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****Apologies for cross posting****

*RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2015*

2-4 September 2015, Exeter (Devon, UK)

*Proximity and intraregional aspects of tourism*
*Session organizers*

Jelmer H.G. Jeuring (University of Groningen, The Netherlands)

Inmaculada Diaz Soria (University of Toulouse 2-Jean Jaurès, France)


Sponsored by the Geographies of Leisure and Tourism Research Group (GLTRG)
*Call for papers*

Tourism is often framed as an international phenomenon. However, in a
global context, tourism behaviour can be understood as a manifestation of
intraregional mobility. Interestingly, in a world of increased mobilities,
classic dichotomies such as tourist-resident, home-away, host-guest and
self-other become less relevant and increasingly challenged. This might
lead to “exclusion and narrow acceptance in destination development and
strategic tourism decision making on local, regional, national, and
international levels” (Saraniemi and Kylänen, 2011: 140). Tourism scholars
still have to develop a new vocabulary to deal with the blurring of tourism
and everyday life. As already noted by Franklin and Crang, “[t]ourism
studies has often privileged the exotic and strange, reflecting
anthropological legacies, to speak of dramatic contrasts between visitors
and locals” (2001: 8). Hereby, tourism research overlooks both the mundane
of the exotic and the exotic of the everyday. Due to this international
bias (Eijgelaar et al., 2008), more proximate tourist activities, where
tourism is produced and consumed by people living within a region (Canavan,
2013) often remain under the radar. Yet, such tourism activities form a
major part of the tourism as industry. Moreover, better understanding
tourism through proximity can shed light on new ways tourism can play a
role in local and regional development, but also challenges the assumption
that we need to travel in order to find exotic places and experience
otherness.


Several questions arise. What does exotic mean in a globalized context,
where places increasingly look similar? Which is the relationship between
everyday life and tourism nowadays? What are the implications of proximity
and intraregional tourism for land planning and tourism policies? (How) can
tourism play a role in connecting people and nearby places? Is there a
future for ‘tourism without travel’? How does proximity tourism relate to
local citizenship and community responsibilities?


There is a need to discuss the role of proximity and intraregional aspects
in the ways tourism works. Therefore, in this session of the RGS-IBG Annual
International Conference 2015
<http://www.rgs.org/WhatsOn/ConferencesAndSeminars/Annual+International+Conference/Annual+international+conference.htm>,
we are welcoming researchers to present both theoretical and empirical
papers around the following topics:

·      (Re)valuing everyday life through tourism

·      Internal destination branding

·      Local stakeholder involvement in intraregional tourism development

·      Second home tourism and residential tourism

·      Ambassadorship/living the brand/Tourism as citizenship

·      The commodification of regional identities in tourism marketing and
branding

·      Re-interpretation of host-guest/tourist-resident binaries in
proximity tourism

·      Attitudes to proximate/intraregional tourism

·      Sociological and psychological aspects of proximity and distance in
tourism

·      Intraregional tourism policy

·      The role of familiarity in tourist experiences

·      Proximity tourism from a temporal point of view (e.g. nearby
city-breaks)

·      Ethical aspects of proximity tourism versus distant/international
tourism

References:

Canavan, B., 2013, “The Extent and Role of Domestic Tourism in a Small
Island: The Case of the Isle of Man”. *Journal of Travel Research*, 52 (3):
340-352.

Eijgelaar, E., Peeters, P. and Piket, P., 2008, “Domestic and international
tourism in a globalized world”. Paper read at *International Conference of
International Tourism*, at International Sociological Association, Jaipur,
Rajasthan, India.

Franklin, A. and Crang, M., 2001, “The trouble with tourism and travel
theory”. *Tourist studies*, 1 (1): 5-22.

Saraniemi, S. and Kylänen, M., 2011, “Problematizing the Concept of Tourism
Destination: An Analysis of Different Theoretical Approaches”. *Journal of
Travel Research*, 50 (2): 133-143.
*Instruction for authors*

Please send paper title, abstract of no more than 250 words, a short
biography of maximum 100 words and full contact details by *1 February 2015*
 to:

Jelmer H.G. Jeuring ([log in to unmask])

Inmaculada Diaz Soria ([log in to unmask])





*Jelmer H.G. Jeuring*

Department of Cultural Geography, Faculty of Spatial Sciences

University of Groningen

The Netherlands



*Inmaculada Diaz Soria*

CERTOP - Geography and Land Planning

University of Toulouse 2-Jean Jaurès

France