Pungent parks: smell’s growing relevance in park tourism

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the growing relevance of natural smells – both pleasant and unpleasant – to park and protected area tourism and the need for more consideration of their role in the visitor experience. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents four observations – selected via an informal review of the tourism literature – relevant to the future of smellscapes research concerning tourism in parks and protected areas. Findings: An emerging body of literature is indicating natural smells are central to the sensory experience of parks and protected areas. The iconic nature of park smellscapes underscores their role in the tourism experience. Originality/value: This paper extracts the current trends in smellscapes research relevant to park and protected area tourism. It therefore provides value to both tourism practitioners and researchers, alike, through its attempt to compile significant trends.