Editorial

Citation

Pechlaner, H., Lee, T. and Crotts, J. (2012), "Editorial", Tourism Review, Vol. 67 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/tr.2012.36967aaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Tourism Review, Volume 67, Issue 1

This special issue of Tourism Review focuses on “New minorities and tourism” and is a further step in the recent debate on the effect that cultural diversity, migration, community building, social integration and acculturation are having on societies in general and the tourism industry more specifically. The basis for this special issue of Tourism Review was an international workshop organized by the European Academy of Bolzano-Bozen (EURAC Research) together with the School of Tourism of the University of Queensland on 22 and 23 January 2010 in Bolzano-Bozen. Selected papers presented at the workshop as well as two other papers that we believe provide added depth and breadth to the topic of new minorities and tourism were chosen to be included. The term “new minorities” “refers to groups formed by the decision of individuals and families to leave their original homeland and emigrate to another country, generally for economic and, sometimes, also for political reasons” (Medda-Windischer, 2009). It is our contention that new minorities are influencing the tourism industry. They are influencing the tourist market as service providers and, in addition, to the demand side as guests. As service providers, new minorities can influence the tourist destination, for example, regarding the destination image, lifestyle and service culture. As guests, they have different travel patterns and needs to be resolved. Increasing the heterogeneity within a population, new minorities can also provide economic benefits.

Entrepreneurs, as well as temporary workers, can stimulate the innovation of the service chain thanks to experiences from their own cultural backgrounds, contributing to enriching traditional markets. Contrary to traditional minorities, whose cultural traditions pre-date the establishment of the state of which they now find themselves citizens, new minorities aim to improve their integration into the host community because they usually accept that their life-chances and those of their children depend largely on their participation in the mainstream institutions of the host community. New minorities should also be given the opportunity to preserve their linguistic, ethnic and religious identities in a foreign society.

The present papers constitute only a small part of the research that has been undertaken dealing with the topic of “new minorities and tourism”. Some of the papers focus on questions related to the business challenges of new minorities entering in a new social environment. The article by Mostajer, Haghighi and Lynch discusses issues concerned with social integration, while the work of Pechlaner, Dal Bò and Volgger is focused on the central question of why migrants often choose tourism as an entrepreneurial challenge in their new cultural, economic and social environment. Irimiás analyses the role of architecture and design as a cultural expression as well as the corresponding effects on the image of cities using the example of Budapest. Two other papers deal with issues regarding tourism marketing and Lee, Arcodia and Lee, analyze the role of multicultural festivals in South Korea, focusing on the local audiences as well as on migrant visitors. Reisinger and Crotts elaborate on the question of whether and how the immigrants abandon aspects of their native culture and what may be the specific marketing challenges. Finally, Valeri and Baiocco present a case study, in which some cultural, economic and social aspects concerning integration are investigated.

All research questions cannot be included as this is beyond the scope of one special issue. The aim of this publication is to provide some topics for discussion to foster further research in the area. It also provides the opportunity to present a first overview of a fascinating topic.

Harald Pechlaner, Timothy Lee, John Crotts