The political economy of tourism development: A critical review

This paper reviews varying theoretical approaches in political economy and their application to the analysis of tourism development. It examines the shifting focus of enquiry and traces the evolution of the political economy of tourism from an earlier generation of predominantly technical, empirically-driven analyses of tourism’s contribution to economic development through to the various strands of development theory that have influenced and which continue to shape critical scholarship in the political economy of tourism. Particular emphasis is given to recent theoretical advances in which the application of cultural political economy and Marxian thinking herald a promising future for the political economy of tourism.     

Assisting the poor in China through tourism development: A review of research

The role of Pro-Poor Tourism has been increasingly studied in China since the 1990s. The research has addressed a broad range of key issues such as the implication of “fu pin lv you” (or TAP to use an English acronym arising from the translation ‘Tourism-Assisting the Poor’), governmental roles, local participation and the contribution of rural, natural and cultural resources to TAP. However, there has been a lack of research in some areas such as in the micro-economics of TAP targeting local poor people, quantitative research, case studies and anthropological analysis. This paper reviews Chinese academic literature on pro-poor tourism to provide a clearer picture of current practice and progress in TAP policies and research in China.     

Analysing relationships in tourism: A review

In recent decades, a systemic notion of tourism has been gaining ground, leading to its recognition as a set of interacting elements. From this perspective, relationships have become an important factor in research for understanding tourism, proving useful in the planning and management of tourism destinations. By means of an comprehensive review of the main contributions in the scientific literature in this regard, this paper highlights that there is no one single conception or theoretical-methodological approach to studying relationships, and proposes a classification of the literature on the basis of six major research lines, with a view to identifying and analysing the main advances and gaps presented by each of the research lines. In short, the article identifies the main lines of research developed in this field, analysing the main contributions and making a series of proposals to guide the future research agenda regarding the analysis of relationships in tourism.     

Government support for tourism and the UK: A different perspective

The nature of government support for industry in the UK is examined. Support for tourism has not equalled that given to manufacturing but the grounds on which the case for tourism are argued are unsatisfactory. The circumstances where a free enterprise economy could be reconciled with increased government support for tourism are argued. A case is made for subsidized holidays and it is suggested that cash grants for tourism development are inappropriate and should be replaced by other forms of funding.     

Networks, clusters and innovation in tourism: A UK experience

In an era where tourism is dominated by requests for tailored experiences, SMEs play a key role in providing adequate products and services to tourists by responding to their most specific requirements.This paper uses network and clusters as a framework providing SMEs with innovative opportunities to operate in a competitive tourism environment. A review of relevant literature on clusters, networks and tourism business innovation is undertaken, then focusing on the specific issues of Healthy Lifestyle Tourism.The UK ‘Healthy Lifestyle Tourism Cluster’ experience is employed to discuss the process and the implication of network and cluster development in tourism. However, the development of clusters should not be seen as a simple and spontaneous process due to the nature of businesses involved, but as a very complex process linked to strong stakeholder collaboration.     

Progress in tourism management: A review of website evaluation in tourism research

This paper reviews tourism studies published from 1996 to July 2009 that pertain to methodological approaches to website evaluation. The paper analyzes the initial work and continues up to recent developments in website evaluation. In general, prior research can be divided into five evaluation approaches: counting, automated, numerical computation, user judgment, and combined methods. The strengths and weaknesses of each method are examined. Research gaps and opportunities for future studies are discussed.     

The senses in tourism design: A bibliometric review

The importance of addressing multisensory aspects in the design of tourism experiences and places has become apparent in a recent strand of research. There has been a substantial growth of studies in the last decade across different countries and journals. This paper provides an up-to-date systematic overview of the evolution of research incorporating multisensory elements rather than individual sensory modalities. These studies can assist in the understanding and design of tourism experiences and inform future research. The lexical, temporal and co-citation networks of the 99 articles selected are described, as well as the methods they use. Findings indicate that opportunities for future research on tourism experience design around the senses are related to sustainability and technology.     

Gender diversity in hospitality and tourism top management teams: A systematic review of the last 10 years

Due to women still accounting for less than a quarter of hospitality and tourism executive-level positions, the purpose of this paper was to identify antecedents to and outcomes of gender diverse hospitality and tourism top management teams, describe potential mediators and moderators to these relationships, and provide directions for future research. A systematic review of gender diversity in hospitality and tourism top management teams (TMTs) was conducted between the years 2010 and 2020, resulting in 26 articles used for the thematic analysis. Antecedents, outcomes, mediators, and moderators of gender diverse hospitality and tourism TMTs were identified. The results indicated female role models, organizational structure, and organizational support as antecedents, while financial performance, business growth, and human resource outcomes were consequences. The resource advantage theory is proposed as an explanation for each of these relationships. This study fills a gap in previous literature by conducting a review of gender diversity, identifying critical gaps, and proposing an overarching theory.     

Host perceptions of tourism: A review of the research

It has long been recognised that it is incumbent on those responsible for the planning of tourism to seek to optimise the well-being of local residents whilst minimising the costs of tourism development.It is not surprising, therefore, that academic attention has long been paid to the social impacts of tourism in general and to the understanding of host communities' perceptions of tourism and its impacts in particular. Nevertheless, despite the significant volume and increasing scope of the research, the extent to which understanding of residents' perceptions of tourism has been enhanced remains uncertain. Thus, the purpose of this Progress Review is to explore critically the development of the research into residents' perceptions of tourism. Highlighting key themes and trends in the literature, it identifies a number of limitations in the research, including a narrow case study base, a dependence on quantitative methods, a focus on perceptions as opposed to responses, and the exclusion of the tourist from the majority of the research. Consequently, it argues for a multidimensional approach to the research.     

Gender,tourism & entrepreneurship: A critical review

Dominant accounts of tourism entrepreneurship position successful entrepreneurial performance as masculine and economically informed; undervaluing gendered difference in approaches to entrepreneurship. When varying approaches are held in focus, women are positioned as ‘less than’, and in need of training and support. In reviewing the gender, tourism and entrepreneurship literature this paper draws attention to the marginal, yet decisive contributions of feminist postcolonial, political economy and poststructuralist approaches. Such approaches assist in questioning the implicit economic and masculine bias in the literature. Dominant definitions and evaluations of entrepreneurship need to be questioned, so as to challenge Global North conceptualizations of empowerment and success. Scholars ought to diversify the locations of research on entrepreneurship and gender, and engage more with policy critiques.     

A review of innovation research in tourism

Over the past two decades, there has been increasing focus on the topic of innovation in tourism. This article reviews the research contributions. Various categories of innovation – product, process, managerial, marketing and institutional – are addressed. Important determinants of innovation are acknowledged, including the role of entrepreneurship, technology push and the existence of territorial industry clusters. Representation of knowledge is also identified as a critical factor for both the occurrence and nature of innovations. The review reveals that there is still only limited systematic and comparable empirical evidence of the level of innovative activities and their impacts and wider implications for destinations and national economies. An agenda for future research is emerging, suggesting that there is quest for both formal quantification and for qualitative studies of the foundations, processes, implications and policies of innovation in tourism.     

Modelling attitudes to nature,tourism and sustainable development in national parks: A survey of visitors in China and the UK

This research undertook a visitor survey in two protected areas in different cultural contexts, namely China and the UK, to explore whether the value a person attaches to the environment influences their attitude towards sustainable tourism development in national parks. Structural equation models were developed with data from 597 and 368 questionnaires collected in Jiuzhaigou National Scenic Area, China and the New Forest National Park, UK respectively. The results suggested that anthropocentric or ecocentric values significantly influence people's attitudes to tourism and sustainable development. The same structured causal relationship was found in both samples, between people's attitudes towards the natural environment, conservation and tourism in a national park context.     

Indigenous tourism development

Through colonial intervention, several South Pacific countries were catapulted from a decentralized village-based society to a centralized state in which the metropolitan power imposed its own legislation in a comprehensive way. Little account was taken of prevailing traditional values and practices as the Island countries leapfrogged much of the pioneer stage of development. The direction of change was prescribed by imported models imposed from above. Today, the participation of indigenous communities in tourism may be strongly supported by government policy but inhibited in practice by long standing legislative requirements. The concept of “pioneer space” is advanced to bridge the “implementation gap” between tourism policy and effective result, with Solomon Islands as a case study.     

A review of experiments in tourism and hospitality

Well-designed and executed experiments prove cause-and-effect relationships. The ability to draw causal conclusions is critical to knowledge development in any field of research. In this article, we discuss the benefits of experimental designs over alternative research approaches for the social sciences, discuss advantages and disadvantages of different types of experiments, review existing experimental studies specific to tourism and hospitality, and offer guidance to researchers who wish to conduct such studies. Properly executed experiments using actual behaviour of real stakeholders as a dependent variable lead to conclusions with high external validity. Our discussion of practical implementation issues culminates in a checklist for researchers. The article launches the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on experimental research in tourism and hospitality.     

Corporate responsibility in the UK tourism industry

This paper represents part of a programme of research into the development of indicators that can be used to monitor movement of the tourism industry with reference to more sustainable positions. In order to determine the potential for implementing such indicators this paper asked senior representatives of the UK tourism industry what factors influenced the degree of responsibility shown by their organisation. The research also asked what factors respondents felt would trigger any change in the actions of tour operators in the future. The research reveals that while many in the industry see industry structure as the constraining force, the potential for market advantage or the fear of negative PR also determines company actions. The research utilised elite interviewing for 35 senior representatives of the UK tourism industry.     

Capacity management for hospitality and tourism: A review of current approaches

In this article we provide a review of current capacity management approaches applicable to hospitality and tourism enterprises. While many of the traditional methodologies involve closed-form analytical calculations, newer methods have been developed that address more complex problems. These more recent methods include the creative use of mixed models such as those that integrate visitor-preference and operations-research models, linear programming, and simulation models. We consider the full range of methodologies, the advantages and disadvantages, and potential applications to both physical and human capacity estimation. We highlight the ways that various leisure industries can benefit from different approaches to capacity management.     

Ethnic tourism development:: Chinese Government Perspectives

Ethnic tourism is often used by governments to facilitate development and to preserve heritage. This paper examines the relationship between government and tourism in Xishuangbanna, China. Different levels of government play key but different roles in development through regulation of production, consumption, and investment. Their policies and decisions tend to create tensions when they promote tourism as a regional development strategy as a result of contradictions in regulations, ethnic rights, and relationships with entrepreneurs. It is concluded that more nuanced government policies could mitigate many of the issues. Future tourism planning should provide greater control of tourism by local ethnic people, cultural preservation, and public participation in decision-making processes.     

Progress in research on seniors' well-being in tourism: A systematic review

Research on well-being has experienced exponential growth in tourism studies. However, knowledge about well-being of seniors in tourism is still limited, and thus conceptually underdeveloped, despite the growth of the ageing population and increased research focus on the subject. Consequently, the purpose of this review is to provide a holistic understanding of seniors' well-being in tourism, delineate the current research status, then identify gaps and future avenues for research. A systematic quantitative literature review was conducted, leading to 56 eligible articles extracted for subsequent analysis. By mapping the current state of knowledge, the study indicates a need for a comprehensive theoretical framework based on a holistic view of seniors' well-being in tourism. The findings of the systematic review suggest the need for a eudaimonic approach to the topic and research from residents' perspectives. Suggestions are made to investigate constraints to well-being and cultural differences in conceptions of seniors' well-being in tourism.     

Developing a model for sustainable smart tourism destinations: A systematic review

The main contribution of this paper was to present a new model for smart tourism destinations using the steps of grounded theory as an analytical framework. To build the model, a systematic review of articles published between 2000 and 2017 was undertaken. Strauss and Corbin's framework for grounded theory formed the basis of the review process. The first step, which was open coding, involved the collection of a group of primary concepts and the extraction of analytic categories. In axial coding, the relationship between the categories was determined. Using selective coding, all of the identified categories were integrated and built, and 6 main categories and 28 sub-categories were identified. In addition to making an important contribution to the literature regarding sustainable and smart tourism destinations, this model is likely to be of interest to policymakers to enhance their awareness of the prerequisites and strategies of developing smart tourism destination.