Towards a cohesive curriculum tourism: The case for a distinct discipline

This paper addresses a controversial topic in tourism scholarship which is simultaneously a problem and an opportunity in tourism education: the philosophical issue of academic disciplines and specifically, the question of a distinct discipline in tourism studies. It is argued that the orthodox approach to tourism education, multi-disciplinary studies, has become an impediment. It is suggested that a new discipline can be created by organizing the existing body of knowledge and that such a discipline can become the core of an inter-disciplinary approach. Certain characteristics of an embryonic discipline are outlined and innovations in this area at Sydney Technical College are discussed.     

Mass tourism and the dilemmas of modernization in Pacific Island communities

This paper relates global discussions of tourism as a means of development to the history of cultural contacts in the Pacific. The paper reviews the relevance of the existing literature on social and cultural impacts of tourism to the Pacific and suggests implications for policy makers and community leaders. The existing literature is found to be methodologically suspect and does not provide helpful knowledge to policy-makers.     

Residents’ attitudes toward prostitution in Macau

An increase in tourism in popular destinations often leads to a growing need for various services, including sex-related services, which can exacerbate or accelerate social problems in the host community. Although often addressed in tourism studies within broad-ranging social impact research, prostitution in tourism destinations deserves independent investigation due to its complex nature. This study was conducted to investigate the opinions of Macau residents on prostitution and related social issues. We collected data using a questionnaire, which revealed the following results. Respondents tended to regard prostitution as a permanent part of the Macau community and believed that the likelihood of the government being able to eliminate prostitution through legislation was extremely low. Their perceptions of prostitution could be placed within the dichotomy of deviance and normativeness. Regarding prostitution as a normative existence was positively related to the acceptance of sex tourism. A tolerance of negative tourism impacts was associated with residents’ perceived quality of life. We ultimately draw conclusions from these findings and consider their implications for government agencies.     

Perceived Social Impacts of Tourism by Residents in the OTOP Tourism Village,Thailand

This study aims to investigate the impacts of tourism development at Baan Tawai, the first OTOP Tourism Village in Thailand, and to examine the relationship between demographic factors and Baan Tawai residents' perceptions of the social impacts of tourism development. Data were collected using questionnaires. The finding is that the residents positively perceive social impacts in term of job creation for women in the village. Additionally, they do not see any social changes brought in by tourism and do not think that tourism leads to an increase in prostitution, vandalism, burglary, or drug abuse.     

Main destination ratios : Analyses of tourist flows

Published data such as those from the World Tourism Organisation omit statistics about multidestination trips. The main Destination Ratio and its derivatives provide a partial remedy, illuminating patterns and trends that otherwise may be hidden. The techniques are illustrated by data about trips in one year by Japanese, New Zealanders, and Australians to sixteen countries, and about Australians' visits over thirteen years to Singapore and Hong Kong. The techniques' distinction is data collected at two points in a tourism system; conventional statistics about traveler-tourist flows usually rely on one point. Practical applications of the new techniques are discussed.     

Assessing the environmental impacts of mega sporting events: Two options?

At a time when public and private agencies recognise the importance of sustainable development, the environmental impacts of mega sporting events are commanding increasing attention. However, despite event sponsors often flagging the importance of environmental as well as socio-economic legacy components, the environmental impacts of events are difficult to assess quantitatively, being complex and often occurring over extended periods. The general assessment issue is particularly acute with regard to mega events such as the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup. The practical issues mean that any quantitative techniques seeking to assess environmental impacts are likely to be partial in scope. This paper examines two such approaches for quantitative impact assessment of selected environmental externalities connected with visitation at sporting events. The paper considers the use of Ecological Footprint analysis and Environmental Input–Output modelling. It provides examples of the applications of these techniques to discrete sporting events in a UK region, and discusses whether these techniques are appropriate for exploring the environmental impacts of mega events.     

The perceived impacts of casino gambling on a community

Proposals have been made to legalize a single hotel casino in each of the towns of Adams and Hull, Massachusetts. A telephone survey of a systematic sample of 400 respondents in the Adams and Hull area was conducted in order to assess the perceived impacts of a hotel-casino in each of these locations. The findings show little consensus as to the positive impacts, but much greater agreement over the negative impacts that a hotel casino might have in the respondents' towns. The major factor in predicting respondents' attitudes toward legalization was found to be their perception of the impact a hotel-casino would have on the character of their town. Other major factors were the impact of the hotel-casino on crimes involving drugs and prostitution, the effectiveness of the State government at regulating casino gambling, the respondent's age, the impact of the hotel-casino on the overall standard of living, and the impact of the hotel-casino on jobs for local residents.     

Comparative Review of Research on Environmental Impacts of Tourism in English and Chinese Literatures

China is experiencing an increasingly high level of recreation and tourism use of its environments but only limited studies of the environmental impacts of tourism have been published. This paper is based upon a collection of research papers on the environmental impacts of tourism in English and Chinese, especially research on carrying capacity and the physical impacts of tourism. The paper compares the characteristics of research in English and Chinese literatures. It shows that China lags behind the western world in this research field. Chinese researchers need to: (1) be more critical of the feasibility of carrying capacity applications; (2) introduce new technologies in their research on vegetation and soil; (3) know more about the buffering effects of different kinds of tourist trails such as boardwalks, concrete trails, cross-tie trails, cobble trails and so on; (4) try to shed light on possible positive impacts of tourism; and (5) pay more attention to the protection of environmentally sensitive areas. The paper also discusses the dilemmas of research on carrying capacity and environmental impacts.     

少数民族山区居民对旅游影响的感知和态度--以柴埠溪国家森林公园为例

接待地居民对旅游影响的感知和态度是国内旅游学研究的一个热点.本文通过问卷调查和访谈,对柴埠溪国家森林公园的土家族山区居民对旅游影响的感知和态度进行了实证研究.结果表明,旅游对少数民族山区居民的语言、生活风俗、民族服饰有显著影响,但对其饮食习惯和地方建筑特色影响不大,旅游所产生的社会文化变迁是积极的;居民对旅游正面影响的感知明显强于对负面影响的感知;旅游对当地居民的经济影响强于旅游的社会文化影响和环境影响.最后建议通过建立健全的旅游社区参与机制来调控居民对旅游影响的感知.     

Policy choices in South Asian tourism development

Government tourism initiatives in developing countries have been applauded by tourism scholars as a means of assisting a private sector that has insufficient resources and assuring public control of the industry's future. This article reviews the tourism development experience of seven South Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldive Republic) on five policy options: public versus private tourism development; domestic versus international tourism; class versus mass tourism; centralization versus decentralization; and integrated versus enclave tourism. All of the governments in the region have been involved in tourism development to some degree, but they have shown considerable variation in their responses to these policy choices. Which choices are made by a specific country, it is suggested, will depend as much on political and cultural considerations as upon economic factors.     

Volunteer tourists’ perceptions of their impacts on marginalized communities

Abstract

Using a phenomenological approach, this study examines the experiences of volunteer tourists in host communities using social representations theory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with volunteer tourists on perceived impacts on favela (slum) communities of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This study was developed to address a need for further research that critically looks at the social impacts of volunteer tourism in marginalized communities. It addresses the following question: How does volunteer tourism influence a marginalized community from the perspective of the volunteers? Notably, the majority of the volunteers in this study had difficulty describing how volunteer tourism has benefited the community beyond their own individual contributions, and it was difficult for them to see broader implications of volunteer tourism in general. Recommendations of management actions that will help to maintain and enhance the benefits and alleviate the negative consequences and obstacles that were perceived by volunteer tourists are given.     

Planning for Sustainable Ecotourism: The Case for Research Ecotourism in Developing Country Destinations

Research ecotourism is a relatively new component of activities within the ecotourism industry, providing research opportunities for visitors focusing on aspects of the natural environment which are principally located in developing countries. This paper is directed towards identifying the nature and causes of socio-cultural impacts of this strand of ecotourism using a case study from Indonesia. The positive nature of socio-cultural impacts perceived by host communities alongside the irregular nature of economic benefits to host communities is analogous with the altruistic surplus theory of individual recognition of communal benefits. Certain characteristics of research ecotourists are identified as contributing towards host reactions towards visitors which reinforce the contention that this is a desirable form of ecotourism in similar locations.     

Resident Attitudes Toward Tourism Impacts

Abstract

This study aims to identify the perceived impacts of tourism by residents in a community, Kusadasi, located on the Western Turkish coast. Based on a survey of 238 local residents, tourism impacts were assessed by a 33-item tourism impact scale, which measures both belief and affect toward the impact attributes. According to the mean measures, the most strong and favorable perceptions toward tourism impacts are found to be associated with economic, and social and cultural aspects of tourism, while environmental aspects are found to be the least favorable in terms of the perceived impacts of tourism. The study also identified whether there exist any significant differences between socio-demographic variables and resident's attitudes toward tourism by the analysis of variance.     

Domestic tourists to Elmina Castle,Ghana: motivation,tourism impacts,place attachment,and satisfaction

Abstract

Current research on dark tourism lacks an in-depth investigation of the relationships between the various psychological factors that influence tourist satisfaction. Using the cognitive-affective-behavior system, this paper evaluates a theoretical model that postulates relationships between four constructs, namely: motivation, perceptions of tourism impacts, place attachment, and satisfaction. The study extends the tourism literature on cultural sustainability by showing the psychological connections of domestic tourists to a dark heritage site, and the implications for perceptions of tourism impacts on this heritage. Based on a sample of 414 domestic tourists at a dark heritage site in Elmina, Ghana, PLS-SEM confirmed several inter-relationships among the four constructs. Motivation had a positive relationship with perceptions of positive and negative tourism impacts, suggesting that the tourists who were more motivated to visit the site for cultural/learning experiences were also more inclined to perceive both positive and negative tourism impacts. Implications for dark tourism and how heritage site management can influence tourists’ perceptions of impacts are offered.     

Tourism at Khajuraho an Indian enigma?

The Hindu temple complex at Khajuraho in central India has become a major tourist site for Indians and international tourists only in the past twenty years. Built as a court nearly a thousand years ago, but abandoned two centuries later, Khajuraho remained a minor pilgrimage site into the present century. The distinctive features of Khajuraho include thousands of explicitly sexual relief carvings, much publicized throughout India. Westerners are direct in their examination of these features, which remain problematic to the majority of Indian tourists. In contemporary puritanical India, where journals and movies are highly censored, Khajuraho offers an opportunity for the loosening of such rules with highly philosophical efforts to “explain away” such “obscenities.” Yet communitas is incomplete: women are discouraged from close examination of the depictions, and men fail to communicate with their families about their content.     

Tourists and albatrosses: the dynamics of tourism at the Northern Royal Albatross Colony, Taiaroa Head, New Zealand

Wildlife tourism attractions in New Zealand, like those elsewhere in the world, have experienced rapid growth in demand since the mid-1980s in association with the ecotourism phenomenon. Fortunately, the body of research on the impacts of tourism upon wildlife, both domestic and international, is beginning to reflect this growth. This article presents a consideration of wildlife tourism as it has developed in the New Zealand context. Specifically, it addresses the complexities of understanding the impacts of non-consumptive wildlife tourism. This term describes tourist engagements with wildlife that take place in the habitat of the focal species without the deliberate disturbance or removal of that species. To this end, the case of the North Royal Albatross Colony, Taiaroa Head, New Zealand, is examined. Various secondary data sources are employed to test the application of Duffus and Dearden's (Biological Conservation 1990, 53, 213–231) conceptual framework to this bird colony, with all components of the framework proving to be upheld. It is concluded that site users, contact wildlife species and the natural habitat of the focal species all demonstrate various dimensions of change over time. Several conclusions are drawn from this study. First, that in the absence of deliberate management intervention, wildlife tourism attractions evolve over time to the detriment of both the visitor experience and the focal wildlife species. Secondly, the impacts of tourism upon wildlife transcend tolerance. In other words, wildlife species may appear to be perfectly tolerant of tourists while significant impacts still occur. Thirdly, the application of the core components of Duffus and Dearden's framework dictates that wildlife impact research is not transferable, but rather research of this nature is both site- and species-specific. Finally, it is recommended that research in this domain should involve long-term monitoring of wildlife impacts. Many significant impacts go undetected in the absence of time series data. Failing this, research into the impacts of non-consumptive wildlife tourism must give consideration of the possible long-term biological consequences of tourist engagements with wildlife species.     

An Examination of Changes in Residents' Perceptions of Tourism Impacts Over Time: The Impact of Residents' Socio-demographic Characteristics

This study investigates whether there has been a change in residents' perceptions of various tourism impacts over time and the impact of residents' socio-demographic characteristics on those changes. A survey of local residents (n?=?732 in 2004 and n?=?590 in 2009) was carried out for collecting the data for this study which was then followed by focus groups, conducted in 2012, consisting of academics, local residents and the tourism experts to validate the outcome from the survey. The results suggest that there has been significant increase in the level of agreement of the Sunshine Coast residents during this period on some of the tourism impacts such as job creation, attracting more investment, providing more business for local people and more cultural exchange between tourists and residents. The results also suggest that there is a significant decline in their perceptions of tourism negatively affecting the way of living of local residents and likelihood of residents suffering from living in a tourism destination. The residents also feel that there will be a decline in parks and other recreational areas for local residents with growth in tourism. The study also found that demographic variables such as age, gender, income, education and occupation are likely to influence residents' perceptions of tourism impact over time. Implications for future tourism development plans for the region are discussed.     

Residents' Perceived Impacts of Gaming Development in Macau: Social Representation Perspectives

The purpose of the research was to provide a better understanding of local residents' perceived impacts of gaming tourism based on social representations theory. An empirical investigation was conducted in Macau, where gaming tourism is under explosive development. Through a survey of 396 local residents, two social representation groups were identified: “Ambivalents” and “Rationalists”. The two social representation groups presented significantly different perceptions and attitudes toward the impacts of gaming tourism in Macau. The three most significant factors that influenced residents' representations were personal income, perceptions of gaming tourism being able to increase personal/family income, and satisfaction with government performance in managing gaming tourism development. The research provides theoretical implications for future gaming impact studies and also practical ones for local governments and stakeholders in the tourism industry in Macau and other gaming destinations.     

A Study of Impacts—Cruise Tourism and the South West of England

Abstract

This study draws upon research carried out in 2003, which had the primary purpose of examining the perceived social impacts associated with increased levels of cruise tourism for a major port of call in the South West of England. A survey approach was employed focusing on the town of Falmouth in Cornwall. Data were collected from residents using email and face-to-face street surveys. The results suggest that there is a predominantly positive view of cruise tourism in Falmouth, in respect of perceived impacts. In addition, there is clear recognition within the research population that growth has resulted in an increase in job opportunities, produced financial benefits and led to the development of increased tourist attractions and facilities. There was little to no evidence in the results of negative impacts, including such events as increased levels of crime and overcrowding that are often associated with increased tourism to a destination. The results provide interesting prompts for further research.     

审视阳朔旅游的发展:社会文化影响的调查与比较

针对30年来阳朔人的社会文化生活受到旅游业发展的影响,本文以对阳朔的社会调查结果为依据,解释了阳朔现象,对阳朔旅游的发展及其影响做了分析,对发展模式进行了评述,并与世界著名旅游目的地印度尼西亚的巴厘岛和美国的阿拉斯加的旅游发展及其影响进行了初步的比较。