(2014). The Co-creation of Animal-based Tourism Experience. Tourism Recreation Research: Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 115-125.

The aim of this paper is to contribute towards a better understanding of knowledge in food tourism in agricultural and/or fishery areas. The presence and role of different types of knowledge are investigated adopting a multiple case study strategy in the regions of Lofoten (Norway) and Maremma Toscana (Italy). The following types of knowledge are investigated: local and scientific food knowledge, tourism knowledge, local and global managerial and political knowledge. The results from the case study indicate that scientific food knowledge and global managerial and political knowledge are particularly important in Lofoten. These types of knowledge are identified as the strengths on which a form of gourmet food tourism could develop. In Maremma Toscana, local food knowledge and local managerial and political knowledge are identified as the basis of the development of a generic form of food tourism. It is concluded that food tourism development requires different types of knowledge and their role is strictly dependent on the specific context. Any policy regarding food tourism should be based on the peculiarities of the specific terroir. Further research is required to investigate the tacit dimension of knowledge and those factors that can favour the establishment of global knowledge-based networks.

This study reflects on the conceptualisation of wild animals as co-creators. Its purpose is to encourage reflection about the role of animals in wildlife tourism. Therefore, to this end – and in the belief that diversity and creativity are important elements in critical thinking – the study was developed by a research team with diverse professional backgrounds. It adopts a fictional methodological approach, employing a fictive dialogue between a tourist joining a swim-with-dolphins tour and a dolphin and draws upon recent scholarly contributions on animals from the perspective of various disciplines, including philosophy, biology and tourism, The study’s most important contribution comes in the form of a discussion of the co-creation concept from a critical perspective, based on innovative and explicitly-described ontological, epistemological and methodological considerations.

This study explores the business model literature within nature tourism, focuses on its sustainability-related aspects, and adopts some of the results of the literature review by Reinhold et al. The research questions concern how scholars use and operationalize the business model concept in the context of nature tourism, and to what extent sustainability-related aspects are included and discussed. A literature review was conducted including a total of 18 scientific articles from various disciplines. The findings suggest that scientific literature about business models in nature tourism is very limited, both in relation to the number of articles and their content. With regard to the latter, the business model concept is sometimes adopted without any clear definition, sustainability-related aspects—especially those relative to the environmental dimension—are scarcely discussed, the perspective adopted is usually static, and innovation for sustainability is only marginally included. This indicates a clear gap in the literature and a considerable potential for future studies.

This study explores how tourism entrepreneurs change their business models during a crisis. By adopting dynamic capabilities as integral to business model change, this qualitative study explores how entrepreneurs change business models to meet a crisis, and proposes a taxonomy of important entrepreneurial practices underlying dynamic capabilities. This study empirically examines seven small companies operating in the nature-based tourism industry in Norway. Focusing on dynamic capabilities, whether innovative or adaptive, the findings suggest 12 dynamic capability-based entrepreneurial practices that are categorized as resource-, market, and technology-related practices. This study contributes to the literature by integrating business model innovation and dynamic capabilities in tourism crisis management.

This study’s purpose is to conceptualise the relationship between resilience and sustainability from a learning perspective. It asks how a community’s first reactions to a crisis can indicate the possible future development of a destination’s sustainability, and examines the resilience properties of elasticity, hysteresis and malleability in relation to single- and multiple-loop learning. Empirically, this study explores public discussions about tourism in northern Norway immediately before, and during the first months of, the COVID-19 crisis. Such discussions are investigated through a qualitative content analysis of articles from the regional newspaper. The findings identify a variety of perspectives among the participants to the discussions reported in the newspaper, including the coexistence of different views on tourism and sustainability and on responses to a crisis. This study frames the discussions in terms of elastic, hysteretic and malleable reactions, and illustrates three learning paths towards alternative weak and strong sustainable futures in a conceptual model. The originality of this study concerns a conceptualisation of the resilience – sustainability relationship as a set of learning paths that emphasises the dynamic and non-deterministic aspects of tourism development, aiming to evoke a sense of both responsibility and empowerment.