| Abstract: |
Purpose. This paper proposes an ethic of care — aver cura — as an integrative
concept for destination development that connects two disconnected uses of
"care" in tourism scholarship and specifies how the concept can be observed
and measured. Design/methodology/approach. The paper is conceptual. It
synthesizes tourism studies, public health and the ethics of care, and
illustrates the argument through the single case of Meran, South Tyrol, a
historic alpine health resort. Findings. Tourism research invokes care as an
ethos, while public health and health tourism treat care as provision; the two
seldom meet. An ethic of aver cura, built on caring for self, others and
place, integrates them and reframes success from volume to sustaining visitor,
resident, worker and landscape together. Civic trust, distinct from commercial
destination trust, is the operational core through which care becomes
measurable. Research limitations/implications. The six propositions are
conceptual and untested; they set a future agenda for comparative and
longitudinal research. Practical implications. Destinations would shift from
volume metrics to civic-trust and community indicators and to recurring
deliberative governance. Social implications. The approach foregrounds the
well-being of residents and tourism workers alongside that of visitors.
Originality/value. The paper offers an integrative concept of care that
bridges ethical and public-health registers, distinguishes civic from
commercial trust as its measurable core, and grounds care in a destination's
own formative logic rather than importing it from outside. Preprint of a
manuscript currently under review at the Journal of Tourism Futures (Emerald).
This is the submitted version and has not been peer-reviewed. |