Description
Keynote: "Multiple faces and mixed messages of responsibility in tourism policy" ‘Responsibility’ and ‘tourism policy’. Do these two words go together? Under what circumstances might we consider tourism policy to be responsible? Responsible to whom and to what ends? Putting ‘responsible’ and ‘tourism policy’ together in once sentence can often elicit a range of narratives and normative forms of knowledge. For example, tourism policy should be inclusive, participatory, and democratic; and it should use public resources efficiently and protect human, cultural and natural assets. But these notions of responsibility have more to do with accountability than responsibility. Neoliberal management, and a drive for tourism policy that caters to key economic interests, have fed a shift in focus away from responsibility towards accountability. Concomitantly, there has also been a marked distancing of research away from philosophical questions about the roles of the public sector, of private interests and citizens, and our own responsibilities as researchers have also been backgrounded. This presentation examines shifts in tourism policy research, enticing the audience to appreciate the meta-narratives of accountability and responsibility that have shaped its historical development. It also prompts us to confront the gap between researching tourism policy from a normative, short-term and industry-centred perspective, and what we (in an individual and collective sense) really need to do to care for the future. This presentation will leave no doubt that understanding, giving meaning to and enacting responsibility is essential for tourism policy research.| Period | 1 Oct 2015 |
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| Event title | 24th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research: Responsible tourism? |
| Event type | Conference |
| Conference number | 24 |
| Location | Reykjavik, IcelandShow on map |