Glamping and the Development of Sustainable …
205
Brasil (2007) argues that raising awareness means to offer people in the community the necessary resources and procedures that make them realize what new possibilities are available, allowing them to face the necessary changes and transformations
when applying a new stance towards tourism. The sensitization of the local community is intended to clarify and not to convince the resident population in relation to
tourism, in order to make it able to make its own decisions about the future of tourism
development. According to Oliveira (2002), tourist awareness prepares the community in the understanding of the process of tourism development, and in this way,
creates opportunities for residents to become actively involved in tourism activity.
A survey conducted by McCool et al. (2001), in the state of Montana in the USA,
with the aim of investigating the relationship between the concept of sustainability
and tourism, concluded that the concept of sustainability present in the interviewed
members was vague and impossible to translate correctly into specific sustainability
policies, actions and indicators (McCool et al. 2001).
The help and cooperation of the receiving communities in the tourist development process is key to the success of the tourist destination, since the receptivity
strongly influences the attraction and tourist satisfaction of visitors (Sousa and Rocha
2019). The involvement, mobilisation and participation of the local population in the
planning, organization and sustainable development of tourism processes can be
made possible through tourism awareness and education programmes, which must
be developed according to the local socio-cultural characteristics.
2.3 Tourism Sustainable Awareness Programmes
The tourist awareness programmes aim to promote to the residents of tourist destinations the elucidation of the needs and essential aspects of planning and development
of sustainable tourism, valuing the importance of residents in the social performance
of sustainable tourism development processes. Tourism awareness programs should
present their ideas, information and content to the local society about the opportunities that tourism development can bring to the locality. Thus, tourism awareness must
prepare the community to accept the collective responsibilities of tourism, in order
to avoid possible negative impacts and increase the potential benefits of tourism. For
instance, Cohen’s (2002) work explores the relationship between sustainability and
several types of authenticity in tourism. Following Deaden and Harron (1994), Cohen
(1995, p. 14) writes of sustainability as ‘a dynamic concept: it comes to refer to the
existence of some degree of congruence between two sets of changes, in the destination as well as in the motivations of tourists’. Later, Cohen (2002, p. 274) finds that
the ‘postmodern tourist attitudes’ reflected in the subjective iconic and existential
conceptualisation of authenticity might both ‘facilitate sustainability in tourism’ by
substituting the contrived for the ‘genuine, and at the same time inspire a potentially
deleterious appetite for follow-up visits to the real thing: objectively authentic sites
untouched by repair or rejuvenation’ (Taheri et al. 2018, p. 51). Natural resources
205
Brasil (2007) argues that raising awareness means to offer people in the community the necessary resources and procedures that make them realize what new possibilities are available, allowing them to face the necessary changes and transformations
when applying a new stance towards tourism. The sensitization of the local community is intended to clarify and not to convince the resident population in relation to
tourism, in order to make it able to make its own decisions about the future of tourism
development. According to Oliveira (2002), tourist awareness prepares the community in the understanding of the process of tourism development, and in this way,
creates opportunities for residents to become actively involved in tourism activity.
A survey conducted by McCool et al. (2001), in the state of Montana in the USA,
with the aim of investigating the relationship between the concept of sustainability
and tourism, concluded that the concept of sustainability present in the interviewed
members was vague and impossible to translate correctly into specific sustainability
policies, actions and indicators (McCool et al. 2001).
The help and cooperation of the receiving communities in the tourist development process is key to the success of the tourist destination, since the receptivity
strongly influences the attraction and tourist satisfaction of visitors (Sousa and Rocha
2019). The involvement, mobilisation and participation of the local population in the
planning, organization and sustainable development of tourism processes can be
made possible through tourism awareness and education programmes, which must
be developed according to the local socio-cultural characteristics.
2.3 Tourism Sustainable Awareness Programmes
The tourist awareness programmes aim to promote to the residents of tourist destinations the elucidation of the needs and essential aspects of planning and development
of sustainable tourism, valuing the importance of residents in the social performance
of sustainable tourism development processes. Tourism awareness programs should
present their ideas, information and content to the local society about the opportunities that tourism development can bring to the locality. Thus, tourism awareness must
prepare the community to accept the collective responsibilities of tourism, in order
to avoid possible negative impacts and increase the potential benefits of tourism. For
instance, Cohen’s (2002) work explores the relationship between sustainability and
several types of authenticity in tourism. Following Deaden and Harron (1994), Cohen
(1995, p. 14) writes of sustainability as ‘a dynamic concept: it comes to refer to the
existence of some degree of congruence between two sets of changes, in the destination as well as in the motivations of tourists’. Later, Cohen (2002, p. 274) finds that
the ‘postmodern tourist attitudes’ reflected in the subjective iconic and existential
conceptualisation of authenticity might both ‘facilitate sustainability in tourism’ by
substituting the contrived for the ‘genuine, and at the same time inspire a potentially
deleterious appetite for follow-up visits to the real thing: objectively authentic sites
untouched by repair or rejuvenation’ (Taheri et al. 2018, p. 51). Natural resources