Literature,cultural identity and the limits of authenticity: a composite approach

Although tourism scholarship has paid much attention to the concept of authenticity in relation to the homogenisation of tourism representation, this term has limits that curb its usefulness for analysing subtle interrelations of place, representation and identity. Some recent work has attempted to recuperate authenticity by associating it with experience and activity, however we suggest that the concept of cultural identity allows for greater attention to the fluid movements of social power relations that inform the tourist site. By undertaking a comparative analysis of three global tourist sites located in the Middle East (Jerusalem), North America (Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan) and Europe (Isle of Wight), this article discusses the politics of representation vis à vis identity as manifested in a spectrum of tourism‐related literature ranging from pamphlets, maps and guidebooks, to more creative approaches in contemporary novels and poetry. This comparative survey of literature explores questions of identity on several fronts: first, it prompts questions about how religious, historical and national identities are formulated in and through the tourist site; second, it leads to an assessment of a site's claim to status as a work of art that prompts aesthetic identification; and finally, it allows one to consider how other works of art — in this case, novelistic or poetic representations — both affirm and question identities presented by standard tourist literature. These alternative textual representations demonstrate not only how cultural identity as represented in the tourist site is an active site of struggle, but also present alternative politics of place and identity that enable a greater diversity of interpretations of the tourist site. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From ideological space to recreational tourism: the Israeli forest

ABSTRACT

The forest as a leisure, recreation, and tourist space is growing in significance as part of nature-based tourism. It contributes to social and economic development, particularly in light of the global trend for more recreation and tourism in developed and developing countries. The main aim of this paper is to describe and analyze the evolution of forest development policy and its implications for the function of the forest as a recreation and leisure space, using an Israeli case study. The methodology is based on historic-geographic research to analyze forest tourism over time and into the present. The study finds that the spatial processes that took place over nearly a century in Israel transformed its forests from expressions of an ideology to spaces dedicated to leisure, recreation, and tourism.     

Increasing sales by introducing non‐salable items

Rationality implies that adding ‘irrelevant’ and, in particular, inferior alternatives to the opportunity set cannot increase the choice probability of some other alternative. In this study, we propose a novel approach that can rationalize an intended addition of such alternatives because it strictly increases the choice probability of some existing alternative. The driving force behind the existence and extent of such an increase is the random nature of individual preferences, that implies intransitivity, and the random nature of the applied choice procedures. We study the case of a firm interested in increasing the sales of some of its existing products by introducing a new and inferior (non‐salable) product. Our main results focus on the feasibility and potential advantage of a successful such strategy. We first establish necessary and sufficient conditions for an increase in the sale probability and then derive the maximal possible absolute and relative increase in this probability, when the firm has extremely limited information on the characteristics of the consumers. We then derive analogous results, assuming that the existing line of products consists of just two items and that the firm has accurate information on the consumers' stochastic preferences over the existing products. These later results are illustrated using some experimental evidence. The applicability of the approach is finally briefly discussed in the context of branding policy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Constructing Cityscapes: Locality,Materiality and Territoriality on the Urban Construction Site in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,Northwest China

Urbanization in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Northwest China) has gained momentum in the last three decades. The Chinese government supports infrastructure development in this border region and construction sites have been emerging everywhere. Often framed as a planned nation‐state project of sinicization from above, from an ethnographic perspective infrastructure development involves a much more diverse set of actors and their different motives. The construction sector offers a gateway for global and national architectural designs and manpower to enter the making of local cityscapes. Besides engaging with the political economy of construction activities, this article outlines the meaning of the construction site as a place where social and ethnic senses of locality are negotiated. The data show that many of the economic, material, social and design mobilities on the construction site in Xinjiang extend eastwards to the rest of China rather than to Central Asian countries which are geographically much closer. Power relations and ethnic issues become interwoven into the construction of new cityscapes. In particular, the domination of Han actors in the planning and implementation of construction projects shapes not only the materiality of the built environment but also related senses of locality.     

Urban hotel development patterns in the face of political shifts

This paper discusses changes in the spatial pattern of tourism accommodation in Jerusalem in the past 150 years. This is done with particular reference to urban development and political shifts during this period and in respect to various theoretical models relating to the location of hotels in urban areas. The time frame of the paper is divided into four chronological periods according to the main geopolitical changes in the city: the end of the Ottoman period; the period of the British Mandate; the city divided between Israel and Jordan; and the city unified under Israeli sovereignty.