Beyond Sun,Sand and Sea: The Emergent Tourism Programme in the Turks and Caicos Islands

Mass tourism began in the Caribbean in the 1960s with the advent of low cost air travel. Jamaica, Barbados, and the Bahamas were among the first places to develop a resort-based tourism programme. Within 20 years, these locations began to experience the problems that are now typically associated with unplanned growth. For emergent tourist destinations, these older islands can serve as a model of what not to do. One location that has taken some lessons to heart is the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) in the lower Bahamian archipelago. While TCI offers itself as a sun, sand and sea destination, tourism officials seek to attract upscale visitors with a long term investment in the islands. The problem they are wrestling with is how to develop an island image based not only on the sea-based amenities but also the local history, natural attractions and expressive culture. In response, a diverse heritage group has begun a dialogue about how to do this. This paper describes the current state of tourism in the TCI within the context of new directions in Caribbean tourism.     

旅游者对海岛人口活力的影响——以长海县为例

海岛人口外流现象严峻,导致海岛发展陷入低迷。对于旅游型海岛而言,随着海岛旅游蓬勃发展,旅游者涉入将为海岛增添活力。本文将旅游者滞留时间融入到目的地社会时间系统中,提出旅游人口数与目的地社会年龄的概念与公式。以长海县为例,采用2006—2018年统计数据与2019年调查问卷数据,定量分析旅游者对海岛人口活力的影响。结果表明：（1）旅游人口作为短期流动人口,对旅游目的地人口活力具有明显影响。不仅有助于扩大目的地人口规模,还会暂时改变目的地年龄结构。此外,旅游者登岛后海岛人口活力空间范围更大。（2）将旅游人口考虑在内的目的地社会年龄是旅游目的地人口活力的衡量指标,据此可定量研究旅游者对目的地人口活力的影响,为人口活力研究提出可度量的逻辑途径。（3）一方面,旅游者是海岛人口的实际构成部分,旅游者与海岛居民共同构成海岛人口活力。同时,岛外旅游者个体行为、价值观、生活方式等与当地岛民文化的碰撞过程中,增强海岛人口的精神活力;另一方面,旅游者通过消费活动产生的旅游收入为海岛建设做出贡献,吸引新的旅游者、年轻海岛居民、外来务工人员登岛,间接提升海岛人口活力。     

Strategic planning for sustainable tourism: The case of the offshore islands of the UK

In the northern hemisphere a number of destinations have experienced a decline in tourism volume due to both the emergence of competitive destinations elsewhere and also their own failure to comprehend changing market trends. This paper analyses the particular vulnerability of small island destinations in the decline stage of the tourist area life cycle. In particular the benefits and procedures of strategic planning are analysed and the barriers to the adoption of strategic planning at tourism destinations discussed. The offshore islands of the UK are used to evaluate how the stages of strategic planning have developed and been adopted by the public sector and a framework is provided to allow the various approaches to be located.     

The social-ecological status of small islands: An evaluation of island tourism destination management in Indonesia

A social-ecological system approach has been applied to measure the complexity of sustainable tourism development on small islands. In general, tourism development and ecosystem management have been shown to be relatively unbalanced. Tourism development attempts have not yet been accompanied by environmental management efforts. In this paper, the social-ecological status is measured to improve the sustainable development mechanism with appropriate indicators. Using the Gili Matra Islands as a case study, the social-ecological status of tourism in the region was examined using the social-ecological status index (SESI), a coupling index of the coastal waters quality index (CWQI), the coordination degree model (CCDM) and the index of information entropy weight (IEW) as tools for measuring and evaluating the social-ecological status and sustainable development of small island tourism.     

Tourism and community resilience in the Anthropocene: accentuating temporal overtourism

Abstract

Global tourism growth is unprecedented. Consequently, this has elevated the sector as a key plank for economic development, and its utility is deeply embedded in political, economic and social-ecological discourse. Where the expansion of the sector leverages natural and cultural landscapes, this applies pressure to social and ecological underpinnings that if not reconciled, can become problematic. The way this plays out in Australia’s Shipwreck Coast and the wider Great Ocean Road region, especially the implications for community resilience, is the focus. Emphasis is placed on the vulnerability of peripheral coastal areas to development that withdraws from destination endowments, yet fails to provide commensurate economic yield as a suitable trade-off. This is obvious where tourism intensification has led to concerns about the breach of normative carrying capacities. Temporal overtourism driven by seasonal overcrowding is countenanced as emblematic of tourism in the Anthropocene where focus tends to be largely growth-oriented, with much less attention given to bolstering social-ecological resilience, especially community resilience. At stake is the resilience of regional areas and their communities, who in the absence of garnering commensurate economic returns from tourism expansion find themselves in social and ecological deficit.     

DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING RESILIENCE OF TOURISM SUB-SYSTEMS TO CLIMATIC FACTORS

Some researchers have argued that resilience is a useful concept for understanding impacts on social-ecological systems, such as tourist destinations. This paper presents the development of a resilience framework for tourist destinations with a particular focus on climatic disturbances or stress, and their impacts on tourism activity sub-systems. Building on the model of a ‘stability landscape’, this research uses primary data from the Queenstown-Wanaka destination in New Zealand to evaluate the concept of resilience and to formulate surrogates that describe the factors that shape resilience. Challenges for future research, including the proactive building of resilience, are outlined. This research represents a good example of an interdisciplinary approach that transcends existing epistemologies in tourism.     

Assessing the vulnerability of beach tourism and non-beach tourism to climate change: a case study from Jamaica

The Jamaican tourism industry is very climate sensitive, and, like most Caribbean islands, Jamaica's main tourism product is coastal, centered on “sun, sea and sand”. The island is susceptible to many risks posed by climate change, including sea level rise and extreme events, with resultant impacts such as beach erosion, flooding, saline intrusion into aquifers and general coastal degradation. This paper evaluates the relative vulnerability of beach versus non-beach tourism in Jamaica, using 43 pre-determined literature-linked indicators. These comprise bio-geophysical, social, technological, economical, technological and institutional factors. Four case areas are assessed using multi-criteria decision analysis to derive vulnerability scores for each area. The study finds that non-beach tourism operations should not be automatically perceived as less vulnerable than beach-based operations. Sustainable adaptation options are complex and numerous, and overall beach tourism businesses have better insurance, emergency savings, disaster plans and backup power facilities, among others. They also have the advantage of being in business longer than the inland resorts, a firmer business structure and an extensive marketing budget. In the long term, better adaptation and planning by inland businesses could change this balance.     

From vulnerability to transformation: a framework for assessing the vulnerability and resilience of tourism destinations

Tourism is a key driver of global socio-economic progress. However, its sustainability is at risk from multiple shocks and hazards that threaten livelihoods. Surprisingly little is known about the complex drivers of destination vulnerability, leading to the creation and application of ineffective resilience-building solutions. The paper presents the Destination Sustainability Framework (DSF) designed to assess destination vulnerability and resilience, and support successful resilience-building initiatives. Holistic in nature, the DSF comprises: (1) the shock(s) or stressor(s); (2) the interconnected dimensions of vulnerability – exposure, sensitivity, and system adaptiveness; (3) the dynamic feedback loops that express the multiple outcomes of actions taken (or not); (4) the contextualised root causes that shape destinations and their characteristics; (5) the various spatial scales; and (6) multiple timeframes within which social-ecological change occurs. This innovative framework is significant because it's the first framework to chart the complex manifestation of vulnerability and resilience in tourism destinations. Further, it brings tourism sustainability research in line with wider debates on achieving sustainability within the dynamic coupled human–environment system, doing so through the inclusion of insights from contemporary systems approaches, including chaos–complexity theory, vulnerability approaches, sustainability science, resilience thinking, along with the geographies of scale, place and time.     

Japanese Visitors to Guam: Lessons from Experience

Abstract

Naisbitt (1994) notes that 60 percent of the world's radio broadcasts, 70 percent of the worlds' mail, 85 percent of international phone calls and 80 percent of computer data are in English (pp. 24-25). Perhaps a similar preponderance exists in tourism literature. But beyond this language orientation there is a “Western” orientation of thought regarding tourist behavior and culture that might influence survey design and research methodology. This may leave researchers less able to understand the heterogeneous Asian travelers that are traveling in increasing numbers. It is important to understand the culture of the sending country when analyzing tourist behavior and motivation. This paper illustrates how understanding Japanese culture enhances the development of survey instruments as well as the interpretation of survey results. Examples are taken from the quarterly visitor exit surveys conducted on the island of Guam, a U.S. territory that serves as one of the major short-haul destinations for Japanese travelers.     

Developing a new Multi‐Nation tourism region: Thai perspectives on the Mekong initiatives

This article examines Thailand's recent tourism policy and its attitudes towards international tourism development collaboration in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Thailand is the major tourist destination country and gateway for international tourists visiting the region, and is a leader of Mekong tourism developments. This paper considers the Thai perspective on its tourism development, and examines current co‐operative activities in the Mekong region in the context of its own tourism industry. A number of research needs are sketched out as a proposed framework for future studies.     

Crisis Management Planning to Restore Tourism After Disasters

SUMMARY

The tourism industry is vulnerable to natural and human induced incidents such as terrorist attacks, political instability, flood and earthquakes. On September 21st 1999, a devastating earthquake struck Taiwan which caused severe damage to both local people and the tourism industry. This paper proposes an innovative integrated approach that could be adopted as a crisis management plan for Taiwan to restore its tourism industry. A thorough review of the crisis management literature is introduced and examined to generate an integrated crisis management framework. It is anticipated that this framework could accelerate tourism recovery by showing secure images for tourists, and hence the competitiveness of a tourist nation could be enhanced through sound crisis management practices.     

Thailand's Hotel Industry

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide an exploratory examination of tourism on Phuket, a tourist island in the Andaman Sea, concentrating on the level of service provided in hotels. Although still a growth industry, the basic problems of tourism are (1) quality perceptions by the tourists, and (2) managing challenges, the latter based in part on western practice and in part on religion, namely Theravada Buddhism.     

Running Havana: Observations on the Political Economy of Sport Tourism in Cuba

Abstract

Sport tourism is a booming global business that has different costs and benefits for distinctive societies depending upon both global and local socio‐cultural, political and economic factors. With more than 130 officially sanctioned events worldwide, marathon running has developed to become a key feature of the international sport tourism calendar. This paper provides an ethnographic account of the 2005 Marabana – the Havana Marathon. After consideration of some of the central conceptual and historical issues pertinent to sport tourism in relation to the marathon in general, it uses this race and the events surrounding it as a critical window into Cuba’s complex contemporary political economy. Detailed consideration is given to the special conditions that have led to the development of the Island’s sport tourism industry and the consequences of that development in terms of Cuba’s political heritage. What sets Cuba apart from the tourist economies of its Caribbean neighbours is its continued commitment to the economic and political principles of communism and its strained and tense relationship with the United States. The paper concludes by pointing to the social and economic contradictions associated with the development of a tourist economy that is essentially capitalist within a society that is avowedly communist.     

Traveler Geographic Origin and Market Segmentation for Small Island Nations: The Barbados Case

Abstract

This paper explores the effectiveness of geographic origin as a basis for segmenting visitors to small island nations that depend exclusively on international travelers as tourism markets. International visitation data drawn from the Barbados annual tourist survey, data on five geographic markets (USA, the UK, Canada, Germany, and Trinidad) are examined to determine whether country origin can be used as a segmentation criterion to effectively establish preferred visitor profiles. Visitor characteristics and profiles are found to be distinguishable by country of origin. These have implications for tourism promotion and distribution strategies for small island nations.     

Evaluating the Competitiveness of the Tourism Industry in Cambodia: Self-assessment from Professionals

The annual tourism growth rate in Cambodia is among the highest in the world; however, tourist industry impact on Cambodian's economy is quite low. The purpose of our study is to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the Cambodian tourism market so that a framework can be established to help the country's policy-makers formulate strategies to use its resources effectively to create sustainable tourism competitiveness. This study used the perspective of tourism experts in the industry and Ministry of Tourism in Cambodia, and academia in the tourism field to evaluate Cambodian tourism competitiveness relative to its major competitors in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) based on nine categories: endowed resources, created resources, supporting factors, destination management, situational conditions, demand condition, technology, openness and market performance indicators benchmarked from previous research. The results showed that Cambodia has a lot of endowed resources, but lacks supporting resources and factors to achieve tourism competitiveness.     

A Conditioned Attitude Model of Individual Discriminatory Behavior—A Rejoinder

Abstract

This article examines tourist travel patterns at the meso level of a destination region. The destination region used for the study was Vancouver Island, British Columbia. A number of hypotheses were examined regarding the summer travel patterns in this relatively closed destination region. These included an assessment of the distance decay concept, as applied to the tourist volumes associated with increasing distance from the principal gateways, and an examination of area familiarity as an explanation of the distortion between reported and actual travel behavior. The actual travel patterns were subsequently used to create a probability matrix of future trip behavior for island visitors. The revealed travel patterns and the probability matrix are used to suggest some future tourism development and planning strategies for Vancouver Island.     

Overtourism and degrowth: a social movements perspective

Abstract

Overtourism is a contemporary phenomenon, rapidly evolving and underlined by what is evidently excessive visitation to tourist destinations. This is obvious in the seemingly uncontrolled and unplanned occurrence of urban overtourism in popular destinations and arguably a consequence of unregulated capital accumulation and growth strategies heavily associated with selling cities as tourism commodities. The vested interests of social movements has converged into growing protests against overtourism and associated degrowth campaigns have emerged out of this activism that calls for alternative governance and management measures that eschew touristic monoculture and simplistic economic growth-oriented models. Accordingly, we explore the evolution of the tourism degrowth discourse among social movement activists in Barcelona, and in particular, where this is related to claims associated with overtourism and the extent to which this might be influencing a paradigm shift from ‘tourism growth’ to ‘tourism degrowth’. Methodologically, we draw from an overarching framework that leverages long-term ethnographic research in Barcelona. Here, we employ in-depth semi-structured interviews, participant observations, informal conversations and retrospective evaluation of field diary entries.     

Making tourism more supportive of small state development : The case of St. Vincent

Britton, Robert A., “Making Tourism More Supportive of Small State Development: The Case of St. Vincent,” Annals of Tourism Research, Vol.IV, No. 5, May/September, 1977, pp. 268–278. With few resources and alternate sources of income, most Caribbean islands depend at least partially on tourism for foreign exchange and employment. The development of tourist facilities, however, has usually been controlled by the metropolitan travel industry rather than island people. High technology tourism is seen as inappropriate for underdeveloped islands. Capital- and energy-intensive hotels with high import requirements contribute little except poorly paid employment to the local economy. Enclaves of luxury surrounded by poverty produce deleterious social and cultural effects.     

Natural soundscapes and tourist loyalty to nature-based tourism destinations: the mediating effect of tourist satisfaction

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of natural soundscapes on tourist behaviors in a nature-based tourism destination. A behavioral model depicting the relationship among tourist attitudes to natural soundscapes, natural soundscape image, tourist satisfaction, and loyalty is examined using structural equation model and bootstrapping analysis. Results indicate that tourist attitudes directly affect natural soundscape image but do not affect tourist satisfaction and loyalty. The natural soundscape image directly affects tourist satisfaction and indirectly affects tourist loyalty when mediated by tourist satisfaction. Positioning natural soundscapes as a novel tourism attractor, theoretical and managerial implications are presented.     

Understanding the Cultural Differences in Tourist Motivation Between Anglo-American and Japanese Tourists

Summary

There is considerable evidence to suggest that differences in cultural characteristics exist across the world. Among them, individualistic societies emphasize “I” consciousness, autonomy, emotional independence, pleasure seeking and universalism. On the other hand, col-lectivistic societies stress “we” consciousness, collective identity, group solidarity, sharing, and particularism. A comparative research on the motivation of tourists from different cultures may challenge current tourism research, which mainly focuses on individualism and rationalism. These values of individualism and rationalism result in underestimation of the influence of groups, norms, culture, and emotion or impulse on tourist behavior. There have been few studies which attempt to directly measure cultural characteristics and identity across culture, and to explain how these cultural characteristics play a role in creating distinctive differences in tourist motivation. Thus, this study explores (1) cultural differences underlying individualism-collectivism between Anglo-American and Japanese tourists; (2) examines the relationship of two cultural dimensions to tourist motivation, and (3) suggests management implications facing tourism industry.