Supporting the Principles of Sustainable Development in Tourism and Ecotourism: Government's Potential Role

This paper articulates the principles of sustainable development, sustainable tourism, and ecotourism, and their interrelationship, and explains the critical difference between growth and development, which are commonly confused. It discusses numerous activities during the course of the early 1990s, which arguably moved the government into a 'strong sustainability' mode, through its support of the principles of sustainable development, tourism, and ecotourism. The paper also briefly describes the reduction of government activities to support principles of sustainable development over the latter part of the decade, which moved the government to a weak sustainability mode. Supportive activities include integrated planning; cooperation and partnerships; public consultation; proactive research and education; environment protection and conservation; management of resources, impact and visitors; and green standards activities. The benefits for government support of principles of sustainability are briefly described.     

Short-term Perturbations and Tourism Effects: The Case of SARS in China

The 2003 SARS epidemic created a significant negative impact on tourism development in China. This paper reviews the effects on tourism of different short-term crises, analyses the effects of SARS and explores the possibility of tourism businesses being buffered from such short-term crisis and the possible new motivations derived from the crisis. Tourism’s lack of resistance but high resilience to short term crises provides tourism and regional planning challenges. These characteristics suggest diversification and partnerships can minimise community vulnerability to crises and rapid economic recovery is possible based on tourism’s resilient nature.     

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.     

Social Capital,Tourism and Regional Development: SPCC as a Basis for Innovation and Sustainability

Traditional views of regional development have focused on economic factors and potential innovation in technical and resource exploitation processes. Similarly, regional tourism development is usually couched in economic terms, such as number of jobs and increasing land values. This approach usually ignores the social and community aspects of tourism development; thus an alternative view argues that the community needs to be factored into our planning and development strategies to balance the traditional economic view. It is argued in this paper that fostering innovation in regional development is much more than a process of community consultation. Rather, what needs to be factored in is SPCC – social, political and cultural capital. This works in both directions; tourism development depends on a level of social, political and cultural capital in order to be a successful regional development tool (even in economic terms) while at the same time tourism development can be undertaken in a way that contributes to SPCC in the region. The paper outlines the key concepts of social capital, political capital and cultural capital. It does so within the context of regional tourism development and the concepts of systems of innovation and sustainable development.     

Recreation and Tourism in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: Key Influences on the Policymaking Process

This paper reports on a study completed in 2000 into the policymaking process for recreation and tourism in AONBs across England and Wales, with particular focus on the key influencing role of communication within this process. A number of practical measures, which might aid AONB communication and collaboration for policy development and implementation in the future, are derived from the research. In addition, the findings of the study lend weight to calls (current at the time of the research) for enhanced powers and funding for AONBs, particularly in respect of recreation and tourism provision.     

Extending the theory of planned behaviour: testing the effects of authentic perception and environmental concerns on the slow-tourist decision-making process

Despite the importance of slow tourism, studies on slow tourists' decision-making processes are rare. The current study extends the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) by including authentic perception (AP) and environmental concerns (ECs) to explain the formation of behavioural intentions. The study also contributes by comparing its extended model with the original TPB and identifying salient belief items through a focus group and literature review. The results of a structural equation analysis revealed that the data fitted the extended model well and that the inclusion of the critical new constructs in a slow-tourism context significantly enhanced the prediction of behaviour intentions. The results also indicated that attitude, subjective norms, perceived behaviour control, and AP significantly contributed to forming the intention to participate in slow tourism. However, the influence from ECs to behavioural intentions was demonstrated to be insignificant. This study advances our understanding of tourists' decision-making processes in that these slow tourists are more likely to choose an “authentic”, rather than “environmental”, destination.     

The restructuring of winter sports resorts in the French Alps: problems,processes and policies

In the French Alps the last decade has been dominated by efforts to regenerate winter sports resorts. This follows an extended period of rapid growth, resulting in the demographic and economic revival of many alpine communities. However, flaws in the process of development were exposed in the late 1980s. Given the huge scale of investment in tourist facilities and the numerous livelihoods dependent on winter sports, restructuring became vital. The present paper analyses the causes of recent problems and evaluates related remedial policies, showing how implementing change can be complicated by the numerous actors involved and their frequently divergent strategies. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

陕西电煤运输市场分析及发展战略初探

通过对陕西省主要火电厂煤需要量及不同运输方式优劣比较分析,提出了铁路,公路合理分工,扬长避短,共图发展的战略设想。就铁路如何进一步适应市场,优质服务,搞好陕西煤炭,特别是电煤运输进行了探讨。