Dr Carl Cater

Lecturer in Tourism
B.Sc (Hons) Geography Bristol, M.Sc Society and Space (Bristol), PhD Beyond the Gaze: The reflexive tourist and the search for embodied experience (Bristol).
Photograph of Dr Carl Cater.

Contact

Email: cic@aber.ac.uk
Office: Room S21 Cledwyn
Phone: +44 (0) 1970 62 2505

Teaching Areas

Carl has taught widely in tourism, taking courses on tourism planning, research methods, special interest tourism, ecotourism, leisure and recreation. He is passionate about the value of field trips as a direct exposure to the tourism industry and has taken students to Norway, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Nepal.

Research

Carl’s principal research interests lie in the nature of the tourist experience, in particular the role of the body in modern tourist activity. In particular he views the growth of so-called special interest tourism as emblematic of a fulfillment of these desires. Consequently he has researched, published and consulted on developments in marine tourism, adventure tourism and the nascent astrotourism (space tourism) industry. His Ph.D., completed in the School of Geography at Bristol University, UK, but with much of the fieldwork conducted in Queenstown, New Zealand, examined the commodification of experience in adventure tourism. Carl is on the editorial board of Tourism Geographies and Tourism in Marine Environments and is research notes editor for Journal of Ecotourism. He is co-author (with Dr Erlet Cater) of the book Marine Ecotourism (CABI).

Supervisory Research Areas:

Marine tourism; Adventure Tourism; Ecotourism; Tourist behaviour; Tourism and health; Emerging destinations and markets; Qualitative methods.


Biography

Carl joined IBERS in 2009 returning from Australia where he was Senior Lecturer in Tourism at Griffith University. He previously worked at Reading University as a lecturer in Geography. Carl has conducted projects and consultancy for Seaworld, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Tourism Queensland, the New South Wales Department of Education and the World Tourism and Travel Council. He has presented over 30 conference papers and been invited to present at meetings in Fiji, Beijing, Kunming and Qinghai. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a qualified pilot, diver, lifesaver, mountain and tropical forest leader, and maintains an interest in both the practice and pursuit of sustainable outdoor tourism activity.


Staff Publications

Journal Articles

  • Cater, C (2010) Steps To Space; Opportunities For Astrotourism. Tourism Management. Elsevier. In press
  • Cater, C (2009) Any Closer and You’d Be Lunch!: Interspecies Interactions As Nature Tourism At Marine Aquaria. Journal of Ecotourism. Taylor and Francis. In press
  • Bentley, T. A., Cater, C. and Page, S.J. (2009) Adventure and ecotourism safety in Queensland: Operator experiences and practice. Tourism Management. In press
  • Jennings, G.R. Lee, Y-S., Cater, C, Ayling, A., Ollenburg, C., Lunny, B.  (2009) Quality tourism experiences: reviews, reflections, research agendas. Journal of Hospitality and Leisure Marketing, Special Issue: Experience Marketing 18:2-3:
  • Cater, C (2009) The Life Aquatic: Scuba Diving and the Experiential Imperative. Journal of Tourism in Marine Environments, 5:4 Cognizant.
  • Zhong, L., Cater, C., Buckley, R., and Chen, T. (2008) Shengtai Luyou: A Chinese Perspective on Ecotourism. Annals of Tourism Research. 35:4:945–968 Pergamon.
  • Cater, C and Cloke, P. (2007) Bodies in Action: The Performativity of Adventure Tourism. Anthropology Today 23:6
  • Cater, C. (2006) Playing with Risk? Participant perceptions of risk and management implications in adventure tourism. Tourism Management 27:2. 317-325. Elsevier.

Book Chapters

  • Jennings, G.R. Cater, C., Lee, Y-S., Ayling, A., Ollenburg, C., Lunny, B.  (2009) Generation Y: Perspectives of quality in youth adventure travel experiences in an Australian backpacker context. In Benckendorff, P. J., Moscardo,G. and Pendergast, D. Tourism and Generation Y. CABI, Oxford.
  • Cater, C. (2008) Chapter 4: Perceptions of and interactions with marine environments; diving attractions from Great Whites to Pygmy Seahorses. In Garrod B and Gössling S (eds.) Diving Tourism: Experiences, Sustainability, Management. Elsevier, London.
  • Cater, C. and Cater, E. (2008) The Economics of Marine Wildlife Tourism in Luck, M and Higham, J (eds.) Marine Wildlife and Tourism Management. CABI, Oxford.
  • Cater, C and Cater, E. (2007) Protected Marine Areas in Jenkins, J. and Dredge, D. Tourism Planning. Wiley, Australia. pp
  • Cater, C. (2007) Chapter 4: Adventure tourism: Will to Power? In Church, A. and Coles, T. (eds) Tourism, Power and Space. Routledge, London.pp63-82
  • Cater, C. (2006) World Adventure Capital. In Buckley, R. (ed.) Adventure Tourism. CABI, Oxford. pp 429-442
  • Cater, C. (2005) Looking the part: the relationship between adventure tourism and the outdoor fashion industry. In Ryan, C., Page, S. and Aicken, M. (eds) Taking Tourism to the Limits. Elsevier, London.
  • Cater, C. and Smith, L. (2003) Chapter 11 New country visions: adventurous bodies in rural tourism in Cloke, P. Country Visions. Pearson.
  • Cater, C. and Cater E. (2001) Marine Environments. Chapter 17 in Weaver, D. (eds) The Encyclopedia of Ecotourism CABI, Oxford.

Books

  • Cater, C. and Cater, E. (2007) Marine Ecotourism. CABI, Oxford.