Proximity tourism: solid alternative or passing trend?

Keywords: inland destinations, proximity tourism, socio-territorial resilience, stakeholders, sustainable strategy planning
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 29

Abstract

Proximity tourism has gained momentum in a context of strict restrictions for international travel due to the global covid-19 pandemic. While tourism cannot be practiced as usual, proximity appears as an essential factor when choosing holidays or weekends’ destinations. This proposal focuses on the case of inland Spain. It aims at introducing the concept of proximity tourism as a potentially sustainable strategy to organize tourism. It is based on research projects conducted the last 15 years on different Spanish regions and built on qualitative and mix-methods. These have mainly focused on the stakeholders’ role on tourism and local development processes which have been analyzed from the regional, sectorial and product’s perspectives. We argue that applying proximity and its multiple dimensions to tourism development may contribute to increase territorial resilience since it requires involving a diversity of economic, cultural, and social stakeholders into the process. They interact within a cluster, improving the way wealth is redistributed, increasing community rooting, and contributing to curb depopulation. Despite the apparent contribution of proximity tourism to value and promote existing
local good practices in terms of environmental care, working conditions, redistribution of benefits, and social impact of economic activities, this perspective does not seem to constitute in the short term a definitive alternative to the prevailing tourism model, based on continual growth. Nevertheless, it represents an opportunity to place tourism at the role of facilitator of larger constructive territorial dynamics. That is if the public administrations promote it through adequate planning.