Description
Book SynopsisThis Handbook provides a critical analysis of the evolution of the contemporary niche tourism phenomenon. By framing discussions around sustainable development thinking, concepts and practical applications, each chapter provides specific reflections on niche tourism trends, successes and/or failures, and the challenges and opportunities that destinations that pursue tourism as a vehicle for sustainable development face around the world.
The Handbook includes a blend of academic and practitioner contributors providing a balance of theoretical, conceptual and empirical elaborations on the topic, with case studies from across the globe. It covers a broad range of critical thematic areas, including: nature-based tourism, rural tourism, heritage and culture based tourism, dark tourism, spiritual, religious and wellness tourism, and social and inclusive tourism. Chapters also examine the latest developments in niche tourism, including the impact of Covid-19.
This invigorating and comprehensive study of niche tourism will benefit sustainable tourism scholars, as well as tourism researchers and students more broadly. It will also be useful to policy makers and tourism practitioners seeking a better understanding of this increasingly important field.
Trade Review‘Tourism is now more dynamic than ever across markets and products globally as we move beyond disruptions. While the context has changed, the opportunities are many. This Handbook is not only a vital contribution to our understanding of tourism nuances, but a motivator for renewed creativity and innovation. Whether reading individual chapters or from cover to cover, this is not only a key contribution to our understanding of niche tourism, but also a call to action with relevant forward-focused insights.’ -- Hannah Messerli, The World Bank, US
‘This Handbook provides a welcome addition to tourism scholarship. The niche tourism experiences outlined are largely owned and operated locally, which is something that those of us wanting to see more local control over tourism (especially after the “overtourism” crisis pre-pandemic) and more local benefits from tourism, are seeking. This Handbook is thus well placed to inspire other researchers engaging with ideas around the desire for more sustainable and mindful travel post-pandemic.’ -- Regina Scheyvens, Massey University, New Zealand
‘The tourism “product” has, in recent decades, become remarkably diversified; destinations offer and tourists now seek an enormous variety of tourism attractions and experiences that collectively comprise an increasingly significant sector of the overall market – niche tourism. This Handbook makes a vital contribution to our knowledge and understanding of this sector. In particular, its critical perspective, necessarily exploring the problems and prospects of numerous forms of niche tourism within the contemporary context of sustainability, makes it essential reading for those with an interest in tourism development.’ -- Richard Sharpley, University of Central Lancashire, UK
Table of ContentsContents: Introduction to niche tourism – contemporary trends and development xxiii Marina Novelli, Joseph M. Cheer, Claudia Dolezal, Adam Jones and Claudio Milano PART I NATURE-BASED TOURISM 1 Astro-tourism in the Czech–Polish Izera Dark Sky Park 2 Grzegorz Iwanicki 2 Glacier tourism and climate change in Switzerland 14 Emmanuel Salim 3 Architourism in nature areas: a ‘Bilbao effect’ in the bush? 25 Ben Wielenga, Stefan Hartman and Jasper Hessel Heslinga 4 Conservation tourism in Pangatalan island, Palawan UNESCO Biosphere Reserve 38 Cristina Abreu, Frédéric Tardieu and António D. Abreu 5 Urban ecotourism and regime altering in Denmark 49 Jane Widtfeldt Meged and Jesper Holm 6 In focus 1 – geocaching tourism in Poland 65 Joanna Kosmaczewska PART II RURAL TOURISM 7 Experiential tea tourism in Asia 69 Lee Jolliffe 8 Agritourism and the Prosecco Route of Italy 84 Marta Soligo 9 Culinary tourism: artichoke from land to table in Spain 99 Francesc Fusté-Forné 10 Astro-tourism in Portugal’s rural areas 111 Áurea Rodrigues and Helena Reis 11 Rural festival and event tourism in Albania 124 Enrico Porfido 12 In focus 2 – Koh Phi Phi Thailand: an icon of backpacker culture, victim of film tourism and devastated by crisis 140 Faye Taylor PART III HERITAGE AND CULTURE-BASED TOURISM 13 Personal heritage tourism 144 Heather Kennedy-Eden and Ulrike Gretzel 14 Communist heritage tourism in Poland 158 Robert Pawlusiński, Joanna Kowalczyk-Anioł and Magdalena Kubal-Czerwińska 15 Railways and niche tourism developments in Brazil 172 Carla Fraga 16 Industrial tourism and ceramics-led tourism in Stoke-on-Trent, UK 186 Paul Williams 17 ‘Escape rooms’ and cultural tourism in Poland 200 Andrzej Stasiak 18 Language tourism 218 Montserrat Iglesias 19 In focus 3 – contemporary arts tourism in West Africa 232 Marina Novelli, Maria Pia Bernardoni and Clive Allanso PART IV DARK TOURISM 20 Battlefield tourism: the legacy of Sandakan in Malaysian Borneo 236 Balvinder Kaur Kler and Cassie Perpetua Forsythe 21 Cold War Museum in Lithuania 250 Rasa Pranskūnienė and Viltė Kriščiūnaitė 22 Cemetery tourism in Slovenia 262 Lea Kužnik and Tanja Ostrman Renault 23 In focus 4 – fine dining in a prison: The Clink restaurants in the UK 278 Alison McIntosh, Maria Gebbels and Tracy Harkison PART V SPIRITUAL, RELIGIOUS AND WELLNESS TOURISM 24 Faith, new age spirituality and religious tourism 282 Daniel H. Olsen 25 Babymoon travel in India 300 Senthilkumaran Piramanayagam and Partho Pratim Seal 26 Pilgrimage tourism and the Shugendō programs in Japan 316 Ricardo Nicolas Progano 27 In focus 5 – religious tourism in the urban setting of Varanasi in India 328 K Thirumaran, Simona Azzali, Zilmiyah Kamble, Yash Prabhugaonkar and Manisha Agarwal PART VI SOCIAL AND INCLUSIVE TOURISM 28 Social tourism in Brazil 332 Ernest Cañada 29 Developmentourism and school tours in Zimbabwe 345 Kathleen Smithers and Joanne Ailwood 30 Gay tourism and sustainable rainbow tourist destinations 357 Fabio Corbisiero and Salvatore Monaco 31 The ‘albergo diffuso’ and tourism revitalization in Southern Italy 371 Dionisia Russo Krauss 32 In focus 6 – the ‘Wasteland – Graced Land’ story of Melkhoutfontein, South Africa 383 Anthea Rossouw PART VII LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN NICHE TOURISM 33 South Korean ‘one-month stay’ travellers 388 Jaeyeon Choe 34 Unseen Tours’ virtual ‘Not-in-a-Pub’ quizzes: social inclusion and empowerment in times of COVID-19 401 Claudia Dolezal, Jayni Gudka and Dominic Lapointe 35 In focus 7 – hot air ballooning in the Czech Republic 422 Markéta Novotná and Josef Kunc 36 In focus 8 – flights to nowhere 425 Martine Bakker Index 427
