Dr Scott Cohen
Senior Lecturer in Tourism, Head of Doctoral Programmes
Qualifications: BSc, MA, PhD, PGCE, PGCE, FHEA
Email: s.cohen@surrey.ac.uk
Phone: Work: 01483 68 3985
Room no: 22 MS 02
Office hours
Thursdays 11-12 and 1 to 3 (by appointment)
Further information
Biography
Dr Scott Cohen joined the University of Surrey in 2012 as a Senior Lecturer in Tourism in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management after working as a lecturer and then senior lecturer at Bournemouth University. He is now the School's Head of Doctoral Programmes and teaches on subjects relating to the social science of tourism, sustainable tourism and tourist behaviour.
Scott primarily researches sociological issues in tourism, mobility and leisure contexts, with a particular interest in the impacts of air travel on climate change. His current international research collaborations are with Professor Erik Cohen (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) on the mobilities of non-Western tourists, and with Professor James Higham (University of Otago), Associate Professor Paul Peeters (NHTV Breda University) and Professor Stefan Gössling (Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies) on climate change and sustainable mobility.
Scott has been awarded as an "Emerging Scholar of Distinction" by the International Academy for the Study of Tourism (2013). He serves as a Resource Editor for Annals of Tourism Research, Book Review Editor for Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK).
Scott gained a BSc in Biology in 1996 (University of Georgia, USA), a Masters of Business in International Tourism Management in 2004 (University of Queensland, Australia) and a PhD in 2009 (University of Otago, New Zealand). He also holds Postgraduate Certificates in Education Practice and Research Degree Supervision (Bournemouth University, UK).
Research Interests
- Sociological issues in tourism
- Air travel, climate change and sustainable mobility
- Non-western tourism
- Lifestyle mobilities
- Identity and belonging
Publications
Highlights
- .
(2013) 'Lifestyle mobilities: The crossroads of travel, leisure and migration'. Mobilities,
[ Status: Accepted ] - .
(2012) 'Current sociological theories and issues in tourism'. Annals of Tourism Research, 39 (4), pp. 2177-2202.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/730535/
Abstract
This article reviews the changing nature of contemporary tourism and sociological approaches to its study. We examine the broad social trends and specific historical events that recently affected tourism and discuss how the focus of sociological inquiry in tourism studies shifted from earlier discourses of authenticity and the tourist gaze to three novel theoretical approaches, the mobilities “paradigm”, the performativity approach and actor-network theory (ANT), which each reflect a broader meta-theoretical re-orientation in contemporary philosophy and sociology. We appraise these conceptual developments and discuss their limitations. We then identify several current research issues as important areas for problem-oriented work at the intersections of tourism and contemporary society: social justice, environmental sustainability, natural disasters, terrorism, heritage, embodiment and affect, and mediatization.
- .
(2012) 'Authentication: Hot and cool'. Annals of Tourism Research, 39 (3), pp. 1295-1314.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/533564/
Abstract
Seeking to shift the discussion of the concept of authenticity in tourism scholarship from the dominant concern with tourist experiences to the more sociological problem of the processes of authentication of tourist attractions, we conceptualize two analytically distinct, but practically often intersecting, modes of authentication of attractions, “cool” and “hot”. Through a range of examples, we demonstrate the implications of the two modes for the dynamics of the constitution of tourist attractions, examine their interaction, and illustrate how "cool" and "hot" authentication can be conducive to different types of personal experiences of authenticity. We furthermore explore the crucial question of who is authorized to authenticate tourist attractions, and thereby uncover issues of power and contestation in the politics of authentication.
- .
(2011) 'Lifestyle travellers: Backpacking as a way of life'. Annals of Tourism Research, 38 (4), pp. 1535-1555.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239163/
Abstract
Scholarship on backpackers speculates some individuals may extend backpacking to a way of life. This article empirically explores this proposition using lifestyle consumption as its framing concept and conceptualises individuals who style their lives around the enduring practice of backpacking as ‘lifestyle travellers’. Ethnographic interviews with lifestyle travellers in India and Thailand offer an emic account of the practices, ideologies and social identity that characterise lifestyle travel as a distinctive subtype within backpacking. Departing from the drifter construct, which (re)constitutes this identity as socially deviant, the concept of lifestyle allows for a contemporary appraisal of these individuals’ patterns of meaningful consumption and wider insights into how ongoing mobility can lead to different ways of understanding identities and relating to place.
- .
(2011) 'Binge flying: Behavioural addiction and
climate change'. Annals of Tourism Research, 38 (3), pp. 1070-1089.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239157/
Abstract
Recent popular press suggests that ‘binge flying’ constitutes a new site of behavioural addiction. We theoretically appraise and empirically support this proposition through interviews with consumers in Norway and the United Kingdom conducted in 2009. Consistent findings from across two national contexts evidence a growing negative discourse towards frequent short-haul tourist air travel and illustrate strategies of guilt suppression and denial used to span a cognitive dissonance between the short-term personal benefits of tourism and the air travel’s associated long-term consequences for climate change. Tensions between tourism consumption and changing social norms towards acceptable flying practice exemplify how this social group is beginning to (re)frame what constitutes ‘excessive’ holiday flying, despite concomitantly continuing their own frequent air travels.
Journal articles
- .
(2013) 'Lifestyle mobilities: The crossroads of travel, leisure and migration'. Mobilities,
[ Status: Accepted ] - .
(2012) 'Current sociological theories and issues in tourism'. Annals of Tourism Research, 39 (4), pp. 2177-2202.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/730535/
Abstract
This article reviews the changing nature of contemporary tourism and sociological approaches to its study. We examine the broad social trends and specific historical events that recently affected tourism and discuss how the focus of sociological inquiry in tourism studies shifted from earlier discourses of authenticity and the tourist gaze to three novel theoretical approaches, the mobilities “paradigm”, the performativity approach and actor-network theory (ANT), which each reflect a broader meta-theoretical re-orientation in contemporary philosophy and sociology. We appraise these conceptual developments and discuss their limitations. We then identify several current research issues as important areas for problem-oriented work at the intersections of tourism and contemporary society: social justice, environmental sustainability, natural disasters, terrorism, heritage, embodiment and affect, and mediatization.
- .
(2012) 'Authentication: Hot and cool'. Annals of Tourism Research, 39 (3), pp. 1295-1314.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/533564/
Abstract
Seeking to shift the discussion of the concept of authenticity in tourism scholarship from the dominant concern with tourist experiences to the more sociological problem of the processes of authentication of tourist attractions, we conceptualize two analytically distinct, but practically often intersecting, modes of authentication of attractions, “cool” and “hot”. Through a range of examples, we demonstrate the implications of the two modes for the dynamics of the constitution of tourist attractions, examine their interaction, and illustrate how "cool" and "hot" authentication can be conducive to different types of personal experiences of authenticity. We furthermore explore the crucial question of who is authorized to authenticate tourist attractions, and thereby uncover issues of power and contestation in the politics of authentication.
- .
(2012) 'Reflections on reflexivity in leisure and tourism studies'. Leisure Studies, Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239149/
Abstract
While leisure and tourism researchers have come some way in addressing issues of reflexivity in their own research, this effort towards engaging with positionality has lagged approximately ten years behind when the broader social sciences confronted the ‘reflexive turn’. This research note draws upon two cases from my own research with lifestyle travellers to illustrate how a reflexive approach can help to generate more trustworthy, richer texts in qualitative leisure research.
- .
(2011) 'Lifestyle travellers: Backpacking as a way of life'. Annals of Tourism Research, 38 (4), pp. 1535-1555.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239163/
Abstract
Scholarship on backpackers speculates some individuals may extend backpacking to a way of life. This article empirically explores this proposition using lifestyle consumption as its framing concept and conceptualises individuals who style their lives around the enduring practice of backpacking as ‘lifestyle travellers’. Ethnographic interviews with lifestyle travellers in India and Thailand offer an emic account of the practices, ideologies and social identity that characterise lifestyle travel as a distinctive subtype within backpacking. Departing from the drifter construct, which (re)constitutes this identity as socially deviant, the concept of lifestyle allows for a contemporary appraisal of these individuals’ patterns of meaningful consumption and wider insights into how ongoing mobility can lead to different ways of understanding identities and relating to place.
- .
(2011) 'Binge flying: Behavioural addiction and
climate change'. Annals of Tourism Research, 38 (3), pp. 1070-1089.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239157/
Abstract
Recent popular press suggests that ‘binge flying’ constitutes a new site of behavioural addiction. We theoretically appraise and empirically support this proposition through interviews with consumers in Norway and the United Kingdom conducted in 2009. Consistent findings from across two national contexts evidence a growing negative discourse towards frequent short-haul tourist air travel and illustrate strategies of guilt suppression and denial used to span a cognitive dissonance between the short-term personal benefits of tourism and the air travel’s associated long-term consequences for climate change. Tensions between tourism consumption and changing social norms towards acceptable flying practice exemplify how this social group is beginning to (re)frame what constitutes ‘excessive’ holiday flying, despite concomitantly continuing their own frequent air travels.
- .
(2011) 'Book review: Tourism, Power and Culture: Anthropological Insights (edited by
D. Macleod & J. Carrier)'. Wiley International Journal of Tourism Research, 13 (3)doi: 10.1002/jtr.813Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239159/
- .
(2011) 'Guest editors' introduction to special issue on 'Leisure, Tourism and Risk''. Recreation and Society in Africa, Asia & Latin America, 1 (2), pp. 1-6.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239162/
- .
(2011) 'Canary in the coalmine: Norwegian attitudes towards climate change and extreme long-haul air travel to Aotearoa/New Zealand'. Tourism Management, 32 (1), pp. 98-105.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239160/
Abstract
Accelerating global climate change poses considerable challenges to all societies and economies. The European Union now targets a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020. Indeed, the Labour-led Norwegian government is committed to carbon neutrality across all sectors of the economy by 2030. Aviation has been identified as a rapidly growing contributor to CO2 emissions. This article reports on a research project that explored Norwegian attitudes towards climate change, particularly as they relate to extreme long-haul air travel to Aotearoa/New Zealand. It reveals that the ‘dream trip’ to New Zealand for Norwegians is still largely intact. It also finds evidence of ‘air travel with a carbon conscience’ arising from growing concern for high frequency discretionary air travel. Evidence of denial of the climate impact of air travel that recent studies have revealed was largely absent. Interviewees expressed a greater concern for short-haul air travel emissions than for the climate impact of long-haul travel. However, intentions to adapt long-haul travel behaviours were expressed, highlighting the need to monitor consumer attitudes towards the impact of air travel on climate change. We conclude that Norway is a vanguard European tourism market in terms of climate sensitivity.
- . (2011) 'The public face of zoos: Images of entertainment, education, and conservation'. Anthrozoös, 24 (2), pp. 175-189.
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(2011) 'Eyes wide shut? UK consumer perceptions on aviation climate impacts and travel decisions to New Zealand'. Current Issues in Tourism, 14 (4), pp. 323-335.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239161/
Abstract
The purview of climate change concern has implicated air travel, as evidenced in a growing body of academic literature concerned with aviation CO2 emissions. This article assesses the relevance of climate change to long haul air travel decisions to New Zealand for United Kingdom consumers. Based on 15 semi-structured open-ended interviews conducted in Bournemouth, UK during June 2009, it was found that participants were unlikely to forgo potential travel decisions to New Zealand because of concern over air travel emissions. Underpinning the interviewees’ understandings and responses to air travel’s climate impact was a spectrum of awareness and attitudes to air travel and climate change. This spectrum ranged from individuals who were unaware of air travel’s climate impact to those who were beginning to consume air travel with a 2 ‘carbon conscience’. Within this spectrum were some who were aware of the impact but not willing to change their travel behaviours at all. Rather than implicating long haul air travel, the empirical evidence instead exemplifies changing perceptions towards frequent short haul air travel and voices calls for both government and media in the UK to deliver more concrete messages on air travel’s climate impact.
- .
(2010) 'Personal identity (de)formation among lifestyle travellers: A double-edged
sword?'. Leisure Studies, 29 (3), pp. 289-301.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239165/
Abstract
This article explores the personal identity work of lifestyle travellers – individuals for whom extended leisure travel is a preferred lifestyle that they return to repeatedly. Qualitative findings from in-depth semi-structured interviews with lifestyle travellers in northern India and southern Thailand are interpreted in light of theories on identity formation in late modernity that position identity as problematic. It is suggested that extended leisure travel can provide exposure to varied cultural praxes that may contribute to a sense of social saturation. Whilst a minority of the respondents embraced a saturation of personal identity in the subjective formation of a cosmopolitan cultural identity, several of the respondents were paradoxically left with more identity questions than answers as the result of their travels.
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(2010) 'Chasing a myth? Searching for 'self' through lifestyle travel'. Tourist Studies, 10 (2), pp. 117-133.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239164/
Abstract
This paper problematises the concept of searching for self in the context of lifestyle travellers – individuals for whom extended leisure travel is a preferred lifestyle that they return to repeatedly. Qualitative findings on the search for self from in-depth semi-structured interviews with lifestyle travellers in northern India and southern Thailand are considered in light of opposing academic perspectives on self. The study reveals a theoretical tension that exists between lifestyle travellers who may seek a unified sense of self, underpinned by the essentialist position that one‟s „true self‟ exists, and contrasting widely held academic viewpoints that instead conceptualise embodied selves as relational and open to multiple performances.
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(2009) 'Holidaying with the family pet: No dogs allowed!'. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 9 (4), pp. 290-304.doi: 10.1057/thr.2009.10Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239166/
Abstract
This paper assesses the extent to which dog owners located in Brisbane, Australia wish to holiday with their pets and if there is a gap between this desire and reality. The paper also examines the extent to which this demand is being catered for by the tourism accommodation sector. The need for this study reflects the increasingly significant role dogs are playing in the lives of humans and the scale of the dog owning population. The results suggest whilst there is a strong desire amongst dog owners to take holidays with their pets the actualisation of this desire is comparatively low. A significant obstacle to the realisation of this desire appears to be a dearth of pet friendly accommodation. This has implications for the ability of the tourism industry to benefit from the potentially lucrative market that is the dog-owning population.
Books
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(2014) Understanding and governing sustainable tourism mobility: Psychological and behavioural approaches. London : Routledge
[ Status: In preparation ] - . (2013) Lifestyle mobilities: Intersections of travel, leisure and migration. Farnham : Ashgate
Book chapters
- .
(2013) 'Leisure, identities and personal growth'. in Elkington S, Gammon S (eds.) Contemporary Perspectives in Leisure: Meanings, Motives and Lifelong Learning
London : Routledge
[ Status: Accepted ] - . (2012) 'Accrediting sustainable event practice'. in Fayos-solà E (ed.) Knowledge Management in Tourism: Policy and Governance Applications Bingley : Emerald Group Publishing Ltd , pp. 209-218.
- .
(2012) 'Contradictions in climate concern: Performances of home and away'. in Reddy MV, Wilkes K (eds.) Tourism, Climate Change and Sustainability
London : Routledge Article number 15 , pp. 257-270.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239139/
Abstract
There is a burgeoning body of academic literature (e.g. Becken, 2007; Gössling et al, 2006; Hares et al, 2010) that examines if and how consumer concern about climate change manifests itself in tourist behavioural practices. These works build on a wealth of previous studies that consider how consumer concern over issues of sustainable development may also affect tourist behaviour. Indeed, whilst tourism’s climate impacts have lately been a hot topic, there is no doubt that issues of climate change are within the remit of, and need to be considered alongside, wider discourses of sustainable development (Weaver, 2011). Recent research focussed explicitly on the climate impacts of tourism and associated tourism transport reflects the realisation in the academy that the tourism industry, characterised by energy-intensive consumption, is a significant contributor to accelerating global climate change. Despite the claim, however, that tourism is increasingly blended into the fabric of everyday life (Edensor, 2007), the mass of tourism still largely occurs as a bounded experience outside the rhythms of the day-to-day, which is both extraordinary and often involving conspicuous consumption. With tourism often experienced as an event set apart from the day-to-day, it is unsurprising that few studies, with the notable exception of Barr et al (2010), have sought to understand tourist environmental concern in relation to a wider scope of everyday lives and daily decision-making. The present chapter seeks to further understandings of how tourism consumption, and its consequent carbon emissions, are made sense of and justified by consumers in relation to everyday life decisions. Based on 30 open-ended, semi-structured interviews carried out in the United Kingdom and Norway in 2009, the chapter illustrates consistencies and 2 inconsistencies in the climate sensitivities of UK and Norwegian consumers in relation to both everyday domestic (home) and tourism (away) practices. Modern theory on tourism as liminoid space (Turner, 1982) and postmodern theory that suggests personal identity (and consequently behaviour) is inconsistent and performed differently across varying contexts (Bell, 2008; Edensor, 2001) are used as complementary explanatory devices for understanding some of the participants’ seemingly contradictory consumption decisions. The research consequently reveals significant paradoxes in consumer climate sensitivities between the everyday and holidays. These find
- . (2010) 'Kerry Packer: World Series Cricket (WSC) and the (r)evolution of modern sport-related tourism'. in Butler R, Russell R (eds.) Giants of Tourism Oxford : CABI , pp. 182-197.
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(2010) 'Searching for escape, authenticity and identity: Experiences of 'lifestyle travellers''. in Morgan M, Lugosi P, Ritchie JRB (eds.) The Tourism and Leisure Experience: Consumer
and Managerial Perspectives
Bristol : Channel View , pp. 27-42.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239142/
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(2010) 'Re-conceptualising lifestyle travellers: Contemporary 'drifters''. in Hannam K, Diekmann A (eds.) Beyond Backpacker Tourism: Mobilities and Experiences
Clevedon : Channel View , pp. 64-84.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239141/
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(2008) 'Know thyself? Assimilating the classical leisure ideal, self-actualisation, or experience, and existential authenticity'. in Gilchrist P, Wheaton B (eds.) Whatever happened to the Leisure Society? Theory, Debate and Policy
Eastbourne : Leisure Studies Association , pp. 165-180.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/239143/
Teaching
Undergraduate:
- Tourist Behaviour
- Tourism Consultancy
- International Tourist Destinations
- Business Environment
Postgraduate:
- Tourism Social Science
- Tourism Management
- Sustainable Tourism in Theory and Practice
Departmental Duties
Head of Doctoral Programmes
