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.     

A critical discourse analysis of racial violence in South Carolina,U.S.A.: implications for traveling while Black

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to present a rich, detailed case that illustrates the way in which the discourse of racial violence has been constructed in the United States (U.S.), and how that has impacted Black travel. Using South Carolina, a state centrally-located along the East coast with historic, political, and social ties to the U.S. South as the context for this analysis, this paper employs a critical discourse analysis to examine the intersection of racial violence and tourism, situating cases of violence – historic to the modern. This study makes a case for more focused attention on the intersection of tourism and violence within the literature, as well as a call to the tourism industry to be proactive to discourses of violence, demonstrate a desire for diversity in their visitors, consider the critical issues of racial representation in their tourism products, and be aware of the emerging organizations supporting and facilitating Black travel.     

Tourist stereotypes and servers’ attitudes: a combined theoretical approach

Local attitudes towards tourism comprise one of the most researched topics in tourism. However, researchers still need to examine attitudes of specific local groups, acknowledge tourist stereotypes as an influential factor and test different theoretical approaches, to develop a broader understanding and explanation of attitudes. Based on an emic perspective, this study analysed servers’ stereotypes of a specific group of tourists – locally known as chilangos – and associated attitudes in a Mexican resort. By adopting a combined theoretical approach drawn from social exchange theory and integrated threat theory, this study’s results reveal that individuals who depend economically on tourism do not always have positive attitudes and that negative stereotypes on their own are not the strongest predictors of attitudes. By combining both theories’ postulations, the findings show that perceived economic benefits and personal positive contact together account for positive attitudes but that these factors are significantly counterbalanced by negative tourist stereotypes. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

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.     

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.     

Moving from pilgrimage to responsible tourism: the case of Palestine

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Palestine has seen complicated changes in its political circumstances, most notably the creation of Israel in 1948 and the 1967 war, where Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These events have created catastrophic political, economic and social facts which deeply affected the life of the Palestinian people. In this context, tourism became a political tool in the supremacy and domination of the Israeli establishment over land, and people, and an instrument for preventing the Palestinians from enjoying the benefits and the fruits of cultural and human interaction on which tourism thrives. Israel controls all access to Palestine (land and sea borders), most of the Palestinian water resources and all movements of people and goods from, to and within Palestine. This article assesses the role that tourism may play in promoting peace by presenting the Palestinian Initiative for Responsible Tourism – code of conduct – and its contribution to peace. In addition, issues of sustainability and the triple bottom line will be evaluated which could go a long way towards healing some of the divisions in the Palestinian/Israeli society.     

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.     

Tourism and electricity consumption in 9 European countries: a decomposition analysis approach

ABSTRACT

Tourism is a major economic activity constituting one of the main sectors in economic terms. European countries traditionally play a significant role in the overall international tourism flow. However, while tourism has a noticeable positive impact on economic development, it also contributes to environmental degradation by increasing energy consumption and therefore emissions. This paper analyses the relationships between Hotel and Restaurant electricity consumption and tourism growth in 9 European countries during 2004–2012, for which there is a sufficient amount of data available. A decomposition analysis based on log-mean Divisia index method (LMDI I) is conducted to examine electricity consumption on this sector and their components. Five decomposition factors are considered: energy intensity (EI), physical capital intensity (KI), physical and human capital relationship (KL), human capital intensity (LI) and the tourism factor (T). Results show the evolution of energy consumption related to this sector, identifying the driving forces that have influenced it.     

Knowledge in food tourism: the case of Lofoten and Maremma Toscana

The aim of this paper is to contribute towards a better understanding of knowledge in food tourism in agricultural and/or fishery areas. The presence and role of different types of knowledge are investigated adopting a multiple case study strategy in the regions of Lofoten (Norway) and Maremma Toscana (Italy). The following types of knowledge are investigated: local and scientific food knowledge, tourism knowledge, local and global managerial and political knowledge. The results from the case study indicate that scientific food knowledge and global managerial and political knowledge are particularly important in Lofoten. These types of knowledge are identified as the strengths on which a form of gourmet food tourism could develop. In Maremma Toscana, local food knowledge and local managerial and political knowledge are identified as the basis of the development of a generic form of food tourism. It is concluded that food tourism development requires different types of knowledge and their role is strictly dependent on the specific context. Any policy regarding food tourism should be based on the peculiarities of the specific terroir. Further research is required to investigate the tacit dimension of knowledge and those factors that can favour the establishment of global knowledge-based networks.     

Pictures and prose: exploring the impact of literary and film tourism

While literary tourism has a long history traceable back to the seventeenth century, the considerable growth of interest and popularity in literary tourism research among academics and the tourism industry has been recognised only since the mid-1990s [Hebert, D. T. (1996). Artistic and literary places in France as tourist attractions. Tourism Management, 17(2), 77–85]; [Squire, S. J. (1993). Valuing countryside: Re?ections on Beatrix Potter tourism. Area, 24, 5–10]; [Squire, S. J. (1994). The cultural values of literary tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 21, 103–120]. With this in mind, this paper aims to investigate how tourism stakeholders can take advantage of the positive promotional impacts that a book and film linkage can have on specific destinations. It also examines how tourism patterns and trends in these destinations have been subsequently influenced and transformed. Within an exploratory case study mode, special emphasis will be placed on two international case studies (Ireland and Indonesia – in particular Bali) which have been associated with internationally recognised books and their subsequent blockbuster films. The findings suggest that both literary and film tourism have a positive effect on these destinations due to an increased growth in their tourism arrivals once the location was referred to in a book and afterwards used as the setting in the related film. This paper will add to the current knowledge base on film and literary tourism and create an awareness of the strength of this form of tourism for international tourism destinations.     

Indigenous Tourism Policy in Australia: 25 Years of Rhetoric and Economic Rationalism

Successive Australian federal and State governments have produced tourism policies to facilitate the development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander [ATSI] tourism. However, the effectiveness and appropriateness of these policies has been questioned. This paper describes a qualitative study examining federal and Queensland State governments' ATSI tourism policies during the period 1975 to 1999. Three main findings of the study were: (1) ATSI tourism policies are published in an ad hoc manner and appear to be related to a reactive approach by governments to broader ATSI social and economic issues; (2) economic concerns dominate ATSI tourism policies and emphasise the commodification of indigenous tourism; and (3) policies are strongly reflective of an economic-rationalist ideology. The study concludes that the emphasis on economic rationalism assists Australian tourism enterprises to be internationally competitive but may create undesirable consequences for indigenous tourism stakeholders.     

Impacts of the Global Economic Crisis on Cyprus Tourism and Policy Responses

This study examines the impacts of the global economic crisis on Cyprus tourism and the pertinent policy responses. A qualitative approach was adopted by conducting eight semi‐structured interviews with tourism authorities and suppliers/professionals. Findings indicated the main impacts of the crisis on Cypriot tourism: lack of competitiveness, decreased visitation/revenues, inadequate quality and escalated pricing. Furthermore, findings identify three types of policy measures: (i) immediate response measures; (ii) foreign investment in tourism; and (iii) diversification of the tourism product and quality improvement. The study highlights the need for Cyprus to develop a comprehensive tourism planning framework. It is suggested that crisis plans of small island states should be developed upon a holistic framework that leverages their destination capitals. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Asian Tourism and the Financial Indonesia and Thailand Compared

The paperuses the examples of Indonesia and Thailand to illustrate the impacts of the financial crisis on tourism in Southeast Asia. The countries are compared with regard to their stage of development as tourist destinations, the implications of the crisis and responsesmade to it. Thailand is seen as having withstood the period of turmoil more successfully than Indonesia because of its strong image, good infrastructure and aggressive marketing while Indonesia has had to face additional problems of social and political instability. However, the situation needs to be monitored over a longer period of time until the crisis is finally resolved before any final conclusions can be derived about its consequences and the effectiveness of attempts at management.     

Institutional Factors Influencing the Size and Structure of Tourism: Comparing Dalarna (Sweden) and Maine (USA)

This paper explains why neither Maine, USA's comparatively laissez faire economic and land use institutions, nor Dalarna, Sweden's more heavily regulated economy, seems well designed to make tourism a powerful economic development engine. The paper focuses on three clusters of institutions that have a major influence on tourism's scale, economic structure, and long-term sustainability. Labour laws and labour market institutions are important determinants of tourism employment, job quality, product mix, production methods, and regional competitiveness. Land ownership and property rights influence both the incentives facing landowners, tourists, and tourism businesses and stresses on ecosystem carrying capacity. Commodity taxes affect the absolute and relative prices of various tourist services and, via feedback effects on demand, influence tourism's aggregate scale, activity mix and transportation/location patterns. The paper employs institutional contrasts between Dalarna and Maine to frame hypotheses that will guide a larger comparative study of sustainable tourism in forest regions. Perhaps most controversially, we hypothesise that Sweden's venerable right of common access (allemansrätten), as currently implemented, impedes sustainable tourism development. An appendix sketches the current state of tourism in the two regions.     

Responsibilities,recession and the tourism sector: perspectives on CSR among low-fares airlines during the economic downturn in the UK

Responsibility has featured prominently in recent discussions about tourism governance. Nevertheless, research into corporate social responsibility (CSR) among travel and tourism businesses is at a relatively early stage. This paper reports on external stakeholders' perceptions of CSR among low-fares airlines (LFAs) in peripheral regions of the UK in late 2008; that is, during the current global economic downturn. LFAs, their business plans and their ability to contribute towards sustainable development have been the source of much public discourse and media scrutiny in the last decade. This paper does not set out to reopen that debate per se. Rather, it contributes to a deeper understanding of CSR in the tourism sector by arguing for a more nuanced approach to external stakeholders, one which is also informed by primary empirical research from qualitative sources, and which is conceptually informed by the latest thinking from other sectors of economic activity. Important inter-regional variations exist in external stakeholders' perceptions and valorisations of CSR, they are context-specific, and they are not static as their responses to the recent downturn reveal.     

Tourism and development challenges in the least developed countries: the case of The Gambia

Despite some recognition of the role of destination marketing organisations (DMOs) in crisis management, limited attention has focused on the role of DMOs in crisis events, and in particular their role in managing knowledge across diverse stakeholder groups and domains. This theoretical paper attempts to address this deficiency by synthesising knowledge management and tourism crisis management literature, to outline the potential role of DMOs in managing knowledge across boundaries during crises. Carlile's [(2004). Transferring, translating, and transforming: An integrative framework for managing knowledge across boundaries. Organization Science, 15(5), 555–568] work on boundary spanning is used to consider potential organisational and management issues for DMOs dealing with crisis events and how they should be managed. This paper argues that because of the role and nature of DMOs, they should play an important role as knowledge spanners/brokers to transfer, translate and transform knowledge to stakeholders. The paper concludes with future research avenues related to knowledge management, DMOs and crises.     

If nearly all Airbnb reviews are positive,does that make them meaningless?

Peer-to-peer business models rely on interpersonal communication for their success. In this article, we focus on Airbnb – an exemplar of the so-called ‘sharing economy’ – and more specifically, on Airbnb’s reciprocal reviewing system, which enables both hosts and guests to review one another. Our study takes a computer-assisted, qualitative approach to explore linguistic patterns of evaluation in Airbnb reviews. Our findings indicate that Airbnb reviews tend to comprise a very restricted set of linguistic resources, establishing the site’s norm of highly positive commentary, which in turn makes Airbnb reviews, on the surface, appear to be quite similar to one another. However, a micro-analytic comparison of positive reviews reveals that less-than-positive experiences are sometimes communicated using more nuanced, subtle cues. This study contributes to existing literature on electronic word of mouth in the tourism industry by highlighting how evaluation is communicated, while simultaneously responding to hospitality scholars’ calls for analyses which extend beyond the star ratings and also take into account consumers’ constructions of experience in the review texts themselves.     

Progress on outbound tourism expenditure research: A review

ABSTRACT

This study aims to identify how the paradigm of outbound tourism expenditure (OTE) research transforms from economic to social concern. It also explicates the evolution of OTE from an advocacy platform to a sustainability platform. This study adopts a hybrid of narrative and systematic reviews to study OTE as a complex social phenomenon. This hybrid review is complemented by a thematic review and semantic network analysis on gaps and future directions of relevant studies. The results reveal that the paradigm of OTE research is directed from economic toward social thinking. This study proposes an application of socially related antecedent configurations, social theories, pragmatic methods, and various scales of study contexts as promising solutions to address the complexity and heterogeneity of OTE. The study concludes that the conceptual structure of OTE is premised on a sustainability platform, which is influenced by socio-cultural, environmental, economic, and political issues. This study provides a road map that enlightens the current state of OTE, prevailing topics, and pathways for further research.     

Tourism development and economic growth: a panel Granger causality analysis in the frequency domain

In this paper, we test the causal relationship between economic growth and tourism development in the 1995–2012 period using recently developed panel Granger causality tests that allow for country-level heterogeneity, thus leading to more accurate results for the 12 Mediterranean countries. Although results of the Dumitrescu and Hurlin [(2012) testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels. Economic Modelling, 29(4), 1450–1460] panel Granger causality test show a unidirectional causality from tourism development to economic growth, results of the Croux and Reusens [(2013). Do stock prices contain predictive power for the future economic activity? A Granger causality analysis in the frequency domain. Journal of Macroeconomics, 35, 93–103] panel Granger causality analysis in the frequency domain show that there is a bidirectional temporary and permanent causality between tourism development and economic growth. The bidirectional causality relationship between tourism development and economic growth, which is the main finding of this study, suggests that in order to achieve high economic growth, policy-makers should focus on developing the tourism sector.     

Paradoxical effects of tourism ethnocentrism on domestic tourism: The moderating effect of pandemic anxiety travel

This research findings to study the impact of socio-psychological, economic, and political antecedents on tourism and to study the relationship among tourism ethnocentrism (TE), civilized tourism behavioral intention, willingness to visit, and electronic-word of mouth. Also, it examines the moderating role of pandemic anxiety variables. The results show that American socio-psychological and political antecedents are factors that directly affect TE and have a significant effect on travelers who are insecure about traveling due to the pandemic. Travelers affected by socio-psychological and political antecedents were found to have higher TE and higher travel anxiety due to the pandemic. Therefore, this study suggests the need to strengthen people's patriotism and pride in their country to activate domestic tourism, which should be used as a tourism marketing material to promote domestic travel post-pandemic.