Tourism Actors' Engagement and Logics of Whale Protection and Conservation in Norway
The perception of activities that may harm whales and their coexistence with whale tourism can be problematic for a destination's attractiveness and its potential role in setting good standards for the sector and educating tourists. This research note investigates the online debate
about the legitimacy of a research project on wild whales in Norway. In particular, it investigates the local tourism actors' engagement in such debate, and how the two sides of the debate argue for the legitimacy of different logics of whale protection and conservation. The findings derived
from a thematic and discourse analysis show that the local tourism sector and academia minimally engage in the debate and that the debate presents elements of different logics relating to the traditional and compassionate conservation paradigms. This article considers the tourism actors' non-engagement
in the aforementioned debate as a missed opportunity, and concludes by inviting the reader to reflect on the collaboration between the tourism sector and academia, in particular its desirability, motivations, and consequences.
Keywords: CONSERVATION PARADIGM; WHALE PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION; WHALE TOURISM
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 17 December 2021
This article was made available online on 15 October 2021 as a Fast Track article with title: " Tourism actors’ engagement and logics of whale protection and conservation in Norway".
- Tourism in Marine Environments is an interdisciplinary journal dealing with a variety of management issues in marine settings. It is a scientific journal that draws upon the expertise of academics and practitioners from various disciplines related to the marine environment, including tourism, marine science, geography, social sciences, psychology, environmental studies, economics, marketing, and many more.
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