Policy Press
13 Dementia, tourism and leisure: making the visitor economy dementia friendly
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Abstract
This chapter takes as its inspiration the well-established idea of living well with dementia and how this somewhat vague and contested idea might be effectively operationalised through an application to leisure and tourism businesses and activities. The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of a nascent area of dementia-friendly activity: that of the visitor economy, which encompasses the range of businesses, services and spaces used by visitors to a neighbourhood, and often by local residents too. The interactions in, and value of, the largely neglected visitor economy concept within dementia studies is important as businesses and organisations that manage and promote place-based experiences and activities can enrich the lives of people with dementia, and their families and carers. This is relevant not only to visitors to a locale, but also to local residents, who also use and benefit from visitor economy businesses and services.
We review a programme of research that we have been pursuing to raise the profile of the visitor economy as an issue within both academic and practitioner agendas through tools and advocacy. Our principal focus throughout this research programme, which has involved different stakeholders (including those impacted by dementia in the community, and businesses and organisations that have responsibility for service delivery), is to enhance the accessibility of the visitor economy for people with dementia, thereby opening up neighbourhoods more fully so as to address a broader civil society objective of enhancing participation. This chapter also seeks to conceptualise these places as not just existing for residents, but also for visitors, and that people living with dementia exist in both categories.
Abstract
This chapter takes as its inspiration the well-established idea of living well with dementia and how this somewhat vague and contested idea might be effectively operationalised through an application to leisure and tourism businesses and activities. The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of a nascent area of dementia-friendly activity: that of the visitor economy, which encompasses the range of businesses, services and spaces used by visitors to a neighbourhood, and often by local residents too. The interactions in, and value of, the largely neglected visitor economy concept within dementia studies is important as businesses and organisations that manage and promote place-based experiences and activities can enrich the lives of people with dementia, and their families and carers. This is relevant not only to visitors to a locale, but also to local residents, who also use and benefit from visitor economy businesses and services.
We review a programme of research that we have been pursuing to raise the profile of the visitor economy as an issue within both academic and practitioner agendas through tools and advocacy. Our principal focus throughout this research programme, which has involved different stakeholders (including those impacted by dementia in the community, and businesses and organisations that have responsibility for service delivery), is to enhance the accessibility of the visitor economy for people with dementia, thereby opening up neighbourhoods more fully so as to address a broader civil society objective of enhancing participation. This chapter also seeks to conceptualise these places as not just existing for residents, but also for visitors, and that people living with dementia exist in both categories.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction: Placing dementia 1
- Understanding the meaning of neighbourhoods for people living with dementia: the value of a relational lens 23
- Moving house with dementia 44
- How do people with dementia manage problematic situations in public spaces? 48
- Making and maintaining neighbourhood connections when living alone with dementia 67
- My neighbourhood, my future …? 90
- Enabling the neighbourhood: a case for rethinking dementia-friendly communities 94
- A conceptual framework of the person–environment interaction in the neighbourhood among persons living with dementia: a focus on out-of-home mobility 113
- We’re known as ‘the girls’ around town: support, isolation and belonging for a lesbian couple living with dementia 135
- Building community capacity for dementia in Canada: new directions in new places 140
- The good, the challenging and the supportive: mapping life with dementia in the community 160
- Growing back into community: changes through life with dementia 186
- Dementia, tourism and leisure: making the visitor economy dementia friendly 191
- Conclusion: Dementia emplaced 208
- Index 218
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction: Placing dementia 1
- Understanding the meaning of neighbourhoods for people living with dementia: the value of a relational lens 23
- Moving house with dementia 44
- How do people with dementia manage problematic situations in public spaces? 48
- Making and maintaining neighbourhood connections when living alone with dementia 67
- My neighbourhood, my future …? 90
- Enabling the neighbourhood: a case for rethinking dementia-friendly communities 94
- A conceptual framework of the person–environment interaction in the neighbourhood among persons living with dementia: a focus on out-of-home mobility 113
- We’re known as ‘the girls’ around town: support, isolation and belonging for a lesbian couple living with dementia 135
- Building community capacity for dementia in Canada: new directions in new places 140
- The good, the challenging and the supportive: mapping life with dementia in the community 160
- Growing back into community: changes through life with dementia 186
- Dementia, tourism and leisure: making the visitor economy dementia friendly 191
- Conclusion: Dementia emplaced 208
- Index 218
