Ecosystems for literature and art tourism experiences

Ecosystems for literature and art tourism experiences - ELATE 

Slides available - please click image to download from Google Drive

Webinar February 24th, 2026, at 10 AM (Portugal time zone).

CiTUR Algarve (Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, University of Algarve) are delighted to invite you to attend this free online webinar.

Synopsis of the webinar

The webinar demonstrates how the researcher integrates social media theory and literary theory to develop a model for cultural tourism. From his writer's residency in Millbay, Plymouth, which went on to win a creative commission from Exeter's UNESCO City of Literature, he embarked on a project in literary tourism and slow tourism for the French port town of Ouistreham in Normandy. This talk presents the technical and practical details of this work as a model for future developers, academics and travel writers. We make available the dialogue journaling templates recently refined in MS OneNote and Google Docs. 

The CiTUR is an R&D unit of the national higher education polytechnic subsystem in Portugal that brings together 17 institutions (universities and polytechnics) and involves more than 200 researchers. It conducts multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary applied research as well as producing and sharing scientific knowledge in tourism.

It aims to be a leader in applied research, development and innovation and to be recognised by civil society and business for its superior ability to generate and share knowledge in tourism.

Universidade do Algarve – Escola Superior de Gestão, Hotelaria e Turismo
Campus da Penha
8005-139 Faro – Portugal

Slide Script by Slide Number

1. The cultural heritage of a town often remains hidden from potential visitors. In my case-study I apply the theory of knowledge ecosystems. With this theory you can build a network of stakeholders for eliciting and sharing place-making narratives. In my creation of a knowledge ecosystem, I used a new feature in the WhatsApp smartphone app to develop slow tourism knowledge for a destination in Normandy. I explore the theories of story, plot and novelistic discourse. This is called narrative knowledge. Narrative knowledge is a way of sharing and remembering the attributes of experience.

2. This presentation takes two sets of theory out into the field of experience co-creation. These theories come from knowledge ecosystems and from novelistic discourse. In the case study, English-speaking holidaymakers from the UK travel to Normandy in France to enjoy slow tourism and cultural tourism experiences. Slow tourism engages with cultural heritage through close observation. Reading, writing and sharing all contribute to co-creation for the visitor during slow tourism. Making posts to social media provides the opportunity for tourists to write and contribute. Dialogue elicits new knowledge. 

3. In the tourism industry, it is through knowledge transfer that tourism destinations improve their visibility and make sustainable connections between the lives of locals, for whom the destination is home, the industry stakeholders, and the holidaymakers. I designed a process for researchers, writers and content creatives for our book and used this as the starting point for this writing project. There is a link to the book on this slide.

4. A knowledge network might start as a meeting in an office, but social media provides a viable environment for the ecosystem to thrive in the field. In this case study I used a new feature in WhatsApp called Community Groups. As a researcher, I travelled as a holidaymaker and travel writer to the destination while maintaining live dialogue with the WhatsApp group. This increased social capital. 

5. Social capital is a function of the time spent communicating in a social network. But sharing stories and answering questions on social media channels must have the trust of the users. Trust is built through the internal governance of that network. To achieve balance the group should invite: the DMO, other Tourists and even Competing suppliers, such as hotels, restaurants, cafés, attractions, museums, and shops. Then, of course, local residents and professionals like content creatives and academics will bring scientific knowledge to the group for discussion. 

6. The WhatsApp group in the community must have trust in each other and feel that they are peers or equals. Each brings their own knowledge and interests. These are mobilised through dialogue. Value is created through posting of unexpected information. The Group will need an animator at times to pose good questions to stimulate dialogue.

7. Our group of participants stabilised at 19 members in November 2024. We chose a novel, set in the town of Ouistreham, for everyone to read; it was like a book-club for sharing ideas through the WhatsApp group. The detective novel we chose is a good example of the theories of Mikael Bakhtin on dialogue and novelistic discourse. This helps the travel writer and the tourism developers to create a story for the destination town. 

8. Here, on the next 2 slides, is a list of elements that I extracted from Bakhtin’s theory of the novel. It is our guide for those who want to create stories for their destinations. These might be DMOs or content creatives. You see, just looking at the last one, numbered 4 on our table, that novels can contain even technical and scientific information and still be enjoyed by readers. I discovered through research that chat dialogue in WhatsApp behaves like novelistic discourse. 

9. Bakhtin talks about the chronotope in his theory of the novel. One especially important chronotopic motif, he explains, is the meeting of two characters in a story. I found this during the project with our group. A key moment in the detective story is when Maigret meets Lucas; this is not a spoiler! Participants in the group posted about this moment in WhatsApp. For tourism developers, signposting the site of this meeting in the town would create value for their visitors. 

10. Governance and supportive animation by the group administrators maintains the motivation and energy of the ecosystem. To survive, the ecosystem needs care and good questions. Good questions stimulate good dialogue, for example: If an ecosystem in nature creates stocks of biomass by removing carbon dioxide from the air, then, consider, what does your business knowledge ecosystem want to create? 

11. Analysis tools are now available for WhatsApp posts to explore what has happened in the group within your community. It will help give developers insight into which dialogues create new stories. It will help identify catalysts of value creation.  

12. The creative or the researcher also stores their notes and writing in a 3-step process that I call, Dialogue Journaling. In this way, they accumulate an archive for later storytelling. By step 2 the writer can begin to post on social media channels to engage with their audience. This audience will become the beta-testers of copy. 

13. At the heart of Dialogue Journaling is the notebook page with my boxes for gathering then refining ideas. Notice the yellow box is the place to share with an editor, teacher or trusted reviewer. Here, I am using Microsoft’s OneNote application.  

14. I open a new OneNote notebook for each storytelling design project. I always use the 3-step structure to make the workload manageable. Then by step 2 I can share with people who are cooperating with me, and my clients.

15. Creating quality assets within the steps of Dialogue Journaling means you can post to social media to maintain a knowledge ecosystem around your subject, product or place. This will connect your laboratory work with a wider, interested world. 

16. As an example of creating value, a transit port might have a beach, but to encourage ferry passengers to break from their journey to explore the town then cultural offers need to be created. Storytelling can co-create experiences in the blue economy. 

17. Through creative content, travel writers can associate cultural value with places for visitors to discover across the town. Creatives can present this as a walking route with stopping places.  During my research for this project, I designed a template for sharing the stories through WhatsApp. My template in PDF format becomes part of the destination’s tourism knowledge ecosystem. It is stored in a platform, which I call the WhatsApp e-Library Locker.  

18. Thank you for listening. If you would like to read more about tourism development projects, please visit the magazine blog, Travel Writers Online by using this link or by scanning this QR Code. An explanation of the WORD and PDF template for your own WhatsApp groups is also available from the blog post.