Sustainable Tourism and the Public Value of Nature

THIS CONFERENCE IS A RESPONSE TO THE 2017 UNWTO WORLD TOURISM DAY, during the International Year of SUSTAINABLE TOURISM FOR DEVELOPMENT.  It is a collaboration between The TOURISM SOCIETY, the UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL LANCASHIRE’s Applied Policy Science Unit and Policy Network, an international think-tank.  Drawing upon the expertise of practising professionals, policy makers and scholars it uses TOURISM AS A VEHICLE TO GIVE A PUBLIC VALUE PERSPECTIVE ON NATURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION MAKING._ _ THIS PUBLIC VALUE PERSPECTIVE GIVES A POWERFUL INSIGHT into the web of VALUES, places, organizations, rules, knowledge, and other cultural resources that constitute the PUBLIC SPHERE AND WHICH ARE HELD IN COMMON BY PEOPLE THROUGH THEIR EVERYDAY COMMITMENTS AND BEHAVIOURS, and held in trust by government and PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. THE CONFERENCE FOCUSES UPON AREAS LIKE THE ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT AND SOLWAY FIRTH, places of high landscape and cultural VALUE IN WHICH THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT PROVIDES SOCIETY WITH A SENSE OF BELONGING, meaning, purpose and continuity and enables people to thrive and strive amid uncertainty.  In these areas the visitor economy converts assets like scenery and culture into economic VALUE.  A PUBLIC VALUE PERSPECTIVE ALSO EMBRACES ECONOMIC VALUE AND INCORPORATES SOCIO-cultural, historical and symbolic VALUES WHICH CAN’t be easily expressed economically and yet which have a high VALUE IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE. IN RECENT YEARS, the valuation of environmental services and objects in the PUBLIC SPHERE HAS BECOME A PRIORITY IN PUBLIC POLICY.  This growing interest is in part due to the importance, urgency, scope, and scale of environmental issues facing the world, a recognition of the wider VALUE OF NATURE AND THE PRAGMATIC RECOGNITION THAT GOVERNMENTS ALONE CANNOT EFFECTIVELY ADDRESS MANY OF THESE PROBLEMS. HOWEVER, PUBLIC VALUE INVOLVES MORE THAN JUST THE PUBLIC SECTOR - it extends, physically and virtually, into privately owned space.  Moreover, as the distinction between PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BECOMES MORE BLURRED, in a world still weighing the implications of the Brexit decision and the Trump presidency, the problem of oppositional thinking has come to the fore. PUBLIC VALUE REQUIRES A LESS BINARY, MORE INTEGRATIVE AND LESS OPPOSITIONAL PERSPECTIVE on decision making with PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS ENGAGING IN HYBRID SPACES IN WHICH ORGANISATIONAL AND SECTORAL BOUNDARIES ARE BLURRED AND VALUATIONS ARE COMPLEX.  Today, nowhere is this more evident than in TOURISM WHERE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PROPERTY AND PERSPECTIVES INTERACT AND SOMETIMES CONFLICT TO CREATE OR DESTROY VALUE IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE AND PROTECT THE EARTH THAT WE SHARE. ------------------------- PROGRAMME MORNING 09.00 - 09.45 Arrival and Refreshments 09.45 - 09.55 Chair’s Welcome Trudy Harrison MP, Member of Parliament for Copeland Member of the Applied Policy Science Unit Advisory Board 09.55 - 10.00 Opening Remarks Jenny McGee FTS, Executive Director, The TOURISM SOCIETY 10.00 - 10.30 Spaceship Earth: Space Applications Supporting SUSTAINABLE TOURISM Dr Rick Wylie FTS FInstTT Executive Director, UCLan Applied Policy Science Unit Isabelle Duvaux-Béchon Head of the Member States Relations and Partnerships Office, European Space Agency 10.30 - 11.00 Balancing TOURISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY Gill White, Managing Director, Cumbria TOURISM 11.00 - 11.15 BREAK 11.15 - 11.45 The Fife Arms, Braemar: Hospitality meets art and culture in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park Federica Bertolini, General Manager, The Fife Arms 11.45 - 12.00 Social Exclusion and the PUBLIC VALUE OF NATURE Suzanne Wilson, Research Fellow in Social Exclusion and Community Development, UCLan 12.00 - 12.15 Place, NATURE AND WEST CUMBRIA Dr John Scanlan, Research Fellow in Place Development and Promotion,UCLan AFTERNOON 12.15 - 13.15 LUNCH 13.15 - 13.45 The Spiritual VALUE OF NATURE Professor Richard Sharpley, Professor of TOURISM, UCLan 13.45 - 14.15 Every Name Tells a Story: Sharing an Inspirational Coastline Nic Coombey, Coastwise Coordinator, Solway Firth Partnership 14.15 - 14.45 The Lake District National Park World Heritage Site (tbc) Liz Davey, Partnership Manager, Lake District National Park 14.45 - 15.00 BREAK 15.00 - 15.30 Lucy’s Carbon: Monetising Landscapes Benjamin Carey FTS, Carey TOURISM AND THE TOURISM SOCIETY 15.30 - 16.00 Agro-TOURISM FAMILY BUSINESSES AND SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP Dr Elias Hadjielias Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, UCLan Cyprus 16.00 - 16.30 The NATURE OF ATTRACTING TALENT – a perspective Luke Dicicco, Head of Content, Choose Cumbria 16.30 Closing Remarks ------------------------- THIS EVENT IS FREE THANKS TO THE GENEROUS SPONSORSHIP OF THE SAMUEL LINDOW FOUNDATION, AN INDEPENDENT EDUCATIONAL CHARITY.