Revisiting the impacts of tourism from the perspective of social space production: An ethnological study of the Muslim community in Sanya, Hainan Province, China

‘Tourism’ has been regarded as an essential driving force behind destination changes. On reflection, it is essentially not tourism, but the mechanisms underlying destination development process that lead to the changes. However, very few studies have explored these mechanisms with the majority of work simply comparing the pre- and post-tourism stages to conclude the effects of tourism on destinations. The current study builds on Lefebvre’s social space production epistemology to establish a conceptual framework to decipher the mechanisms. It was illustrated using the context of the Muslim community in Sanya, Hainan Province, China. Results demonstrate that the dynamic relationship between capital, culture and power initiated the production of the community space. Capital facilitated the production of ‘spatial practices’, which interacted with the ‘representations of space’ dominated by the (administrative) power and the ‘representational space’ produced by the Muslim culture. Theoretical implications of the framework for social changes are also discussed

A geographical approach to trust in tourism

Within tourism research, trust has largely been conceptualised from psychological perspectives, allowing insights into the mechanisms through which resident/stakeholder relations generate trust. Whilst this work is valuable in understanding dynamics of trust relations, such focus has meant less attention and has been given to the ways space influences trust in tourism contexts. Thus, a geographical approach is put forth to understanding trust in tourism. Through observation and semi-structured interviews concerned with the implementation of a community tourism project in southwest China, insights are provided illustrating how trust is inscribed in place. It is shown that in the Chinese context, cultural place-based specificities relating to pre-existing governance structures, social hierarchies, and the intersection of power, knowledge and trust influence the (in)abilities of NGOs to develop trust with specific residents. More meaningful dialogue between tourism research and geographical conceptualisations of trust is called for – as a way to attend to spatial and scalar differences in understanding of trust within tourism contexts

AM Keynote 5: Dr. Jiuxia Sun

Dr. Sun Jiuxia, Professor and Associate Dean, School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-sen Universit