Light festivals, policy mobilities and urban tourism

Abstract

International audienceAccounts on how creative strategies and paradigms have been copied and circulated from one city to another are not new in tourism studies. However, they are traditionally characterized by arguments of serial reproduction that tends to conceptualize the process of policy circulation like a linear adoption of exogenous prescriptions copied by another city. As such they tend to share a negative viewpoint on the results of this strategy of policy emulation. Yet, the emergence of light festival events at a global level does not conform to such theorization. Largely inspired by few ‘best practice’ cases, like Lyon's Fête des Lumières, more than 100 light festivals are nowadays active around the world, experiencing a constant growth both in revenues and number of visitors. To examine how mechanisms, actors, concepts, strategies and artefacts related to the successful global circulations of light festivals, a ‘policy mobilities’ perspective has been adopted and semi-structured interviews were conducted with key personnel to track the relationships fostered through international networks of experts and lighting professionals. The results show how, even if the circulation of light festivals reflects a strategy of policy emulation, these events are not replicated in a serial and unproblematic way, but are selectively acknowledged and appropriated by local actors. This process of adaptation allows them to be successfully transplanted from one city to another, escaping the problem conventionally related to the ‘serial reproduction’ process. Yet, most of these events do not conform to models of tourism based on endogenous creative capital. Light festivals are often big-budget events, driven by commercial imperatives, characterized by a strong top-down approach and endorsed by international networks and agreement

Tourism and the night: towards a broader understanding of nocturnal city destinations

“…Attracting tourists is a major motivation for 'staging' cities, and light festivals have added appeal as tourism development initiatives as they help to encourage visits during darker time periods of the year/ the day which tend to be less popular. This helps to explain the recent inauguration of new light festivals in a range of urban locations (Giordano & Ong, 2017).…”

Analyzing the Check-In Behavior of Visitors through Machine Learning Model by Mining Social Network’s Big Data

“…Excessive entertainment activities can detract from the appeal of various urban places for visitors and inhabitants [ 3 ], perhaps exceeding residents' tolerance levels and causing a slew of difficulties [ 4 ]. Families around the country voiced similar feelings, accusing visitors for irritations like filth, noise, and congestion in cafés, bars, and public transit [ 5 ]. As a result, it is critical to regularly examine visitor actions and behavior to deal with these issues and better prepare for them.…”

Outdoor lighting design as a tool for tourist development: the case of Valladolid

“…The growing number of visits seems to confirm the capacity of artistic forms of illumination to work towards a greater sense of navigation for visitors at night and a greater appreciation of the thematic elements of the city and its elements -highlighted and facilitated via the spectacle of calculated illumination (Giordano and Ong, 2017). Yet, recent studies have highlighted, not only how illumination is experienced and consumed in multiple and contextual ways (Ebbensgaard, 2015;Giordano and Crozat, 2017) but also the negative consequences that promoting places through the lens of tourist gazing could potentially have on the urbanity of the city (Urry and Larsen, 2011).…”