Tourism with and by Indigenous and ethnic communities in the Asia Pacific region: a bricolage of people, places and partnerships

ABSTRACT

Extant literature has emerged to shed light on Indigenous tourism peoples, places and partnerships. These studies to date have uncovered a rich diversity of contexts and collaborations, but likewise raise the challenges and complexities of working with stakeholder groups that feature diverse, and sometimes divergent interests. However, it has been acknowledged that studies in and about Indigenous tourism have been conducted from an ‘etic’ perspective. In other words, Indigenous tourism is often objectified, and appropriated through the lens of Western-centric paradigms. In addition, there remains scarce knowledge as to the bricolage of Indigenous tourism experiences from and by ethnic communities in the Asia Pacific region. This paper presents a review of new scholarly work that have advanced new insights to this body of work, and chart future avenues for communities of practice in the field.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainability
• cultural heritage
• identity
• sustainable development
• community-based tourism

Notes on Contributors

Aaron Tham is a Lecturer and Program Coordinator of the Tourism, Leisure and Events Management major within the USC Business School at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He is the immediate past vice president and conference chair of the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) Asia Pacific Chapter. Aaron's primary research interests are in the areas of emerging technologies and event legacies in tourism.

Maria Raciti is a social marketer who uses marketing tools and techniques to bring about social justice and behaviour change. She is a Director of the Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre and an Adjunct Fellow with the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education. Maria is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) and has undertaken several large-scale research projects that have produced meaningful impacts.

Lisa Ruhanen is a Professor in Tourism and the Director of Education with the UQ Business School, The University of Queensland. She has undertaken numerous academic and consultancy research projects in Australia and overseas in the areas of Indigenous tourism, sustainable tourism and policy, planning and governance. In 2017 she and colleagues co-edited a book on Indigenous Tourism: Cases from Australia and New Zealand.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

ORCID

Aaron Tham http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1408-392X

Lisa Ruhanen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8495-8843

Maria Raciti http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0548-3702