‘It is better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission’: tourism development in an unregulated town

This study describes the state of a Costa Rican community as it is affected by tourism development. It suggests reasons for the current state of affairs and offers potential solutions to remedy this town's issues. By gathering data on location through the use of interviews with business owners, the issue of individual development versus community development is exposed. It provides a glimpse into the concept of group dynamics and collective action (or the lack of it), and offers some understanding about collective development in unregulated communities. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coping with second home tourism: responses and strategies of private and public service providers in western Sweden

Second homes have increasingly gained academic attention, not least within tourism research. Nevertheless, most studies have addressed the topic from the perspective of the second home owners, highlighting issues such as motivation for second home ownership, use patterns, geographical location, and meanings of second homes. Even the impacts of second homes have mainly been addressed as the accumulated outcome of their owners’ decisions. Hence, second homes have mainly been conceptualized as personal/family projects. Relatively little research has been done on the ways local communities cope with second home tourism. This is the departure point for this paper, with the purpose of analysing coping strategies among public and private stakeholders regarding second home tourism. It is argued that communities have various ways of coping, ranging from resistance to resource utilization. The proposed conceptual framework is empirically applied to the case of the Swedish West Coast. In an interview survey of public and private service providers, different strategies are identified. The results of the survey indicate that second home owners are increasingly seized on as a resource that can be utilized for business development. Ultimately, institutional preconditions imply that second homes remain a challenge for local municipalities.     

Local stakeholders,role and tourism development

Building sustainable communities, as well as sustainable forms of livelihood, including tourism, has been a key objective among many government agencies and community stakeholders. Against this background, and through the lens of role theory, the present study investigates the potential for sustainable tourism to be developed in a rural community. Data were gathered among business owners and residents of Bridgetown, Western Australia. Four key groups of participants emerged, each emphasizing participants' role as community, and therefore, as tourism stakeholders. Alignment with various perspectives of role theory, including functional, “symbolic interactionist”, structural and cognitive was noticed; similarly, consensus, conformity and role taking were identified as key concepts. Whether currently involved in tourism or not, participants' pro-active role suggesting practical ways to enhance the sustainability of local tourism could be a powerful tool in this and other communities seeking to build their destination image.     

The effects of tourists’ knowledge-sharing motivation on online tourist community loyalty: the moderating role of ambient stimuli

This study explores the role of tourists’ knowledge-sharing motivation in the formation of online community loyalty. More specifically, the study examines (1) the theoretical relationships between five factors influencing knowledge-sharing motivation, knowledge contributions (KNC), knowledge-sharing continuance intentions (KCI), and community promotion (COP) and (2) the moderating effects of ambient stimuli on the relationship between KNC and KCI and on that between KNC and COP. For valid respondents, a convenience sample of online travel community members was obtained using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Hence, a total of 410 responses were employed to test the research hypotheses through a structural equation modelling analysis and a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses. The results show that four factors influencing knowledge-sharing motivation, namely altruism, expected reciprocal benefits, reputation, and trust, had positive effects on KNO. KNO had positive effects on KCI and COP, and KCI had a positive effect on COP. In addition, a positive group perception moderated the KNC–KCI and KNC–COP relationships.     

Motivation and personality traits for choosing religious tourism. A research on the case of Medjugorje

Religion has long been a primary motivation for journeys and it is considered the oldest non-economic reason for travelling. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons tourists choose to travel to sacred sites, with the specific aim of discovering relationships between personality traits and motivations for religious travel. Participating in the research were 679 Italian travellers to Medjugorje sanctuary, who completed the travel motivation scale and big five questionnaire. The results show that motivation is focused prevalently on the need for discovery in men and socialisation in women. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that personality traits are predictive of motivation factors differently for males and females.     

Forays into the backstage: volunteer tourism and the pursuit of object authenticity

Volunteer tourism is a form of travel that combines traditional leisure pursuits with opportunities to volunteer in an organized fashion. The popularity of volunteer tourism stems from many factors, but the one motivation that appears in virtually every study is a desire for object authenticity, defined as the authenticity of toured objects, people, and settings. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role played by object authenticity in the motivations and experiences of volunteer tourists in the province of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Based on interviews with 62 volunteers and 15 directors, managers, and staff members from volunteer tourism organizations based in Chiang Mai, this paper argues that volunteer tourists conceive of object authenticity both as a package of cultural stereotypes focused on authentic people, and as authentic backstage settings where ‘real’ Thai reside. Aside from demonstrating that the desire for object authenticity is the central motivation for international volunteers in northern Thailand, this study indicates that the pursuit of object authenticity is complicated by language barriers, the potential staging of authenticity on the part of locals, and the need to balance familiarity with alterity in the carefully selected ‘voluntourscapes’ in which volunteer tourism takes place.     

Rural Tourism Partnerships and Actor Mobility

In this paper, I examine actor mobility within the context of rural tourism partnerships (RTPs). The term ‘actor’ refers to those who have a stake in tourism planning, promotion and development such as policy makers, businesses, non‐profit making sector and community groups. Mobility is embedded in personal and social histories of actors as well as the policy framework that impacts their daily lives and informs their motives for being (dis)associated with RTPs. While exploring how actors' journeys transform rural localities' socio‐economic fabric, I find the writings of Lefebvre and de Certeau particularly useful because of their focus on counter‐hegemonic practices that shape the ‘everyday life’. Given that most rural societies in current times comprise an intricate mix of long‐term residents, seasonal‐home owners and migrants, each with their distinct set of life stories and value preferences with regard to their place of dwelling, my thrust in this paper on actor mobility is likely to identify new areas of future research on RTPs. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

京沪高铁运营效益研究

京沪高铁开通运营以来,客运量持续增长,运输收入快速递增,并作为优质资产在2020年成功上市,成为中国高铁运营管理的标杆。采用财务分析和项目评价等实证分析方法,对京沪高铁运营十年以来的运输绩效进行研究,剖析京沪高铁公司快速盈利的原因,并对未来京沪高铁运营效益前景进行展望。     

Tourism: a sacred journey? The case of ashram tourism,India

Religious tourism — tourism that is motivated by faith or religious reasons — has been in evidence for centuries. In more recent times, however, it has been suggested that modern tourism has become the functional and symbolic equivalent of more traditional religious practices, such as festivals and pilgrimages. In other words, it is claimed by some that tourism is a sacred journey. To date, however, little work has been undertaken to explore this position; the purpose of this paper, therefore, is to contribute to this debate. Based on an exploratory study, it considers the motivations and experiences of Western tourists visiting the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and the nearby utopian township of Auroville in Pondicherry, south east India. It identifies two principal groups of visitors, namely ‘permanent tourists’ who have immersed themselves indefinitely in a spiritual ‘Other’, and temporary visitors. The latter are categorised into sub‐groups which point to a variety of spiritual and non‐spiritual motives. The paper concludes that there is a continuum of spirituality inherent in tourism, though this is related to tourists' experience rather than initial motivation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Not just surviving,but thriving: perceived strengths of successful US‐based travel agencies

In‐depth interviews with owners of 19 exceptionally successful US‐based travel agencies were analyzed using a ground theory approach to reveal customer service excellence, employee enrichment and effective networking as three core perceived strengths that comprise a theme of ‘relationship building’. The latter is supported by a theme of ‘facilitation’ entailing diligent client selection, a culture of learning, high adaptability (related to technology and product realignment), scale, adherence to business basics, and owner optimism. Together, both themes suggest a macro‐theme of ‘deep commitment’. The results provide guidelines for aspiring travel agency owners. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adventure tourist destination choice in Tanzania

It is said an adventure is an experience and experience is a part of expectations. Yet as adventure tourists expect unique experiences, certain ingredients of services (degree of satisfaction) affect their deeper needs to become attached to a place. Are such needs developed over time at a new destination? This paper suggests tourist behaviours and preferences towards destination choice change over time. The proposed model suggests that tourists’ expectations and motivation at early stages of planning affect satisfaction and level of perceived constraints, and these further predict place identity and dependence at the end of travel. As much as satisfaction arises from concrete services such as food and transportation services, constrained activities are expected to have a negativeconsequence on expectations and motivations. Since this paper is based on international adventure tourists, typically willing to take on calculated risks during their visits to Tanzania, we expect many of these hypothesised gaps to diminish as tourists become mature and aware of services offered at the destination. To test awareness and familiarity, we add different proxies for maturity (i.e. late stage of stay, repeat visitors and loyalty intentions) and awareness (i.e. tourists with escape motives) of services provided at the specific destination.     

The privatisation of Australia’s airports

When the Federal Airports Corporation (FAC) was formed in 1988, administration of Australia’s major airports passed from a Government department to a corporatised entity. The FAC improved the performance of the airports sector and it broadened the revenue base through commercial and property development. By 1994, however, policy thinking shifted in favour of privatisation. So far, the Government has sold 17 of the FAC’s 22 airports and it has received US$2.6 billion (1998/99 values). Four of the remaining airports are in the Sydney region where there are on-going debates about an appropriate site for a second major airport.The paper describes the sales processes and presents details about the new owners, the commitments they have entered into, and the regulatory system that has been established for the post-privatisation era. Price-capping arrangements have been put into place for the major airports, but Australia also introduced legislation to ensure there is competitive access to essential infrastructure. It is too early to assess the performance of the new owners and to see how the interaction between access regulation and price capping is managed, but this paper documents the pre-privatisation situation to assist future researchers.     

Travelling to the Ancestral Homelands: The Aspirations and Experiences of a UK Caribbean Community

This paper is based on an ethnographic study of the Caribbean community of Moss Side, Manchester (UK). Its aim is to reveal, interpret and analyse the personal meanings which members of the community attach to visiting the ancestral homeland in the Caribbean. This form of travel is defined in terms of 'ethnic reunion', which involves travelling for the purpose of visiting friends and relatives and/or searching for one's cultural roots. The study, which is based on an interpretive analysis of a range of ethnographic material, initially examines the reasons why first- and second-generation Caribbeans wish to participate in the 'homeland experience', and then illustrates ways in which they reconstruct an identity of themselves through their travel perceptions and experiences. The latter part of the paper discusses how people's travel encounters serve to illustrate how ethnic differences and boundaries between groups are constructed and/or reconstructed. It is argued that established perspectives of tourism motivation and behaviour do not fully account for the role of ethnicity as a significant variable in influencing specific forms of travel. The conclusion asserts that ethnic reunion should be conceptually viewed as a distinct form of 'travel', socioculturally dissimilar to conventional forms of 'tourism'.     

Literary enthusiasts as visitors and volunteers

Previous studies of literary tourism have investigated visitor perceptions and responses to literary heritage, concluding that literary attractions and landscapes attract both the generalist heritage visitor and a niche segment of highly motivated ‘literary pilgrims’. Volunteers are increasingly significant within the heritage sector and this paper draws on research with managers and volunteer staff at a sample of literary heritage attractions in the UK. Although the literary properties and figures play a minimal role in the motivations of volunteers, many derive significant rewards from the literary aspects of the sites. In parallel with literary pilgrims, for a core of literary enthusiast volunteers, the literary figure is the primary motivation and reward. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The opening of direct flights across the Taiwan Strait: the impact on the global role of Taiwan’s international airport

Scheduled direct flights between Taiwan and Mainland China were halted for six decades and restarted in December 2008. The Taiwan’s government has a policy of developing Taoyuan International Airport (TPE), the major international airport in Taiwan, as one of main hubs in East Asia, based on the airport’s access to Mainland China. To assess whether the airport is progressing toward meeting the set expectation, this study evaluates the changes in airline networks of the TPE after the opening of direct flights across the Taiwan Strait. The time-dependent earliest arrival time algorithm is applied to global flights in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Empirical evidence demonstrates that providing direct flights across the Taiwan Strait has significantly increased accessibility from TPE to airports in China, but did not improve the centrality of TPE. Additionally, the transfer dependency of TPE on other airports is increasing significantly. This result was based on two major reasons: the first involves the Chinese government’s refusal to allow Chinese citizens to use airports in Taiwan as transfer points to and from other countries and the second reflects the competitiveness among airports and airlines in the region. The key finding is that political exclusion of airline use by external governments via travel regulations adversely influences the development of an airport as a global hub.     

Human resources development and sustainability — the case of Indian tourism

The goal of sustainability oriented tourism development requires a number of human resources development (HRD) strategies aimed at the tourism industry personnel, host community and the tourists, and underpinned by concepts and practices of sustainability. Sustainability based ‘work culture’, ‘professional ethics’ and operational practices are basic to sustainability in tourism. Indian tourism, despite its immense potential, has seen tardy development, and shortcomings in the HRD domain have been one of the reasons for this below par performance. This paper suggests a comprehensive and strategic approach to HRD, catering to the training and education needs of Indian tourism at various levels for the major target groups. The paper also identifies the pressing issues confronting HRD in Indian tourism and potential strategies to address them within the context of sustainability. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nostalgia,Identity and Tourism: Bollywood in the Indian Diaspora

In today's global world of movement our personal identities are changing. So, ‘where is my “home”?’ and ‘what is my “identity”?’ have become essential questions in one's life. In recent times, more and more diasporic communities visit their homelands, perhaps to reroot their identities. This study explored the influence of Bollywood movies in the Indian diaspora's identity construction and notions of home and tourism behaviour to India. Findings revealed that the Indian diaspora's imagination of India is strongly informed by Bollywood movies. Yet, different generations of the Indian diaspora have different reasons for travelling to India. The first generation's nostalgia arises from watching Bollywood movies, and as a result, creates a motivation to travel to India. The second generation's main to travel behaviour to India is to experience the new ‘modern’ country, portrayed in the affluent surroundings of contemporary Bollywood movies. And, for those first generations, who have never seen India before, Bollywood movies enable them to romanticise their homeland and create an urge to visit India. Thus, Bollywood movies have immense importance in the Indian diaspora's identity construction, promote diaspora tourism and constitute a huge opportunity for economic development.     

Is tourism employment a sufficient mechanism for poverty reduction? A case study from Nkhata Bay,Malawi

Extensive attention has been paid to the magnitude and distribution of economic benefits derived from tourism employment by impoverished populations. However, less is known about how economic benefits, such as increased income, relate to poverty conditions at the intra-household level, particularly within the unique contexts of least developed countries. In this paper, we examine the relationship of tourism employment to poverty conditions in a lakeshore community in Malawi. First, we quantitatively compare employment and poverty conditions among the households of tourism employees with those of employees of non-tourism sectors. Secondly, we undertake a qualitative investigation into lodge employment, and its remuneration and fringe benefits from the perspectives of lodge owners and employees. Our findings of the former analysis reveal that while employees of the tourism sector experienced better working and monetary conditions, this group did not exhibit an improved status in other poverty conditions. The latter qualitative analysis shows that most tourism lodge owners adhered to labour standards of minimum wage, and voluntarily offered fringe benefits such as paying medical, funeral, and education expenses of lodge employees. However, despite this adherence to labour standards, there is little evidence that lodge employees and their households experience an improvement in poverty conditions.     

Understanding differences in residential location preferences between ownership and renting: A case study of London

This study aims to investigate the similarities and differences between residential location choices of owners and renters. The models are estimated for commuter households living in owned or privately rented dwellings in the Greater London Area. The London Household Survey Data, Ward Atlas Data and the London Transport Studies Model outputs are used in this regard. Model parameters are estimated using an error components specification of the mixed logit model to capture differences in error variance. Willingness to Pay (WTP) and elasticity analyses are also performed for interpretation of the estimated model parameters and quantifying the differences between the two groups. The results indicate that while some common factors are affecting the choices of owners and renters, there are significant differences in response to several factors such as public transport accessibility (for ‘car-owning’ households) and percentage of detached houses in the area. Accounting for preference heterogeneity between the sub-groups is expected to lead to better planning and investment decisions.