Sustainable Tourism Using Regulations,Market Mechanisms and Green Certification: A Case Study of Barbados

Tourist destinations are under market pressure to offer a green product, including the Caribbean, one of the world’s most tourism-dependent regions. A decade after the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States convened in 1994, sustainable tourism remains a priority for Caribbean countries. This paper, using Barbados as a case study, attempts to establish if sustainable tourism policy existed, if so, how was it being implemented, and if not, what were the main areas of weakness. It found that although there was a vacuum in sustainable tourism plans and policies, the government was indirectly influencing sustainable tourism through regulatory mechanisms such as land use and infrastructure planning and market instruments. Additionally, industry was playing its part through voluntary compliance with green certification. There was a clear indication of government-industry cooperation. However, despite these measures and approaches, key infrastructure was inadequate, environmental impact assessments for potentially damaging tourism projects were not required by law and public participation was weak. The paper concludes that there are challenges for Barbados and other similar SIDS in attaining sustainable tourism in the long haul.     

Not quite paradise: Inadequacies of environmental impact assessment in the Maldives

The Maldives, a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), has seen a rapid development of its tourism industry over the last 35 years with visitor numbers rising from 1062 visitors per year in 1972 through to over 600,000 today. Both in popular conception and reality the Maldives relies on its marine life and beaches to sustain a tourism industry that contributes over 30% of total GDP.     

Social media-based analysis of cultural ecosystem services and heritage tourism in a coastal region of Mexico

Understanding spatial patterns of visitation and benefits accrued to different types of natural and cultural heritage tourists may have important implications for the sustainable management of their destinations. We investigate cultural services accrued to local, domestic and international visitors to the Usumacinta floodplain, a coastal region with one of the highest biological and cultural diversities in Mexico. We combine analysis of social media photographs and high-resolution land cover mapping to identify different cultural services and their association with specific ecosystem and land cover types. Hotspots for international tourists are spatially restricted to well-known and accessible sites. Locals are 2.2–2.5 times more likely than international visitors to be associated with aesthetic appreciation and birdwatching. Locals upload more photographs of coastal lagoons, mangroves, beach and sea. Results are analyzed in light of land cover changes in the region and provide valuable information to decision makers for improved tourism management and conservation strategies.     

Global tourism vulnerability to climate change

Climate change will have far-reaching consequence for the future of tourism. A Climate Change Vulnerability Index for Tourism (CVIT) comprised of 27 indicators provides a transparent and systematic first analysis of the differential vulnerability of the tourism sector in 181 countries. Countries with the lowest vulnerability are found in western and northern Europe, central Asia, Canada and New Zealand. High sector vulnerability is found in Africa, Middle East, South Asia and Small Island Developing States. Vulnerability is highest in many countries where tourism represents the largest proportion of GDP and regions where tourism growth is expected to be the strongest over the coming decades. Climate change will pose an increasing barrier to tourism contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals.     

Tourism,Marketing and Sustainable Development in the English National Parks: The Role of National Park Authorities

This paper examines the work of the English National Park Authorities (NPAs) in relation to aspects of the development of sustainable tourism. The NPAs have implicitly sought to achieve sustainable tourism development since the parks were first designated, striving to balance the needs of visitors and the environment within the context of living, working landscapes. Studies have revealed, however, that some NPAs are not fully championing sustainable tourism development. The paper examines the NPA's use of marketing and marketing perspectives in encouraging sustainable tourism, exploring attitudes, roles and activities. A diverse, piecemeal and sometimes underinformed approach is revealed. The paper concludes with ways forward for English NPAs and for other protected area management organisations.     

Backpackers to Fraser Island: Why Is Ecotourism a Neglected Aspect aof Their Experience?

Abstract

This paper discusses the lack of information and training given to backpackers travelling to Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia, on how to behave in the World Heritage environment of the Island. The data are taken from surveys carried out by the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage (DOEH) during 1996-7, and from recent surveys carried out by the Fraser Island Tour Company, Top Tours. The data show that travellers see themselves more as short-term visitors on a “anything goes pass,” rather than as groups who may be more able than most to understand that conservation is required in a fragile environment. As a consequence, some aspects of the environmental management of Fraser Island are made more difficult for the DOEH, and certainly the backpackers themselves do not appear to gain a lot out of the eco- tourism aspects of their experience. To be able to deliver on the promise of environmental management through tourism on Fraser Island the DOEH should not assume fair play on the part of visitors, when these are not given a strong message on the requirements of environmental protection in a world heritage setting. A much more rigorous control mechanism is needed.     

Tourism in sub-global assessments of ecosystem services

Published in 2005, the United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) stressed that influencing governments, businesses and communities to address the supra-national challenge of limiting biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation requires a fuller understanding of the range of values and benefits people derive from ecosystems, including tourism. The MA was informed by, and has shaped, several conceptually and methodologically distinctive sub-global assessments (SGAs) of ecosystem services. Through content analysis, this paper is the first detailed examination of how tourism features in 14 extant SGAs identified in a database held by a major supra-national environmental organization. Although the SGAs should have incorporated the widest range of specialist subject expertise, tourism scholars played only peripheral roles in producing them even for territories where tourism is a significant land use. The SGAs examined did not benefit from the extensive body of knowledge relating to sustainable tourism. Limited portrayals of tourism restrict the capacity of SGAs in their current format as management solutions. It is also contradictory to the ethos, principles and purpose of ecosystem assessments. With the ecosystem services perspective set to become more important to policy and decision making, the paper argues for greater incorporation of recent progress in sustainable tourism in ecosystem assessment.     

The economic impact of tourism in SIDS

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are faced with many challenges to economic development. Tourism is seen as a viable, and sometimes, only means of economic growth. This research compares the economic impact of tourism to seven SIDS. The research employs input output analysis, linkage analysis and a CGE model to assess the macroeconomic and sectoral impacts of increased tourism in these islands. The findings show that the transportation sector remains a key sector. The tourism income multipliers show that tourism generates a large amount of economic activity but the income that remains in the destinations is often very small. The results show that taking advantage of economies of scale maybe a way to maximize the benefits from tourism.     

When wildlife tourism goes wrong: a case study of stakeholder and management issues regarding Dingoes on Fraser Island, Australia

Images on brochures, web pages and postcards lead to an expectation by tourists and visitors that interaction with Dingoes (Canis lupus Dingo) will be part of their Fraser Island experience. Yet, as the number of tourists to the island increase, so do the reports of Dingo attacks. The first recorded death from such an attack on Fraser Island occurred in April 2001, and was immediately followed by a government-ordered cull of Dingoes. This paper explores issues surrounding both this decision and the management strategies implemented afterwards. Based on interviews with a variety of stakeholders, many conflicting perspectives on human–wildlife interaction as a component of tourism are identified. The conclusion is drawn that while strategies for managing Dingoes are essential, if such attacks are a consequence of humans feeding wildlife and resultant wildlife habituation, then strategies for managing people are also necessary for this example of wildlife tourism to be both successful and sustainable.     

Computer Simulation as a Tool for Planning and Management of Visitor Use in Protected Natural Areas

The United Nations Environment Programme’s Principles on Implementation of Sustainable Tourism suggest that implementing sustainable tourism must include monitoring visitor use of protected natural areas and directing it to areas where the environmental and social impacts of tourism are minimised. Thus, sustainable tourism management requires information about the spatial and temporal flow of visitor use in protected natural areas to help identify potential tourism-related threats to the natural and cultural resources of an area and the quality of visitors’ experiences. Recent research has identified at least four ways in which simulation modelling of visitor use can facilitate more informed planning and management of sustainable tourism in protected natural areas, including (1) describing existing visitor use flows; (2) monitoring the condition of ‘hard to measure’ indicator variables; (3) testing the effectiveness of alternative visitor use management practices; and (4) guiding the design of research on public attitudes. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate, using findings from studies conducted in the Inyo National Forest and Isle Royale National Park, USA, each of these four potential contributions of computer simulation to sustainable tourism management and planning. The paper concludes with an assessment of the limitations of existing applications of computer simulation to nature-based tourism and recommendations for future research.     

Social big data informs spatially explicit management options for national parks with high tourism pressures

Nature-based tourism in protected areas is an easily experienced ecosystem service that humans enjoy, but it acts as tourism pressures on ecosystem. Some park managers, however, lack an understanding of the spatial distribution and ecological impact of these pressures. We analyzed the size and spatial distribution of these pressures in Korean national parks, using visitor statistics and social big data. In addition, by overlay it with endangered species distribution data, we analyzed areas where tourism pressures and ecologically significant areas could be conflicted. The tourism pressure differed according to the individual protected areas’ characteristics. Due to the unevenness of the magnitude and spatial distribution of pressures, the ecological impacts could be spatially differentiated. This study suggests that tourism pressure may be a decisive factor affecting protected areas' ecosystems with increased visitors. Using social big data, managers can establish spatially explicit management policies that consider tourism pressures on individual protected areas.     

Financing the sustainable management of Rwanda's protected areas

Rwanda's Nyungwe National Park is a biodiversity hotspot with the most endemic species in the ecoregion and the highest number of threatened species internationally. Nyungwe supplies critical ecosystem services to the Rwandan population including water provisioning and tourism services. Tourism in the Park has strong potential for financing enhanced visitor experiences and the sustainable management of the Park. This paper explores quantitatively the economic impacts of adjustment in Park visitation fees and tourism demand as a source of revenues to improve Park tourism opportunities and ongoing operations and maintenance. The methods developed in this paper are novel in integrating the results of stated preference techniques with a regional computable general equilibrium modelling approach to capture multisectoral, direct, indirect and induced impacts. Such methods have strong potential for assessing revenue generation alternatives in other contexts where park managers are faced with the need to generate additional revenue for sustainable park management while facing diminishing budget allocations. Results of this analysis demonstrate that adjustment of Park fees has a relatively small impact on the regional economy and well-being when compared with a strategy aimed at generating increased tourism demand through investment in improving the visitor experience at Nyungwe National Park.     

皖南古村落可持续旅游发展限制性因素探析

皖南古村落通过发展旅游业带动社会和经济发展，是增强自身能力的现实选择，而只有遵循可持续发展原则，才能真正实现旅游发展与古村落发展的“双赢”。目前，皖南古村落旅游发展中存在一些不利因素，如旅游开发、经营和管理粗放；资源保护、利用与旅游发展关系不协调；旅游发展与社区发展的联系不紧密等，势必限制自身可持续旅游发展的进程。本文尝试在可持续旅游发展原则的指导下，对皖南古村落旅游发展中的一些限制性因素进行分析和总结。     

流域一体化进程中旅游地可持续发展研究框架

流域是相对封闭、自成体系的地理空间,流域旅游是流域可持续开发的重要组成部分。从流域生态系统服务出发分析流域一体化进程中旅游地的可持续发展,以全流域功能和结构转型视角探究旅游地绿色发展的优化策略与调控路径,是适应国内流域经济带建设、提升流域社会福利和发展公平性,促进流域生态安全屏障建设的重要探索。本文分析了流域一体化进程中旅游地发展研究面临的关键问题,结合现有研究基础阐释重点研究主题并构建研究框架。研究认为,流域内旅游地研究正在从点状分析走向网络和面域协同发展,旅游地发展在流域生态补偿、流域产业融合等方面产生的效应越来越明显;外部环境变迁、多要素交互作用下,中国流域一体化进程中的旅游地可持续发展面临的形势迫切,流域内旅游地的供需结构、均衡发展、协同治理均面临挑战;未来应重点关注旅游地时空演化特征、外部环境因素、演化更新机制、时空情境模拟、优化调控路径5个方面,为正确认识流域内旅游地要素交互作用的趋势规律、实现流域内旅游地可持续发展提供科学依据。     

The Effect of Length of Stay on Travelers' Perceived Satisfaction with Service Quality

SUMMARY

Consumer satisfaction related to service quality during the vacation experience is of paramount importance to the travel and tourism industry. This study tests empirically the effects the number of nights spent on a vacation have on the levels of satisfaction recent travelers report for three service aspects of the travel destination: perceived satisfaction with tourism service providers; perceived “freedom from defects” of tourism services; and perceived reasonableness of the cost of tourism services. Differentiation in satisfaction scores between “short-term visitors” (i.e., those who stayed from one to six nights) and “long-term visitors” (i.e., those who stayed seven or more nights) were examined. Significant differences between the two groups of visitors were present for (1) perceived satisfaction with industry professionals delivering the service experience at the travel destination, (2) perceived satisfaction with “freedom from defects” of the actual services at the destination, and (3) perceived reasonableness of the cost of services at the travel destination. Suggestions for how tourism industry professionals can make use of this information are presented.     

From culture shock and culture arrogance to culture exchange: Ideas towards sustainable socio‐cultural tourism1

Ecologically sustainable development has captured the imagination and the serious attention of governments and world business. All too frequently the socio‐cultural component of ecologically sustainable development is given secondary and cursory attention in the planning of industry futures, including the future of tourism. This review paper will argue that empowering visitors, training tourism professionals and educating host communities in the nature of cultural interaction are all necessary activities in order to move from a paradigm of culture shock to one of cultural exchange, and hence ecologically sustainable socio‐cultural development. This paper presents two opposing future scenarios for tourism development, under which key socio‐cultural implications for four groups of participants are outlined. These groups, segmented for the purpose of analysis, are: tourism community professionals; the host community; visitors in general; and visitors who are committed culture seekers. Specific educational, research and human resource development strategies for each of these groups are identified in order to achieve a pro‐active, planned and sustainable model of cultural exchange.     

城市特征对城市游客满意度的影响——基于Probit模型的定量分析

游客满意度是衡量城市旅游发展的重要指标之一,掌握和控制游客满意度的影响因素对城市旅游发展和管理越来越关键。国内外研究综述表明,城市旅游的游客满意度影响因素及其关系的定量研究尚不多见,尤其对城市特征因素的研究。城市特征是城市旅游的必要组成,作为客观因素对游客满意度的影响不言而喻。文章运用文献分析法、问卷调查法和二元Probit离散选择模型计量法,以长沙市477名游客的现场调查数据为基础,对城市特征、个人特征和旅游动机三大变量下10个影响因素与游客满意度之间的假设关系进行检验。研究结果显示,修正后的游客满意度影响因素Probit模型具有统计学意义,6个研究假设得到验证;研究结论表明,城市社会发展水平、城市绿化水平、环境保护水平、旅游资源丰富程度、游客月收入、游客是否主动到访等因素对城市旅游的游客满意度产生显著的正面影响,其中,游客主动到访因素对游客满意度的影响作用最大,城市社会发展水平影响作用最小。研究结论一定程度上有利于促使城市管理者更多关注城市发展与旅游质量,最后,从满意度改善系统、城市要素建设、城市旅游资源开发和游客营销引导等方面提出政策建议。     

Protected areas,conservation and tourism – financing the sustainable dream

Many commentators suggest that tourism could help fund the ever growing number of protected areas. The traditional reliance on government sources to support protected areas is increasingly untenable, in both the developed and developing world. This paper reviews the relationship between tourism and protected areas to assess opportunities for sustainable funding to assure effective stewardship. It explores a range of innovative and creative alternative funding mechanisms which could be consistent with a positive evolving relationship between tourism and protected areas. An outline classification of four protected area archetypes for management and funding purposes is suggested, based on a combination of visitation and biodiversity levels. To service the management of those four types, a series of non-government revenue streams are explored such as payments for ecosystem service (ES), environmental mortgages, intrinsic value funding, carbon abatement funding and research dividend funding. Issues discussed include: the willingness to pay on the part of potential visitors, the potential impact of fees on visitation, “quarantining” particularly valuable ecosystems from visitation and intrinsic value funding, the unpredictability of environmental mortgages and the potential stability of ES payments. Further research is required in data analysis and into the design of land tenure systems and regulatory mechanisms.     

Does ECO certification deliver benefits? An empirical investigation of visitors’ perceptions of the importance of ECO certification's attributes and of operators’ performance

Certification is highlighted as a key sustainable tourism management tool. Yet, very little is known about visitors’ perceptions of such schemes. This is an important gap: the success of certification schemes depends on consumers’ confidence in the quality of products and services that the schemes endorse. This paper surveyed 610 visitors to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and surrounds in Queensland, Australia about (1) the perceived importance of various attributes of the ECO certification scheme; and (2) the perceived performance of operators based on those attributes. Data analysis identified aspects of ECO certification and of operator performance that may need improvement. It found that importance of attributes varied across products and visitor groups; at accommodations, most attributes were perceived to be important, Nature (as an aesthetic experience) and Marketing being more important than others, while at attractions and on tours, visitors were indifferent. Younger visitors rated Environment and Conservation more highly than their older counterparts and females rated Conservation more highly than males. Visitors – notably at accommodations – considered that ECO certified operators were performing “better” than non-ECO certified operators on many attributes. How these visitor perceptions translate into reality remains an important topic for future research.     

Gender and tourist experiences: assessing women's shared meanings for Beatrix Potter

As a social construct, tourism is premised upon inter-relationships between various producers and consumers. Within this system, gender differences may influence how tourist sites are interpreted and the symbolic associations visitors make with places. Adopting Johnson's (1986) circuits of culture framework and focusing primarily upon women visitors, this paper assesses meanings of Beatrix Potter inspired tourism in the English Lake District. Qualitative evidence highlights how women in particular conjoined an interest in Potter with the tourist visit to mediate other attitudes and values. Such links with non-tourist social practises were usually derived from associations with childhood and family life. The paper also considers how shopping and souvenir purchases helped to perpetuate and redefine this value system. Tourism occurs within a context of larger social-cultural structures and practices. In developing a more complete understanding of such aspects of tourism systems, gender constructs merit increased attention.