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The paper aimes at sketching political aspects and implications of a sustainable tourism development, with the goal of contributing to an interdisciplinary discussion. A special emphasis is put on topics such as politics coordination, politics cooperation, decentralisation and communication.

This discussion paper seeks to explore new opportunities to develop or enhance already established indigenous‐run sustainable tourism operations (e.g. eco‐ and cultural tourism enterprises) in national parks. One aim is to investigate the conditions required for the successful establishment of strategic alliances between indigenous people, land management agencies, research scientists and the pharmaceutical industry — a collaboration which is anticipated to improve the cultural, social, economic and environmental sustainability of the indigenous tourism product. A so‐called ethnobotanical approach is suggested, which comprehends the need to collaborate and cooperate across sectors to address the enhancement of Aboriginal social and economic well‐being.

Isolation, large distances and geophysical adversities have influenced common perceptions, and with this have reinforced Northern Australia’s (aka Capricornia’s) image as a difficult and unattractive environment. This representation of ‘otherness’ often is contradicted by the fascination of tourists during their temporary encounter with the ‘North’ and its atmosphere. They appreciate its natural beauty and culture, which in their imagination represents the ‘real’ Australia. Thus, the region’s atmosphere is constructed by aesthetic values defined through social and cultural sensemaking of the place. This chapter explores the atmosphere of northern regions of Australia by adopting a historical, geographical and imaginative perspective to better understand the perceptions that define and distinguish the region from the rest of Australia. Through an auto-ethnographic account of travelling along the Gibb River Road in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, the authors accentuate the atmospheric dichotomy and inbuilt contradictions of tourists’ contemporary quest for ‘otherness’.

This introduction to the volume Atmospheric Turn in Culture and Tourism: Place, Design and Process Impacts on Customer Behaviour, Marketing and Branding (Emerald) positions the atmospheric turn in the context of recent paradigmatic turns such as the linguistic turn, iconic turn, cultural turn, spatial turn, mobility turn and design turn. The specific contribution of the atmospheric turn is its profoundly holistic interest in overarching connections which are perceived with all senses and include both matter and idea. With its 22 chapters, this volume sets out to sharpen the atmospheric gaze and perception in research and beyond.