Almatourism - Journal of Tourism, Culture and Territorial Development
Not a member yet
400 research outputs found
Sort by
Ecotourism Village Feasibility Assessment Analysis: The Case of Bahoi Village, in North Minahasa Regency, Indonesia
Full text linkThe purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of Bahoi village as an ecotourism village. Bahoi village is on the coast which is a legal area of the sea. Bahoi is located in West Likupang Subdistrict, North Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi Province. Currently, Bahoi Village has been designated as an ecotourism village by the local government and marine area protection managers, but to be designated as an ecotourism village, it is necessary to consider if the village is feasible to be an ecotourism village. The research method used was structured observation using the Research Instrument used in the assessment of eligibility criteria as well as feasibility Index, supported by interviews with community leaders and local government. The results show that the attraction of ecotourism in Bahoi Village is considered to have potential with the category of feasibility index as a tourism object of above 66.6%. This shows that the village of Bahoi deserves to be a village of Ecotourism
Risk Communication to Tourists: Towards the Definition of a Research Agenda for a more Effective Disaster Preparedness in Japan
Full text linkThe Japanese government has recently demonstrated interest in increasing tourists’ disaster preparedness. This is in part due to the need to develop an efficient disaster preparedness plan for the upcoming Olympic Games in 2020 that will be held in Tokyo. The aim of this paper is to present opportunities for future research able to facilitate a more effective risk communication between communicators and tourists regarding disaster preparedness information in Japan. The article is based on an analysis of the literature. The paper identifies research gaps in four main research topics including tourists’ risk information seeking process, cross cultural analysis, the role of tourism suppliers within the risk communication process, and comparison of mental models of communicators and tourists. Opportunities for further research are also provided
Fashion's Non-Places: Digital Complicity and Visual Codes
Full text linkIn the heterotopia that is the internet, fashion’s social identities and representations are constructed and mediated through images: blogs and YouTube tutorials have developed a following in the millions and are often the first stop when seeking advice, opinions or product reviews. All of these channels have a very specific language, with its own precisely defined vocabulary of signifiers.In this paper, I would like to examine the digital beauty parlor as a place of socio-geography: at the intersection of the natural and the unnatural, of late capitalism and emancipatory movements, the disembodied avatars and live bloggers generate a sort of impersonal complicity with their viewers. Digital self-representation takes on a variety of forms, loosely connected to real places and social codes. How is this connection manufactured? What ideologies lie behind digital beautifying tools? What types of knowledge do those channels generate, how does it relate to the fast-evolving cycle of fashion? What impulses are at the source of returning time and time again to these spaces of cultural phenomena? And what kind of place is the digital beauty parlor, compared to its real-life equivalent?
Santurismo: The Commodification of Santería and the Touristic Value of Afro-Cuban Derived Religions in Cuba
Full text linkSanturismo (Santería + Turismo) refers to the popular formula of Afro-Cuban religions and tourism and initially served the Cuban government in the 1960s to promote Santería as a folkloric product of Cuban identity through staged performances in touristic surroundings. Gradually, it became a coping strategy by Cuban people to deal with political and economic hardship during the Special Period in the 1990s which led to the emergence of diplo-santería by so-called jinetero-santeros. While the continuous process of commodification of Cuban Santería is marked by local social, economic and political influences, it also relates to current tendencies in comparable religious and spiritual phenomena at a global level. This research paper is based on an extensive literature review as well as on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Cuba in 2016. It aims at showing in which ways Afro-Cuban religions have worked their way up from a stigmatized and persecuted religious system to a widely valorized religion in the spiritual and touristic sphere. While warning for the consequences of its commodification, it also shows that, over time, Santería has proved to serve as a weapon for resistance and struggle, which is still ongoing in Cuban society today
Spiritual Values of Landscape for a Recomposition between Nature and Culture
Full text linkThe natural, cultural and spiritual values that local communities assign to holy lands is a fundamental concept to consider in landscape conservation. In sacred sites, people meet and express their spiritual meanings trough their individual experience. Among these holy lands are the sacred natural sites, with habitats and ecosystems which comprise endangered or sacred species. Sacred natural sites support nature conservation, expand human well-being, encompass tangible and intangible values and create that spiritual relationship between people and the web of life.Sacred sites, moreover, embeds natural, cultural and spiritual values that communities put into holy land, which in turn become a sacred landscape. As outlined in this special issue of Alma Tourism, in sacred landscape the connection between nature and culture is explicated by the values that people attribute to a holy area. Natural, cultural and spiritual values of landscape are the main aspects analysed in this research, which starts from the hypothesis that sacred landscapes serve to conserve both natural and cultural heritage. It also analyses and evaluates sacred landscapes under threat, and proposes measures to preserve them.Natural, cultural and spiritual values of sacred landscape are here introduced and discussed though European and global conventions, and are described with several examples in Italy in general, and with a case study in Tuscany in particular.
The Sacred Landscape of Ainu Culture and its Cultural Landscapes: Case Study on the Conservation Strategy in Biratori City, Hokkaido
Full text linkThe primary aim of this paper is to outline the cultural landscapes associated with the Ainu people and their culture, as well as the characteristics of tourism leveraging these landscapes, in Biratori Town in the Hidaka region of Japan’s Hokkaido Prefecture. Such landscapes incorporate, as an integral part, sacred places of the Ainu, an indigenous people of Japan located mainly in Hokkaido. In particular, the Cultural Landscape along the Sarugawa River Resulting from Ainu Tradition and Modern Settlement has been designated as an Important Cultural Landscape by the Japanese government. Initiatives to preserve and utilize cultural landscapes associated with the Ainu as cultural properties enhance the value of local landscapes, and also have major significance as part of a regional promotion policy and motions for ethnic communities. Section 1 begins with an outline of sacred places in traditional Ainu culture based on examples, and details previous relevant research and studies. This is followed by a summary of views regarding the meanings of the words “sacred” and “places” and related concepts. In Section 2, the overall initiatives taken to preserve sacred places and cultural landscapes, in consideration of the relationship between such places and development of the region’s cultural landscapes, are discussed. Section 3 illustrates the involvement of local residents in cultural tourism leveraging cultural landscapes and details the prospects and challenges that lie ahead.It was only after the 1997 enactment of the Ainu Culture Promotion Act that national and local government policies on the Ainu began to change drastically from the forced assimilation implemented in the Meiji period to an approach involving Ainu cultural promotion. In addition, only relatively recently (2004) the Act on Protection of Cultural Properties was amended to cover cultural landscapes, and a limited research has been conducted connecting Ainu culture and cultural landscapes. As a result, sacred places and cultural landscapes of the indigenous Ainu people, which are based on their unique traditional view of nature (e.g., the concept that nothing descends to the earth from the world of the deities without a job to do), have rarely been highlighted as valuable cultural heritage sites either in Japan or elsewhere. Against this background, Biratori Town seeks to implement its own measures and projects for the preservation of cultural landscapes associated with the Ainu in keeping with national policies. The town promotes cultural tourism programs, eco-tourism courses and other projects in which the Ainu culture’s preservers play central roles, while working to improve the quality of local cultural resources in collaboration with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Forestry Agency and other national government bodies. One of the main pillars of these initiatives is the preservation and utilization of cultural landscapes related to Ainu culture; other pillars include the revival of Ainu culture with focus on ways of living and the promoting the regional development, along with encouragement of active participation by Ainu, other local residents, and their collaboration with experts. These initiatives form and expand the foundations of today’s social environment for the preservation of religious activities involving sacred places (e.g., ci-nomi-sir) and sacred landscapes. This indicates the potential for traditional Ainu living spaces, which are based on the traditional Ainu spiritual culture, to support various forms of initiatives and relationships and to be sustained as ethnic harmonic spaces. The authors hope that cultural landscapes related to Ainu culture will come to be regarded as part of the major trend of international and interdisciplinary research and practice, and that research will progress in this area of study.
The Role of Tourism Destinations within the Online Presence of Fashion Weeks
Full text linkSpecial events, if well organized, assist a tourism destination to improve its image and to attract new visitors. Though there is an emerging research on the connection between tourism destinations and fashion events, very few is known about how online presence of tourism destinations is framed with the help of established fashion events.The purpose of this research is to study four primary destinations holding their respective major fashion weeks accordingly: New York and “New York Fashion Week”, London and “London Fashion Week”, Milan and “Milan Fashion Week”, Paris and “Paris Fashion Week”.This research identifies the role of tourism destinations in the online presence of the four primary “fashion weeks”. To do so, two converging analyzes are done: on one hand, the websites and online presence of the fashion weeks are analyzed, to assess tourism related content; on the other hand, the websites of Destination Management Organizations at the city level are inspected, to assess the presence and relevance they provide to fashion weeks.