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.     

Reassessing employer expectations of graduates in UK travel services

This article sets out to ascertain travel and tourism industries employers' views on degrees. Research of this kind and on this scale has not previously been carried out and a large scale survey of industry views was conducted with key issues identified and discussed. These cover topics such as the employment of graduates within the UK travel services industry, views on their contribution and appropriateness, the types of skills that such degrees provide, salary scales and graduate training schemes. Current government policy on widening participation in higher education (HE) and its impact on industry skills is also evaluated. The issue of the provision of tourism curricula and their content has at the beginning of 2007 once again been pushed centre stage. This is as a result of the increasing scrutiny of the Sector Skills organisation People 1st and the launch of the government's new vocational diplomas in 2008. The findings in this article are pertinent for government bodies and educators alike and have previously been shared with the Sector Skills organisation and Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in addressing HE in tourism. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

The Role of the Tourism Industry in Transforming a Rentier to a Long-Term Viable Economy: The Case of Bahrain

During the past four decades, the tourism industry has emerged as one of the leading industries worldwide. In the Arab countries, however, despite its huge potential, the tourism industry is still in its infancy phase. With the exception of only a few countries, until recently most of the Arab countries almost ignored the economic potential of tourism. Since the 1990s, their traditional attitude of neglect toward the tourism industry has undergone a transformation, a fact that was not lost by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Thus, since the mid-1990s, all of the GCC countries, without exception, have been trying to promote their tourism sector, which soon became a prominent economic sector. The paper concentrates on one tourism development case – that of Bahrain – the least ‘rentier’ within the GCC oil-economies. The main research question addressed by this paper is to what extent Bahrain has introduced a cohesive and economically viable tourism industry that contributes to a more sustainable economy of this country. This exploratory paper examines Bahrain's motivation to promote tourism; its tourism comparative advantage; the major difficulties facing Bahrain's further tourism expansion; and the overall role of the tourism industry in the Bahraini economy.     

Wellness Tourism in China: Resources,Development and Marketing

China's natural and cultural resources are the foremost offerings of the country's wellness tourism sector. Although wellness tourism in China is in its infancy, it can offer new opportunities in, and strengthen the overall competitiveness of, China's tourism industry. To achieve this, the assessment and development of wellness tourism resources in China are required. This study examines the potential for wellness tourism development in terms of resources and promotion from the point of view of wellness tourism experts. It surveys professionals working in tourism, health and education in China. The results reveal that environmental assets, including fresh air, clean water and natural features, are considered the most important attributes for the development of wellness tourism in China and that the promotion of wellness tourism can best be achieved through advertising in mass media, governmental support and organizing new regional events. The study implications and future research directions are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Expanding the destination image: wine tourism in the Canary Islands

Tourism to the Canary Islands is centred around competitively priced holidays focused on the sun and beach mass tourism experience. A restructure of the islands' wine industry offers opportunities for developing new tourism alternatives based on gourmet products and traditional landscapes. This paper examines the potential of wine tourism from winery operators' perspectives. Challenges to overcome in the development of a successful sustainable local wine tourism industry include the need for expansion of the destination image to reflect the region's wine‐making history and scenic qualities; a shift towards independent high‐yield travellers; and reintroducing local produce in the mass tourism product. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship between cross-cultural attitudes and attitudes toward the foreign language study of tourism majors: the South Korean Case

Cross-cultural attitudes are gaining more importance as contacts between people from different cultures are increasing in a globalized world. This is particularly the case and relevant for the tourism industry. The major purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between cross-cultural attitudes and the attitudes toward foreign language within the tourism education context. An empirical study of 482 tourism students in South Korea revealed that cross-cultural attitudes had significant associations with attitudes toward studying a foreign language. Specifically, the ‘integrative attitude’, among the three types of attitudes toward foreign language study, showed the highest relationship with the ‘cross-cultural attitude’, being followed by the ‘intrinsically motivated attitude’. However, the ‘instrumental attitude’ showed no significant relationship. Based on these findings, a need to approach language study from cultural perspectives is emphasized, suggesting a provision of programs and activities inspiring direct and indirect contacts with foreign cultures and people. The integration of cultural aspects of the tourism industry into foreign language study was also discussed in this context. Finally, the study's results were compared with those of previous studies and a tentative generalization that foreign language study has an effect in reducing social distance was proposed.     

Human resource development issues for the hotel sector in Libya: a government perspective

The Libyan government emphasises the importance of tourism in economic diversification through its Libyan Tourism Master Plan identifying various initiatives to develop the Libyan tourism industry, including human resource development (HRD). Hotels are key to an internationally competitive industry and human resources critical to perceptions of service quality. This paper analyses issues relating to the Libyan hotel sector, including the need to strengthen the private sector; to match education/training programmes to industrial needs, and to address cultural and religious dimensions which exacerbate poor industry image. The paper identifies a partnership approach between governmental, educational and hotel sectors to address HRD issues through workforce planning. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A small place,by Jamaica Kincaid: envisioning literary tourism in Antigua

ABSTRACT

This work departs from a reading of the novelistic essay A small place (1988), by Jamaica Kincaid, to analyse the representation of the tourism industry and of tourists in Antigua (the author's birthplace). From there, we present Kincaid's text as ‘tourist literature’ (Hendrix, 2014), also aiming to contribute to the examination of tourism-centred literary texts. Within the context of literature and tourism studies as well as comparative studies, this paper examines Kincaid's literary text in order to consider the promotion of literary tourism in Antigua. This example is then considered in light of recent contributions from literary tourism, space production, community-based tourism, mass tourism as well as responsible and sustainable tourism. Literary heritage as a resource for the tourism industry could bring tourists and locals closer and conspire to break down barriers between the largely dark-skinned hosts and the white tourists in Antigua.     

Ethnic tourism in Lao PDR: gendered divisions of labour in community-based tourism for poverty reduction

A simultaneous analysis of gender and ethnicity provides a fuller understanding of how tourism initiatives benefit marginalised groups in developing countries. In this article, the gendered division of labour is analysed as a way to understand the micro-politics of ethnic tourism production aiming at poverty reduction in Laos. The aim is to demonstrate how constructions of gender and ethnicity impact on women's possibilities to benefit from community-based pro-poor tourism initiatives. Socially constructed notions of gendered behaviour influence divisions of tourism labour in specific spatialities, which we argue is crucial knowledge in the implementation of tourism projects aiming at poverty reduction. The assumption that ‘the poor’ constitute a homogenous group might hide an uneven distribution of tourism benefits in local communities. By focusing on factors which marginalise women, the article demonstrates inequalities between men and women in the division of tourism work. A village in northern Laos is used as a case study to examine aspects impacting on gendered divisions of labour in community-based tourism in Laos. Two examples, the Akha people's belief in and worship of spirits, and provision of massage, are used to illuminate reasons behind gendered imbalances in more detail.     

Tourism as a Tool for Poverty Alleviation: A Critical Analysis of ‘Pro-Poor Tourism’ and Implications for Sustainability

Forecasts of high tourism growth in developing nations, where widespread poverty exists, has led to considerable interest in tourism as a tool for poverty alleviation. Powerful bureaucratic and business alliances have been forged to expand this programme. International development agencies are also turning to tourism as a way of alleviating poverty. This is sometimes termed ‘pro-poor tourism’ (PPT). Distinguished from other forms of ‘alternative tourisms’ such as ecotourism and community-based tourism, the stakeholders involved in this enterprise are no less divided. Ideological divisions manifest themselves in the political struggle over how tourism in developing countries should unfold. This paper identifies the different sustainability positions of prominent pro-poor tourism stakeholders and considers the implications for meeting pro-poor and sustainability objectives. Generally, tourism is too often regarded a panacea without an attendant recognition that, like any other industrial activity, tourism is highly political. As a global industry, tourism operates within a neo-liberal market economy which presents severe challenges to meeting pro-poor and sustainable development objectives. This paper therefore recommends a fundamental re-evaluation of tourism's pro-poor potential in the absence of significant commitment to directly address structural inequities which exacerbate poverty and constrain pro-poor attempts.     

Sociocultural Impacts of Tourism: A Case Study from Norway

This article examines residents' perceptions of sociocultural impacts in the North Cape community in Norway. Case study, as a qualitative methodology, was employed to gather the necessary data. Based on the in-depth interviews with 22 permanent residents of the North Cape community, 10 influential factors were empirically identified: source of income; quality of life; community structure; demonstration effect; crime and alcohol; acculturation; perspective; status and community pride; conflicts; and physical impact. Furthermore, in contrast to the existing theory, the current study suggests that both those who are, and who are not economically dependent on the tourism industry perceive tourism positively. Both long-term and short-term residents believe that tourism's benefits outweigh tourism's costs. No noteworthy differences are found across sociodemographic factors such as education and marital status with respect to the residents' perception. The almost overwhelmingly positive response of the residents can be attributed to the current stage of destination development cycle at the North Cape.     

Tourism development — centres versus peripheries: the Israeli experience during the 1990s

Initially tourism was potentially considered as a vehicle for reducing inequalities in regional development through the spread of resources from the more developed regions of a country to its less developed areas. Later, case studies demonstrated that, although certain peripheral areas have emerged as tourist attractions, the large urban centres gained even more in terms of tourism‐generated investment and income. This study examines the Israeli situation comparing tourism development indicators in central versus peripheral areas. Although the two largest cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv appear to attract much of the country's investment in tourism hotels and enjoy a large flow of visitors, data for the 1990s reveal that peripheral areas are having higher share in tourism than their counterparts in the central areas. Furthermore, compared with their proportion in the general population, the peripheral areas location quotient related to tourism development indicators is far higher than that of the central areas. The single largest centre of tourism is now located in the town of Elat, situated in isolation in the southernmost tip of the country. The resort areas of Tiberias on the Lake of Galilee in the northeast and that of the Dead Sea area in the southeast came to be large tourism centres. Also, the most flourishing B&B industry has developed in the northern peripheral area. The study contemplates whether or not the Israeli experience is applicable to other countries and concludes with an attempt to draw broader generalisations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Post-Conflict tourism development in Sri Lanka: implications for building resilience

The 30?year war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had a considerable impact on the country's tourism industry. Yet, despite the war, the industry continued to exhibit a high level of resilience and since the end of the war international visitation has increased rapidly. This study, using a comprehensive review of literature and a series of interviews, examines the impact of the war on the industry as well as the government's post-conflict responses. Despite the rapid increase in international tourism numbers various concerns have been raised that government policies are likely to advantage large tourism operators and developers at the expense of small businesses in the informal sector. The development of the industry may also be at the expense of livelihoods of poorer members of society in other industries. A concentration on large-scale developments may reduce the resilience and therefore sustainability of the industry.     

A human ecological approach to tourism interactions

Building on the previous work of Budowski, Murphy and Butler, this paper develops a conceptual framework that examines tourism industry relationships from a human ecological perspective. In particular, predation, competition, neutrality and symbiosis are used to illustrate that tourism industry stakeholders (i.e., various types of tourism, operators, local people, and other land users) value and use resources differently and, in doing so, place varying levels of pressure on each other and the resource base. Human ecology is identified and discussed as a field of research that holds potential in strengthening our understanding of tourism's human ecological interactions. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multinational hotel development in developing countries: an exploratory analysis of critical policy issues

Multinational hotel companies, often integrated with tour operators, travel agencies and other businesses in tourist‐generating or tourist‐receiving countries, play a key role in the development and continuity of an international tourism industry in developing countries. In order to take advantage of benefits and minimise the unwanted adverse effects from multinational hotel involvement, developing countries need the planning, implementation and evaluation of carefully designed policies linked to their particular objectives. This paper reviews the potential benefits and costs of multinational hotel companies and brings together previously scattered critical policy issues in relation to them, while suggesting possible options for developing countries to follow. Seven critical policy areas are identified: establishment of the need for foreign investment; deciding on forms of involvement; deciding on the scale of hotel development; supporting sectoral linkages; supporting indigenous employment/training; monitoring business practices; and determining foreign investment incentives and regulations. It is argued that policies should be worked out in these areas and co‐ordinated in order to achieve a balance between the benefits and costs of multinational hotel involvement in developing countries. Copyright © 2001 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.     

Public Choice and Tourism Analysis

This paper considers the potential of Public-Choice theory to serve as a means to analyse tourism policy. It introduces the central issues for understanding the study of policy and economic decision-making, bringing them together as a single coherent explanation of the role of government within the contemporary market system. In the context of tourism analysis, the focus is on the forces that explain why governments make particular types of decisions for the industry and the effect these have on the community's collective well-being. Policy can impact on a society's culture, its social order, its administration or its use of law, or any combination of these; but, largely it is about the economic welfare of the community. Much of the public decision-making system concerns who gets what, who should benefit and who should pay. The paper reviews the notion of government intervention to establish an 'interpretation' of economic policy-making in Western democracies, such as Australia, Britain or New Zealand. It argues that most policy issues, including tourism issues, derive from some form of failure in the market-place, where the tourism industry is but one component interconnected with many others. The paper expands the public-choice approach further by applying it to segmented markets, and the tourism industry itself, and provides an issue-based model that allows the tourism policy-making process to be explored, exposed and predicted.     

Tourism in Trinidad and Tobago: carving a niche in a petroleum‐based economy

Trinidad and Tobago lies within one of the world's most tourism‐intensive regions, the Caribbean. Yet, unlike its neighbours, it has not relied heavily on income from travel and tourism since its economy is dominated by the energy sector. The energy sector is the mainstay of the economy contributing approximately 34.1% to the country's GDP, 85.5% to merchandise exports and 37.1% to Government revenues in 2004 (Ministry of Energy, 2006). The Government, in its aim for developed nation status by 2020, recognizes that the energy sector is unable to provide the sustainable jobs needed to achieve this. Thus, the Government's policy strategy, Vision 2020, identifies tourism as one of five (5) sectors that should be developed to contribute to the country's economic development. The tourism industry currently represents 13.8% of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Trinidad and Tobago and is expected to increase its share by nearly three percentage points to 16.5% by 2015. It accounts for 16.7% of total employment, and this is forecasted to rise to 19.2% (WTTC, 2005). Several challenges are evident, that continue to limit the industry's full potential for growth in the country. It is against this background that this paper seeks to identify and analyse the strategies that can be adopted to maximize the contribution of the hospitality and tourism industry to economic development in Trinidad and Tobago. The three main strategies proposed are a greater focus on local entrepreneurship; the re‐orientation of the role of the local financial mechanisms in tourism development and; the development of competitive tourism investment incentives for potential investors in the hospitality and tourism industry. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Human resource development in remote island communities: an evaluation of tour‐guide training in Vanuatu

About 30% of visitors to Vanuatu visit the outer islands, where ecotourism has recently emerged as a small‐scale but significant activity. In the face of increasing competition from comparable Asia–Pacific destinations, there has been pressure on tourism operators and the Vanuatu Government to improve product quality through mechanisms such as the development of high‐quality tours. One way to enhance product quality is through the provision of appropriate professional training for tourism sector employees, including local tour guides. The paper outlines a tour‐guide training programme delivered on the outer islands, which received financial assistance from several foreign aid agencies. The programme is an instructive example of an attempt to implement a human resource strategy in a developing country arising from the recommendations of a national tourism masterplan that sought the active involvement of international funding agencies in the implementation phase. The paper evaluates the effectiveness of the training programme and outlines the challenges of programme delivery. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.