Just Governance – TourNord

Sustainable tourism – justice, green transition and cultural tourism were the main topics for TourNord’s 6th network meeting in Kalmar, Sweden. Hosted by the Linnaeus University and Associate Professor Marianna Strzelecka, the network meeting served as a forum for exchanging best practices and experiences for education and knowledge development within Nordic Tourism. We were treated to two days of fantastic presentations, discussions and an insight into the coastal community of Kalmar and its neighbouring island, Öland. In true TourNord fashion, the weather also delivered so we were able to see the south-east coast of Sweden at its best!

Day 1: Justice in tourism, co-creation with cultural tourism and excursion to Öland

The beautiful Kalmar Slott set the scene for the first part of our network meet. After a warm welcome from TourNord Project Lead Christian Dragin-Jensen, the group was given a tour around the historic Kalmar Slott. This was then followed by an exciting presentation given by Marianna Strzelecka from Linnaeus University on one of their current research projects.

Kalmar Slott (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

The project, titled “Energy justice for rural communities – Towards pathways to empowerment in sustainability transitions”, aims to bring justice to the residents of rural areas in sustainable energy transitions. It seeks to provide knowledge about energy injustices by exploring how they are perceived and reproduced in rural settings. As a specific example – if wind turbines are installed in a rural setting – close to houses, communities and/or nature, how can authorities and communities ensure a just distribution of the boons/costs they bring?

A very relevant project when considering the “not in my backyard” mentality that has dominated the energy transition landscape.

Presentation by Marianna Strzelecka (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

Marianna’s presentation was followed by her colleague, Senior Lecturer Per Pettersson-Löfquist, who presented an ongoing project called “Innovative Cultural Entrepreneurship in Collaborative Co-creative Research”. Quite a mouthful of a title, yet Per deftly highlighted several aspects of the larger project, and dove into depth the parts he was directly involved in. More specifically, Per gave a rousing presentation about his work with cultural tourism actors, and how many of these cultural tourism offers are for many tourists the main “reason to go”, but hardly ever the biggest recipients of the income of tourist spend. That is, accommodation and restaurants tend to capture the lion’s share of tourist spending, despite not being the main reason to go. Per went on to show great local examples in the Småland region (of which Kalmar is a part of) on how hotels can collaborate with local glassmakers.

In an age of of co-creation, and with calls for better forms of tourism where we have to look at destinations more holistically, Per’s work certainly brought novel perspectives and food for thought for the TourNord network!

Presentation by Per Pettersson-Löfquist (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

After Per’s presentation, Marianna followed up by sharing their team’s vision for a knowledge environment for sustainable tourism at the Linnaeus University. This was an inspiring presentation on all the processes, politics, and necessary organizational structures needed to create such a knowledge environment at an institution of higher education. There were good lessons for all the TourNord partners who wished to perhaps try the same at their own institutions. This also permitted Marianna to receive feedback from other institutions on how to progress with such a knowledge environment, as well as to extend an invitation to further collaborate on such matters. The discussion also dove into the status of tourism students, the makeup of new study programs and how some schools have tried to tackle the downturn in tourism students. A truly Nordic cooperative meet!

After a wonderful vegetarian lunch at the castle, we were in for a real treat as we were given a tour of Kalmar’s neighbouring island, Öland. The tour was spearheaded by associate professor Ludvig Papmehl-Dufay. Ludvig’s unique knowledge of Öland was not only due to his background as an archaeologist, but also as a resident of the island. Driving around the island, we were treated to insights on the unique flora and fauna of the island, the natural phenonemons such as the Stora Alvaret – a large limestone plain home to many unique and rare species. We were shown how history, nature and tourism interweave on the island, and how the island naturally segments the different types of tourists who arrive (for example – the northern part of the island attracts more ‘traditional’ beach and sun tourists, whereas the southern part attracts more nature-based tourists). We also had an in-prompt discussion on the island’s untapped potential (and pitfalls!) of surf-tourism!

TourNord visiting Öland (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

We also visited several farm shops (a unique and critical component of tourism localness in the Småland region), as well as the famous Station Linné, home to world-leading research on flowers, insects and Alvaret’s nature.

Station Linné (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

A local farmshop on Öland (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

Day 2: Workshop, TourNord business, and tour of Kalmar oldtown

After a good’s night rest, we started out bright and early at the beautiful Linneus University campus. As this was our 6th and last Nordplus financed network meet, we needed to discuss how we wished to continue with TourNord – and in what format.

Linnaeus University (source: Educations.com)

A workshop was held on how we wished to structure TourNord going forward, with the following decisions being made:

We still wish to meet physically and will pursue funds on how to do so. Until funds are secured, we will meet as a minimum twice a year (1x per semester) online, or more often if needed.
Microsoft teams channels will be created, with each channel serving a different function (general communication, different funding possibilities, staff exchange, etc.) to streamline our different acitivities
All team members will be proactive in looking at different calls for projects that are of relevance to TourNord institutions
Christian Dragin-Jensen will continue as Project Lead

Mia Post-Lundgaard and Christian Dragin-Jensen leading the workshop (source: Trine Thomsen)

Brainstorming! (source: Trine Thomsen)

Christian Dragin-Jensen and Ove Oklevik were also able to present the manuscript of TourNord’s upcoming book “Nordic Coastal Tourism – Sustainability, Trends, Practices and Opportunities”. The book is in its final stages at the publisher and we are hoping that the book will be ready for its release by the end of the year!

The book has been the brainchild of the TourNord network and editors Christian Dragin-Jensen, Grzegorz Kwiatkowski and Ove Oklevik applauded all the hard work done by all the Tournord members and other authors of the chapters for making this book a reality!

The TourNord network also agreed to look into further funding possibilities for science communication regarding the publishing of the book, as well as creating teaching material regarding the book.

With the workshop and Tournord business settled, we were given a tour of the beautiful and historic old town of Kalmar, followed by a lunch.

TourNord touring Kalmar (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

All the participating TourNord members would like to thank Linnaues University and its partners for their warm hospitality, and a fantastic program which ensured that our network meet serve:

1. As a forum for exchanging best practices and experiences for education and knowledge development within Nordic Tourism

2. To discover and implement innovative ways of teaching to benefit educators and students in preparing them for the current/future demands of Nordic Tourism

3. To promote & advance student/staff mobility amongst partners for learning, innovation and R&D activities within NT.

Kalmar Slott (source: Trine Thomsen)

Guest post by Marianna Strzelecka, Associate Professor at Linnaeus University, Sweden.

In this short entry, I argue how the concept of a “Just Destination” must embrace resident empowerment in destination governance and see it as a condition for social sustainability.

What is “Just Governance”?

Just governance brings citizens and institutions closer and engages them in processes and structures that build societies (Bramwell & Lane, 2011). It considers “ethical principles that aim towards justice and the good of the place, the people and things in it, and the good of those who visit it” (Jamal, 2019). Ensuring just practices toward the residents and their natural and cultural goods requires addressing tangible environmental, ecological, economic, and social/social-political impacts and intangibles such as human–cultural and environmental relationships within the destination.

In sustainable destinations, justice must be the leading principle guiding tourism and the first principle for evaluating the effectiveness of tourism governance. In this regard, I propose that just destinations consider three-justice domains: distribution, recognition, and representation (Fraser, 2008).

A just distribution occurs “to everyone’s advantage and at the same time position of authority and responsibility must be accessible to all” (Rawls, 1999, p.53). Figueroa (2006) rightly notes that the most common usage of just distribution pertains to…something missing here?. Distribution issues underlying tourism governance may include equitable distribution of tourism-related risks, benefits, and costs and access to information, knowledge, or economic limitations. However, destination governance that only targets allocation fails to consider ‘who’ gets to be represented in decision-making or who gets to define what ‘justice’ means (Fraser, 2000).
Recognition tends to be seen as a remedy to distribution issues. Fraser (2008) considered recognition a precondition to a membership in a political community, whereas Young (1990), urged that recognition “requires explicitly acknowledging and attending to group differences” (p.3). Participatory procedures may reinforce recognition in local governance as they create opportunities for different actors to come together to recognize each other’s interests and perspectives in tourism development.
Representation can be seen as an essential step to mitigate conflicts in tourism destinations as it draws attention to the idea that the outcome of tourism decision-making must equally represent residents’ views and ambitions (Fraser, 2008). In this context, destination governance concerned with local or regional wellbeing must improve celebrate social differences and foster participants’ self-development and self-determination.

Just Destinations must embrace resident empowerment in destination governance and see it as a condition for social sustainability, argues Marianna Strzelecka (Photo source: Westmed)

Resident empowerment as a key to a Just Destination?

Fraser’s critical approach to justice is based on the principle of participatory parity, where systematic social inequalities are eliminated. This can be done through direct participation (Figueroa, 2006; Whyte, 2010). Such norm of direct participation requires that “all agents who may benefit or be harmed by the outcomes of institutional proceedings and social transitions have the opportunity to veto or formally accept the risks” (Whyte, 2010, p.77). However, the sole policy focus on participatory procedures overlooks local power struggles and structural inequalities. Participatory procedures are unlikely to produce just outcomes when some stakeholders dominate others regarding human, financial, or structural resources (Fung and Wright, 2001). Residents must both, be willing to participate and have the capacity to do so.

Resident empowerment is the key to effective destination governance (Beaumont and Dredge, 2010) and crucial to “people, organizations, and communities to gain mastery over their affairs” (Rappaport, 1987, p. 122). The political domain of resident empowerment is probably one that is most discussed. Its essence lies in that individuals or groups enhance their competency for tourism governance and are thus able to influence the governance process (Strzelecka & Wicks, 2015). The core idea of political empowerment for a destination’s social sustainability, is to shift power to people and communities to engage in the governance.

The three-justice domains as a means to empower residents

The transformative capacity of empowerment lies in its three-component structure. The intrapersonal component refers to the manner in which individuals think about themselves and includes concepts of self-efficacy and perceived competence (Zimmerman & Zahniser, 1991). The interactional component addresses individuals’ ability to “develop a critical understanding of the forces that shape their environment and knowledge of the resources required and methods to access those resources to produce social change.” (Speer, 2000, p.52) Empowering processes engage residents in learning about opportunities to influence the aspects of their environment and increase their ability to influence the decision-making process (Christens, 2012).

Distribution recognition and representation facilitate processes transforming local reality by reinforcing the centrality of residents (Bartholo et al., 2008, p. 104). However, while empowerment appears to be the core concept in political justice governance, it has not been previously theorized in relation to the three-justice domains. Frankly, empowerment is a fluid phenomenon, it may increase or decrease over time, and it may fluctuate at different points in time. This fluctuation over time, of course, implicates a reciprocal relationship between resident empowerment and justice in tourism governance where the justness of tourism governance could ebb and flow over time, too resulting in empowerment being a continual process where there is no resting or ‘having arrived’ at just tourism governance. Essentially, empowerment can be seen as a precondition for and an outcome of just government. For instance, just governance can empower residents with the capacity to initiate social change. In return, this social change modifies the form that empowerment will take.

Marianna Strzelecka, Associate Professor, Linnaeus University

Considering resident empowerment as a kind of precondition to resident participation in tourism planning and policymaking means that the empowering method must acknowledge and attend to existing local circumstances. Individual and group local identities, experiences, knowledge will contribute to residents’ self-efficacy or perceived control and motivate them to engage in destination governance. The above mechanism reinforces the resident’s perception of a more equal distribution of power to influence decision-making (Fraser, 2008). Residents who feel empowered are also more likely to see opportunities for representing their perspective on destination development. The representation domain of justice consists of two reciprocal forces. On the one hand, knowledgeable residents who feel encouraged and motivated will seek to represent their perspective in tourism planning and development. On the other hand, policymaking mechanisms for policy justice such as participatory procedure will enable those motivated residents to pursue their views and ambitions.

An equal distribution of resources, greater mutual recognition, and more inclusive processes enable the empowerment of local groups by facilitating direct participation and increasing their effectiveness. Empowered residents gain a sense of sociopolitical control in their particular situations. The sense of control among residents defines the extent to which they are motivated and see themselves as capable of using social and political resources (Zimmerman and Zahniser, 1991). In reference to recognition, representation, and distribution, empowerment is more than participation, “it includes the processes that lead people to perceive themselves as able and entitled to make decisions” (Rowlands, 1997, p.14). It reinforces recognition, representation, and distribution efforts in the destination governance and thus remains a precondition for the social sustainability of tourism destinations.

References

Bartholo R, Delamaro M, and Bursztyn I. Tourism for Whom? (2008). Different Paths to Development and Alternative Experiments in Brazil. Latin American Perspectives. 35(3), 103-119.

Beaumont, N. and Dredge, D. (2010). Local tourism governance: a comparison of three network approaches, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 8(1), 7-28.

Bramwell, B. and Lane, B. (2011). Critical research on the governance of tourism and sustainability, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 19 (4-5), 411-421.

Christens, B.D. (2012). Toward Relational Empowerment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 50, 114-128.

Figueroa, R. (2006). Evaluating environmental justice claims. In J. Bauer (Ed.), Forging Environmentalism: Justice, livelihood, and contested environments (pp. 360-376). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe

Fraser, N. (2008). Scales of Justice. Reimagining Political Space in a Globalizing World. Cambridge, G.-B, Malden, E.-U, Polity Press.

Fung A. and Wright E.O. (2001). Deepening Democracy: Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance. Politics & Society, 29(1), 5-41.

Jamal, T. (2019). Justice and Ethics in Tourism (1st ed.). Routledge.

Rappaport, J. (1987). Terms of empowerment/exemplars of prevention: Toward a theory for community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology 15 (2), 121-148.

Rawls J. (1999). A Theory of Justice, Revised Edition, Harvard University Press.

Rowlands, J. (1997). Questioning empowerment: Working with women in Honduras. Oxford, UK: Oxfam.

Speer, P. (2000). Intrapersonal and interactional empowerment: Implications for theory. Journal of Community Psychology 28(1), 51-61.

Strzelecka M. & Wicks B. E. (2015) Community Participation and Empowerment in Rural Post-Communist Societies: Lessons from the Leader Approach in Pomerania, Poland, Tourism Planning & Development, 12(4), 381-397.

Whyte, K.P. (2010). An Environmental Justice Framework for Indigenous Tourism. Environmental Philosophy, 7(2), 75-92.

Young, I.M. (1990). Justice and the politics of difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Zimmerman, M.A., Zahniser, J.H. (1991). Refinements of sphere‐specific measures of perceived control: Development of a sociopolitical control scale. J. Community Psychology, 19, 189-204.