Roots Tourism: A Sustainable Development Path?
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 4729
Special Issue Editors
Interests: tourism and place marketing; tourism in natural protected areas and parks; sustainable tourism; spa and wellness tourism; event marketing; service marketing and management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: tourism
Interests: roots tourism; web marketing
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Roots tourism is a macro-segment of heritage tourism that includes different forms of vacations by people who are part of ethnic minorities or communities afflicted in the past by large outgoing migration (Basu, 2001, 2005, 2007; Coles et al., 2004; Duval et al., 2004; Iorio et al., 2013; McCain et al., 2003; Timothy, 1997). Roots tourists want to visit their motherland during their holidays to know their roots, repossess them, and experience the lifestyles of their countries of origin.
Obviously, these tourist flows have an impact on destinations, which, in addition to environmental and economic aspects, also concerns the effects of the local socio-cultural fabric. The socio-cultural dimension of sustainable tourism, often neglected in studies, is concerned with tourism that is “equitable and democratic, provides fair and equal opportunities for current and future generations to get involved within decision making processes, empowers local communities, and respects their cultural values and integrity, thereby contributing to an improved quality of life” (Ooi et al., 2015: 419). This specific aspect of tourism sustainability in many cases has a greater, longer lasting, and irreversible impact on the host community (Swarbrooke, 1999). In addition, while environmental and economic impacts are easier to observe and measure, socio-cultural effects on a host community are more intangible, are difficult to examine and quantify, and often emerge in the long term.
The objective of this Special Issue is to explore how roots tourism can contribute to a more sustainable development of destinations, focusing on its socio-cultural impact. The aim is to fill a gap in the literature regarding the impacts of roots tourism’s development on local socio-cultural fabric, in order to evaluate them jointly in terms of sustainability and in terms of the relationship between hosts and guests.
Dr. Sonia Ferrari
Dr. Ana Maria Biasone
Dr. Tiziana Nicotera
Dr. Anna Lo Presti
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- Roots tourism
- Sustainability
- Socio-cultural fabric
- Host–guest relationship
