Pluralising touristic production and consumption roles of residents? An SME perspective on proximity tourism

ABSTRACT

Production and consumption roles in tourism are often attributed exclusively to different stakeholders. However, when touristic consumption and production of ‘home’ and ‘away’ blur, stakeholder roles and relationships become entangled in circuits of ‘re-consumption’, making exclusive role attributions problematic and restrictive. This qualitative study explored small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME)-resident relationships in the Dutch province of Friesland by scrutinising how tourism SMEs attribute touristic production and consumption roles to residents of this province. Roles were attributed along four themes: ‘Being a tourist’, ‘Discovery and unawareness’, ‘Life course experiences’ and ‘Ambassadorship’. Findings signify a potential ‘lock-in’ of roles: residents were seen as unattractive target group, given their everyday familiarity, but were simultaneously ascribed insufficient awareness of local attractiveness. Pluralised role attributions and interdependent role switching of both residents and entrepreneurs could overcome this impasse and facilitate ‘proximity tourism’. Potential ways for tourism SMEs to incorporate multiple roles of residents into business strategies are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Touristic roles
• re-consumption
• stakeholder relationships
• proximity tourism
• Friesland

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Tialda Haartsen and Dirk Strijker for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Jelmer H. G. Jeuring has obtained his PhD at the University of Groningen and Stenden University of Applied Sciences. Using the province of Friesland in the Netherlands as a case study, his PhD research investigated the touristic value of familiar places and the negotiation between home and away on an intraregional level. Jelmer has a MSc in Social Psychology and a MSc in Leisure, Tourism and Environment. He has previously published also on topics around the societal impact of (extreme) weather on tourism.