Alternative Tourism and Sustainable Development in Kenya

This article examines alternative tourism and especially the form dubbed ecotourism and assesses its prospects for sustainable development in Kenya. It also considers community participation in ecotourism, the Kenya government policy on ecotourism, and the initiatives to yield sustainable development in the country. The findings show that biodiversity conservation encourages and supports tourism which, in turn, provides money for conservation efforts and local development programmes. However, ecotourism has not necessarily led to small scale, locally owned tourism enterprises expected in the ecotourism model. The analysis shows nevertheless that alternative tourism development has drawn attention to the role of local people in biodiversity conservation, the basis of ecotourism. Hopefully, this will lead to greater local participation in the ownership, management and control of ecotourism enterprises.     

Tourism in the highlands and islands of Scotland rewards and conflicts

The paper examines the impact that tourism might be expected to have on peripheral regions, with a particular focus on the Highlands and Islands of Scotland while also drawing on the recorded experience of other areas. Tourism is evaluated as an economic, social, cultural, and political force to allow an assessment of its impact on the host community. The article recognizes that tourism may inevitably be associated with both costs and benefits in the same community and concludes that in order to ensure the most appropriate form of tourism, its development should be through local initiatives and consistent with local values.     

中国生态旅游研究热点演变与趋势——基于CiteSpace知识图谱分析

生态旅游是旅游研究中的重要分支,在可持续发展理念和生态文明建设实践的影响和培育下,我国生态旅游理论研究和实践都取得了长足的进展。本文选取CNKI中国学术期刊网络出版总库的中文核心期刊和CSSCI来源期刊,对高关注度文献、关键词、作者、期刊特征进行了分析,基于CiteSpace知识图谱分析,结合生态旅游实践发展,将中国生态旅游研究划分为3个阶段,探索阶段的研究主要集中于内涵和理念的认知,发展阶段的研究热点主要有自然保护区域、生态旅游发展和生态建设等,深化阶段的研究主题更丰富,与乡村振兴、生态文明等战略的联系更紧密。最后,从基础理论与研究框架构建、生态旅游地健康价值与知识内涵、典型地域系统性研究、市场规律与培育、生态旅游影响及其演化规律、与地域文化互动融合、管理技术与社区参与7个方面对未来中国生态旅游研究趋势进行了预测。     

旅游发展背景下政治不信任的形成因素及其影响

信任或者不信任的动态关系变化对于理解现代社会、社会关系和发展过程是十分重要的。信任可以影响到旅游发展的成功或者失败,但是旅游学者很少关注到信任话题。文章以广东汕尾红海湾为例,采用质性研究方法,分析旅游发展背景下政治不信任是如何形成的,又是如何进一步通过空间实践影响旅游发展的过程。研究发现,政治不信任受到权力关系、收益成本感知、政治经济绩效、人际信任和文化导向5个因素的影响,是在特定的制度环境、社会互动和历史文化的复杂关系中交织形成的。政治不信任的存在,使得地方政府与地方社区之间拒绝社会交换以及社会资本的断裂,增加了旅游政策运行成本,延缓了旅游发展进程。研究一方面把政治信任理论视角引入国内旅游研究,另一方面修订和补充了旅游发展与政治信任的理论框架,并提出对政治信任研究的批判性思考。研究有助于推动从旅游管理"过程"的关注向旅游开发"起点"的关注,即政治信任问题一定程度上先天奠定了旅游发展的成功或失败,这为当下旅游开发中的善治问题提供了实践参考。     

Local perspectives of ecotourism development in Tawushan Nature Reserve, Taiwan

This paper examines local responses to potential ecotourism development in the Tawushan Nature Reserve located in southeastern Taiwan. Community attitude and intention toward four dimensions of ecotourism, including conservation of natural resources, preservation of cultural tradition, sustainable community development, and participation in ecotourism planning and management, were measured. Furthermore, the paper examines whether or not there is congruence between community attitude and intention toward ecotourism development. Analysis is based on data collected using face-to-face questionnaire interviews in two indigenous communities consisting primarily of the Paiwan ethnic group. The study findings show that local people hold generally positive views of the measures necessary to achieve ecotourism; however, their intentions to engage in behaviors to support these measures do not entirely match with their positive views. This suggests that while local residents may support ecotourism development based on international guidelines, their intentions to act will depend on local environmental, social, and politico-economic conditions. It is suggested that issues related to community empowerment, relationship between government and communities, value conflicts introduced by ecotourism development, and the dynamics among and between various community groups will need to be addressed if positive community intention to participate in ecotourism is to be encouraged.     

A Community-Based Tourism Model: Its Conception and Use

Community participation in the tourism planning process is advocated as a way of implementing sustainable tourism. There are, however, few studies that detail tangible and practical ways to promote or measure participation. This paper reviews the principal theories used to discuss community participation, including the ‘ladder of citizen participation’, power redistribution, collaboration processes and social capital creation. These theories form the basis for defining a community-based tourism (CBT) model. The paper shows how this model can be used to assess participation levels in a study site, and suggests further actions required. The model is applied in a case study in Palawan, the Philippines, where an indigenous community previously initiated a community-based ecotourism project. The project resulted in a number of problems, including conflicts with non-indigenous stakeholders. The model identifies the current situation of the project and provides suggestions for improvement.     

Indigenous ecotourism in the Mayan rainforest of Palenque: empowerment issues in sustainable development

Indigenous ecotourism in the Mayan rainforest has received little research attention. This study examines issues related to the level of empowerment in a Mayan village located near the Palenque World Heritage Site in southern Mexico. An adapted empowerment framework was used to assess community empowerment and its relationship with stakeholders’ participation by collecting the views of internal and external stakeholders in indigenous ecotourism. Using a checklist of 60 empowerment indicators, the study developed a wheel of empowerment tool that graphically illustrates and compares levels of empowerment/disempowerment in local communities. Results indicate that although there is a will from many villagers to participate in tourism, lack of knowledge, limited economic resources and the poor negotiation skills of local leaders have disempowered the community from undertaking ecotourism ventures. Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have not supported the community until recently, the private sector has played little part, and while the Mexican government is shaping the course of indigenous ecotourism with support programmes, state agencies have resisted local ecotourism development. Overall, the community fell below the midpoint on the Wheel of Empowerment Scale. These findings show a need for more effective empowerment strategies to maximise community involvement in managing cultural and natural resources for tourism development.     

家庭旅游研究进展——基于2000-2019年英文文献的综述

家庭旅游是全球旅游业最重要的细分市场。近年来,我国家庭旅游市场的规模和发展潜力受到业界的广泛关注,但相对于我国家庭旅游市场的发展实践,国内学术界对这一细分市场的研究明显不足。文章对2000-2019年发表在英文期刊的136篇家庭旅游文献进行了系统梳理,研究发现国际学术界日益关注家庭旅游,文献数量不断增长,但研究地域主要集中在北美和欧洲等发达国家和地区。研究方法以定量研究为主,研究主题、数据获取方法呈现出多元化的趋势,研究对象聚焦儿童参与的核心家庭旅游活动。研究主要以家庭消费的计量模型、家庭角色和家庭资源/权力理论、体验理论和家庭功能理论等为基础,可归纳为消费、决策、体验和功能等4个研究视角。基于英文研究的局限,并结合中国的文化、家庭、市场和社会特征,文章提出了中国家庭旅游研究应该重点关注的4个方向:(1)中国文化价值观及其影响;(2)中国家庭角色和结构特征;(3)家庭旅游市场的供给研究;(4)积极老龄化(active aging)和社会功能。     

Attaining harmony: understanding the relationship between ecotourism and protected areas in China

This paper explores the power of both traditional culture and modernity, their interaction, and ecotourism as defined and developed in China, and suggests a new framework for ecotourism policies. It argues that issues in ecotourism should reflect scientific and empirical evidence, but also integrate traditional Chinese cultural beliefs, and political and social factors, to achieve sustainability. The protected area system, central to ecotourism in China, was introduced by government to bring modernity and globalization. The management model follows western values, tending to separate humans from nature for conservation purposes, using institutionalized western zoning systems. This approach is inconsistent with millennia-old Chinese cultural values about relationships between nature and humans, centred around tian ren he yi – humans and nature as a unified entity. Instead of managing conflicts, attaining harmony (in a subjective experiential way) is the fundamental Chinese approach. The paper explores conflicts between the two value systems, and how Confucian “middle ways” are being crafted to balance the fast-growing special needs of Chinese eco-tourists with the top-down regulation of protected areas. It notes new developments in protected area tourism management in the West, and opportunities to blend Chinese traditional values about harmony with evolving western practice.     

Ecotourism and indigenous micro-enterprise formation in northern Australia opportunities and constraints

Indigenous Australians suffer considerable social and economic disadvantage. The challenge for Indigenous communities and policy makers is to discover or create opportunities that will provide sustainable development. Tourism is seen as one sector that could possibly provide such opportunities. Indigenous tourism enterprises are in most situations likely to be micro businesses. Micro businesses, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, have relatively high failure rates so it is important to undertake substantial planning to avoid failure. This paper presents the results of a planning process undertaken by an Indigenous clan planning to operate their own ecotourism micro-enterprise within Ngukurr, an Indigenous community in northern Australia. The study highlights the fact tourism does provide potential for economic development because Indigenous enterprises often have some competitive advantages. In addition, the study highlights the fact that communities often do not have the capacity to undertake all the tasks necessary to establish and operate a commercially successful ecotourism enterprise. Partnerships with other stakeholders within the region can help overcome this constraint. Finally, it is noted that the CDEP scheme has the potential to satisfy the need for funds that cannot be satisfied through normal channels.     

Who wins and who loses? Unpacking the “local people” concept in ecotourism: a longitudinal study of community equity in Ankarana,Madagascar

Tourism in the Ankarana protected area, Madagascar, has increased since the early 1990s, linked to growing national and donor interest in conservation and ecotourism. Using a qualitative and longitudinal approach, this analysis focuses on the social impacts of tourist intensification, comparing and contrasting communities on either side of the protected area. As tourist numbers have increased, infrastructure to accommodate them has developed and tour guiding has professionalized. In this process, the locus of tourism shifted from the loosely organized, “grassroots” tourism of the western side of Ankarana to the organized, externally financed, easy-access tourism of the eastern side, with both environmental and social consequences. The paper argues that a concentration and professionalization of ecotourism services within a region can marginalize neighboring human communities even though not necessarily leading to increased overall environmental degradation. It contributes to tourism studies by engaging a political ecology approach to unpack the concept of “local people” through a multi-community study of the ripple effects of ecotourism within its immediately surrounding areas. This study of community equity acknowledges the need for balanced evaluations of tourism's effects. It also recognizes the value of nuanced empirical studies for planning to meet goals of location-specific environmental and socioeconomic sustainability.     

乡村居民参与旅游开发的轮流制模式及社区增权效能研究——云南香格里拉雨崩社区个案

本文以香格里拉梅里雪山周边雨崩藏族村的旅游开发为研究背景,分析了该区村民参与旅游开发的轮流制模式,认为这是一个社区主动参与旅游发展,基本实现了经济增权、政治增权、心理增权和社会增权的典型案例。轮流制模式一方面妥善协调与巧妙解决了村民参与旅游开发利益分配的不均衡,控制了外来投资,同时避免了由于无序竞争引起的经济利益过于集中现象,对构建雨崩村社会和谐起着非常大的积极作用。值得注意的是,雨崩村民的增权有一个重要的假设条件,即村民绝对拥有在村境内的住宿、餐饮、租马等经营权。本质上雨崩村的旅游增权是个人增权,一旦有外来旅游企业进入,原来取得的利益均衡和分配制度将会被破坏。从此角度讲,制度增权的缺失又对提高民族地区旅游目的地新农村建设构成了阻碍。     

生态旅游地发展的模型研究

这篇文章运用生态-经济的理论,利用系统动力学的方法,将生态旅游的一些零散论述加以系统化,并通过建立生态旅游的结构模型,探讨生态旅游发展中生态、社会和经济系统之间的结构和行为关系.生态旅游发展的模型涉及了物质资源、文化资源、基础设施、工作市场、游客和财务促销等6个部分,模型的模拟功能有助于理解旅游发展的复杂结构.模型得到验证后,可以成为评价旅游发展政策的工具.     

Female empowerment and tourism: a focus on businesses in a Fijian village

Women’s participation in business is gaining momentum amongst communities in the South Pacific, yet very few studies have explored this area in the context of tourism in Fiji. Based on ethnographic research, this study focuses on the gender dimension of community-based tourism development in Vatuolalai village, along with the Coral Coast of Fiji. In particular, this study seeks to extend our understanding of the links between female empowerment, tourism and business in this indigenous Fijian community. The paper discusses how indigenous Fijian women, through their involvement in tourism, have adapted to becoming successful business operators and influential drivers of socio-political change affecting established gender relations within an indigenous Fijian setting. Therefore, the current study argues that through tourism-based entrepreneurship, local women have attained not only economic but also psychological, social and political empowerment. Given the literature, this is not a mainstream result, particularly in patriarchal and embedded indigenous communities.     

Host–guest authentication of intangible cultural heritage: a literature review and conceptual model

ABSTRACT

Cultural tourism and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) play a key role in tourism worldwide, and are especially important for communities in developing countries, due to the demand for authentic experiences. This article provides a review of existing literature on the authenticity and authentication of ICH. The review reveals scholarly inquiry has evolved from external-expert ‘cool’ authentication to direct host–guest on-site or ‘hot’ authentication whereby tourists participate in the process of determining authenticity. Further, existing models for authentication of ICH have focused only on either a guest’s or host’s perspectives with little attention to the inevitable mutual interaction of the host and guest in the authentication of ICH. Mutual authentication can enhance the tourist experience and improve community empowerment. This paper develops a conceptual model of the mutual (host–guest) authentication of ICH, incorporating both hosts’ and tourists’ perspectives. The model has application in ICH based tourism and emphasizes power relationships between the host and guest, and community empowerment across political, social, psychological and economic domains. Future research is needed to test and validate this conceptual model.     

Sustainable tourism and its use as a development strategy in Cambodia: a systematic literature review

Governments in many developing countries endorse sustainable tourism, despite associated practical limitations and challenges as a development strategy. Using the case of Cambodia, this paper illustrates how sustainable tourism issues in a developing country may be better understood through a systematic review of scattered relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature. This can help in identifying emergent themes and challenges, gaps in knowledge, and opportunities for future research. Analysis of 77 documents on Cambodia's sustainable tourism revealed themes and challenges relating to: (1) an emphasis on nature-based tourism (ecotourism); (2) calls for greater community engagement for sustainable outcomes; (3) stakeholder perceptions and values as drivers of tourism success; (4) cultural heritage as a key tourism attraction; and (5) foreign investment shaping Cambodia's tourism future. Unequal emphasis is given to key government policies for tourism development and there is limited practical guidance on how to realise a vision of sustainable tourism. There is a lack of consideration of how the socio-economic and cultural context affects sustainable tourism. The evidence suggests that sustainable tourism in Cambodia is questionable until fundamental economic, social capacity and policy issues are addressed, along with greater emphasis given to the tourism system's demand side.     

Tourism as an agent of change: A Spanish basque case

Beginning with a brief general discussion of mass tourism in historical and social scientific perspective, this article reviews the history and effects of international tourism in the Spanish Basque municipality of Fuenterrabia. Paying particular attention to the effects of tourism on the local people, the article details the process by which tourism first benefited them, only later to come to be controlled by outside developers who have captured most of the major economic rewards. It also discusses changes in local social stratification and political structure wrought by tourism development. The need for a systematic, broadly conceived appraisal of the costs and benefits of tourism as an agent of economic development is stressed.     

City Image and Perceived Tourism Impact: Evidence from Port Louis,Mauritius

Research suggests that the images residents hold about their community influence the political support for tourism. Yet, few researchers have investigated the image that local residents have of their own area. Borrowing from the existing literature on place image and residents' perceptions of tourism impacts, a theoretical model incorporating these two lines of research is developed and tested using data collected from residents of the city of Port Louis, Mauritius. It proposes four city image attributes as the independent constructs influencing residents' perceptions toward the overall impact of tourism development. These include social attributes, transport attributes, government services attributes, and shopping attributes. Overall impact of tourism development is considered to be a determinant of the level of support for the industry. Results of the structural equation modeling analysis indicate that residents' perceived levels of shopping attributes, transport attributes, and social attributes of the city influence their level of support for the tourism industry. The hypothesis relating transport attributes to overall impacts of tourism was not supported. The study provides some important considerations for local planners attempting to make tourism more supportive in the city.     

Friction in the forest: a confluence of structural and discursive political ecologies of tourism in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Abstract

Tourism in the Anthropocene is a powerful driver of global connections that has direct consequences for social and environmental well-being across the planet. This political ecological analysis of tourism in the Ecuadorian Amazonian presents ethnographic vignettes to account for the ways that interwoven global discourses related to biodiversity conservation and community development are encountered, contested, and leveraged to advance particular approaches to tourism at the local level. We invoke Tsing’s theory of friction to frame these discursive encounters in the context of tourism-related decision-making in the community of Misahuallí, including instances of discursive shifts being leveraged into improved well-being of local residents. This paper makes an important contribution to the scholarship on the political ecology of tourism by bringing the emic perspectives of local residents to the forefront and by demonstrating the value of Tsing’s friction metaphor for analyzing the global connections inherent in tourism. Frictions between inequities and imbalances of power, perpetuated by both the structures and discourses associated with the use of tourism to address conservation and development objectives, remain at the vanguard of tourism research as we move through the Anthropocene.     

Indigenous and democratic decision-making: issues from community-based ecotourism in the Boumā National Heritage Park,Fiji

Participatory development literature involving community-based ecotourism management (CBEM) has only recently addressed issues pertaining to indigenous governance and decision-making systems. This paper contributes to sustainable tourism by presenting local decision-making practices and issues arising from the perspective of the members of one village in the Boumā National Heritage Park, Fiji. It shows that introduced democratic decision-making systems may not contribute to political empowerment in CBEM and can cause difficult situations. It is argued that greater attention to local systems of governance is required if tourism practitioners are to fully understand decision-making and participation in CBEM. The paper also offers a culturally appropriate methodology that may produce more meaningful outcomes for sustainable tourism research in indigenous Fijian contexts, and in other contexts worldwide. It argues that levels of empowerment should not just be treated as the outcome but as a part of the process of tourism development. It explores the core Fijian cultural concept of vanua as a way of life, involving interrelated social, ecological and spiritual elements. An emic perspective utilising informal talanoa (discussions) is used and examined, along with the roles of kin groups, village spokesmen and clan systems, and their relationship with western business decision-making practices.