| A new amalgamation of
our favorite tourism trends is called civic
tourism and puts cultural tourism, heritage tourism, ecotourism
and geotourism into the pot and focuses on place. Civic tourism
reframes the purpose of tourism from an end to a means. Says Dan
Shilling, "Civic tourism is about appreciating tourism as
a public good, valuing it as a public responsibility and practicing
it as a public art." This changes tourism from a market-driven
growth goal to a tool that can help the public preserve and enhance
what they love about their place.
Planeta.com begins an online conversation with Dan Shilling,
and we welcome your comments and questions on the Planeta Forum:
http://forum.planeta.com/viewtopic.php?t=1179
Keep an eye on this concept. Rhode
Island hosts the Civic Tourism Conference II from Oct. 15-18,
2008. There is more info on the Civic Tourism website -- www.civictourism.org
Ron Mader: Dan, can you introduce yourself and
share your views on the benefits of civic tourism?
Dan Shilling: Hello. I wanted to quickly introduce
myself, as I'm on the road, about to keynote the Pennsylvania
tourism conference, to be held in Gettysburg. Like a lot of places,
here's a town that has a rich historical and natural landscape,
but it is being threatened by top-down tourism development. This
'industrial age' approach to tourism is obvious in a place like
Gettysburg or many of our gateway communities, but my concern
is that the same paradigm is playing out in many other places,
to the detriment of healthy economies, social networks, and environments.
For about 20 years we've been asking why a lot of our place-based
tourism doesn't work, and that's what we set out to study with
civic tourism. You'll see a lot of references to Aldo Leopold
in our work. Just as Leopold urged us to relate to nature in something
other than an economic way, we're asking communities to 'reframe'
their approach to tourism so it is seen as something other than
an economic tool. I'm not naive about this - it's hard work but
I think our strategies are sound (especially the connection to
natural capitalism and similar trends), and with the many groups
like Planeta involved in the same work (and what I see happening
in universities today), I'm hopeful. I'll post something about
the Gettysburg conversation in a few days.
EXCERPTS
Because the whole is more than the sum of its parts, those who
study nature's ecosystems recognize diversity as a key to healthy
'wholes' and 'ones.' (p. 63)
Most of the discussion is centered in academic or activist circles,
rarely making its way to official booster platforms at any level.
I've met city administrators and chamber of commerce directors
who, with a wave of a hand, dismiss the findings in these troubling
analyzes, but I seldom meet many who have confronted the literature
and I've never encountered a session at a local hospitality conference
that seriously engages the critiques. What are we afraid of? Tourism
can and should answer with bold action, not just more of the same
economic aspirin it's been dispensing. (p. 33)
I can't count how many towns I've visited where the historical
society and art museum seldom cooperate, where the zoo and land
trust don't even like one another, where the historic preservation
guild and parks department have never met. Fragmentation is the
operative word ... Beyond the fact that a fragmented design doesn't
invite visitors into the full story, the nonprofit groups and
public agencies charged with overseeing the various forms of alternative
tourism often don't have the necessary resources or clout to be
as effective individually as they might collectively. (pp. 67-67)
Listen up: You already have a theme park! It's called your streetscape,
your lands, your culture and no other community possesses those
same gifts. Forget about being Santa Fe -- be yourself first.
Forget about attracting or appealing to visitors -- satisfy your
residents first. (p. 22)
Local and state tourism agencies can make any museum look good
in a website or fancy promotional magazine, but what happens when
the visitors show up on Saturday and there's a sign pinned to
the door that says, 'Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 1-4PM'? Are
they likely to return? I've stumbled upon several versions of
this note: 'If you'd like to see the museum, go to the 7-11 and
ask for Marge. She has the key' (p. 71)
Are we culturalizing commerce or commercializing culture? ...
Don't you get a wee big suspicious when your city's smart growth
campaign is spearheaded by the housing industry? Serious rethinking
of economic policy, especially if you intend to act on that policy,
requires equally serious restructuring of decision-making systems.
Consider: if 'place' is so important to 21st century economics,
why is it being paved over at an alarming tempo? If 'sense of
place' is so vital to economic development, why has funding for
culture, historic preservation, and environmental protection dipped
at many levels this past decade? (pp. 36-37)
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