Biting the Hand that Feeds: The Marginalisation of Tourism and Leisure Industry Providers in Times of Agricultural Crisis

The total closure of the countryside under the control regulations associated with the outbreak of the UK 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) had major impacts on the tourism and leisure industry. The English Regional Tourist Board estimated that there was a loss of tourism revenue of £5 billion, which cost 150,000 direct jobs. Cumbria experienced a fall in tourism expenditure of around £198 million; this was 31% of the value of receipts. This paper presents an evaluation of the impact of the countryside closure on tourism and leisure organisations in the area of Keswick, UK. The use of online quotes from interested or affected parties was also drawn upon in order to further illustrate the effects of the countryside closure. This geographical location was selected due to it being the epicentre of foot and mouth disease epidemic in 2001. The authors will consider the strategic management of the crisis and its resultant outcomes with particular reference to the value of the tourism and leisure industry in rural locations.     

Commentary - Sport as an Avenue of Tourism Development: An Analysis of the Positive and Negative Impacts of Sport Tourism

Recognition of the negative effects that are often associated with sporting megaevents has emerged relatively belatedly in the academic literature. Much attention has focused on the economic development potential of sporting events (Burgan & Mules, 1992). Various authors suggest that positive image and identity, inward investment and tourism promotion through media coverage and the televising of sport also help to justify hosting sports mega-events. Roche (1994: 1) states that 'mega-events are short term events with long-term consequences for the cities that stage them'. In many cases, it seems, the long term consequences for the host cities are negative. It appears that with increasing scale, the potential for sporting events to create negative impacts also increases (Olds, 1998, Shapcott, 1998). Despite this, little academic attention has been paid to the tourism potential of regular season domestic sport competitions, national championships and local/regional sport. At these levels of sport the potential for negative impact is minimal, while the tourism development potential that they offer remains largely unresearched.     

How do leisure activities impact leisure domain and life domain satisfaction and subjective well-being?

This study examines the impact of leisure activities on leisure domain and life domain satisfactions and subjective well-being (SWB) and explores the differences between genders in these associations, using data from 316 middle-aged adults. The results suggest that sports and travel & outdoor activities have the greatest impact on physiological, psychological, and relaxing satisfactions. Social activities are key ingredients in social, psychological, and physiological satisfactions as seen by men, whereas cultural activities and hobbies are important in women's psychological satisfaction. While relaxing and social satisfactions are important in men's SWB, psychological satisfaction is the most important factor in women's SWB.     

Sport tourism: a framework for research

Sport‐based travel has grown dramatically over the past two decades but it has only recently become the focus of concentrated academic inquiry. This paper contributes to the emerging body of literature by conceptualising sport in the context of tourism's activity, spatial and temporal dimensions. A definition of sport tourism based on these dimensions and featuring a sociological perspective of sporting activity is presented. The distinguishing features of sport as a tourist attraction are then highlighted through the use of Leiper's systems model of attractions. Finally, the paper proposes a framework which highlights a series of research questions that emerge as the relationships between the fundamental dimensions of sport tourism are systematically explored. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beyond the Work‐to‐Leisure Conflict: A High Road through Social Support for Tourism Employees

The purpose of this study was to test the direct and moderating effects of job strain variables on the Job Demand–Control–Support model. A total of 422 tourism employees completed a questionnaire. Hierarchical and moderated regression models were employed to test the proposed relationships between job strain variables and work‐to‐leisure conflict. Results indicated that job demands had a positive relationship with work‐to‐leisure conflict, whereas the schedule flexibility and the time‐off flexibility were negatively related to work‐to‐leisure conflict. Results also found that supervisor support could moderate the influence of tourism employees' job demands on work‐to‐leisure conflict. Implications of stress management and job design for human resource department are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sustainable Tourism or Sustainable Development? Financial Crisis,Ecotourism, and the 'Amazing Thailand' Campaign

Although the issues of sustainable tourism and sustainable development are receiving increasing attention from tourists, government planners and scholars, few studies have examined their overlap, tensions and complex linkages in practice. In southern Thailand, the sustainability of tourism, defined as the ongoing growth and survival of the tourism industry, has compromised the ecological sustainability of key tourism destinations sites. The recent financial crisis has forced the Thai government to sacrifice long-term sustainability for the sake of quick, and desperately needed foreign exchange. The 'Amazing Thailand' promotional campaign, which aims to attract 17 million tourists over 1998 and 1999, promises to exacerbate further the environmental degradation of tourism destinations in southern Thailand by pushing for enhanced tourist numbers. Ironically, by changing the composition of tourist arrivals (and in particular, attracting more European and North American tourists) the currency devaluations associated with the Asian financial crisis may simultaneously boost demand for nature-based tourist activities in southern Thailand while also adding stress to ecologically deteriorating destinations.     

A linkage between Internet use and tourism activities

The impact of Internet use on leisure activities is investigated theoretically and empirically beyond the extent to which the related literature has reached. This study illustrates theoretically a nonlinear linkage between Internet use and tourism activities in the context of a thought experiment relating to individual’s allocation of spare time among leisure activities. By means of a count data model, our empirical evidence suggests that time spent online has an inverted U-shaped impact on overnight trips and museum visits, indicating that the marginal impact of Internet use is decreasing. At the low points of time spent online, Internet use may stimulate tourism activities, whereas at the high points of Internet use, it could have just the opposite effect. This finding implies that problematic use of the Internet (or Internet addiction) is negatively associated with tourism activities. However, time spent online does not significantly affect leisure activities such as watching movies and TV, listening to the radio, or reading magazines and newspapers.     

Assessing preferences for mega sports event travel products: a choice experimental approach

Hosting mega sports events spreads positive destination images and generates massive tourism arrivals for the host communities. It is, therefore, important for tourism businesses to better understand what types of travel products, tailored for particular mega sports events, are purchased by sport tourists. Using a choice experimental approach, this study aims to examine how sport tourists formulate their preferences for travel products customized for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games by making intricate trade-offs among various product attributes. We utilize a gender perspective to further understand the preference dynamics embedded in segmented sport tourism markets. Study results suggest that sport tourists put distinctive weights on each of the attributes comprising the Olympic travel products. Gender differences are also identified in sport tourists’ choice decisions for sports event travel products. Based on the study findings, this paper proposes several marketing strategies to meet the needs of targeted market segments.     

Institutions,research and development: tourism and the Asian financial crisis

This report examines the repercussions of the Asian financial crisis on regional institutions and on tourism research and development. It is concluded that the importance of regional institutions for the provision of quality information, research and development will continue to grow. In the short term the crisis has lessened the commitment of key intraregional and national institutions to tourism research and development activity, although some useful collaboration between countries within the region has been evident. Asia should re‐emerge as the world's fastest growing tourism region, provided that the countries most affected by the Asian financial crisis do not impose restrictions on tourist movements or turn away from their long‐term commitment to strategies underpinned by research and development. The move by Pacific Asia Travel Association from San Francisco to Bangkok is identified as an important symbol of the role that regional institutions will continue to play in tourism research and development. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

IAATO's stewardship of the antarctic environment: a history of tour operator's concern for a vulnerable part of the world

After a relatively slow start in the 1950s and 1960s, shipborne tourism in Antarctica has become a regular activity, with about 89 000 visitors to date (through the 1997–1998 austral summer). Recognising the need for standardisation of operating procedures that would protect the vulnerable environment, tour operators initiated codes of conduct in the 1980s. In 1991 the existing seven tour operators formed the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), the objective being to act as a single voice to advocate, promote and practice safe and environmentally responsible private‐sector travel in Antarctica. Since then, Antarctic Treaty Parties passed Recommendation XVIII‐1 in 1994, expanding the operator's guidelines into a comparable and formal version. Associated with that, a Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty has become effective, initiating formal application and permitting requirements that affect both tourism and scientific activities. The implications of the Protocol on the tourism industry are discussed and analysed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conceptualising tourism transport: inequality and externality issues

This paper raises several conceptual questions concerning the actual and symbolic representations of inequality and differentiation expressed in leisure and tourism mobility which have significance for members of host communities visited, transport and land-use planning in host areas, tourists and the tourism industry. Within this framework, the paper explores two sets of conceptual issues which are positioned at the interface of transport and tourism. First, transport has the potential to act as a gatekeeper to culture contact, constraining or encouraging host–tourist interaction. Second, the role of tourist mobility at a local level can be critical for issues of inequality and externality effects. The substantial tourism impacts literature has only occasionally addressed social dimensions of leisure transport's external costs, and the transport geography literature has rarely acknowledged the differentiation of tourists and non-tourists competing for transport and transport space. It is concluded that transport and land-use planners need to recognise and respond to tourism's externalities and their implications for inequality and sustainability issues.     

The role of Government in the development of tourism in Kenya

This study uses the case study of Kenya to analyse the role of government in the development of tourism in the Third World. Usually, government involvement in the development of tourism reflects on the uniqueness and peculiarity of the tourism industry. By its nature, the development and provision of tourism product involves diverse stakeholders and activities. In the diverse socio‐economic situation, it is usually the government that has the required social and political capacity and legitimacy to bring together and co‐ordinate the activities of diverse and different interest groups which are involved in the development of tourism and, also, establish the required level playing field. In this regard, as probably is the case in most less developed countries where tourism is a major socio‐economic activity, the Kenya Government has, over the years, played a crucial role in the development of the country's tourism industry. Particularly, during the exploratory stage of tourism development in Kenya, it was government involvement that helped lay the required groundwork and, as a consequence, jump‐started the rapid development of the country's tourism industry. However, in recent years, particularly in the 1990s, Kenya's tourism industry is confronted with serious problems including declining international visitor arrivals and decreasing tourism revenues. Ironically, the same government that played a crucial role, especially in the initial development of the country's tourism industry, is currently being blamed as being responsible for the industry's current poor performance. Thus, this study will also examine the underlying factors responsible for the current downturns in Kenya's tourism industry and how they relate to the role of government in the development of tourism. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Complexity of Socio-spatial Transformations Through Tourism: A Mediterranean Village,Kaleköy

This article reflects on the complex consequences of tourism development in the isolated Mediterranean village of Kaleko¨y. Built on the antique city of Simena of the 4th century BC and having remnants also from Hellenistic, Byzantine and Ottoman periods, Kaleköy's main source of livelihood since the 1980s has been tourism. Multiple changes that take place simultaneously at the local level, in relation to or as a consequence of tourism, are conceptualised as interrelated transformations that may fall under the four major headings of economy, demography, spatial organisation and cognition. Defining culture as 'everything learned', these transformations amount to a radical change in the local culture, which now includes a culture of tourism. Based on ethnographic research, the article aims to demonstrate the complexity of changes in physical, as well as economic and social structures as they pertain to tourism.     

Tourism occupations and education: an exploration study

This article contributes to the literature on the relationship between the tourism industry and vocational tourism education. It reports on an exploratory study of the work of a sample of tourism professionals and their education. The study attempts to classify tourism occupations by modifying an established scheme used in general administration. The study sought to find commonality within the diverse occupations and to go on to relate that to tourism education. The study found that the majority of the sample of 153 contained a common set of 24 activities. In educational terms, marketing, recreation and leisure and finance dominated as relevant subjects to study for tourism occupations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rural tourism development in China

This paper provides an overview and brief evaluation of China's rural tourism. Beginning with the form of poverty alleviation through tourism, China's rural tourism has undergone over 20 years of development and exhibited some unique features in its development pattern, scale and business operational models in accordance with China's political, social and economic systems. Government plays a decisive role in developing rural tourism in China. However, rural tourism has been valued mainly as an economic means for rural development during the country's modernisation process. Overlooking rurality as an essential issue in rural tourism may lead development to a wrong direction, which could jeopardise the sustainability of the industry. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Segmenting resident perceptions towards tourism — a cluster analysis with a multinomial logit model of a mountain community

This study investigates aspects of host perception for the formulation of strategic tourism policies. A community segmentation framework with cluster analysis and multinomial logit model was applied to data of a mountain community in northern Italy to reveal the heterogeneity of residents' perception. The results of this study reflect the overall opinions of the sample population and identify homogeneous opinion groups. Positive and negative perceptions about tourism in the region generate a division of residents in environmental supporters, development supporters, protectionist and ambivalent. This study identifies the effect of demographic variation on the clusters and on residents' attitudes towards tourism. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Profiling Sport Tourists: The Case of Super 12 Rugby Union in the Australian Capital Territory,Australia

The concept of sport related tourism has become more prominent in the last few years as both an academic field of study and an increasingly popular tourism product (Gibson, 1998). Sport tourism includes travel to participate in a passive (e.g. sports events and museums) or active sport holiday (e.g. scuba diving and cycling), and it may involve instances where sport or tourism itself is the dominant activity or reason for travel. However, little research has been undertaken to examine the profile of sport tourist market segments in an attempt to understand these segments and their potential as tourism markets. This paper will examine one such attempt to profile sport tourist spectators through surveying sport tourists attending Super 12 Rugby Union matches at Bruce Stadium, Canberra in April/May 2000. The paper discusses the preliminary results of this exploratory study, and examines the sporting behaviour and travel behaviour of spectators. The paper will then discuss differences between spectator characteristics with an emphasis on examining high yield segments based on sport and travel behaviour, and will conclude with a discussion of future research possibilities.     

Travel stimulated by international students in Australia

The international student (IS) market in Australia has been a growing export economy. Because of the traditional definition of tourism being that of ‘a leisure activity outside a usual work scope area for a period of less than a year’, tourism research on IS has been minimal. This research investigates the tourism demand stimulated by IS in Australia. Besides tourism statistics, the research involved 23 IS in focus groups who provided responses of their tourism activities while in Australia. The research illustrates that such IS are significant contributors to tourism by visiting places of interest, purchasing souvenirs, casual work in hospitality and visits by friends and relatives. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conflicts over Space for Marine Leisure: A Case Study of Recreational Boating in Japan

As an island nation with long coastlines and many islands, Japan has abundant resources for marine tourism and leisure. However, coastal resorts and marine leisure are less prominent than might be expected. The main reason lies in the many conflicts surrounding access to the sea and its resources. Industrial and urban development along the coastlines and a strong fishing industry combined with traditional property rights compete with coastal tourism and marine leisure for the use of coast and sea. This paper discusses the roots of conflicts between marine tourism and leisure, and other economic activities or environmental issues, as well as conflicts between different types of coastal tourism and marine leisure. To this end, it uses recreational boating and connected activities like fishing and diving to examine the issue. It was found the situation in Japan is characterised by a dense web of rights, regulations, customs and power dynamics which has impeded the establishment of marine leisure as a recreational activity. Marine leisure has, however, developed some distinct features, and many compromises have been found on a piecemeal and local basis. Such compromises may be the only way not to divide fluid space, but share it.