Enacting identities through tourism activities in Fryslân

Enacting identities through tourism activities in Fryslân JelmerJeuring MSc Faculty of Spatial Sciences / Department of Cultural Geography PhD research: March 2013 – February 2017 Fundedby UCF (University Campus Fryslân) Collaborationbetween University of Groningen & Stenden University of Applied Sciences

Enacting identities through tourism activities in FryslânResearch context

Enacting identities through tourism activities in FryslânResearch context • Tourism as regional development in Fryslân revitalisingruralareas; • Priority in regional policy (FryslânTopattractie); • 5%-10% of fte’s in Fryslân is tourism related (Toerisme Monitor 2011); • Tourism industry under increased pressure (economic crisis, population decline, climatic circumstances, increased competition, lifestyle changes);  Needforcontinuousadaptationandinnovation • Waterfronts as culturally and naturally significant places for various stakeholders.

Enacting identities through tourism activities in FryslânTourism and identities • Frisianidentity: language, territorialhistory, landscape/infrastructure, heritage; • No ‘single’ Frisianidentity! Identities (self, place, region, nation) are multiple, contextualandcontested. •  Question is thusnotonlywhich, but how, whenandwhyidentitiesemerge. • Regional identities are not only reflections of the past, but are actively and presently constructed. For example through tourism: “…tourism can provide unique insight into the ways that cultural identities are formulated and modiﬁed, reiﬁed and negotiated, projected and conditioned.” (Lacy & Douglass, 2002, p.7)

Research objectives • ‘Doing’ tourism in Fryslân Cycle of production and consumption; • Power of place making is increasingly diffused across multiple actors; • Representation andinterpretation of place identities through tourism activities. Objective is: to better understand the dynamics through whichlocalised, Frisian identities come of being, become meaningful, are enacted, in the context of tourism activities that take place along Frisian waterfronts, hereby providing: • an empirical basis for the multiple, dynamic and active nature of place identities; • tangible insights how tourist destinations -particularly along waterfronts in Fryslân- can translate this knowledge into their marketing, branding, management and infrastructure activities.

Paasi (2009): ‘it is important to recognize both the individual and the institutional side of identity narratives’ (p.138). Tourism entrepreneurs Production & Consumption Interpretation & Representation 1. Enactment of place identities Identity Affordances & Performances Tourism Activities Production & Consumption Interpretation & Representation 2. 3. Inhabitants as (temporary) tourists Tourists as (temporary) inhabitants

Study 1. Enacting place identities from the perspective of tourism entrepreneurs: exploring the links between branding activities and collaborative tourism networks. • Which actors constitute collaboration networks for watersport tourism (boat rental) in Fryslân?  Social Network of watersport tourism entrepreneurs (e.g., Brás, Costa & Buhalis, 2010). • What are the identity themes used in the discourse of branding of watersports tourism in Fryslânand how are collaboration networks enacting identities through circulation of tourist information?  Practices of destination branding: Content analysis of tourist communication(Cultural circuits of tourism (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2004; Salazar, 2011)).  Promotion through identity based cooperation: Semi-structured interviews to get insight in identity based destination branding practices (Kavaratzis & Hatch, 2013).

The next 3,5 years… Enacting identities from the perspective of tourists • Tourists as temporary inhabitants • Enacting identities of place through sensory experiences (‘being around the water’) • Motivations, self-identities and place identities amongrepeatvisitors • Inhabitants as temporary tourists • Intra-regional tourism as ‘identity enhancer’ (exoticising the local) • Tourism as a way of getting to know your own region (environmental connectedness, placemaking) Tourism entrepreneurs Production & Consumption Interpretation & Representation 1. Enactment of place identities Identity Affordances & Performances Tourism Activities Production & Consumption Interpretation & Representation 2. 3. Inhabitants as (temporary) tourists Tourists as (temporary) inhabitants

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Enacting identities through tourism activities in Fryslân