concepts of tourism. The existing literature of proximity (in) tourism is thus able to create space for new conceptualisations within tourism studies that make way for the plurality of tourism futures. 


 

Title: ‘Pandemic proximity’: Exploring new domestic encounters in Arctic tourism

Authors: Elsbeth Bembom, Carina Ren, Camilla Brattland, and Randy Bruin

Affiliation: Aalborg University, Arctic University of Norway

 

The unforeseen global outbreak of covid-19 resulted in a radical drop in tourism to Arctic destinations in 2020. While usual international visitors were unable to travel to these Northern regions, some were replaced with a new and different guest in the summer of 2020: the domestic tourist. In this paper, we explore new domestic encounters characterised by what we term as ‘pandemic proximity’. Based on interviews and a survey, we provide examples of how tourism entrepreneurs crafted new stories about the Other and the Self as a result of the new guest, hence disrupting but also reiterating notions of exoticism and Otherness. 

The study shows how some local tourism entrepreneurs experienced awkwardness or discomfort during encounters. This was not only due to perceived differences, but also seeming similarities between them and the guests. As we discuss, different experiences with colonialism and assimilation, as well as the experience with recent tourism development play a part in how these domestic encounters unfolded.

The research shed new light on friction within domestic tourism as disruptive and productive and suggests how new stories centering on common relationships to nature might serve as a common ground for exploring affinities in host-guest relationships in Greenland and Northern Norway.

 

 

Title: Destination familiarity, risk perceptions, and revisit intentions after terror attacks 

Authors: Katharina Wolff, Svein Larsen, and Torvald Øgaard

Affiliation: University of Bergen, University of Stavanger

 

Psychological distance describes the individuals perceived remoteness of an event, and encompasses the dimensions of spatial, temporal, and social distance, and hypotheticality (Trope & Liberman, 2010). These dimensions share cognitive similarities, including construal level and effects on prediction, preference, and behavior. For example, are risks that are perceived as proximal or familiar underestimated compared to risks that are perceived as distant or unfamiliar (Zwickle & Wilson, 2013). 

This is one reason why terror attacks at tourism destinations may affect tourists who are familiar with the destination differently from tourists who are not. Repeat visitors may be less inclined to avoid an affected destination, simply because they are more familiar with that destination and therefore may perceive it to be less risky. 

The present investigation used a hypothetical terror-scenario to measure familiar and unfamiliar tourists’ risk perceptions of a destination before- and after a terror attack, as well as their revisit intentions. A total of 731 international tourists to Norway filled in a questionnaire accessing perceived risk, revisit intentions, and familiarity with the destination. Somewhat surprisingly, familiar tourists reported higher risk perceptions for the destination before the terror attack than unfamiliar tourists. Equally surprising, there were no differences in risk perceptions for familiar and unfamiliar tourists after the attack. Findings imply that unfamiliar tourists experience a greater increase in perceived risk following the terror attack. In line with this they also report lower revisit intentions. This lends partial support for the hypothesis that familiar tourists are less effected by terror attacks than unfamiliar tourists. Results also underline the importance of obtaining before- and after measures when it comes to perceived risk after terror attacks.

 

 

Title: SENSITIVE COMMUNICATION WITH PROXIMATE MESSMATES

Authors: Emily Höckert, Outi Rantala, and Gunnar Thór Jóhannesson

Affiliation: University of Lapland, University of Iceland

 

The research at hand experiments with the communication that occurs in the encounters and entanglements between human and more-than-human agencies. It builds on the emerging debates on qualitative methodologies informed by new materialism, which help us recognise how more-than-humans can communicate and participate in producing and sharing knowledge. The main purpose of this paper is to introduce the approach of sensitive communication with human and more-than-human others in tourism settings. The article explores and tests sensitive reading as a way of conducting research on sensitive communication in proximate surroundings by presenting two empirical examples from Iceland and Sweden. The research is driven by curiosity about the different ways of communicating with and about mundane and ordinary places in the context of proximity tourism. The idea of proximity refers here to curious and caring relations toward our proximate surroundings, beings and thoughts. This approach to proximity tourism re-opens ideas of nearness and farness and offers an alternative approach to current quantitative macro-level discussions and inquiries of the Anthropocene.

 

 

Title: TOUCHING LANDSCAPE:  The agency of proximity in a more than human world

Authors: Tinna Gunnarsdóttir

Affiliation: University of Iceland

 

How can artistic interventions be used as a tool to explore local landscape and enhance relations in a more than human world?

In this research the focus is on aesthetic engagement in landscape as a response against the acute environmental problems of the Anthropocene. Today’s wicket problems calls for our immediately response through a variety of approaches, tools, and techniques, from science to art and humanities, and from the individual to the collective. When it comes to sustainability "we do not need mass answers but a mass of answers."

The research explores how aesthetic experiences in landscapes can be stimulated, conceptualized, and understood as an agency of change. In this session on celebrating proximity in tourism a case study will be analyzed where 5 stepping stones were installed in a river in an abandoned fjord on the north coast of Iceland. The diverse proximities of more- than-human relations created throughout the process from designing to installing will be analyzed as well as the agency of the stones once in the river and how they respond to a variety of actants. Following are few sub-questions:

Will we humans become more environmentally responsible if we acknowledge that we are part of nature? How can aesthetic experiences in landscape enhance this interconnectedness? Why is it important today to underpin the concept of the natural world as an interwoven whole? 

 

 

Title: Proximity as a matter of concern in tourism development

Author: Elva Björg Einarsdóttir

Affiliation: University of Iceland

 

The aim of the paper is to discuss tourism in V-Barð, Iceland, in terms of geosocial connections. Geosociality places emphasis on relationality of more-than-humans and is about “belonging as the world” (Wright, 2015). The concept underlines that humans are geologically produced – of the same material, and the relation to a place entwins this bio-geo-relations (Yusoff, 2013). V-Barð is inconsiderable distance from the capital which is the most populated area in the country and were transportation of goods and people to and from the country takes place. This places V-Barð on the margins and out of reach for the most of tourists that visit the country for a short period of time. The marginal position of V-Barð is however also an assert. Tourists who go to V-Barð are usually visiting Iceland for the second or third time. They are attracted by the ruralness of the place, how it provides feelings of being alone in the world–to be close to nature. Local tourist services emphasize the importance of these qualities of the area for tourism and are keen on preserving them. Different groups or stakeholders do however have diverse approaches to nature and how proximity to it matters. In the paper I describe some of these approaches in terms of geosociality and seek to bring forth proximity as a matter of concern when it comes to tourism development.