Be Alike and Stand Out: The Dialectical Game of Global Tourism
CALL FOR PAPERS

Deadline for submissions: November 1, 2015
Issue coordinator: Lionel Prigent, Université de Bretagne occidentale

A Starbucks coffee shop in the imperial palace in Beijing. This move caused quite a stir in the early 2000s, causing the coffee shop to close down in the face of protests by thousands of Chinese and a sustained media campaign. Other situations have likewise reflected a trivialization of historic places and their environment. One need only observe the historic centres of large European cities, from La Rambla in Barcelona to Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin: based on the same conceptualization, they all present restored pedestrian zones, adapted to receive as large a public as possible and their shop windows all showcase a few dozen brand names, displaying the same products across the world. Mimicry has taken hold of hotel chains, tour operators, urban furniture manufacturers, and souvenir merchants, all participating in the dissemination of similarity. In the space of a few years, tourism seems to have left the realm of adventure, discovery and the unusual in favour of homogenous globalization.

Within the contrasting logics of the market and of distinction, what lies behind such a process? If commercial signage is chosen to occupy heritage places and if tourism is a vector for the promotion of standardized products, this shows that it is a fast-growing economic sector that attracts more clients from more countries each and every year. This expansion exacerbates competitiveness by the continuous emergence of new destinations (in particular in Asia and Oceania).

Must we then conclude that the homogenization of the tourist offer is a possible outcome, if not the most probable one at that? This begs the question concerning the ambivalent nature of tourism itself. On the one hand, tourism is the expectation of escape and discovery; on the other, it has become a major economic activity based on visiting, i.e. a very specific product. As long as a visit has not been realized, its quality is but a promise made to tourists, who cannot choose solely on the basis of cost. In order to evaluate the distinctiveness of a destination, they must therefore turn to other information, including net surfers’ opinions, tour guides’ judgement and labels attesting to the quality of a service or identifying heritage particularities. Singularity seems to remain at the core of tourist concerns, if not an essential condition in attracting the public. In this context, tourist sites, in particular the most important and symbolic ones, need to enhance what makes them special in order both to bolster their competitiveness and to conform to the image and reputation that visitors attribute to them.

In sum, tourist destinations are compelled to satisfy two conflicting demands. On the one hand, they must respond to habits, expectations and norms of mass consumption, which no longer leave room for thrill and surprise; this is offered as much for the consumption of local residents of the tourist site and the surrounding area as for tourists who find their bearings there. On the other hand, there is the need to develop and sustain an original narrative, an unusual image and services that promise to stand out as well. In the end, what room is there for the unique and the unexpected? Are there any new boundaries left to explore?

In this context, authors are invited to address, among others, the following issues:
• The effects of differences and similarities of tourist products and the permanent cycles that drive these phenomena;
• The homogenization of areas that tourism exposes to the general public;
• Catalysts for the preservation of specificities and strategies for distinction; and
• “Lands” to explore and opportunities for other forms of tourism.
Any other proposal related to the topic will also be considered.

Conditions that proposals must meet
Author(s) must provide a manuscript, preferably in French or English, in a format respecting the journal’s rules, which are available at www.teoros.revues.org/168. Texts must be submitted in Word format (no PDF) and must be approximately 7,000 to 7,500 words long. Texts must also include:
• a clearly stated research objective (question);
• a description of the research methodology used; and
• a theoretical component.

Téoros has an international readership. Author(s) are asked to keep this in mind when they present their cases studies in order to make them accessible to readers who may be less familiar with the destination or area under study.

Each article must include:
• the first and last names of all authors (maximum of three (3));
• their main title(s) and affiliation(s) (one per contributor);
• their e-mail and mailing address(es);
• a summary not exceeding 150-200 words;
• an identification of the field(s) of study; and
• a list of keywords (maximum of five).

Illustrations
Authors are invited to provide three or four royalty-free, high resolution (300 dpi) illustrations, along with a clear caption and the name of the photographer.

Originality of the study
Manuscripts submitted for publication in Téoros must make an original scientific contribution. Authors remain responsible for the content of their articles and the opinions expressed therein, as well as for corrections of data and bibliographical references. The deadline to submit texts is November 1, 2015. Proposed texts must be sent to the journal:
teoros@uqam.ca
Please write “Global tourism” in the subject line.

In preparation for submitting their manuscript by the above-mentioned deadline, authors may wish to submit a draft version. This will allow editors to judge whether the themes discussed in the article are acceptable and meet the objectives of the thematic edition.

Téoros aims to contribute to the development and the enhancement of the scientific study of tourism in a multidisciplinary perspective by asserting itself as a leader in research in francophone world. The journal, created in 1982, is published twice a year and publish articles in French and English.

Téoros is an institutional Journal of the University of Quebec in Montreal. The journal has support from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Aid to Scholarly Journal Program. The Journal is recognized by the French Evaluation Agency for Research and Higher Education (EARHE).

Director and editor-in-chief: Martin DROUIN, Ph.D., Professor, ESG UQAM

Téoros
School of Management
Université du Québec à Montréal
P.O. Box 8888, Station Centre-ville
Montréal (Québec) H3C 3P8 Canada
teoros@uqam.ca