1 Pluralization of production and consumption roles in

|1 Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? An SME perspective on proximity tourism Jelmer Jeuring MSc University of Groningen Faculty of Spatial Sciences, Cultural Geography dept. 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research Turku, Finland 29 September 2016

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 2 Outline › Introduction • • • A focus on proximity tourism SMEs and resident roles in tourism Re-consumption as a theoretical lens › Study • • • Friesland, The Netherlands Semi-structured interviews with SME owners and employees Four emerging themes › Lessons 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 3 Proximity tourism › Re-valuing the familiar & the everyday environment through touristic activities? › Blurring boundaries between tourism and everyday life • Mobile, adventurous tourist Passive, mundane resident (Salazar, 2012; Diaz-Soria, 2013/2016) › Ph. D Research: exploring three perspectives on proximity tourism • Residents • Policymakers/DMOs • Small & Medium Sized tourism Enterprises (SMEs) 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 4 Tourism SMEs › Characteristic for rural tourism destinations › Healthy stakeholder relationships needed for learning, branding, economic viability › Local embeddedness, place attachment › Relationships imbued with power • SMEs as ‘brokers’ in tourism development (Cheong & Miller, 2000) • Brokers and ‘locals’ far more power than ‘tourists’ • What when residents become tourists? • Are they facilitated or restricted? Role attributions 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 5 SMEs & resident roles in tourism › Tourism as performance (Edensor, 2001) › Roles are re-enacted and reinforced: normative › Resident roles (Braun et al. , 2010/2013): production and consumption § Part of product/Producers (physical presence, hosts) § Ambassadors (branding, responsibility) § Citizens (rights, obligations, interests) § Consumers (tourists? ) › Negative associations with ‘tourist’ labels (Singh & Krakover, 2015) › Need for touristic roles to be incorporated in self/place identity of residents multiple, interacting production-consumption roles 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 6 Re-consumption as a theoretical lens › Production and consumption reinforce each other: ‘producers themselves are consuming lifestyle, cultural context, or recreational activities in order to perform the act of production. Indeed, through the endless recycling of cultural circuits the act of production can be seen as an act of re-consumption and consumption as an act of re-production’ (Ateljevic and Doorne, 2004, p. 292). › ‘multiple readings of local residents’ (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2004, p. 299) › Re-consumption of tourism performances through role attributions › Re-consumption of tourism roles themselves 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 7 Study › Friesland, The Netherlands • Rural tourism destination • Coast, Wadden islands, freshwater lakes • Sailing, motorboats, cycling, e-bikes, beaches, forests, agriculture • Mostly domestic tourism; intnl: Germany › Semi-structured interviews (12 participants) › Water sports, museums, tour guides, tourist information › 45 -90 minutes, at office/home of participants › Qualitative analysis (Boeije, 2009): coding structure with emerging themes 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 8 Main findings: four emerging themes › Tourism SMEs perceptions of residents (un)able to engage in touristic production/consumption roles • • Being a tourist Discovery and unawareness Lifecourse experiences Ambassadorship › Limited access to touristic consumption when roles are segregated › Opportunities when roles ‘feed off each other’ (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2004, p. 298) 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 9 Being a tourist › Classical definitions vs. interaction of roles › “The exact definition I would not be able to give. Tourism I think pertains to a period longer than one day. Including an overnight stay. Or a considerable distance. ” › “Whenever they do something they would not normally do. It has also to do with discovery, with experiencing what is not experienced as a resident. So when you never go sailing and then you rent a boat, I think you are a tourist. (9: 13) 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 10 Discovery & unawareness › Familiarity AND unawareness as perceived constraints › “I think they [residents] would be the least likely target group I would focus on. But if I would have to, it comes down to that many people living here just do not know all the possibilities. When you tell them there is a great mountainbike course in Appelscha and on Texel. Around the corner. They are not aware of that. ” (5: 32) › Acceptance of disengagement versus overlooking local attractiveness • Lock-in? 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 11 Discovery & unawareness › Overcoming a lock-in • ‘Distancing’ (Diaz Soria, 2016) “I noticed that, this interest is currently emerging, people exploring their own environment. It might be because of the current political situation in Europe. This will likely bring people closer to home. But this idea of: actually I still do not know The Netherlands very well. ” (12: 10) • Producers as tourists: becoming ‘Marco Polo’ “As marketer you need to be an explorer yourself. The producer most of all needs to be a discoverer. But when you are not curious and you are not an explorer, you might as well quit. When looking at it you would say, this is nothing, but often things remain rather superficial, and you need to go more in-depth. So you need to find a local, be a Marco Polo. ” (9: 15) 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 12 Lifecourse experiences › Early age consumption leads to intrapersonal and intra-generational reconsumption at higher ages › Place attachment and rootedness “In the coming spring holidays we need instructors for a group. Both parents and children have signed up for this. Children have learnt sailing in a family context, while the parents continue as sailing instructor. And the kids are now old enough to become instructors themselves. I think we are currently having the third generation of sailing instructors. ” 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 13 Lifecourse experiences › Importance of education • Education programs, school trips, internships • Education facilitates mutual re-consumption through various roles “What is interesting for a class of children, is also interesting for parents with children during their vacation. When I develop an educational tour, I try to make it as much fun as possible. Learning should be fun, but even more importantly, you should notice that you are learning. This makes all educational aspects similarly attractive for touristic purposes. ” (4: 4) › Tourism-education context as basis for open-minded attitude towards both the familiar and the unfamiliar. 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 14 Ambassadorship › Word-of-Mouth: consumption-ambassador-citizenship roles • Problematic: limited consumption roles of residents • Uncontrollable: diversity of resident interests and opinions “We do not actively involve them (residents) in Wo. M… it is very difficult to employ the local population. Wo. M is of course the best marketing. But it is very difficult to manage. Everybody has a different opinion. I see Wo. M as something you like and talk about as recommendation to do. That is very complex to initiate or guide. ” (11: 8) 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 15 Ambassadorship › Volunteering motivated by feelings of attachment and responsibility: reconsuming citizenship through production roles › Hosting of family and friends: re-consuming ambassadorship roles through consumption “Always some local people join [the walking tour]. They have family or friends who visit them and they think let’s do something fun. Then they join a guided city walk. And then they see, it is a lot of fun. And they return for another occasion, with family or with their colleagues. I really see this as a target group. ” (10: 4) 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

Pluralization of production and consumption roles in tourism? 29 -09 -2016 | 16 Lessons › Proximity tourism is only partially seen as attractive › Re-consumption a useful lens to understand role attributions, proximity tourism and resident roles › Common ground of quotes • Limited access to touristic consumption when roles are segregated • Opportunities for proximity tourism when roles interact or overlap › Implications: use re-consumption as conceptual basis for tourism development? • Pluralization of roles • Challenge of overcoming a ‘lock-in’ • Being ‘Marco Polo’ • Importance of learning and education 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

29 -09 -2016 | 17 Thank you for your attention 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research

29 -09 -2016 | 18 References Ateljevic, I. , & Doorne, S. (2004). Cultural circuits of tourism: Commodities, place, and re-consumption. In A. A. Lew, C. M. Hall, & A. M. Williams (Eds. ), A companion to tourism (291 -302). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Boeije, H. (2009). Analysis in Qualitative Research. London (UK): Sage Publications. Braun, E. , Kavaratzis, M. , & Zenker, S. (2013). My city–my brand: the different roles of residents in place branding. Journal of Place Management and Development, 6(1), 18 -28. Cheong, S. -M. , & Miller, M. L. (2000). Power and tourism: A Foucauldian observation. Annals of Tourism Research, 27(2), 371 -390. Dıaz Soria, I. , & Llurdes Coit, J. (2013). Thoughts about proximity tourism as a strategy for local development. Cuadernos de Turismo, 32, 65 -88. Diaz Soria, I. (2016). Being a tourist as a chosen experience in a proximity destination. Tourism Geographies. Advance online publication. Edensor, T. (2001). Performing tourism, staging tourism: (Re)producing tourist space and practice. Tourist Studies, 1(1), 59 -81. Salazar, N. B. (2012). Tourism imaginaries: A conceptual approach. Annals of Tourism Research, 39(2), 863882. Singh, S. , & Krakover, S. (2015). Homeland entitlement: Perspectives of Israeli domestic tourists. Journal of Travel Research, 54(2), 222 -233. 25 th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research