Sustainable Heritage Tourism, Climate Change and the National Trust
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SUSTAINABLE HERITAGE TOURISM, CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE NATIONAL TRUST By JOHN ANTHONY FLOY A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Centre for Urban and Regional Studies School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Birmingham March 2015 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Climate change is a global phenomenon that has led to policy-making in many spheres. Since the early 2000s, when the projected impacts of climate change had increasingly come to the fore, there has been added momentum in tourism studies to researching sustainable tourism and travel behaviour. Using the National Trust as a lens, this study explores the potential contribution climate change policy makes in achieving sustainable heritage tourism. The research shows how such a policy evolved at the National Trust alongside key events and developments the charity has undergone since 1995, its centenary year. Senior policy-makers, managers, volunteer staff and visitors to properties in the West Midlands region were interviewed to understand their views on climate change, wider environmental matters, transport issues, and the charity’s response to tackling climate change. The study found that through mitigation and adaptation strategies, climate change policy does support and inform a sustainable approach to heritage tourism but that dependency on car-borne transport to rural heritage sites remains the ‘Achilles heel’ of sustainable heritage tourism as well as illuminating some of the imbalances between conservation and access. DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to: My family: Alison, Sam and Anna; To my late parents: Geoffrey and Ann Floy; And to the open countryside and coastline cared for by the National Trust. Barafundle Bay, Pembrokeshire, November 2013 In November 2013, my wife and I rented a National Trust cottage on the Pembrokeshire coast for a week. On our final morning, we rescued a beached seal pup at Barafundle Bay, a stretch of coast managed by the Trust. For me, this experience reinforced the significance of climate change, our responsibilities as humans in caring for the planet, and the importance of taking a sustainable approach to heritage tourism. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to record my considerable gratitude to my principal supervisor, Mr Christopher Watson from the University’s Centre for Urban and Regional Studies; for his unfailing counsel, expertise and support throughout the research process and writing of this thesis. Special thanks also go to Dr Caroline Chapain from the University’s Business School for retaining an interest in my research project. Her ideas, fresh perspectives, and the benefits from her experience were much appreciated. I would also like to thank Dr Austin Barber for his advice during the later stages of the project. Tutors at CURS in the early years of the project were particularly helpful in conceptualising the research, and my thanks go to Dr Bob Prosser, Mrs Jane Lutz and Dr Stewart MacNeill. Outside the University of Birmingham, I would like to acknowledge the helpful and reliable service provided by the library staff and reprographics department at University College Birmingham. I am particularly grateful to Mr Nick Betts and Miss Sarb Desi. I would also like to thank Miss Naomi Mizuno, from Japan’s Shizuoka Prefectural Government; and Mr Hal Rhoades, anthropology graduate of Durham University, for their assistance on a few occasions in conducting the visitor survey. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the valuable contacts I made at the National Trust, who willingly gave up their time to enable me to complete the research both within the West Midlands and at the charity’s central office Heelis, in Swindon. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family, especially my wife Alison, for their consistent support, tolerance and good humour during the writing of this thesis. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 Page INTRODUCTION Introduction 1 Background to the study 2 Aims of the research 4 Structure of the thesis 5 Definition of the National Trust and the study’s parameters 8 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW: SUSTAINABLE HERITAGE TOURISM Introduction 11 Defining heritage and the early years of the National Trust 11 The heritage industry 18 Defining heritage tourism 22 Authenticity, commodification and post-modern tourism 25 Sustainability and sustainable development 29 Sustainable tourism: paradigm or product? 32 Sustainable tourism indicators 36 Stakeholder involvement and empowerment 38 Sustainable tourism and climate change 39 Climate change research in tourism studies 42 Travel behaviour and transport issues for leisure and climate change 48 Chapter summary 53 CHAPTER 3 INTERPRETIVE FRAMEWORK Introduction 57 Climate change 58 Key developments in international climate change policy 64 Key developments in UK climate change policy 69 Public policy studies 76 Governance and management 82 Pro-environmental behaviour 88 Chapter summary 96 CHAPTER 4 Page METHODOLOGY Introduction: Research questions and structure of the methodology 99 Research approach 102 Secondary data 104 Primary data sampling 105 Primary data: design and collection methods 109 Analysing the data 116 Chapter summary 118 CHAPTER 5 KEY DEVELOPMENTS AT THE NATIONAL TRUST SINCE 1995 Introduction 120 Background to the first hundred years 121 Post-centenary developments: 1995-2014 124 Chapter summary 153 CHAPTER 6 EVOLUTION OF A CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY AT THE NATIONAL TRUST Introduction 158 Enterprise Neptune 1965 158 The emergence of sustainable development at the National Trust 160 Climate change and energy policy arrive on the agenda during the 1990s 163 The transport debate of the 1990s 167 The Labour Government of 1997 and the Kyoto Protocol 170 Formative years in shaping climate change policy: 2000-2007 174 Energy performance: 2008 onwards 184 Getting off oil 189 Chapter summary 193 CHAPTER 7 Page VIEWS OF NATIONAL TRUST STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS ON CLIMATE CHANGE Introduction 197 The importance of climate change as an issue for the National Trust 199 The form and function of the Trust’s climate change policy 203 Mitigation and adaptation measures in response to climate change 207 Sustainable development and the National Trust’s climate change policy 210 The National Trust as a contributor to environmental public policy; 213 external affairs The Trust’s governance arrangements and climate change 218 Going local and managing climate change 220 The balance between access and conservation as part of sustainable tourism and 223 implications for responding to climate change Chapter summary 228 CHAPTER 8 VISITORS’ TRAVEL BEHAVIOUR AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS CLIMATE CHANGE Introduction 235 Overview of visitor profiles 238 Travel behaviour of visitors at properties 244 Attitudes to climate change and associated issues 252 Awareness of climate change measures undertaken by the National Trust 257 Some comparisons of the survey’s results with national findings 259 Policy insights 260 Chapter summary 270 CHAPTER 9 CONCLUSION Introduction 272 Summary of research questions, findings and emerging issues 272 The study’s place in the literature 280 Evaluation of the methodology 284 Policy implications for the National Trust and opportunities for further research 286 Concluding statement 291 POSTSCRIPT 293 APPENDICES 295 LIST OF REFERENCES 388 LIST OF APPENDICES Page Appendix 1.1 National Trust Heritage Assets, 2012/13 295 Appendix 2.1 Environmental sustainability indicators 296 Appendix 3.1 Proxy indicators of climate-related variables 298 Appendix 3.2 Emissions scenarios of the Special Report on Emission Scenarios 299 Appendix 4.1 Secondary data categories 300 Appendix 4.2 Climate Change Policy Questionnaire: Board of Trustees/Council 301 Appendix 4.3 Climate Change Visitor Survey 305 Appendix 4.4 National Trust Volunteer Survey Spring 2013 – Climate Change 307 Appendix 4.5 Letter to Trustee/Member of Council 308 Appendix 4.6 Letter to Director 309 Appendix 4.7 National Trust West Midlands Visitor Numbers 2011/12 310 Appendix 4.8 Fieldwork Log 311 Appendix 4.9 Attendance at conferences, workshops and lectures 315 Appendix 4.10 Framework of main themes/concepts used for discussion 316 Appendix 5.1 Key developments in the National Trust 1895-present day 319 Appendix 6.1 Climate change-related environmental issues and other related 323 environmental issues emerging from National Trust public domain, 1970-2014 Appendix 7.1 Volunteer Survey Results 341 Appendix 8.1 Visitor survey: Quantitative data 350 Appendix 8.2 Visitor survey: Qualitative data 363 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1.1 Thesis research lens 4 Figure 2.1 An overview of tourism 25 Figure 3.1 Interpretive framework 57 Figure 3.2 Climate Change: An Integrated Framework 63 Figure 3.3 Policy Network Zones 77 Figure 3.4 Elements in the tourism policy-making process 79 Figure 3.5 The Relationship Between Social Value, 86 Financial Performance, and Organisational Survival