A tale of four futures: Tourism academia and COVID-19

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented “super-shock” for the tourism industry. How tourism academia relates to this unpredictable context is anyhow not yet evident. This study uses a qualitative scenario method to propose four possible futures for tourism academia considering the pandemic and to draw attention to key factors of these future developments. Nine interviews were held with tourism (full/ordinary) professors across Europe, America, Asia, and the Pacific Region to gain expert insights. As a result, four scenarios are proposed for tourism education, industry collaboration, research, and discipline identity. Recovery (“new sustainability” or “revenge-tourism”) for tourism academia if the pandemic impact is short-term, and Adaptancy (“bridging the gap” or “decline”) for tourism academia if the COVID-19 impact is long-lasting. Key factors for the way forward are finally discussed and contributions of our findings are highlighted.     

Developing a Tourism Destination Monitoring System: A Case of the Hawaii Tourism Dashboard

To develop and manage a tourism destination sustainably, it is important for all stakeholders to understand the interrelated tourism dimensions and activities within a destination. One way of determining the conditions of a destination's “health” is to establish a process by which existing data on various aspects of a destination can be assessed. For this purpose, this paper presents the development processes of the Hawaii Tourism Dashboard (HTD), an online information clearinghouse for multiple stakeholders and a diagnostic tool to monitor the conditions of Hawaii's tourism. As a joint effort between the industry and academia, it is hoped that the HTD can play an important role in increasing public awareness about tourism's multifaceted characteristics and in assisting decision-making and policy development by the government and the industry.     

旅游衔接2030年可持续发展目标——文献回顾与未来议程

尽管旅游业被视为落实2030年可持续发展目标（Sustainable Development Goals,SDGs）的重要工具,但很少有研究系统梳理相关文献,导致我们对该领域的研究进展和知识缺口不明确。文章以2015—2021年Web of Science^TM数据库收录的82篇旅游类SSCI期刊文献为样本,旨在通过梳理旅游学术共同体对2030年SDGs的研究响应,揭示研究发展脉络与学术热点,并启发未来研究方向。结果发现：（1）旅游衔接2030年SDGs研究已得到旅游学术共同体的积极响应,总体经历了初期探索和快速发展两个阶段;（2）研究热点集中在旅游与消除贫困（SDG 1）、良好健康与福祉（SDG 3）、性别平等（SDG 5）、清洁饮水和卫生设施（SDG 6）、经济适用的清洁能源（SDG 7）、体面工作和经济增长（SDG 8）、减少不平等（SDG 10）、负责任消费和生产（SDG 12）、气候行动（SDG 13）、和平正义（SDG 16）等10个方面;（3）旅游业既是落实2030年SDGs的积极贡献者,但也面临诸多潜在挑战与外部威胁;（4）未来需重点拓展旅游衔接SDGs的研究框架,审视旅游对SDGs的贡献与挑战,厘清旅游影响SDGs的权衡与协同,观照旅游衔接SDGs的情境因素。     

Development of MICE Tourism in Australia

Abstract

The meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) sector is one of the more rapidly growing market segments of Australian tourism. While demand for this form of tourism is increasing, there are several issues on the supply side which must be addressed. The paper identifies five key challenges relating to promoting cooperative behaviour among industry stakeholders, government support, infrastructure, training and service and marketing which must be met to maximise the scale and scope of these benefits. The paper discusses these issues in turn and assesses the implications for stakeholders in both the public and private sector. It concludes with some observations regarding the development of MICE tourism in Australia.     

Competitiveness attributes of a medical tourism destination: The case of South Korea with importance-performance analysis

This study aims to explore the importance and performance of medical tourism destination competitiveness (TDC). The aims were achieved by collecting empirical data on the perceptions of stakeholders in the medical tourism industry in South Korea. Results from the importance–performance analysis (IPA) revealed that medical TDC is primarily influenced by medical treatments and services, destination attributes, and tourism-specific factors. This study not only enhances tourism literature, but also contributes significantly to the existing literature on competitiveness. The study provides useful marketing insights for medical tourism suppliers in South Korea and countries in similar situations with the relevant industry.     

Indigenous tourism and the sustainable development goals

This research aims to identify opportunities for the tourism industry to effectively address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in ways that respect Indigenous priorities and support development aspirations of Indigenous peoples. We do so via case studies of Indigenous tourism among small-medium sized enterprises in Fiji, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. The research finds that the Indigenous tourism enterprises operated in the spirit of many of the SDGs, even when they had low awareness of these goals. It also finds that Indigenous values and lifeways – such as appreciation of the intrinsic connection between nature and culture - correspond with the SDG agenda, and could be used to further advance this agenda in ways that benefit Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.     

Fashioning a destination tourism future: The case of Slovenia

Achieving competitive advantage for any destination in times of rapid global change requires tourism stakeholders to have a clear understanding of the direction of change and its implications for business or destination management. The challenges are particularly acute for emerging destinations such as Slovenia. The paper discusses tools for measuring destination performance with particular focus on Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA). Using IPA the paper develops a priority ordering for Slovenian tourism stakeholders to debate, modify and to adopt actions that can help them prepare for the challenges arising from global trends. The survey instrument used for this study asks respondents to highlight both the important areas that should be addressed by tourism stakeholders in Slovenia and also the performance of Slovenia in respect of the success or otherwise of the strategies that are currently being pursued to enhance destination competitiveness. The findings reveal that there are a number of areas in which the Slovene tourism industry considers itself to be underperforming in the implementation of strategies to eliminate drift. The paper explores some of the implications of the findings for strategic action and implementation, making some concluding comments on destination development strategy while highlighting areas for further research.     

Stand your ground: The case for publishing in hospitality and tourism journals

The hospitality and tourism field has been struggling for academic legitimacy since its founding. Despite the impressive growth of research in the field, as well as the publication of a respectable number of high-quality scientific journals, voices are being heard from the community of hospitality and tourism researchers calling for more focused efforts on publication in journals of more established and traditional disciplines. It is argued here that this demand may have negative implications for research in the field, on the contribution of academia to the industry, and on the advancement of the career of hospitality and tourism scholars. The scientific community should reverse this trend and instead concentrate its efforts on developing the field by promoting publishing in hospitality and tourism journals in order to promote relevant, up-to-date, and innovative research for the benefit of science and industry.     

旅游企业利益相关者管理理论研究进展

利益相关者理论是近年来颇受西方管理学界重视的一个新兴的企业管理理论,被认为是理解和管理"现代企业"的工具.旅游业关联性强的性质决定了旅游企业必定有众多的利益相关者.文章对利益相关者理论在旅游管理研究中的引入、旅游企业利益相关者的界定,以及旅游企业利益相关者的管理策略的研究进展进行了综述,并作出了简要评价.     

Tourism investment for the future

The increasing potential of tourism to create jobs and wealth is not, unfortunately, matched by government and private sector realization of what the industry has to offer. Jonathan Bodlender of Horwath and Horwath (UK) Ltd, the Leisure Consultants, argues that unless investment from these two sectors is forthcoming, potential will be lost all round. Tourism jobs are cheap to create compared to other industrial sectors and the high tourism multiplier effect ensures a good return on investment for government, private industry and therefore for national economies as a whole. This piece was originally prepared for a joint International Hotel Association and American Hotel and Motel Association meeting in New York, November 1983.     

暗夜星空旅游研究进展——基于2001—2021年英文文献的综述

近几年中国星空旅游市场快速崛起,然而国内学术界对这一旅游新业态的研究明显不足。本文采用传统的文献分析方法,对国际暗夜星空旅游的发展脉络与研究进展进行了系统梳理。研究发现：（1）在全球暗夜保护运动的推动下,星空的旅游价值得到发掘,暗夜星空体验项目在西方国家已趋于成熟;（2）国际暗夜星空旅游的实证研究于2011年起步,文献数量持续上升,质性研究与量化研究同步发展,但研究主要集中在欧洲和北美等发达国家和地区;（3）通过分析与对比天文旅游,本文界定了暗夜星空旅游的概念并探讨了暗夜星空旅游的主要特征;（4）国际暗夜星空旅游研究主要集中在光污染测量与暗夜星空旅游发展、暗夜星空旅游发展效益、暗夜星空旅游体验及其影响、暗夜星空目的地的旅游发展4个方面。对于正处在萌芽成长期的中国星空旅游而言,国际研究成果为此旅游新业态的发展与管理提供了一定的理论基础,同时也促进国内学者结合本土暗夜星空旅游市场展开具体的实证研究,逐渐建立暗夜星空旅游研究的中西对话。     

What does it mean to follow? An exploration of a followership profile in hospitality and tourism

Although leadership has received considerable attention from many scholars, much less research has focused on those who follow leaders; yet, followers contribute much to the success of an organization. This study explored the followership profiles of stakeholders in hospitality and tourism education. The findings summarize the followership dimensions of a sample of hospitality students, educators, and industry professionals. For each of the five followership dimensions the mean scores for industry professionals were rated higher when compared with students and educators, with courage to participate in transformation being the highest rated among all three groups. Implications for hospitality education are presented.     

Social conflict in communities impacted by tourism

This paper is based upon 12 months of ethnographic study while living among the Tuva and Kazakh people in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. Based on observation, interviews, participation and secondary documents the paper uses Coser's theory of Social Conflict to suggest a four part model of how tourism engenders different forms of social conflict and fluctuating alliances between stakeholders in an environment where tourism has been introduced by agents external to the indigenous community. The actors are ethnic groupings and members of those groups, governmental officials at local, regional and national level, intermediaries of the tourism industry and private sector entrepreneurs drawn from the majority and minority ethnic groups. Tensions are identified as being based on beliefs, resources and power, and a sequential pattern of primacy is identified consistent with stages of the tourist area life cycle.     

Networking for sustainable tourism – towards a research agenda

This paper proposes a research agenda for networking for sustainable tourism research based on a collaborative workshop of international tourism academics and researchers and an extensive review of the relevant literature. Each year, Building Excellence in Sustainable Tourism – an Education Network (BEST EN) holds a Think Tank on a topical issue in sustainable tourism education. One aim of the Think Tank is to develop a relevant research agenda that draws on the collective knowledge of participants and acknowledges the interdependent economic, environmental and social objectives in sustainable tourism. Six main areas were identified as important for a research agenda on networking for sustainable tourism and its implementation: theory, methodology and conceptual issues; actors, culture and power; lifecycle, evolution and dynamics of networks; knowledge transfer; macro-perspectives and strategic action, vision, innovation and management of networks. This paper presents and discusses these research themes in the context of a literature review on networks and networking for sustainability in tourism. It is found that substantial progress has been made in the investigation of private sector networks at the destination levels; research on networks involving public sector stakeholders and networks across sectors and levels of governance, however, remains limited.     

Using segmentation to compete in the age of the sharing economy: Testing a core-periphery framework

Airbnb has emerged as a credible competitive threat to the hotel industry. Consequently, hotel brands are having to rethink the experiences they provide to customer in an increasingly competitive environment. Despite these trends in the industry, experience-related research that examines and informs these developments remains under-represented in the hospitality and tourism literature. The present study offers a systematic approach to examine the potential differences in experiential consumption in the accommodations industry. Using a multiple-group analysis approach, it examines the moderating effects of individual characteristics and situational factors on the nature and dynamics of experiential consumption in the accommodations industry. The findings of the study culminate in the core-periphery framework of the hospitality consumption experience that can provide a relevant theoretical lens for future research into the different sectors and types of experiences within the hospitality and tourism industry. The study also outlines important implications for the hotel industry’s strategic experience design initiatives, from the standpoint of product development, the segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) process, and marketing communications.     

Dependency on Tour Operators

Abstract

Tour operators have increasingly emerged as the most powerful and influential factor of international flows from the main generating countries to various destinations, since they are able to interpret and manipulate the “push” and “pull” factors of the tourism process to a commercial end. As a result, many tourist-receiving destinations have to face the intervention of foreign tour operators in their tourism industry. Despite the crucial role played by tour operators for the development of insular regions' tourism, little empirical evidence is available on the relationship between tour operators and the destination tourism suppliers. This paper presents the findings of a study undertaken during the summer of 1997 on the Greek island of Crete. From the findings, it is evident that the Cretan tourism industry is heavily dependent on tour operators, and that various actions should be undertaken by the island's public and private sector to overcome this problem.     

Conceptualising networks in sustainable tourism development

This paper contributes to the sustainable tourism research agenda concerning the implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a destination level. This paper develops a conceptual framework integrating three theories: stakeholder theory, social network analysis (SNA), and actor-network theory (ANT). Integration reveals a blended approach to enable a reassessment of stakeholder roles to further explore the nature, dynamics and operations of tourism networks as they work to achieve SDGs. Tourismscapes, as a model, is invoked to scaffold data and to provide insight into the nuances of destination networks. This research evaluates this concept and its potential for rethinking tourism research and inspiring a new wave of study. Firmly planted in critical tourism studies, this paper conceptualises tourism stakeholder interactions, specifically those networks pursuing common goals at a destination level, such as SDG 17 that aims to strengthen means of implementation through partnerships.     

Defining an emerging tourism industry sub-sector: Who are the strata titled tourism accommodation stakeholders?

This study represents the first providing a definition of the strata titled tourism accommodation (STTA) sub-sector of the tourism industry. This definition is achieved by identifying the stakeholders that collectively comprise the sub-sector. There is a paucity of prior research concerned with this increasingly significant form of tourism accommodation (Pizam, 2006). This is despite the significance of accommodation to the tourism economy (Cooper et al., 1998) and STTA's rapid growth (Guilding et al., 2005). Stakeholder theory has been drawn upon to explore, identify and classify the key players involved in the Australian STTA sector. The study also provides a commentary on the different STTA roles played by the stakeholders and the nature and extent of their perceived engagement with the tourism industry.     

The vulnerability of destinations to climate change: A comparative analysis of contextual socio-political factors

Climate change affects tourism and tourism affects climate change. Thus, both adaptation and mitigation strategies are needed to guarantee the sustainability of destinations. As well as the direct impacts of climate change, the effectiveness of these strategies determines the vulnerability of destinations. This paper compares the Riviera Maya (Mexican Caribbean) and Alt Maresme (Spanish Mediterranean) to identify the contextual socio-political factors that influence the vulnerability of destinations to climate change. Thirty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders from tourism and the environment, public organizations, NGOs, and different levels of the public administration at both destinations. This research focuses on the perception of risk and agenda setting, the stakeholders’ involvement and the limitations of public action. The results show that awareness is greater, climate change is more important to the tourism agenda and private organizations are more involved in the Riviera Maya than in Alt Maresme. Five socio-political aspects are identified and discussed to explain the results: the destination’s evolution; the characteristics and evolution of tourism policy; extreme meteorological events as breaking points for policies; the socioeconomic context and the dependence on tourism; and the characteristics of the tourism offer, such as the dependence on natural resources and seasonality.     

The antecedents of digital collaboration through an enhanced digital platform for destination management: A micro-DMO perspective

While the tourism sector shifts towards digital transformation, Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) often struggle to adapt to their changing technological environment. This study explores the antecedents of digital collaboration and develops a framework for micro-DMOs to enhance effective destination management through digital technologies. An integrated sequential qualitative approach was adopted by conducting multi-phase interviews, in addition to designing and trialling a real-world trial digital platform. The research provides empirical evidence that digital collaboration is essential for micro-DMOs, necessitating them to transform their current “websites” into digital platforms which act as a hub for business stakeholders to actively be involved in. Antecedents of successful digital collaboration include mutuality, trust, control, and leadership which may be manifested differently from non-digital collaboration. Additionally, the study identifies three aspects for digital collaboration; marketing, networking and knowledge sharing that demands specific attention. Our results have theoretical, methodological, and practical implications for academia, industry and policymakers.