Wilderness images of tourism and community

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Date

1996

Authors

Ringer, Greg

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Elsevier

Abstract

International tourism is now the dominant force in the world economy and consequently, is heavily promoted as a source of funding sustainable community development. Developing and marketing communities as tourist destinations rarely comes without human costs, however, including a transfiguration of the inhabitants' social history and the dynamics of their place. As a result, there exists tremendous need for additional research on the long-term effects of tourism on emergent destination communities. In response, this study presents the preliminary findings of research among residents and visitors to the twin Alaska "ghost" towns of Kennicott and McCarthy and the implications for a new direction in tourism studies, one that recognizes a socially-defined landscape often overlooked in the traditional literature of tourism and outdoor recreation in protected areas in Alaska and worldwide.

Description

Keywords

Alaska, Tourism, Environmental perception, Cognitive images, Wilderness, National parks, Kennicott (Alaska), Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve (Alaska), McCarthy (Alaska)

Citation

Annals of Tourism Research 23 (4): 950-953