Deploying Cultural Knowledge of Nature to Construct the Nature Sports Experience

Abstract

A tourist’s cultural construction of nature can shape their nature sports experience. It can also impact how they perceive the destinations where they engage in nature sports. This ethnography identifies how international tourists on a surfing trip in Australia draw on their cultural knowledge of nature to assign meaning to their experiences and surroundings. The nature sports experience is influenced by three types of cultural knowledge applied to nature: declarative, evaluative, and procedural. Interaction with nature activates that knowledge. Theoretical contributions include offering a comprehensive explanation for how cultural knowledge of nature can transform the nature sports experience and providing a more complete picture of how cultural knowledge impacts the tourist’s interpretation of a destination. Applied implications involve drawing on different types of cultural knowledge to create compelling nature sports and destination promotion campaigns.