Professor Stephenson’s Keynote Address: “Deciphering Special Interest Tourism (& Hospitality) - A Sociological Viewpoint”
Professor Stephenson recently presented a keynote address at the Second Global Congress of Special Interest Tourism & Hospitality (GLOSITH) at Ming Chuan University in Taipei, Taiwan. The keynote was entitled: “Deciphering Special Interest Tourism (& Hospitality) - A Sociological Viewpoint”, which initially identified 9 key factors influencing the rapid advancement of special interest tourism over the past three decades. The presentation also identified 18 unique characteristics of special interest tourism. The keynote further identified the challenges and complexities facing special interest tourism as well as identifying the research gaps.
Professor Stephenson reflects: “I wholeheartedly enjoyed presenting on this topic at this conference which was well attended and generated productive academic discussion. I focussed on how special interest tourism emerged in the context of a society where consumers have become far more critical of standardised tourism and hospitality products, notably mass packaged holidays. Such tourists thus welcome activities and interests that reflect their individual preferences, identities and personalised aspirations. In many ways special interest tourism has been integral to a broader progression of diversification in the tourism industry, particularly to capture more lucrative market segments through customised forms of travel and hospitality”.
Professor Stephenson’s concern, however, relates to the fact that we need more non-Eurocentric approaches to special interest tourism. He comments: “We really need to look at the special tourism and travel interests of host communities, especially those who actually live in the developing world who serve tourists on a daily basis. We popularly see them as hosts and grounded in immobile situations and contexts, not necessarily as having the right to also enjoy tourism and hospitality experiences, when in fact the evidence on the ground suggests that they do naturally have special interests in travel and tourism. These interests often relate to their cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds which influence travel behaviour. Therefore, we need to think seriously about their aspirations and experiences rather than always focus on people who are commonly seen as tourists. Let’s take research beyond universal categorisations and consider more particularistic meanings and conceptualisations”.
