Geopolitical imaginaries and Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) in the desert

Abstract

Nature-based tourism in the desert can play an important role in reconnecting people with nature. Tourist experiences are influenced by imaginaries as well as the spiritual and aesthetic values of the landscape, promoting a new identity through a sense of transformation and belonging. These Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) shaped as well by geopolitical imaginaries have as yet remained unexplored. They are important, new contributions to the body of research. How do German-speaking group and cruise tourists imagine the desert and how do they experience the cultural values of the dry ecosystem ‘in situ’? Primarily, in-depth interviews and travel ethnography were applied along with photography and content analysis of marketing material. To support these methods, a survey was distributed to mega-cruise tourists visiting the desert. Results show that group tourists in particular romanticize an imaginary, quiet, empty place similar to a sacred space, promoting self-transformation, a deep connection with the space and sociality with nature and/or with others. Their experiences also enhance empathy for the natural environment through ‘self-immersion’, creating profound well-being. While in the desert, group tourists engage in a multi-sensuous immersion and spiritual transformation, while cruise tourists enjoy an adventure experience. 74% of the cruise tourists enjoyed being in a completely different environment. But, due to noise, overcrowding and built infrastructure, some CES such as silence, finding solitude and viewing of the sands are diminished. A proposed framework takes into account the influence of geopolitical imaginaries and the spiritual and aesthetic values of the desert leading to the core spiritual experience. Such a framework can justify the long-term protection of the desert, and its high cultural value, as well as an environmental ethic.

摘要

沙漠中的自然旅游可以在人们与自然的重新联系中发挥重要作用。旅游体验受想象力和景观的精神和美学价值的影响, 通过升华和归属感促进一种新的认同。同时, 这些文化生态系统服务(CES)也受到地缘政治想象的塑造, 至今尚待探讨。它们非常重要, 并且能对该研究领域做出新的贡献。讲德语的群体和游轮游客如何想象沙漠, 他们如何体验当地干旱生态系统的文化价值?本研究主要采用深度访谈、旅行民族志的方法, 同时配合使用摄影和营销资料的内容分析。为了支持这些方法, 向访问沙漠的大型邮轮游客发放了调查问卷。结果显示, 群体旅游者尤其将一个想象中的、安静的、类似于神圣空间的空旷的地方浪漫化, 促进自我升华, 与自然和（或）现场的他人建立一种很深的空间和社会联系。他们的经历也通过’自我沉浸’增强了对自然环境的深感同受, 产生了一种很深远的幸福感。在沙漠中, 群体游客进行多重感官的沉浸和精神的升华, 而邮轮游客享受一种探险体验。74%的邮轮游客喜欢置身于一种迥异的环境。但是, 由于噪音、拥挤和人工设施的原因, 一些诸如寂静、发现孤独和沙漠赏景的文化生态服务减少了。本文提出了一个研究框架, 该框架考虑到了地缘政治想象对沙漠的作用和沙漠的精神和美学价值, 该价值导致沙漠的核心精神体验。该框架解释了为什么长期以来需要保护沙漠, 解释了沙漠何以具有高度的文化和环境伦理价值。

Keywords:

• Desert environment
• spiritual value
• Cultural Ecosystem Services
• identity
• geopolitical imaginaries
• German-speaking tourists
• the Sultanate of Oman

关键词 沙漠环境:

• 精神价值
• 文化生态系统服务
• 地缘政治想象；德语国家旅游者；阿曼苏丹国

Acknowledgements

This paper was inspired by my PhD research on tourist experiences in the Omani desert and the impacts of cruise tourism on the local society. I would like to express my gratitude to all insights obtained from the interviewees - the tourists, tour guides, drivers, the tour operator and the cruise liner that allowed me to conduct a survey. I would also like to thank my supervisors Carmella Pfaffenbach and Dieter Mü;ller for their continuous thoughts and comments throughout the research process. I am also very grateful to Alan Lew and Joseph Cheer for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper, as well as all anonymous reviewers of this article for their insightful and fruitful comments. Finally, I would like to express my thanks to Rollo Desoutter and Terence Adby for polishing my language.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Manuela Gutberlet graduated from RWTH Aachen University (Germany), Department of Geography end of 2017. Her research focuses on socio-cultural impacts of large-scale cruise tourism in Oman, the tourist experience, imaginaries and and ethics in tourism within a Muslim context. Initially, she studied Arabic and International Business and worked as a journalist in Germany and Cairo. Since 2004, she has been living in Oman, where she worked as a tour guide, a journalist for a local Arabic/English newspaper and a PR manager for the German university. Since 2017 Manuela Gutberlet has been teaching tourism planning as a fly-in lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences Bremen (Germany). Moreover, she iscurrently writing a book on cruise tourism and overtourism on the Arabian Peninsula.