WITH APOLOGIES FOR CROSS POSTING


The Geography of Leisure and Tourism Research Group (GLTRG) of the Royal 
Geographical Society (with IBG) is pleased to announce, and invite 
submissions to, the following sessions at the RGS-IBG Annual 
Conference: ‘Global social justice and environmental sustainability’ (30 
August – 1 September 2006, Kensington Gore, London):
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A CRITICAL LOOK AT RESPONSIBLE TOURISM: DEMAND- AND SUPPLY-SIDE PERSPECTIVES
Convenors: Jan Mosedale (University of Exeter) and Caroline Scarles 
(University of Surrey)

“We look for an answer, an alternative – ideally to plan not only to 
minimize the cost of tourism and maximize the benefits but simultaneously 
to ensure an equitable and just distribution of these costs and benefits” 
Wheeller (1991: 91-92).

Sadly many of the questions set to academics and practitioners by Wheeller 
in his paper on responsible tourism have not yet been answered. As concerns 
rise over global poverty and social, cultural, economic and environmental 
injustice, it is vital to question the fundamental role tourism plays in 
contributing towards the sustainable development of destinations. As 
concerns over such injustices permeate societal discourses, the demands for 
sustainable and responsible tourism within such fragile environments are 
becoming evermore pronounced. Indeed, a cultural turn in tourist practice 
and process has witnessed the emergence of a plethora of opportunities for 
tourists to engage in responsible tourist practice, as they are encouraged 
to ‘take only photos and leave only footprints’. However, the processes and 
practices of establishing, delivering and implementing opportunities are 
inherently imbued with complexities. Indeed, the question of responsibility 
is itself extremely complex and raises questions regarding what it is to be 
responsible, where and with whom responsibility rests and to, and for, whom 
one is responsible? In line with the questions raised above and by 
Wheeller, the session aims to bridge the gap in responsible tourism between 
production and consumption by analysing both the demand- as well as the 
supply-side of the tourism system. Neoliberal policies have resulted in a 
marked trend towards self-regulation and voluntary measures by the 
producers, which are slowly implementing benchmarks and policies regarding 
corporate social responsibility and ethical supply chain management. Yet, 
tourism research has thus far mostly ignored the supply-side in discussions 
of sustainability, responsible tourism and – more generally – ethical 
trade. We therefore invite papers from academics, practitioners and NGOs in 
order to mix theoretical and practical and demand- and supply-side 
approaches to responsible tourism. Possible themes may include but are not 
limited to the following:
* theoretical approaches to responsibility in tourism;
* the ethics of production and consumption;
* on the need to be responsible: the consumer perspective;
* empowering local communities;
* implementing responsibility in tourism;
* the role of Institutions, NGOs, Governments and firms in responsible 
tourism;
* corporate responsibility: accountability, strategy, marketing, 
monitoring, auditing, benchmarking and certification; and
* ethical supply chain management.


ECOTOURISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY (with the Biogeography Research 
Group)
Convenors: Jenny Hill and Tim Gale (both University of the West of England, 
Bristol)

Thanks to the creation of new and previously inaccessible and undeveloped 
destinations, and a preference for independent and special interest 
holidays in non-resort locations, there is little left of the natural world 
that has not been exploited or commoditised for tourist consumption. The 
extension of the ‘pleasure periphery’ into ever more remote and exotic 
areas has been driven to a large degree by ecotourism, which is manifest in 
a range of environments from polar to tropical and terrestrial to aquatic. 
Notionally, ecotourism helps to conserve these environments, many of which 
could be construed as ‘fragile’, in addition to helping improve the welfare 
of local people (thus embodying the principles of inter- and intra-
generational equity that lie at the heart of sustainable development); it 
can also engender more positive attitudes towards the environment and 
desirable behaviour on the part of ecotourists once they have returned home 
(e.g. recycling). However, ecotourism has also attracted criticism, not 
least with regards to the environmental cost of air travel to popular 
destinations such as Costa Rica and Kenya, the ‘true’ motivations of 
ecotourists (which appear to have as much to do with sustaining the ego as 
the environment), and the potential for unwittingly disturbing ecosystems 
through co-presence.

With this in mind, we invite papers from either side of the natural-/social-
scientific divide that offer theoretical or practical insights into the 
complex interactions between ecotourism and the natural environment, from 
the local to the global scale. Possible topics include:
* the virtues of positive versus normative definitions of ecotourism;
* ecotourist types and motivations;
* comparative studies of ecotourism in different environments (e.g. marine, 
rainforest, mountain, etc);
* impacts and sustainability of ecotourism in relation to the natural 
environment (e.g. disruption to grazing and breeding patterns, loss of 
biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions from tourist transport, etc);
* environmental change and ecotourism in fragile environments (e.g. 
deforestation, desertification, etc);
* current practice in resource management for ecotourism (e.g. carrying 
capacity calculations, management plans, etc);
* the role of the biogeographer in interpretation provision;
* the causal links between interpretation and knowledge/attitudes/behaviour;
* the social construction of ecosystems through marketing and 
interpretation; and
* intersections between ecotourism and other ‘new tourisms’ (e.g. 
cultural/heritage, adventure, theme(d) parks/environments), and their role 
in promoting (more) sustainable development.


SPORTS GEOGRAPHY AND TOURISM
Convenor: Jacky Tivers (Nottingham Trent University)

Despite the well-known efforts of John Bale to bring sport to the attention 
of geographers over the last 30 years (and despite the enthusiasms of many 
final year geography undergraduates in pursuing dissertations on the 
subject of sport), sports geography is a relatively under-developed field 
of research and teaching, being heavily dependent for its literature on the 
disciplines of sports science and sociology. Sports tourism represents a 
fast-growing sector within the tourism industry, with specialist firms 
emerging to cater for increased demand by consumers. There has been a 
recent surge in academic publications relating to this trend, but again, 
little of this work is primarily geographical. The aim of this session is 
to bring together papers from across the field of sports geography and 
tourism which emphasise the contribution of geographers, and of socio-
spatial understanding, to sports studies. Possible themes might include:
* sport and place/landscape;
* cultural constructions of sport;
* geographies of sport consumption;
* sports spectating and identity;
* economic/socio-cultural/environmental impacts of sport;
* sports mega-events; and
* sports activity tourism.


TOURISM, INEQUALITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Convenors: Cara Aitchison, Fiona Jordan (both University of the West of 
England, Bristol) and Andrew Church (University of Brighton)

There is a well developed discourse of inequality and social justice within 
many of tourism studies’ underpinning disciplines, most notably geography 
and sociology. Similarly, tourism studies’ sister subject field of leisure 
studies pioneered research into inequality and exclusion in leisure 
provision and participation. Such research has addressed spatial, social, 
cultural and economic inequalities, the mutually informing nature of such 
inequalities and the ways in which inequality is experienced differently in 
relation to social class, gender, ethnicity, age and disability. This 
session seeks to extend such debates and discourses to tourism geographies 
where research on inequality and social justice has lacked the visibility 
seen in other disciplines and subject fields. 

Theoretical and empirical papers that engage critically with issues of 
inequality and social justice are invited for this session which seeks to 
provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of research addressing 
the following issues:
* the impact of the cultural turn in tourism studies and its relevance to 
the study of inequality and social justice;
* the emergence of the discourse of critical tourism studies and its 
application to debates relating to inequality and social justice;
* the place of social class, gender, ethnicity, age and disability in 
constructing and contesting inequality in tourism;
* the tourism-related experience of inequality and injustice in different 
societies, destinations and communities;
* policy attempts to develop and deliver social justice in and through 
tourism; and
* the role of tourism discourses and practices in relation to human rights.

(Please note that Elsevier are interested in publishing good quality papers 
submitted to this session as an edited volume.)
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Draft proposals of papers in the form of an abstract of no more than 200 
words should be emailed to the session convenors, using the standard RGS-
IBG pro-forma (available at www.rgs.org/AC2006), by 31 January 2006. Email 
addresses are as follows:

A critical look at responsible tourism: demand- and supply-side 
perspectives:
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Ecotourism and environmental sustainability:
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Sports geography and tourism:
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Tourism, inequality and social justice:
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