Review of: Religious Tourism and the Environment

Despite increasing scholarly attention on the environmental impacts of tourism, there has been little research on the environmental impacts of religious tourism and pilgrimage. As the oldest form of tourism, millions of people continue to travel to sacred places across the globe each year. In addition, despite the continuous growth of religious festivals and ceremonies at sacred sites such as Kumbh Mela, India, the impact of religious tourism on the environment and its role in the sustainable development of destinations is under explored. Religious Tourism and Environment edited by Kiran A. Shinde and Daniel H. Olsen is an original edited book, which focuses on the interrelationships between religion, tourism and the environment.

Sustainable and inclusive spiritual tourism development in Bali as a long-term post-pandemic strategy

The COVID-19 pandemic caused devastating socio-economic impacts in tourism destinations around the world. Many governments and tourism authorities could use the pandemic to seek more sustainable tourism development futures; for example, pre-pandemic Bali’s ‘tourism boom’ barely benefited local people and local businesses because of economic leakage and ‘tourist bubbles’. With an increasing demand on spiritual travel in the post pandemic period, Bali is seeking new opportunities as a spiritual tourism destination. This opportunity is based on their rich cultural and natural resources, and living heritage that can be related to spiritual tourism activities. This spiritual tourism development can contribute to local communities by creating sustainable livelihoods and providing diverse income sources as well as helping revitalise the local spiritual culture. However, tourism activities should be connected to, involve and empower local people and communities. Beyond the luxury yoga resort developments, governments, tourism authorities and large businesses should invest in supporting small-scale spiritual tourism businesses, so as to build more sustainable and inclusive spiritual tourism futures. This type of development would serve evolving tourist interests, as greater numbers of tourists prefer small-scale, community-based and cultural experiences, prefer to travel to remote and rural areas, and like to engage in spiritual practices and activities for their psychological recovery. Therefore, any post COVID-19 tourism recovery strategy must focus on the poorest communities in rural Bali where poverty rates accelerated during the pandemic. Authorities in Bali and similar destinations should support more opportunities for the poor and offer investment, education, and appropriate training programmes to reduce poverty and develop sustainable communities

Unpacking overtourism as a discursive formation through interdiscursivity

Purpose As tourism destinations grapple with declines in tourist arrivals due to COVID-19 measures, scholarly debate on overtourism remains active, with discussions on solutions that could be enacted to contain the excessive regrowth of tourism and the return of “overtourism”. As social science holds an important role and responsibility to inform the debate on overtourism, this paper aims to understand overtourism by examining it as a discursive formation. Design/methodology/approach The paper explores recurring thematic threads in scholarly overtourism texts, given the phrases coherence as a nodal-point is partially held in place by a collective body of texts authored by a network of scholars who have invested in it. The paper uses interdiscursivity as an interpretative framework to identify overlapping thematic trajectories found in existing discourses. Findings Overtourism, as a discursive formation, determines what can and should be said about the self-evident “truths” of excessive tourist arrivals, the changes tourists bring to destinations and the range of discursive solutions available to manage or end overtourism. As the interpellation of these thematic threads into scholarly texts is based on a sense of crisis and urgency, the authors find that the themes contain rhetoric, arguments and metaphors that problematise tourists and construct them as objects in need of control and correction. Originality/value While the persistence of the discursive formation will be determined by the degree to which scholarly and other actors recognise themselves in it, this paper may enable overtourism scholars to become aware of the limits of their discursive domain and help them to expand the discourse or weave a new one. 设计/方法论/方法 本文探讨了过度旅游研究文本中反复出现的主题线索, 鉴于这些短语连贯性作为一个节点, 由学者们组成的网络所研究的一组文本所组成。本文将互辩作为一个解释框架来识别现有语篇中重叠的主题轨迹。 目的 随着旅游目的地应对因新冠病毒−19措施而导致的游客人数下降, 关于过度旅游的学术辩论仍然活跃, 通过讨论可以制定的解决方案, 以遏制旅游业的过度再生和“过度旅游”的再现。由于社会科学在有关过度旅游的辩论中扮演着重要的角色和责任, 本文试图通过将其作为一种话语形式进行考察来理解过度旅游。 结果 作为一种话语形式, 过度旅游展现了过量游客所带来的不言而喻的“真相”、游客给目的地带来的变化以及可用于管理或结束过度旅游的一系列解决方案。由于这些主题线索在学术文本中的质询是基于危机感和紧迫感, 我们发现这些主题包含修辞、论据和隐喻, 使游客感到困惑, 并将其构建为需要控制和纠正的对象。 创新/价值 尽管话语形成的持续性将取决于学者和其他参与者在其中认识到自己的程度, 但本文可能会使过度旅游学者意识到其话语领域的局限性, 并帮助他们扩展话语或构建新的话语。 Propósito A medida que los destinos turísticos lidian con la disminución de las llegadas de turistas debido a las medidas del COVID-19, el debate académico sobre el “sobreturismo” permanece activo, con discusiones sobre soluciones que podrían promulgarse para contener el crecimiento excesivo del turismo y el regreso del “sobreturismo”. La ciencia tiene un papel importante y una responsabilidad en informar sobre el debate del “sobreturismo”, este artículo busca entender el constructo de “sobreturismo”, examinándolo como una formación discursiva. Diseño/metodología/enfoque El artículo explora los hilos temáticos recurrentes en los textos académicos sobre el “sobreturismo”, dada la coherencia de las frases como un punto nodal, mantenida parcialmente en su lugar, por un cuerpo colectivo de textos escritos por una red de académicos, los cuales han invertido tiempo en ellos. El artículo utiliza la inter-discursividad como marco interpretativo a la hora de identificar trayectorias temáticas superpuestas que se encuentran en las disertaciones existentes. Hallazgos El sobreturismo, como formación discursiva, determina lo que puede y debe decirse sobre las “verdades” evidentes de la llegada excesiva de turistas, los cambios que los turistas traen a los destinos y la gama de soluciones discursivas disponibles para gestionar o acabar con el “sobreturismo”. Como la interpelación de estos hilos temáticos en textos académicos se basa en un sentido de crisis y urgencia, encontramos que los temas contienen retórica, argumentos y metáforas que problematizan a los turistas y los construyen como objetos que necesitan control y corrección. Originalidad/valor Si bien la persistencia de la formación discursiva estará determinada por el grado en que los académicos y otros actores se reconozcan en ella, este artículo puede permitir a los estudiosos del “sobreturismo” tomar conciencia de los límites de su dominio discursivo y ayudarlos a expandir el discurso o tejer un discurso nuevo.Purpose As tourism destinations grapple with declines in tourist arrivals due to COVID-19 measures, scholarly debate on overtourism remains active, with discussions on solutions that could be enacted to contain the excessive regrowth of tourism and the return of “overtourism”. As social science holds an important role and responsibility to inform the debate on overtourism, this paper aims to understand overtourism by examining it as a discursive formation. Design/methodology/approach The paper explores recurring thematic threads in scholarly overtourism texts, given the phrases coherence as a nodal-point is partially held in place by a collective body of texts authored by a network of scholars who have invested in it. The paper uses interdiscursivity as an interpretative framework to identify overlapping thematic trajectories found in existing discourses. Findings Overtourism, as a discursive formation, determines what can and should be said about the self-evident “truths” of excessive tourist arrivals, the changes tourists bring to destinations and the range of discursive solutions available to manage or end overtourism. As the interpellation of these thematic threads into scholarly texts is based on a sense of crisis and urgency, the authors find that the themes contain rhetoric, arguments and metaphors that problematise tourists and construct them as objects in need of control and correction. Originality/value While the persistence of the discursive formation will be determined by the degree to which scholarly and other actors recognise themselves in it, this paper may enable overtourism scholars to become aware of the limits of their discursive domain and help them to expand the discourse or weave a new one. 设计/方法论/方法 本文探讨了过度旅游研究文本中反复出现的主题线索, 鉴于这些短语连贯性作为一个节点, 由学者们组成的网络所研究的一组文本所组成。本文将互辩作为一个解释框架来识别现有语篇中重叠的主题轨迹。 目的 随着旅游目的地应对因新冠病毒−19措施而导致的游客人数下降, 关于过度旅游的学术辩论仍然活跃, 通过讨论可以制定的解决方案, 以遏制旅游业的过度再生和“过度旅游”的再现。由于社会科学在有关过度旅游的辩论中扮演着重要的角色和责任, 本文试图通过将其作为一种话语形式进行考察来理解过度旅游。 结果 作为一种话语形式, 过度旅游展现了过量游客所带来的不言而喻的“真相”、游客给目的地带来的变化以及可用于管理或结束过度旅游的一系列解决方案。由于这些主题线索在学术文本中的质询是基于危机感和紧迫感, 我们发现这些主题包含修辞、论据和隐喻, 使游客感到困惑, 并将其构建为需要控制和纠正的对象。 创新/价值 尽管话语形成的持续性将取决于学者和其他参与者在其中认识到自己的程度, 但本文可能会使过度旅游学者意识到其话语领域的局限性, 并帮助他们扩展话语或构建新的话语。 Propósito A medida que los destinos turísticos lidian con la disminución de las llegadas de turistas debido a las medidas del COVID-19, el debate académico sobre el “sobreturismo” permanece activo, con discusiones sobre soluciones que podrían promulgarse para contener el crecimiento excesivo del turismo y el regreso del “sobreturismo”. La ciencia tiene un papel importante y una responsabilidad en informar sobre el debate del “sobreturismo”, este artículo busca entender el constructo de “sobreturismo”, examinándolo como una formación discursiva. Diseño/metodología/enfoque El artículo explora los hilos temáticos recurrentes en los textos académicos sobre el “sobreturismo”, dada la coherencia de las frases como un punto nodal, mantenida parcialmente en su lugar, por un cuerpo colectivo de textos escritos por una red de académicos, los cuales han invertido tiempo en ellos. El artículo utiliza la inter-discursividad como marco interpretativo a la hora de identificar trayectorias temáticas superpuestas que se encuentran en las disertaciones existentes. Hallazgos El sobreturismo, como formación discursiva, determina lo que puede y debe decirse sobre las “verdades” evidentes de la llegada excesiva de turistas, los cambios que los turistas traen a los destinos y la gama de soluciones discursivas disponibles para gestionar o acabar con el “sobreturismo”. Como la interpelación de estos hilos temáticos en textos académicos se basa en un sentido de crisis y urgencia, encontramos que los temas contienen retórica, argumentos y metáforas que problematizan a los turistas y los construyen como objetos que necesitan control y corrección. Originalidad/valor Si bien la persistencia de la formación discursiva estará determinada por el grado en que los académicos y otros actores se reconozcan en ella, este artículo puede permitir a los estudiosos del “sobreturismo” tomar conciencia de los límites de su dominio discursivo y ayudarlos a expandir el discurso o tejer un discurso nuevo.status: Published onlin

Turner’s communitas and non-Buddhists who visit Buddhist temples

Increasing numbers of people are participating in reflexive forms of spiritual travel. Rites of passage and intensification are becoming voluntary, and so is religion. Arguably, individuals travel to achieve mental and social escape. Their quests to religious sites are self-motivated, not obligated. Because of their mobility, Americans constantly explore new outlets for their spiritual growth, including different metaphysical movements and philosophies. This study focuses on what motivates Americans to visit Buddhist temples, including their desire to explore new ideas or life directions. The results of a survey study (N = 179) conducted in Los Angeles, California indicate that non-Buddhists visit Buddhist temples for stimulus-avoidance and intellectual purposes; to mentally relax and broaden themselves in the holy site. Furthermore, they may pursue a sense of communitas ‒ defined by social relations that are no longer normative, hierarchical and distant, but close and egalitarian. American Buddhist temple visitors are not necessarily Buddhists. As religious options grow and obligations decrease, religion has become secularized. As a consequence, non-religious temple-goers may be seeking Turner’s communitas ‒ a transition away from mundane structures toward a looser commonality of feeling with fellow visitors. They may also seek healing and renewal as well as a higher level of freedom. These individuals may desire to re-structure or re-orient their life-direction through contemplating at Buddhist temples. By examining these new phenomena, this study contributes to the field of religious tourism research; it reveals what motivates Americans to visit Buddhist temples and provides an anthropological explanation for these motivations

Living in a glass house: a survey of private moments in the home

ABSTRACT As advances in technology accelerate, sensors and recording devices are increasingly being integrated into homes. Although the added benefit of sensing is often clear (e.g., entertainment, security, encouraging sustainable behaviors, etc.), the home is a private and intimate place, with multiple stakeholders who may have competing priorities and tolerances for what is acceptable and useful. In an effort to develop systems that account for the needs and concerns of householders, we conducted an anonymous survey (N = 475) focusing on the activities and habits that people do at home that they would not want to be recorded. In this paper, we discuss those activities and where in the home they are performed, and offer suggestions for the design of UbiComp systems that rely on sensing and recording

Motivations of non-Buddhists visiting Buddhist temples

The current study employs the leisure motivation scale to examine motivations of non- Buddhists visiting Buddhist temples. Specifically, this investigation builds on tourism literature to explore the motivations of non-Buddhists visiting Buddhist temples in Los Angeles, California. Motivations to Buddhist temples are of particular interest given the increasing popularity in the West of Eastern spiritual activities, such as yoga and meditation, as well as the exponential growth of Buddhist-themed tourism campaigns. The findings provide insights for tourism officials responsible for promoting ways to attract tourists to Buddhist temples within their respective destinations