Civic Reporting Indicators and Biocultural Conservation: Opportunities and Challenges for Sustainable Tourism

Julia R. Branstrator (), Christina T. Cavaliere, Jonathon Day and Kelly S. Bricker
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Julia R. Branstrator: Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Department, Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Christina T. Cavaliere: Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Department, Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Jonathon Day: White Lodging-J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, College of Health and Human Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
Kelly S. Bricker: Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, College of Health, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: Citizen science (CS) within sustainable tourism is an underutilized tool for biocultural conservation. The aims of this research integrate conceptual and applied approaches to situate post-positivist and interpretive paradigms within CS and sustainable tourism. The aims are fulfilled by the creation of the new Civic Reporting Indicators (CRIs), developed through analysis of the 174 Global Sustainable Tourism Council Destination (GSTC-D) criteria and indicators. It was determined that 114 indicators are perceivable audibly and/or visibly by untrained citizens. The rearticulation of GSTC-D criteria into the CRIs utilizes embodied perceptions and observations reportable by untrained visitors and residents. The CRIs are framed within ethical principles of research, CS, and sustainable tourism. The inclusion of interpretive paradigms within CS provides epistemological innovation that validates lived experiences and embodied knowledge, fostering agency and empowerment within sustainability narratives. The CRIs may harness end-user observations by utilizing information communication technologies (ICTs) to amass longitudinal and real-time data for smart, sustainable destination management and biocultural conservation. Engaging citizens through the CRIs has the potential to contribute valid observations that amass democratic, longitudinal, and cost-effective data. Designing accessible ICT platforms for destination management may enact civic agency and critical social reflection to democratize sustainability engagement.

Keywords: citizen science; civic reporting indicators; biocultural conservation; GSTC; destination management; sustainable tourism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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