Residents’ support for tourism: An Identity Perspective

Studies on residents’ support for tourism have primarily been conducted in the developed world. This study analyzes community support in the island economy of Mauritius by testing a model based on the social exchange theory and the identity theory. The model proposes that the resource-based occupational identity, environmental identity, and gender identity of the residents influence attitudes to tourism impacts and support (behavior). Results indicate that one’s identity has a direct bearing on support, but may not always influence attitudes. Findings confirm the relevance of the social exchange theory and the identity theory in explaining community support for tourism in island economies. The study’s practical implications and limitations are discussed.     

VFR tourism: The Host Experience

The current study explores the experience of hosting friends and relatives (HFR). Based on 51 in-depth interviews with local residents at the Israeli tourism destination of Eilat, the study sheds light on the negative and the positive aspects associated with the constant demand to host friends and relatives. In addition, the study presents a fourfold typology of HFR behavioral styles that span from engagement in predominantly indoor-related activities to visitations in outdoor commercial attractions. Another dimension of the typology concerns the distinction between guest-oriented and self-oriented styles of hosting. The findings are discussed with regard to the literature on visiting friends and relatives (VFR), sustainable tourism development and the well-being of local residents.     

Phantasmal destination: A Post-modernist Perspective

The research outlined in this paper began as a study to explore the meaning attached to the creation of a new type of destination from a postmodernist perspective. The concept of the “phantasmal destination” was derived from the observation of several destinations favored by tourists primarily because of a myth associated with them, generally with no basis in historical reality. Shangri-La in Yunnan, China, was selected for this investigation due to its unique qualities containing all of the elements of this tourism phenomenon. This qualitative study applied the Grounded Theory Method, and uncovered other issues related to the perception of “other,” the effect images created by the media, and commercial considerations on development decisions leading to the distortion of cultures.     

Social-ecological resilience and community-based tourism: An approach from Agua Blanca,Ecuador

Socio-ecological resilience (SER), as a theoretical framework, provides an original approach to the study of socio-ecological sustainability, affirming that sustainable development can only be achieved in sufficiently resilient socio-ecosystems. Sustainability is one of the major challenges facing tourism. Therefore, the exploratory application of this theoretical approach to tourist contexts could be particularly apt. Practically all current modes of tourist operation profess a commitment to sustainability, but this is much more significant in experiences of community-based tourism (CBT). This paper presents an ethnographic case study in Agua Blanca, an Ecuadorian community that engages in turismo comunitario, a community-based tourism development strategy. The study explores the expediency of studying socio-ecological resilience in tourist research and attempts to open up new pathways for analytical and methodological development.     

Authenticity & aura: A Benjaminian Approach to Tourism

As a dynamic concept, authenticity has ignited many debates regarding its meaning and utility, thus resulting in several theoretical perspectives (objective, constructive, postmodern, existential) with various analytical focuses, from object to experience. In light of its conceptual variability, it should be asked—What does authenticity do? This paper revisits Walter Benjamin’s notions of authenticity and aura; ideas introduced by MacCannell and worthy of further consideration. Similar to its development in tourism studies, Benjamin’s theorizations of the concept are complex and relational—authenticity is established through ritual and tradition and is connected to aura. They are mutually constitutive and simultaneously products of other phenomena. As it bridges analytical perspectives, his work offers a useful addition to the authenticity discourse.     

Management of the change process in hotel companies: An investigation at unit level

The management of change has become an organisational necessity in the 1990s and will continue to be a major factor in the management of hotel companies in the future. This article investigates and evaluates management of the change process at unit level in hotel firms. The data was gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews with ten hotel managers in the UK. Lewin’s three-stage model was found to be of limited use in practice. A five-stage model of the change process emerges from the research findings. This model reflects a more practical view of the management of change as an on-going, continuous process. Finally, the limitations of the research are discussed and further research areas identified.     

Black Spaces/White Spaces: Black Lives,Leisure, and Life Politics

Racial neutrality does not exist within digital and virtual spaces. Our racialized identities are imported into these spaces, as are the ideologies of our respective societies. This reality begs the question, how do Black people situate themselves in digital White leisure spaces, especially when these spaces maintain and replicate off-line spaces of racial discrimination and overt racism? This article presents a background on Black Internet users and highlights how Black people have used digital spaces to counter and disrupt messages that perpetuate inaccurate stereotypes and social inequalities. Examples are offered to support this claim. This article underlines how behaviors of Black people in digital spaces can demonstrate the presence of Black leisure and highlight the realities of Black life. Finally, critical technocultural discourse analysis will be introduced as a technique for advancing this discussion within the context of race and leisure.     

Gazing upon the kingdom: An Audience Reception Analysis of a Televised Travelogue

This inquiry examines the meanings audiences attribute to an episode of the televised travelogue, No Reservations, which features the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia. The episode in question engages post 9/11 discourses but it also actively constructs Saudi Arabia as a lucrative travel destination. Drawing on reception theory, this paper examines the ways in which two interpretive communities, Saudi Arabian and American participants, render the touristic narrative endorsed by No Reservations intelligible through their (dis)engagement of 9/11 news media discourses. Although the two groups drew on different modes of reception, both highlighted the influence of post 9/11 discourses on their meaning making process. This exploratory study contributes to the discussion of the role enacted by tourism in mediating intercultural relations.     

Environmental change,resilience, and adaptation in nature-based tourism: conceptualizing the social-ecological resilience of birdwatching tour operations

Resilience theory has emerged as a holistic concept well suited to analyzing tourism systems and which promises important insights into the sustainability of tourism destinations in the face of accelerating global environmental change (GEC). This article presents empirical research into the social-ecological resilience of tour operators using the case study destination of the Otago Peninsula, Dunedin, New Zealand. It addresses the following research question: How do birdwatching tour operators build resilience to drivers of environmental change, including climatic drivers, into their operations? Qualitative interviews with providers of a specific nature tourism sector activity – birdwatching – were conducted with stakeholders including tour operators, conservation organizations, and local government members. The findings highlight current and possible future challenges to birdwatching tourism on the Otago Peninsula. The paper introduces a conceptual framework which highlights the tour operators’ main coping strategies in response to key perceived social-ecological system (SES) drivers of change. Overall, tour operators perceived their main social-ecological resilience to be the diversity of the species of the Otago Peninsula, their business experience, and the strength of their local stakeholder network to respond to SES crises.     

旅游驱动乡村社会重构的特征与机制研究——以湖州顾渚村为例

乡村旅游是推动乡村重构的重要驱动力量,乡村社会重构是乡村重构研究的重要内容。本文以典型旅游村落湖州市顾渚村为案例地,从乡村居民视角出发,分析乡村社会重构的特征,并通过扎根理论方法构建了旅游驱动下乡村社会重构机制理论模型。结果表明：（1）乡村旅游发展改变了乡村居民的原有身份,乡村居民从农民、打工者转变为旅游经营者,实现了社会身份的重构。（2）乡村旅游发展带来了大量外来人员进入乡村,乡村社会关系格局逐渐从“差序格局”转变为“多元格局”,实现了社会关系的重构。（3）乡村旅游发展使乡村居民与乡村环境之间的关系发生改变,乡村从传统乡土社区转变为旅游服务社区,实现了社会空间的重构。（4）旅游要素的介入是旅游乡村社会重构最重要的驱动力量,乡村经济重构、乡村空间重构、资源环境驱动、旅游市场驱动、政策制度驱动、行为主体参与6个方面分别构成了乡村社会重构的空间载体、物质基础、支撑机制、引导机制、促进/约束机制和引擎机制,各作用机制之间相互影响、动态耦合共同推动了乡村社会的重构。     

Research note: social leisure engagement,peer support,and depressive symptomology among emerging adults

This research note applied self-determination theory to the study of social leisure and well-being among collegiate emerging adults. Self-determination theory posits that individuals seek out environments that promote basic psychological needs; among these needs is the need for relatedness. We examined the relationship between social leisure engagement (conceptualised as an environment that promotes connections to others) and emerging adults’ depressive symptomology. More specifically, we hypothesised that this need-supportive environment would be related to higher levels of peer support (a form of relatedness) and would promote better mental health. Participants (N = 270) were between the ages of 18 and 25. Using path models, we found that there was a significant negative relationship between social leisure engagement and depressive symptomology. Furthermore, peer support served as a significant linking mechanism between social leisure and depressive symptomology. Results provide evidence for the application of self-determination theory to the study of social leisure engagement as a need-supportive environment that can facilitate relatedness and better mental health among emerging adults.     

The last feather-bedded industry?: Government, politics and the hospitality industry during and after the 1992 General Election

This paper examines political debate and rhetoric attendant on those issues perceived as germane to the hospitality sector by industry operators at the time of the 1992 UK General Election. By extensive use of secondary, mainly journalistic, sources, an analysis of such issues is undertaken, located in the specific context of the various conservative ideologies that are shown to be associated with the hospitality industry. The paper's main theme is that far from endorsing a commitment to the agenda of the Conservative government, the hospitality industry's conservatism reflects more a form of special pleading comprising demand for particular economic privileges based on a form of protectionist corporatism. It is concluded that rather than representing a model of the vanguard of free-market culture, the hospitality industry in the UK represents the last gasp of conservative corporatism, bent on the maintenance of economic privilege rather than offering a commitment to economic liberalism.