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The Language of Sustainable Tourism as a Proxy Indicator of Quality

Author

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  • Rene Brauer

    (Department of Human Geography, Lund University, Sölvegatan 10, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
    Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland, FI-8010 Joensuu, Finland)

  • Mirek Dymitrow

    (Department of Human Geography, Lund University, Sölvegatan 10, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
    Department of Economy and Society—Unit for Human Geography, University of Gothenburg, 411 25 Gothenburg, Sweden)

Abstract

Sustainable tourism (ST) has recently become the mainstream of the tourism industry and, accordingly, has influenced contemporary tourism research. However, ST is not just theories about indications and contraindications of global travel, but also a specific language that needs mastering to take sustainability work forward. In other words, what research receives recognition depends on the proficiency in how the articulation in research proposals and within assessment under the heading of “research impact”. The aim of this paper is to investigate how tourism research gains recognition within research evaluation, by investigating the national research appraisal in the United Kingdom (Research Excellence Framework). By using content analysis, we disentangle the rhetorical choices and narrative constructions within researchers’ impact claims. Our findings suggest that researchers adopt a rhetorical style that implies causality and promotes good outcomes facilitating ST. However, the structure of the assessment format enforces an articulation of sustainable research impact without stating the methodological limitations of that such claim. Therefore, the rhetorical choices of ST researchers merely represent a proxy indicator of the claimed impact. We conclude that the lack of rigor in accounting for the impact of ST research may inadvertently restrict attaining ST.

Suggested Citation

  • Rene Brauer & Mirek Dymitrow, 2020. "The Language of Sustainable Tourism as a Proxy Indicator of Quality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:25-:d:466573
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    References listed on IDEAS

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