Book review – Inclusive Tourism Futures

Citation

Zmyslony, P. (2022), "Book review – Inclusive Tourism Futures", Journal of Tourism Futures, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 136-137. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-03-2022-242

In tourism studies, inclusion has consistently been recognised to be a key but also a multidimensional and thus challenging issue. As societies evolve, understanding of whom and what inclusive tourism concerns has constantly been widening, and nowadays this area of study is flourishing. However, what remains the same is that inclusive tourism is inherently future oriented as it refers to ideas, methods and practices used to achieve a better future. Such a comprehensive perspective, explained by Anu Harju-Myllyaho and Alla Jutila in the introduction of the fifth volume of the well-received series The Future of Tourism, should guide the reader through the understanding the concept of the book and its contribution to futures studies.

Following the universally acknowledged truth that the future is made and not given, the editors present a set of six independent chapter contributions focused on the projects and studies highlighting, predominantly, the current perspectives of tourism inclusion. The main idea behind this bold solution is “not to draw specific scenarios for inclusive tourism futures, but to provide a timely insight into the discussion and lead the reader to consider the future possibilities based on current research and development streams” (p. 3). Bearing this in mind, one may state that the book enhances the field of futures studies by highlighting the context of inclusive tourism futures making, emerged from the present knowledge and experiences and then driven by three elements, i.e. actors, methods and practices. These components also set the monograph structure, each presented in two chapters focusing on a particular aspect of inclusive tourism.

In the part devoted to actors, Höckert, Kugapi and Lüthje (Chapter 1) discuss inclusiveness within a participatory tourism development project led by the University of Lapland by referring to the basics of hospitality concept, in which openness to perspectives of others makes the hosts’ and guests’ roles fluid and reciprocal. This profound study suggests that future development projects should provide space for negotiated participation and project roles, leaving participants an option of not participating in the project. In Chapter 2, Trdina, Jutila and Turnšek, after analysing the inclusiveness of the Airbnb platform from the service providers’ perspective, raise the issue of unequal distribution of managerial, emotional and aesthetic skills required to participate in the platform successfully.

The second part focuses on methods of measuring inclusion in tourism. Harju-Myllyaho and Salla Jutila (Chapter 3) use causal layered analysis to investigate how different spheres of inclusion have been raised and formulated in the regional and national tourism development strategies of Scotland, Portugal and Finland. Chapter 4 by Winter et al. touches on the difficult issue of a pro-poor tourism initiative initiated in Brazil, measuring its limited effectiveness by using the value chain analysis.

Part 3 concerns practices. Considerable criticism towards the inclusiveness of information on accessibility provided by 147 European-based tourist applications (Chapter 5) by Fernández-Villarán, Erice, Espinosa, Goytia, Madariaga and Rodríguez would be more inspiring for the reader if the authors presented more comprehensive results of the study. Finally, in Chapter 6, in turn, Nisula, Kohllechner-Autto and Skantz draw a complex picture of social inclusion conditions in the sparsely populated area of Finnish Lapland seen from the perspective of tourist entrepreneurs.

Well-written but quite modest in graphics, the chapters vary in terms of structure, dimensions of inclusion, levels of analysis and research approaches, which points to the multidimensionality of the subject, but may also leave the reader hungry for more, also considering the European setting of the majority of contributions.

The case studies mostly lean on qualitative methods. Except Chapter 3, futures research methods have not been exploited, which is justified by the book concept. Thus, special attention must be given to the conclusion, where the editors identify the crucial factors of inclusive tourism futures making stemming from the chapters and complete the work by presenting a generalised model of building inclusive tourism futures. Doing this on the very last page without an in-depth elaboration, they perhaps deliberately leave the reader hungry for more again, as the issue of inclusive tourism futures does deserve a follow-up. As many reported projects are still ongoing, we may expect the topic to continue.

Summing up, this book has the potential to generate interest in researchers and postgraduates specialising in inclusive tourism and its futures, as well as experts and developers of inclusive tourism projects.