Assessing preferences of potential visitors for nature-based experiences in protected areas

Visitor experiences have been identified as critical for the sustainable management of tourism destinations. However, researchers have given limited attention to how to measure visitor preferences for different, newly proposed experiences, especially in nature-based tourism contexts. This paper aims to capture potential visitors' preferences for nature-based visitor experiences that would alleviate pressure on the iconic summit of Mount Warning, Australia. Findings reveal a preference for passive rather than active experiences. Consistency between the four measurement approaches used was high. Future studies should consider adopting multiple measures to underpin evidence-based management that informs the design of nature-based tourism experiences.     

Visitor management in the public planning policy context: A case study of Cambridge

Visitor management plans are increasingly seen by local authorities as an essential contribution they can make towards sustainable tourism. However, tourism is subject to many external influences and is only part of the system of activities and land uses at the destination. Successful visitor management must, therefore, be broadly based and rooted in a wide range of policies. The objectives for sustainable tourism in Cambridge are supported by policies at the European, national, regional, county and local level covering tourism, recreation, transport, the environment, land use and economic development. This results in an integrated policy framework that ensures consistency, encourages cooperation and long‐term planning, makes the best use of resources, opens up additional sources of finance and provides a firm justification for refusing undesirable development. Achieving integration requires the visitor management plan to be seen neither as an end nor as a beginning, but as part of a process. In Cambridge this has involved a commitment to monitoring and reviewing strategies and to ensuring a policy input on tourism issues at all levels of decision making. Appropriate ad hoc bodies have been set up. Visitor management cannot succeed in isolation: other policies must be made to work for it, not frustrate action.     

基于Agent的景区游客行为仿真建模与应用——以颐和园为例

我国旅游景区内部客流管理一直以来都没有得到应有的重视。通过对颐和园景区"五一"小长假和"十一"黄金周客流持续2年的实际观测,采用基于Agent的仿真建模方法,构建了游客到达、游客移动、游客停留等景区游客基本行为模型及其仿真运行环境——基于Agent的景区游客行为仿真系统。系统的正确性验证表明,仿真系统的输出数据能够反映景区各停留点游客数量的真实情况;系统的灵敏性验证表明,入口游客数、游客在景点的停留时间以及流向景点方向的客流量3个参数能够引起仿真系统各景点游客数量的灵敏变化。所建系统能够预测景区客流的时空分布,能够通过变换仿真参数值进行各种客流调控措施的仿真实验,并给出具体调控参数以支持景区管理者的客流管理实践。     

Visitor centre staffing: Involving volunteers

Volunteer involvement in visitor centres has received little attention by tourism researchers despite the critical role staff play in welcoming tourists to a destination and promoting tourism activities. The community function of visitor centres - of which volunteering is part - has also been underplayed in previous research. Using data from a survey and interviews with visitor centre managers in Australia, this paper investigates the rationales for staffing visitor centres with volunteers and/or paid employees and, related to motivations for volunteering, the factors influencing the attractiveness of visitor centre volunteer programmes. The dominant rationales for involving volunteers are need, community involvement, visitor experience, and the personal qualities and motivations of volunteers. Visitor centre volunteering is attractive because of location and local pride, interactions with tourists and social relationships with other volunteers, and the reputation of the visitor centre and its volunteer programme.     

Protected area policies and sustainable tourism: influences,relationships and co-evolution

This paper explores the adoption of sustainable tourism ideas in a Park Authority's policies over a period of two decades in a developed world, category V protected area. There is only limited research on influences encouraging the inclusion of sustainable tourism ideas in protected area policies, or on relationships between sustainable tourism policies and other policy priorities. The paper departs from an approach which considers sustainable tourism policies in isolation, because potentially they are reformulations or extensions of other previous policies, or else indirect outcomes of other policies. There is assessment of influences on the Park Authority's sustainable tourism policies, and of the co-evolution between sustainable tourism policies and other policies. Such influences as government funding reductions and rising concern for community well-being affected the Authority's adoption of sustainable tourism ideas. Incorporation of sustainable tourism ideas in policies occurred gradually. It involved re-labelling established policies as well as reframing and extending those policies. It was often an indirect outcome of policy developments not focused specifically on sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism-related policies co-evolved with, and through, policies for community well-being, actor participation, and sustainable development. The approach used here is relevant for research on policy co-evolution in other policy fields.     

Modelling attitudes to nature,tourism and sustainable development in national parks: A survey of visitors in China and the UK

This research undertook a visitor survey in two protected areas in different cultural contexts, namely China and the UK, to explore whether the value a person attaches to the environment influences their attitude towards sustainable tourism development in national parks. Structural equation models were developed with data from 597 and 368 questionnaires collected in Jiuzhaigou National Scenic Area, China and the New Forest National Park, UK respectively. The results suggested that anthropocentric or ecocentric values significantly influence people's attitudes to tourism and sustainable development. The same structured causal relationship was found in both samples, between people's attitudes towards the natural environment, conservation and tourism in a national park context.     

Progress in visitor attraction research: Towards more effective management

Visitor attractions (VAs) play a crucial role in the success of a tourism destination, where they act as key motivators for visits and as resources for local communities. The range of stakeholders involved means their effective management is of key importance in the destination and in the overall success of a country's tourism product, yet they are an under-researched sector of the tourism system. This Progress in Tourism Management paper reviews and reflects on research publications in relation to this sector. It sets the wider research context and identifies the key management issues experienced at VAs. The paper identifies the limitations of current work in this field and establishes how factors such as ownership and visitor volume help to explain the complexities encountered in managing VAs. The paper then covers a set of themes to structure discussion of previous research activity and offers a model of factors involved in the effective management of VAs. The paper concludes with the development of a research agenda for VA researchers.     

城市特征对城市游客满意度的影响——基于Probit模型的定量分析

游客满意度是衡量城市旅游发展的重要指标之一,掌握和控制游客满意度的影响因素对城市旅游发展和管理越来越关键。国内外研究综述表明,城市旅游的游客满意度影响因素及其关系的定量研究尚不多见,尤其对城市特征因素的研究。城市特征是城市旅游的必要组成,作为客观因素对游客满意度的影响不言而喻。文章运用文献分析法、问卷调查法和二元Probit离散选择模型计量法,以长沙市477名游客的现场调查数据为基础,对城市特征、个人特征和旅游动机三大变量下10个影响因素与游客满意度之间的假设关系进行检验。研究结果显示,修正后的游客满意度影响因素Probit模型具有统计学意义,6个研究假设得到验证;研究结论表明,城市社会发展水平、城市绿化水平、环境保护水平、旅游资源丰富程度、游客月收入、游客是否主动到访等因素对城市旅游的游客满意度产生显著的正面影响,其中,游客主动到访因素对游客满意度的影响作用最大,城市社会发展水平影响作用最小。研究结论一定程度上有利于促使城市管理者更多关注城市发展与旅游质量,最后,从满意度改善系统、城市要素建设、城市旅游资源开发和游客营销引导等方面提出政策建议。     

Current issues in tourism: Mitigating climate change in sustainable tourism research

This paper adopts a problematising review approach to examine the extent of mitigating climate change research in the sustainable tourism literature. As climate change has developed into an existential global environmental crisis and while tourism's emissions are still increasing, one would expect it to be at the heart of sustainable tourism research. However, from a corpus of 2573 journal articles featuring ‘sustainable tourism’ in their title, abstract, or keywords, only 6.5% covered climate change mitigation. Our critical content analysis of 35 of the most influential papers found that the current methods, scope and traditions of tourism research hamper effective and in-depth research into climate change. Transport, the greatest contributor to tourism's emissions, was mostly overlooked, and weak definitions of sustainability were common. Tight system boundaries, lack of common definitions and incomplete data within tourism studies appear to hamper assessing ways to mitigate tourism's contribution to climate change.     

The Sanfte Mobilitaet project: achieving reduced car-dependence in European resort areas

“Sanfte Mobilitaet” was a European Union-funded project designed to assess various approaches to reducing car dependence by visitors, applied in a number of resorts and wider locations within the Alpine region. Visitor attitude surveys were also conducted using existing theories of tourism taxonomy so as to identify optimal changes to transport aspects of the tourism product. This note reports on the project, focusing on two of the chosen locations, and analyses the results in the context of strategies designed to change existing ratios in visitor travel mode.     

海岛旅游研究进展与启示——以国际英文期刊载文为例

海岛旅游是国际旅游研究的重要领域,深入分析国际海岛旅游研究的演化脉络和重点领域,对于提升“海洋强国”战略背景下的海岛旅游研究水平,促进双循环发展格局下的产业高质量发展具有重要借鉴意义。以Web of Science^TM为数据源,使用科学计量工具CiteSpace 软件对2000—2019年的1 511篇英文海岛研究文献进行了可视化图谱分析,揭示研究发展脉络与研究热点。结果显示：（1）海岛旅游研究具有显著的阶段性特征,2000年以来可以划分为缓慢发展、稳步发展和快速发展3个阶段,研究内容从关注海岛旅游开发的生态环境影响,逐渐转向海岛旅游地人地关系的和谐发展;（2）国际海岛旅游研究具有市场依赖性和资源依托性特征,研究区域和研究对象大多集中在发达国家或海岛资源丰富国家,三位高引频次最高学者为Gossling、Hall和Scheyvens,发文期刊集中在环境科学与生态学、海洋海岸科学和旅游学3个领域;（3）海岛旅游研究热点主要集中在海岛旅游地资源环境、海岛旅游与全球气候变化、海岛旅游市场、海岛旅游经济影响、海岛旅游社区、海岛游客消费行为、海岛旅游规划与管理、海岛旅游可持续发展等领域。中国海岛旅游研究应在借鉴国际海岛旅游研究方法和成果基础上,完善海岛旅游理论与研究方法,加强海岛旅游资源与环境,海岛可持续旅游,海岛经济与文化影响,海岛游客消费行为等领域的研究。     

Using strategic philanthropy to improve heritage tourist sites on the Gallipoli Peninsula,Turkey: community perceptions of changing quality of life and of the sponsoring organization

This paper examines the “Respect for History” project on Turkey's Gallipoli Peninsula sponsored by a Turkish oil company, OPET. The project sought to enhance and protect the cultural and historical experiences of tourists visiting Gallipoli, and to bring direct and indirect benefits to local communities through enhancing tourism-related business opportunities and improving community infrastructure. This research investigates the project's impact on residents’ perceived social and economic wellbeing, using a quality of life framework, and also ascertains residents’ views of the sponsoring firm. The context illustrates key differences between pure philanthropy and strategic philanthropy; the latter defined as doing good by purposefully achieving corporate and civic benefits. The role of strategic philanthropy as a sustainable tourism development tool, and its impact on tourism governance, are considered. Data were collected from 674 residents on the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula in areas impacted by OPET's investment program. The results, using structural equation modelling (SEM), identify that respondents generally believe that both their economic and social quality of life have improved. This, in turn, has positively influenced respondents’ views of the sponsoring organization. The concept of strategic philanthropy appears valuable as a private sector, non-tourism, sustainable tourism development tool in some circumstances.     

Recent Tourism and Hospitality Research in China

ABSTRACT

Although China's tourism has become a vital part in the world tourism market, little is known internationally about tourism and hospitality research in China. This study reviewed 500 articles published from 2000 to 2005 in China's leading tourism research journal, Tourism Tribune, and provided an overview of China's recent tourism and hospitality research. Content analysis results showed that tourism research themes in China primarily focused on tourism attraction/resources development and management, tourism planning, and tourism industry development issues. Most research under review used a qualitative approach, while 15% of the articles employed some quantitative methods. Articles using advanced statistical techniques were scarce.     

Visitor spending and economic impacts of heritage tourism: a case study of the Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area

Heritage is regarded as one of the most significant and fastest growing components of tourism. The development of heritage tourism as a generator of income besides the enhancement of community pride and identity has emerged as an objective of both heritage sites and tourism planning. The discretionary nature of expenditures in heritage tourist places makes it crucial to understand visitor spending pattern. This is key in demonstrating the economic contribution to the community for the tourism planners. This presentation is based on an intercept survey of travelers to the Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area (SSNHA), comprising 37 counties in Northeast Iowa. Visitor spending pattern is discussed among four categories of heritage sites in the SSNHA: farms, museums, parks and gardens, and businesses. IMPLAN Input–Output Model is utilized to generate the direct, indirect and induced economic impact in the area.     

Computer Simulation as a Tool for Planning and Management of Visitor Use in Protected Natural Areas

The United Nations Environment Programme’s Principles on Implementation of Sustainable Tourism suggest that implementing sustainable tourism must include monitoring visitor use of protected natural areas and directing it to areas where the environmental and social impacts of tourism are minimised. Thus, sustainable tourism management requires information about the spatial and temporal flow of visitor use in protected natural areas to help identify potential tourism-related threats to the natural and cultural resources of an area and the quality of visitors’ experiences. Recent research has identified at least four ways in which simulation modelling of visitor use can facilitate more informed planning and management of sustainable tourism in protected natural areas, including (1) describing existing visitor use flows; (2) monitoring the condition of ‘hard to measure’ indicator variables; (3) testing the effectiveness of alternative visitor use management practices; and (4) guiding the design of research on public attitudes. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate, using findings from studies conducted in the Inyo National Forest and Isle Royale National Park, USA, each of these four potential contributions of computer simulation to sustainable tourism management and planning. The paper concludes with an assessment of the limitations of existing applications of computer simulation to nature-based tourism and recommendations for future research.     

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.     

An application of the vicious circle schema to the World Heritage Site of Macau

Visitor congestion is a phenomenon that can be observed in many World Heritage Sites (WHSs). Is this a sign that the WHSs have entered the mature phase of the tourism area life cycle? In addressing this question, this study applies as an alternative explanation the vicious circle schema, using the WHS of Macau. The research uses multiple methods: photo interpretation and analysis, a face-to-face questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews with Macau's local residents and governors, and a simultaneous measure of visitor congestion by 140 research assistants. The results of this case study support the four hypotheses that are integral to the vicious circle schema, such as the expansion of the tourist area, a high proportion of shorter visits, congestion and a down-grading of the quality of the tourism products. It concludes that the vicious circle schema is applicable to the WHS of Macau, and the phenomenon of overcrowding might not be a signal for the consolidation stage of the WHS of Macau.     

Terrorism and Tourism:The Vulnerability of Beach Vendors' Livelihoods in Bali

Tourism has been encouraged in many of the world's poorer countries as a means of stimulating development. However, tourism is vulnerable to external shocks, which can damage a host country's economy, especially where reliance on tourism is high. This paper focuses on Bali, Indonesia where tranquillity was shattered by terrorist bombs in October 2002, and again in October 2005. It examines the impact of the 2002 bombings on the island's beach vendors, members of the informal sector who work at the margins of tourism. The UK's Department for International Development's (DFID) model of sustainable development is used as a guide to assess notional changes in vendor livelihoods and reveals the sharp reduction in their access to financial capital once tourism had collapsed. Fieldwork showed that livelihoods were sustained with difficulty after the terrorist attacks and that social capital played a major role in survival. Although visitor numbers to Bali are recovering, the research reveals significant changes in vendors' livelihood patterns. Social capital remains strong though it has changed in certain respects as a consequence of terrorist activity, one of the most negative changes being an increase in local religious tensions. The authors question the wisdom of encouraging tourism as a major vehicle for development without simultaneously promoting alternative income-generating opportunities to offer a safety net against external shocks to a vulnerable tourism industry.     

Place stewardship among last chance tourists

With reference to virtue ethics and ethics of care, this paper discusses ethical challenges of tourism consumption and the last chance tourism marketplace. Survey results and a visitor segmentation of travellers to two climate threatened destinations show that most visitors are not willing to engage in carbon offsetting, and that willingness is related to their sense of connection to a destination. Findings extend current discourses on last chance tourism by situating visitors' lack of care for climate threatened destinations as a response to a tourism market that normalizes the consumption of socio-ecological decline. This paper also enhances understandings of stewardship promotion within the last chance marketplace by advancing a visitor segmentation approach and six distinct last chance tourist profiles.     

Research priorities in park tourism

Park tourism is a large and important activity on which a substantial body of research work has been published. This paper reviews that work in the light of the issues now faced by parks and park tourism, and argues that there are significant research gaps that urgently need additional work. The paper outlines 10 such areas, including: visitor use monitoring; park tourism economic impact monitoring; park finance; professional competencies for tourism management; building public support; visitor satisfaction; licenses, permits, leases, and concessions for tourism; pricing policies; management capacity; and park tourism governance. The paper suggests that work in these areas is so important that the long term political and social relevance, effective management and sustainable future of many parks and protected areas depend on the results. It points to the park creation phase being over after about 150 years of growth, and the need to move more effectively into the long-term management phase. A number of key questions arise. The numerous parks must fulfill their conservation mandate and they must be financially secure. They almost certainly must forge links to tourism, yet not be dominated by tourism's demands, creating, therefore, a new and sustainable research-based relationship.