Tourism in a small island economy: the case of Malta

For many small countries, especially those concentrating on the development of their manufacturing industry, the establishment of a stable economic base has proved difficult. In the case of Malta, tourism has emerged during the last decade as an alternative source of foreign exchange earnings. This paper is concerned with the development of Maltese tourism, and with the problems that have arisen within the last three years. Malta's position of weakness as a small economy in the international markets is emphasized as a serious problem, as is the dependence upon the UK tourist markets. Ultimately, the causes of the malaise currently afflicting Maltese tourism are similar to those which have dogged Maltese manufacturing activity.     

Political implications of Chinese tourism policy

This study is an examination of the political objectives and probable consequences of the decision to open the People's Republic of China to mass tourism. Through personal interviews and other reports, this article traces the organizational and political dimensions of the abrupt reversal of nearly three decades of restricted and selective foreign access. The author found several anomalies: more “market” oriented cost structure than in most non- socialist developing nations; a hierarchy of tourist classes in a supposedly classless society; liberalization in tourism itineraries along with a freezing of contacts between tourist and Chinese. The article concludes that while China has reaped few tangible political benefits and has incurred some new political vulnerability with its new tourism policy, Chinese tourism has avoided many of the social and economic costs associated with tourism development elsewhere.     

Foreign tourism in Greece: An economic analysis

Foreign exchange earnings are vital for developmental efforts, particularly in the industrial sector. However, Greece's visible exports alone do not generate sufficient income for such purposes, thus providing a strong justification for blending tourism into the country's general economic development strategy. From a development perspective, foreign exchange earnings are only one aspect of the total economic picture; eg the development of an export industry has varying repercussions on income, employment and other economic activity. The extent of these effects will vary according to the linkages between industrial sectors. This article assesses the importance of tourism to the Greek economy in terms of its impact on foreign exchange earnings and the balance of payments. Tourism's contribution to gross domestic product, employment and other economic activity is also examined.     

Design of a curriculum for destination studies

Since vocational tourism courses started at Sydney Technical College in 1973, there have been problems in teaching about tourist destinations. Historical analysis of the subject's development indicates that problems stem largely from an absence of tourism theory. Throughout this subject's development, there have been four major influences: the vocational needs of tourism students; the definition of tourism systems; the adoption of a primary orientation towards the study of the causes of tourism; and developmental work on the nature of tourist attractions. The current curriculum is described and it is suggested that due to these influences it overcomes many former problems with its integrated inter-disciplinary approach employing tourism theory as the core discipline.     

Site and situation strategy in tourism planning: A Mexican case study

Mexico has experienced all the effects, good and ill, of a large and expanding tourist trade. Tourism's negative consequences--economic dependency, crime, cultural erosion--have manifested themselves in tourist ghettos along Mexico's northern border, on the Mexican Riviera, and in the capital. This study is an assesment of contemporary Mexican tourism planning as it relates to these problems, and further as it seeks to make tourism a stimulus to economically depressed areas of the nation. A case study approach is utilized to identify the strategy of site and situation selection for the new programmed resort complex at Cancun on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan peninsula. It is concluded that Cancun embodies, at least for Mexico, a radical departure in tourism development. The resort is situated to attract a large foreign clientele and to create the greatest possible positive economic and social impact on a resident Mexican population that has suffered chronic underdevelopment.     

Making tourism more supportive of small state development : The case of St. Vincent

Britton, Robert A., “Making Tourism More Supportive of Small State Development: The Case of St. Vincent,” Annals of Tourism Research, Vol.IV, No. 5, May/September, 1977, pp. 268–278. With few resources and alternate sources of income, most Caribbean islands depend at least partially on tourism for foreign exchange and employment. The development of tourist facilities, however, has usually been controlled by the metropolitan travel industry rather than island people. High technology tourism is seen as inappropriate for underdeveloped islands. Capital- and energy-intensive hotels with high import requirements contribute little except poorly paid employment to the local economy. Enclaves of luxury surrounded by poverty produce deleterious social and cultural effects.     

Alternative tourism in Montserrat

Small island states or dependencies have increasingly turned to international mass tourism as a strategy for overcoming their underdeveloped status. However, mounting criticism of this sector has increased the interest in alternative tourism. The Caribbean island of Montserrat is well positioned to implement an ecotourism strategy based on the island's scenic beauty, biodiversity and historical/cultural attributes. This would augment an already unconventional tourism product emphasizing low-density residential tourism. The fact that few tangible initiatives have so far been taken in the direction of ecotourism is not problematic, since careful planning is advisable given the risks inherent in any form of tourism, and given existing and potential problems which could threaten its viability. A Montserrat Heritage Trail network is proposed as the centrepiece of this ecotourism product, while various marketing and institutional initiatives are recommended.     

Tourism development the case of American Samoa

The purpose of this study was to analyze the development of tourism in American Samoa. The government in American Samoa initiated efforts to develop tourism during the early 1960's. In spite of this, tourism in American Samoa is still in an early development stage. Internal factors which have constrained tourism growth have been the limited natural resources and underlying conflict between the traditional Samoan culture versus western ideas. External factors in the form of increased competition from nearby destinations and shifts in airline services also have limited the number of tourists to the area. The development of tourism in American Samoa is relevant to other less popular and newly developing destinations in the Pacific. Thus, it illustrates the risks and problems in developing tourism in similar Pacific destinations.     

Coastal development in France: Tourism as a tool for regional development

The coastal development for tourism, of Languedoc-Roussillon in South West France represents one of the leading examples of State investment in tourism as a means of regional development. Examination is made of the administration, planning and implementation of the tourism project in Languedoc-Roussillon and its success is evaluated in terms of seasonality, its effect on income and employment in the region, the social value of the project and its contribution to the national balance of payments. On the basis of these evaluations it is argued that the tourism project has achieved only moderate success and tourism alone has not solved, and is unlikely to solve, the region's basic problems. The lessons of its use as a tool for regional development in Languedoc-Roussillon are of relevance to national governments everywhere.     

北海涠洲岛生态旅游开发的基本思路

本文以人们十分关注的涸洲岛为例，从资源优势、市场定位、产品定型、发展目标、指导思想、开发原则、开发措施等方面，对一个生态环境十分脆弱、经济仍欠发达的海岛的旅游开发进行了有益的探讨，提出了旅游生态岛的概念和开发性保护的指导思想及发展模式，形成了较完整的海岛生态旅游开发思路。     

The pacific tourist blight

Wenkam, Robert, “The Pacific Tourist Blight,”¹ ANNALS OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Vol. III, No. 2. November/December 1975 pp. 68–77-- Over the many years that Hawaii tourism has enjoyed continuous growth, the real cost of tourism to the local economy of governmental services and adverse social consequences has increasingly received serious attention. In recent years the state's loss of irreplaceable environmental assets has given impetus to evaluation of the optimum tourist population as it contributes to the local economy. The article points out that the continued increase in the daily tourist count has been badly eroding Hawaii's famous scenic beauty and envied island lifestyle, resulting in permanent loss to the people of Hawaii and the tourist industry.     

Tourism in Austria a case study of the influence of tourism on ethnic relations

This study discusses the influence of tourism on ethnic relations between two populations in southern Austria. For many centuries the two populations have co-existed in the same geographical area. This co-existence was based on the exploitation of two separate ecological niches in the same environment — trading and farming. With the coming of tourism in the late 1950's, however, both populations are now cooperating and competing within the same ecological niche, tourism. Tourism has led to increased contact between the two groups and greater participation in each other's affairs. This contact and participation in turn has had the effect of breaking down ethnic boundaries which had remained virtually unchanged for over one thousand years prior to the advent of tourism.     

Rethinking the sociology of tourism

Two principal general approaches to tourism are criticized. It is argued against the tendency to over generalize, to propose universal models and to conceive of the dynamics of tourism as a unilinear process. Instead, a multiplicity of types, different typologies and a multilinear approach to the dynamics of tourism should be favored. It is further argued that conceptual schemes should be further elaborated, illustrating the argument by an elaboration of MacCannell's fundamental concepts. The article emphasizes the need for some basic problems in tourism research to be reformulated; it proposes a strategy for research which, while preserving theoretical pluralism and eclecticism, will safeguard continuity and the ability to generalize by developing a common research style for the sociology of tourism.     

A volunteer worker placement model for business

Volunteer workers contribute significantly to the enhancement of their communities as travel destinations. The challenge to the strategic managers of tourism activities is to properly match volunteers' needs and their potential for contribution with organizational reward capabilities and task requirements. However, unique difficulties arise in achieving optimal volunteer placements because unpaid workers require opportunities for the satisfaction of personal needs which are discernably different in priority from the satisfactions sought by financially compensated workers. Thus, organizations' existing reward systems must be adaptive to the unique demands of these special work relationships. As an aid in this internal adjustment, a Volunteer Worker Placement Model is presented which is designed to provide tourism businesses with a conceptual and practical technique for understanding and diagnosing the “inducements-contributions” nature of volunteer task assignments.     

China's tourism: policy and practice

China began to acknowledge tourism as a business phenomenon in the early 1950s, but it was not considered as an ‘industry’ until 1978. The tourist boom has brought China new problems. The government have decided that China should develop a route, relating to China's specific needs, for the tourist industry. Such policy has made China's tourism take on a new look.     

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.     

Host community acceptance of foreign tourists: Strategic considerations

The reported empirical study assessed anticipated reactions to foreign visitors in an area being considered for a tourism development program. Although a generally high level of acceptance was predicted by the residents, over 11% of the 846 respondents anticipated negative reactions within their residential community. Analysis of the possible relationships between twelve demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents and their expectations concerning host community acceptance of tourists from foreign countries disclosed only one statistically significant relationship. Survey participants who reported living in urban areas assessed the community's probable reaction to foreign travellers most positively, while a movement away from urban centers was associated with more negative expectations.     

The effects of scale in tourism projects in developing countries

The paper by Rodenburg (Annals VII:2:177–196) on the effect of scale in tourism development in Bali raises important questions relating to tourism development in Third World countries. One fundamental question is whether large-scale development is inevitable in such countries, or whether there is persuasive evidence to support smaller and craft scale enterprises. This article undertakes a critical review of Rodenburg's analysis and concludes that large scale developments are likely to be inevitable because of external economies of scale and market structures in international tourism, but that the consequences of such developments can be foreseen and therefore mitigated by appropriate pre-project planning.     

Mexico's balance of payments 1970–1983: Contributions of international tourism and border transactions

The Mexican government instigated a series of programmes to redress its rapidly deteriorating balance of payments in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Devaluations of the peso were aimed at improving foreign exchange earnings from international tourism and border transactions, particularly with the USA. Although the net foreign exchange earned by these two sectors increased in 1982 and 1983, neither sector improved its net balance of real income and expenditure between 1975 and 1982. The impact of the devaluations, combined with depressed economic conditions in North America and Western Europe, affected both the inflow and outflow of international travellers and their level of expenditure, and limited real contribution to Mexico's balance of payments problems.     

The Grand Isle,Louisiana resort cycle

Grand Isle, the most popular resort on the Louisiana Gulf Coast, has experienced an increase in shoreline erosion and a decrease in attractiveness in recent decades. Viewing the historical evolution of the resort within the framework of Butler's “resort cycle” reveals that cultural processes are largely responsible for these developments. Individual stages of resort evolution on Grand Isle have been accompanied by changes in settlement patterns, changes in environmental perception, and increasing effort to “fix” a naturally dynamic shoreline. Attempts to maintain a stable beachfront have only heightened the problem and helped propel Grand Isle into the stagnation stage of the resort cycle. Past adherence to the resort evolution model indicates onset of the decline stage. Whether a major beach nourishment/island protection project completed in late 1984 represents more than a temporary rejuvenation of the resort depends upon its effectiveness.