Tourism: six themes
Tourism@WUR brings together a variety of academic researchers and PhD candidates from different disciplines and fields at Wageningen University & Research who are engaged in the study of tourism. Currently, research and projects on Tourism@WUR are focused on these six themes, spanning across a wide range of theoretical approaches and geographical focus.
Nature-based tourism and ecotourism
Tourism is increasingly put forward by international, national and local nature conservation and development organizations, governments and the tourism industry as a promising mechanism to resolve societal problems related to the conservation-development nexus. As a consequence new institutional arrangements, policies and practices emerge at different levels of scale (from the local to the global) in various (developing) countries.
Tourism and climate change
Our researchers mainly focus on two aspects of the climate (change) and tourism research field. First of all, they translate climate data (including observations, reanalysis data, seasonal forecasts, projections) into tourism-relevant information. Secondly, researchers are involved in studies into the vulnerabilities of tourism destinations and stakeholders, their climate change adaptation options, and destinations’ resilience to (climate) change.
Tourist experiences
Tourism exists both to create and satisfy the desires of individuals for unique and meaningful experiences. Thus, understanding the nature of the tourist experience is crucial for understanding tourism.
Accessible tourism & health tourism
The increasing physical and mental illness burden on healthcare systems, coupled with the neoliberal de-institutionalisation and privatisation of care, has led to a growing preoccupation in contemporary societies with the ways our everyday environments relate to well-being, happiness and quality of life.
Heritage tourism
Wageningen University & Research scholars use critical and post-structural approaches to examine the intersections between (in)tangible heritage, tourism and development.
Mass tourism
Tourism is increasingly becoming a substantial part of the world’s economy and everyday life of cities. It is to be expected that the number of tourists will only grow in the years to come.