POLAR TOURISM : INTERCULTURAL GEOGRAPHY (M-GGR/01 ... · Can the Arctic use Inuit culture and aboriginality as an economic resource through tourism? Who controls the meaning and content

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Page 1 Master’s Degree in Planning and

Management of Tourism Systems

POLAR TOURISM : Between imagined and lived geographies

INTERCULTURAL GEOGRAPHY (M-GGR/01)

PROFESSOR: CAROLINE DESBIENS

1. Tourism and culture : a few key concepts

2. Polar tourism : emergence and expansion

3. Impact for local communities

Climate change

Spirit of place

Geosymbol

Imagined and lived geographies

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1. TOURISM AND CULTURE : KEY CONCEPTS



Master’s Degree in Planning and


A BRIEF HISTORY OF TRAVEL

17th century : The European « Grand Tour »

•Heritage from the Renaissance

•Part of an education, a rite of passage for British noblemen

•Paris, Venise, Florence are key destinations

18th century : The health cure

•Therapeutic baths against rhumatoid, arthritis, skin diseases, etc. (Bath,

England; Vichy, France; Baden, Austria, etc.)

•Associated with class status, become meeting places for the upper class

•Gradually replaced by sea resorts

19th century : Tourism becomes a mass phenomenon

•Development of railroads, steam boats etc. increase mobility

•Invention of photography becomes a tool for promoting sites through guide

books, etc.

•Thomas Cook develops the « tourist circuit » via travel agency, hotel

coupons, travelers’ checks, etc.

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF TRAVEL

20th century : An explosion!

•Post-war migration favours mobility

•Private cars enable domestic tourism

•Family trips to the sea lead to expansion of resorts and related

services

•Development of air travel extends the range of destinations

•« Packaging » renders travel easier and accessible to wider variety

of classes and/or age groups

In short, tourism becomes a large industry…




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Culture is one of the main

ressources of this

industry…




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IF CULTURE IS A RESOURCE, WHAT ARE ITS MAIN

CHARACTERISTICS?

Heritage (patrimoine)

From a cultural point of view, heritage can be defined as all the

elements, material or immaterial, that have a recognized artistic and\or

historic importance. They can belong to a private or public entity and

they are usually protected, maintained, transmitted or shown to the

public. Heritage is generally handed down by preceding generations.

The concept implies a responsibility of preservation and caretaking so

that it can be passed on as integrally as possible to future generations.

Material heritage can include works of art ; archeological sites ;

humanised or built landscapes ; architecture and town planning ;

industrial objects such as tools, instruments, machines, etc.

Immaterial heritage can include clothing ; songs ; dances ; legends

and oral history ; traditional knowledge and techniques ; gastronomic

traditions, etc.




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CHARACTERISTICS?

A more pluralistic approach: « spirit of place »

« Spirit of place is defined as the tangible (buildings, sites, landscapes, routes,

objects) and the intangible elements (memories, narratives, written documents,

rituals, festivals, traditional knowledge, values, textures, colors, odors, etc.), that

is to say the physical and the spiritual elements that give meaning, value,

emotion and mystery to place. [...]

The spirit of place is constructed by various social actors, its architects and

managers as well as its users, who all contribute actively and concurrently to

giving it meaning. Considered as a relational concept, spirit of place takes on a

plural and dynamic character, capable of possessing multiple meanings and

singularities, of changing through time, and of belonging to different groups. This

more dynamic approach is also better adapted to today’s globalized world,

which is characterized by transnational population movements, relocated

populations, increased intercultural contacts, pluralistic societies, and multiple

attachments to place…

Jean-Paul Lemieux

“La Fête Dieu à Québec”




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Page 7


INTERCULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

(M-GGR/01)

PROFESSOR: CAROLINE

DESBIENS



Jean-Paul Lemieux

“La Fête Dieu à Québec”


CHARACTERISTICS?

A more pluralistic approach: « spirit of place »

…The spirit of place offers a more comprehensive

understanding of the living and, at the same time, permanent

character of monuments, sites and cultural landscapes. It

provides a richer, more dynamic, and inclusive vision of

cultural heritage. Spirit of place exists, in one form or another,

in practically all the cultures of the world, and is constructed by

human beings in response to their social needs. The

communities that inhabit place, especially when they are

traditional societies, should be intimately associated in the

safeguarding of its memory, vitality, continuity and spirituality. »

ICOMOS, Québec Declaration on the Preservation of the Spirit of Place (2008)

May 8

2012



Can the Arctic use Inuit culture and

aboriginality as an economic resource through

tourism?

Who controls the meaning and content of

« spirit of place » in this region?

Should « nature » or « culture » be the main

tourist product on offer?




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2. POLAR TOURISM : EMERGENCE AND EXPANSION



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Roald Amundsen (1872-1928)

Norwegian explorer of polar regions

Canadian scientific icebreaker named after him

Two centuries of Arctic tourism

•1800’s : Arctic travel guides and journals are published for

mountaineers, anglers, hunters, knapsack adventurers

•1900’s : Mass tourism is enabled by more access through

better boats, increased personal wealth and leisure time

•2000’s : Arctic tourism is more and more diversified…




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“ These days, rarely a week passes without a ‘poles in jeopardy’ headline in the

mainstream press. The suffering polar bear has become a symbol of a warming

world, its plight a warning that the clock is ticking and time is not on its – or our – side.

And it would seem that the ticking clock is a small but growing factor for some of us when

choosing to see the poles for ourselves. ”

http://www.grida.no/publications/tourism-polar/page/1421.aspx

THE ARCTIC : A GLOBAL GEOSYMBOL OF

CLIMATE CHANGE




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THE ARCTIC : THE

« SCIENTIFIC » CRUISE

•Leisure is combined with learning about

dynamics of climate change

•Cruise ships provide security and comfort

while doing so

•Danger still involved however as ships have

run aground, making them an

environmental hazard for the region…




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THE ARCTIC : WILDLIFE

SAFARI

• Opportunity to see rare animals in their

natural habitat

• Often consistent with environmental concern

and ecotourism but hunting of big game

can also be a draw

• Presented also as adventure tourism :

sense of personal achievement from having

met the challenges of traveling to remote

area




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THE ARCTIC : SILENCE

TOURISM

•Provide an experience that is closer to « spirit

of place »

•Non agressive experience of nature to allow

introspection

•Absence of mechanic, human-made sounds

•Goal is to « feel inner silence though outer

silence » (Grenier p. 15)

•Fosters greater sustainability

What about the impact for local communities?




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Page 15

CANADA’S ARCTIC : A DIVERSE CULTURAL REGION



3. IMPACT FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES



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Page 16

THE « IDEA » OF NORTH :

THE ARCTIC AS A SYMBOL OF CANADIAN IDENTITY






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Page 17

THE « IDEA » OF NORTH :

THE ARCTIC AS A SYMBOL OF CANADIAN IDENTITY






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Page 18

COLONIALISM AND TRANSCULTURATION FOR THE INUIT



• Forced integration into Canadian political space

• Forced transition from nomadism to sedentary

communities

• Relocation to new regions

• Residential schools : loss of language and cultural

knowledge; loss of contact with family; no

model for parenting the next generation; suffering of

sexual abuse…

• Violence, substance abuse and high rates of suicide

as a result




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Page 19

TRADITION AND MODERNITY : THE

CHALLENGE OF REPRESENTING CULTURAL

CONTINUITY



• Hybrid societies with distinctive approach to

government, education, health, etc.

• Mixture of hunting and traditional economy

• Ongoing process of « transculturation »

rather than one way « adaptation »

• Traditions are a mixture of the old and the new

• Etc.




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Page 20

INUIT CONCERNS ABOUT TOURISM IN

THEIR COMMUNITIES



• Large groups from cruise ships can

overwhelm small communities

• Fear that tourists can bring drugs or alcohol

• Inappropriate taking of pictures – locals are

treated as an exhibition…

• Air and water pollution, disturbance of wildlife,

etc.

• Not enough financial benefits for the

community




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Page 21

MEASURES TO INCREASE LOCAL

BENEFITS OF TOURISM



• Landing fee to be paid by cruise ship

operators

• Involvement from local schools in developing

offer becomes an opportunity for cultural

transmission

• Local training in tourism business

management

• More protection for sensitive and historic sites

• Etc.




May 3rd

2012



TOURISM : SEEING OR BEING SEEN

« Every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every

tourist is a native of somewhere. Every native everywhere lives

a life of overwhelming and crushing banality and boredom and

desperation and depression, and every deed, good and bad, is

an attempt to forget this. Every native would like to find a

way out, every native would like a rest, every native would

like a tour. But some natives -- most natives in the world --

cannot go anywhere. They are too poor. They are too poor to

go anywhere. They are too poor to escape the reality of their

lives; and they are too poor to live properly in the place

where they live, which is the very place you, the tourist, want

to go -- so when the natives see you, the tourist, they envy you,

they envy your ability to leave your own banality and boredom,

they envy your ability to turn their own banality and boredom

into a source of pleasure for yourself. »

Jamaica Kincaid, born in

Antigua in 1949 A Small Place (1988), p. 18-19.




Documents

POLAR TOURISM : INTERCULTURAL GEOGRAPHY (M-GGR/01 ... · Can the Arctic use Inuit culture and aboriginality as an economic resource through tourism? Who controls the meaning and content