Local businesses as boundary actors shaping sustainable tourism futures in Biosphere Reserves

Biosphere Reserves have attracted significant attention from tourism scholars, not least for the management challenges they pose. As ‘bounded spaces’, they are defined by their shared natural and cultural heritage assets which form the basis for collective identification and distinct offers to visitors. Although ‘boundary actors’ have been recognised for their potential to induce beneficial change in tourism, little is known about how small businesses function in this capacity, towards the goal of fostering sustainable tourism development, and in the particular setting of Biosphere Reserves. This paper examines tourism businesses as boundary actors in the development of sustainable tourism in protected landscapes and in so doing adds to recent critical discussion of ‘Living Labs’ in shaping tourism futures. Specifically, it investigates the experiences of small nature-based businesses in ‘The Living Coast’ (Brighton and Lewes Downs) Biosphere Reserve in the United Kingdom (UK) to innovate their product offers in the period from November 2019 to May 2020 as part of wider project work (2018–2021). From a detailed Thematic Analysis of rich qualitative data, the paper highlights how local micro and small businesses translate, reframe and adapt sustainability and Biosphere Reserve values; how they can communicate them to visitors and residents; and how they can actively participate in place-making and place-keeping activities, becoming key boundary actors. Of the four analytical themes, the innovation and learning mechanisms utilised by local businesses, particularly those related to coordination, followed by discursive boundaries, were found to be the most important. These speak to new ways of positioning Biosphere Reserves as ‘living labs’ for tourism businesses emphasising dynamic sustainable tourism potential rather than stasis. As boundary actors, local businesses can absorb, (re)produce, adapt, co-produce and communicate the sustainability agendas of Biosphere Reserves through innovation and collaborative learning if structures and processes enable them to do so.生物圈保护区（Biosphere Reserves）已引起旅游学者的广泛关注，尤其因其所带来的管理挑战。作为“边界空间”，它们以共享的自然与文化遗产资源为核心界定依据，这些资源既是集体身份认同的基础，也为游客提供特色旅游供给的依托。尽管“边界行动者（boundary actors）”已被证实具备在旅游领域促成有益变革的潜力，但目前学界对小型企业如何以此身份发挥作用，以实现可持续旅游发展目标，且在生物圈保护区这一特定场景中运作的情况仍知之甚少。本文将旅游企业视为保护地景观可持续旅游发展中的边界行动者展开研究，并借此丰富了近期关于“生活实验室（Living Labs）”如何塑造旅游未来的批判性讨论。具体而言，本文以英国“活海岸（The Living Coast，布莱顿与刘易斯当斯）”生物圈保护区内的小型自然依托型企业为研究对象，考察其在2019年11月至2020年5月期间的产品创新实践，该研究作为2018-2021年整体项目的一部分展开。通过对丰富质性数据（qualitative data）开展细致的主题分析法（Thematic Analysis），本文揭示了当地微型与小型旅游企业如何转化、重构并适配可持续发展理念与生物圈保护区的核心价值；如何将这些理念与价值传递给游客与本地居民；以及如何积极参与场所营造与场所维护活动，进而成为关键的边界行动者。在四大分析主题中，本地企业所采用的创新与学习机制——尤其是与协调相关的机制，其次是话语边界——被证实为最为关键的要素。这些发现为将生物圈保护区定位为旅游企业的“生活实验室”提供了新路径，强调旅游发展应聚焦动态可持续潜力而非静态停滞。作为边界行动者，若相关制度与流程提供支持，本地企业可通过创新与协同学习，吸收、（再）生产、适配、协同生产并传播生物圈保护区的可持续发展议程。