Digital Detox and Nature-based tourism

The absence of digital connectivity has recently been through a meaningful shift of meaning within the tourist field. If in the past years, it was considered bothersome, now it has turned into a noteworthy pull factor. Some hotels and restaurants have started to replace their "We have WiFi" signs with ones that proudly advertise "WiFi-free” zones. The disconnection from technology has become a marketable concept, offering the promise of temporarily stepping away from the hyperconnectivity of networked societies to regenerate in the context of wild nature. The tourism industry promptly coined terms such as "unplugged travel" or "digital detox" to describe this growing interest in disconnecting from the digital world to reach new market niches focused on "unwinding" experiences. This touristic interest in digital disconnection is part of a larger discourse that problematizes the effects of constant connectivity, assigning a special role to nature-based tourism.

This Research Topic is aimed at addressing issues such as counter-mediatization, digital disconnection, and other reverse trends in media use, focusing on nature-based tourism and ecotourism. In particular, it aims to shed light on the tourists’ values and needs behind their interest in unplugged travel within the context of eco-tourism practices. At the same time, it is interested in analyzing how local tourist entrepreneurs and operators are addressing these new chances, also through the possible creation of infrastructures of unplugging (e.g. wireless hotels or the transformation of “dead zones” into destinations that appeal to travelers) and the making up of new specific services (i.e. mediation and yoga sessions, log walks, forest bathing etc.). Further, the changing landscape of such tourist practices of re-analogization seems to unveil a renewed interest in face-to-face interrelations, not only within the usual host-guest dynamics but also within the temporary communities of unplugged tourists who share the same experience of digital detox retreats.

We are interested in contributions that investigate the complexities of this new phenomenon, seeking to broaden approaches and collaborations across different disciplines and world regions. We encourage papers emphasizing the following dimensions:

- Theoretical perspectives on digital disconnection in nature-based tourism/ ecotourism;
- Theoretical explorations on the relation between daily lifestyles and new tourism practices, specifically within the context of ecotourism practices;
- Empirical analyses of digital detox experiences in natural areas, including national parks, wildlife reserves, and ecotourism destinations;
- Case-studies of digital disconnection practices and sustainable tourism behaviors;
- Explorations of motivations and consequences, challenges and opportunities, of disconnection in nature-based tourism/ ecotourism.
- Studies on digital disconnection and social interactions in nature-based tourism/ ecotourism.

Keywords: digital detox, nature-based tourism, disconnection, unplugged travel, offline activities, digital breaks, digital disconnection practices, wellness, ecotourism

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.