Industry convergence in rural tourism development: a China-featured term or a new initiative?

ABSTRACT

Industry convergence is a popular term that has been widely referenced in the context of rural tourism development in China. All levels of government (local, regional, national) in China have repeatedly addressed the significance of industry convergence in their tourism plans and related policies. Despite its popularity, limited studies at present have explored this concept in-depth. Using Huai’an as a case, this study applied a path analysis and reported the industry convergence process in a destination. The findings of this study can provide both theoretical and practical implications that are useful for tourism planners and policy makers.     

Euston station redevelopment: Regeneration or gentrification?

The redevelopment of railways stations and their surrounding neighbourhoods offers many opportunities in terms of regeneration, yet there are also concerns over the potential gentrification of areas and displacement of the existing population and local businesses. The most prominent voice on these issues is typically from the project promoter, reflecting their position of power in the decision-making process, but there are other voices to be understood, including varied views from the local community.This paper uses Q methodology to develop discourses associated with the proposed High Speed Two project and redevelopment of Euston station and the surrounding neighbourhoods. 28 in-depth surveys are used with local residents, local employees, politicians, local government officers and academics, covering attitudes to the proposed Euston redevelopment. The Q method analysis highlights three major discourses: the ‘Community Activist’, the ‘Rail Promoter’, and the ‘Optimistic Practitioner’. Understanding these different discourses, and their components, is important for decision-makers in ensuring that investment strategies can better reflect the different viewpoints evident in the public domain. Ultimately, this can help to improve the social consequences of transport investment.     

Making plans or “just thinking about the trip”? Understanding people’s travel planning in practice

ICT solutions have been proposed as a means for changing environmentally unfavourable traffic behaviour by providing better, real-time and more accessible travel information. However, prevailing models of travel choice and travel behaviour tend to overemphasise the impact and importance of information and the individualistic perspective. The issue of choice and travel planning in everyday life situations, and how information is used and acted on in these processes, was examined in a qualitative study in Stockholm, Sweden. Practice Theory was used as the theoretical framework for the study. Interviews were supplemented with an explorative diary and photo assignment to bring unreflected choices and actions of planning travel to the conscious level.The results showed that travel planning involves the immediate situation where planning and decisions are made, but also aspirations, cognitive/time/material limitations, social norms and social relations that extend widely in time and space. Definitions of travel planning and travel information based on the situated practices of planning are suggested. In the muddle of everyday life, travel planning takes place in the brief moments where circumstances at different levels – time, place, the social realm - interact and are considered or directly acted upon. In the development of new ICT-based travel information services, the role of technology in changing normal practices should be considered.     

Mobility or mobilities: Terrestrial, virtual and aerial categories or entities?

This article attempts to assess the three leading categories of mobility: terrestrial, virtual and aerial, in order to see whether they constitute categories of a single entity of mobility, or alternatively, they constitute three distinct entities of mobility. This exercise is of significance because of the tendency to refer to ‘mobility’ in a rather general sense. Coping with this question, we will, first, put it within a review of relevant concepts and structures. Then, we will elaborate on the distinct features of each of the three mobility categories through their comparison, highlighting mainly differences among them. This will be followed by a presentation of a somehow opposite perspective through the examination of convergences among the three categories of mobility. These two discussions will lead us to view mobility as one single entity consisting of three categories, since all the three categories are IT-based and IT-dependent, and given that they all share a similar model of mobility cycles for both moving people and mobility systems. Using this approach we will compare terrestrial public and personal mobilities, as well as aerial and virtual mobilities, followed by a discussion on implications of a single general mobility model.     

Carless in California: Green choice or misery?

Approximately 1 million Californian households do not own a motor vehicle (hereafter a “car”). These households, who are often forgotten in transportation policy discussions, can be organized into two groups based on whether they are voluntarily carless or not. Understanding why some households decide to voluntarily forgo cars could inform policies aiming at reducing our dependency on cars. Understanding the plight of households who are not able to own a car is no less important as these households are at greater risk of social exclusion. Unfortunately, our knowledge of carless households is still sketchy so the purpose of this paper is to start filling this gap. We analyze data from the 2012 California Household Travel Survey using univariate tests and Generalized Structural Equation Models (GSEM) that account for residential self-selection to assess the impacts of various socio-economic and built environment variables on the likelihood to be carless, voluntarily or not. Our results (GSEM Model 1) indicate that carless households are more likely to have less education, a lower income, and a smaller number of members than motorized families. They also tend to live in denser, more land-use diverse, and more walkable areas with better transit coverage. Contrasting voluntarily and involuntarily carless households (GSEM Model 3), we find that involuntarily carless households are less affluent on average and they tend to live in areas that are less land-use diverse, less walkable, and with worse transit coverage. Finally, although residential self-selection is present, its impacts are minor.     

Global air travel: toward concentration or dispersal?

The geography of airline passenger movement through the major cities of the world has changed between 1990 and 2000. The change has been at the expense of the very large global cities and major hubs in favour of a group of next largest cities. It has been detected by comparing the shares of total passenger movement through cities in two separate ways, and by exploring changes in the connectivity between cities over a similar time period. The new pattern reflects the use of new aircraft technology, changes in the location of demand for air travel associated with a broadening in the global linkages between cities, new regulatory arrangements and airline corporate strategies. The implications are that the pressures for airport planning will be felt in a new set of cities, although because the share of passenger traffic through the very large global cities is still high they will remain a major focus for airport planning and management action in the immediate future.     

Third-party remanufacturing mode selection: Outsourcing or authorization?

Many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) allow third-party remanufacturers (3PRs) to perform remanufacturing operations of branded or patented products – through either outsourcing or authorization. This study compares these two modes by modeling the game between the OEM and the 3PR on equilibrium quantities, prices, and profits. The results suggest that when consumers perceive the remanufactured products with a low value, the 3PR prefers the authorization approach; otherwise the 3PR prefers the outsourcing approach. However, in both scenarios, the OEM obtains higher profit through outsourcing than through authorization. Our further analysis compares two modes’ impacts on consumer surplus, social welfare, and environment.     

Alternative railway futures: growth and/or specialisation?

Recent centuries have seen a succession of transport technologies, each offering improvements in speed, carrying capacity and/or operational flexibility. Having overcome many physical barriers to freedom of movement, humanity now faces two major, related challenges: dwindling reserves of fossil fuels, and anthropogenic climate change. In these circumstances, rail transport has significant potential advantages over the more energy-intensive modes of road and air.Railways dominated 19th century land transport, peaking in importance in the early 1900s. Market share then declined in the face of competition from road transport and aviation, although rail retained significant passenger and freight transport roles. Major improvements in railway operating efficiency were introduced later in the 20th century, including: the switch from steam to diesel and electric traction; containerisation and focus on long-haul, unit-train freight operations; and the development of high-speed passenger rail services in Japan and Europe, enabling rail to compete successfully with air travel over distances of up to 800 km.The UK Government’s Foresight Programme commissioned a report entitled Intelligent Infrastructure Futures, for which four scenarios were developed of how society might be in 2055. These scenarios are: ‘Perpetual Motion’, ‘Urban Colonies’, ‘Tribal Trading’ and ‘Good Intentions’, each having its own implications for the future of transport. This paper considers the implications of each scenario, and of the underlying/overriding issues of peak oil and climate change, for the possible role and significance of rail transport in meeting our transport needs in the mid-21st century and beyond.     

Scottish visitor attractions: a collaborative future?

Although interorganisational collaboration is increasingly being accepted as a necessary, even desirable strategy for the tourism industry as a whole, there would appear to be a number of impediments to the implementation of collaborative initiatives among operators of visitor attractions. This paper focuses on the visitor attractions sector in Scotland, where such impediments are considered to be particularly serious. For a number of reasons, however, collaboration may represent a crucial strategy for visitor attractions in Scotland as they enter the new millennium. This paper sets out to assess the potential for intrasectoral, interorganisational collaborative strategies in enhancing the long‐term viability of the Scottish visitor attractions sector. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strategic responses by European airlines to the Covid-19 pandemic: A soft landing or a turbulent ride?

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically affected the aviation industry. This paper investigates how 20 European airlines communicated their crisis messages during the pandemic by employing Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) to airline responses. This qualitative study consisting of a systematic review and content analysis, examined 7237 messages from social media channels and press releases posted between December 1, 2019, and May 25, 2020, when the crisis unfolded worldwide. The results indicate that the airlines primarily emphasized instructing and adjusting crisis communication strategies. Further, Twitter replaced Facebook as the primary communication channel. This study provides insights on how airlines can and should communicate crisis-related messages amidst a severe pandemic. The study concludes with the implications of these findings and recommendations for airline stakeholders moving forward.     

Congestion pricing's conditional promise: promotion of accessibility or mobility?

The derived nature of transportation demand implies that enhancement of mobility per se is not a reasonable goal for transportation policy; instead, improved mobility is desired to the extent that it furthers accessibility—a goal that can be achieved through a variety of measures. The paper uses the mobility–accessibility distinction to distinguish different implementations of congestion pricing. A mobility-based congestion pricing promises to alleviate congestion but threatens to deteriorate from overall regional accessibility as it accelerates metropolitan deconcentration. In contrast, accessibility-based congestion pricing avoids acceleration of sprawl by incorporating policies to ensure that drivers tolled off roads are replaced with residents and travelers arriving at previously congested areas by other means.     

Pets at ecotourism destinations: cute mascot or trojan horse?

Alien species are threatening native fauna worldwide and cats and dogs have well-documented deleterious impacts on wildlife. Ecotourism operators often live and raise their pets in natural reserves. Here we discuss how pets add to the list of potential negative impacts of ecotourism and provide recommendations to control or attenuate such impacts.     

Airport slot allocation: a time for change?

The increasing imbalance between airport capacity and traffic resulted in exceptional congestion and delays drawing the attention of aviation policy makers towards airport demand management for the allocation of scarce airport slots. Attempts to bring forward airport demand management measures in the form of airport slot allocation were not widely adopted and have not flourished in practice. This paper aims: (i) to apply a methodological framework for the selection of the most suitable slot allocation strategy for various types of airports, (ii) to explore potential impacts such that measures or strategies can bring about, and (iii) to assess the suitability of the existing airport pricing scheme and the potential implementation of a new policy regime aiming to bridge the gap between growing traffic and scarce airport capacity.     

Crocodiles and grey nomads: a deadly combination?

Increasing numbers of retirees seek individual, extended, unstructured activities in remote, non-commercial locations. Travel is predominantly by self-drive 4WD vehicle towing a caravan/campervan. These ‘grey nomads’ often prefer remote bush camping sites/caravan parks to commercial resorts. The tropics – a popular destination – are inhabited by Australia's only large semi-terrestrial carnivore, the estuarine crocodile Crocodylus porosus. Conservation programmes of recent decades have resulted in a substantial increase in numbers. With naive grey nomads increasingly encroaching on crocodile territory, attacks are expected to increase. Review of conservation programmes to incorporate awareness education targeting grey nomads is therefore required.     

Best practice benchmarking: a route to competitiveness?

This paper examines the use of best practice benchmarking as an approach to performance improvement in the airline industry. The case study draws upon phenomenological evidence from the aircraft maintenance section of Britannia Airways. A range of benchmarking issues, which could be applied to different divisions of an airline are highlighted. In particular, inter disciplinary team building, employee involvement, relationships with other industry players and identification of `best in class'. Airline alliances and the global trend towards economically deregulated air transport are identified as factors likely to increase the adoption of benchmarking as a route to competitiveness.     

The return from travel: a new beginning?

Within the context of the return from long-term travel, this paper uncovers the transitional and at times traumatic nature of return for 24 OE (overseas experience) travellers. Important considerations are raised in respect of easing repatriation distress among those returning from long-term travel. Contributing an understanding of the experience of return from travel, this paper proffers that return to the place one left to travel from does not necessarily mark the end of the journey. Conversely, it can mark a new beginning. As such, we argue that a broader framework for examining the travel experience is called for; notably, one that extends the examination of the travel experience to the return phase and beyond.     

Consequences of logistics sprawl: Order or chaos? - the case of a parcel service company in Paris metropolitan area

Logistics sprawl is the phenomenon driving warehouses and freight terminals further and further away from city centers, for reasons that are mostly dependent on urban planning, field price and economies of scale. In the past, studies have already described logistics sprawl in Paris Metropolitan area. These studies have concluded that logistic facilities far from Paris city center increased the distance travelled, and by extension, CO₂ emissions. This study does not question logistics sprawl in Paris metropolitan area but questions its consequences.This study presents a point of view on the location of cross-docking terminals. One main parcel service carrier was studied through a database strong of 600,000 inputs including pick-ups and deliveries for two months in the Paris metropolitan area. This study is not intended to be representative of all merchandise flows but makes it possible to understand the running of one significant actor. This project aims at determining the optimum terminals location according to two criteria: minimization of the total distance as calculated by the Euclidean distance (as the crow flies) between terminals and points of pick-up/ delivery, and the number of authorized terminals. The number of terminals is modified to study its relationship with the spatial distribution of its clients.Interestingly, we found that optimized locations for this parcel service carrier are located outside of Paris city center. Those locations minimize the total distance to the clients, and thus, are the best places to limit pollution. The reason is that the carrier manages this perimeter through a polycentric organization. Paris Metropolitan area is viewed as several sectors and not as a whole for this carrier. It is therefore unknown how the carrier's performance has evolved over time, but its current organization is close to the optimal situation.     

Managing the Cedars of Lebanon: Botanical Gardens or Living Forests?

Lebanon receives about 750,000 visitors a year, attracted by a diverse tourism portfolio with an increasing emphasis on cultural and ecotourism. It was once covered in cedar forest, with the great trees still acting both as metaphor and brand for the country. Today, there are several areas where cedars may still be seen, the most important being the Chouf Reserve, in the Jabal el Barouk mountains near the Bekaa valley, and the famous cedars of the Quadisha valley in north Lebanon (a World Heritage Site since 1998), near the town of Becharre, the centre of Lebanon's ski industry. This paper examines the management of the isolated grove of giant cedar trees at Becharre which has become a sterile botanical garden, and compares it with the living forests of the Chouf Cedar Reserve. The fundamental question being asked here is whether or not World Heritage designation of this natural resource has had conservation benefits, and if such benefits outweigh diminished experience quality for visitors.     

Who Pays More for a Cultural Festival,Tourists or Locals? A Certainty Analysis of a Contingent Valuation Application

Cultural festivals are one of the most common representations of diversification strategies in tourist demand in cities boasting abundant historical heritage. The goal of this work is to estimate the economic value allocated by tourists and local residents to a classical music festival in the emblematic city of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). The contingent valuation method is used to ascertain whether there are any significant differences between the value declared and to study the sensitivity of the findings in a range of socio‐economic variables. Finally, the problems of hypothetical bias are explored, as are the possible implications for management of pricing policies. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.