Globalisation,airline alliances and tourism: A strategic perspective

The forces driving globalisation have impelled the majority of international airlines to enter into strategic alliance arrangements. Strategic alliances have enabled airlines to work around structural problems of the industry, particularly foreign ownership restrictions, national regulatory constraints and constraints on building up networks. The history of alliances, to date, shows them to be changing and unstable. Alliances will probably continue to be a feature of the international airline industry, but the forms and membership of alliances may well change further in the future. Further deregulation and liberalisation of the industry could mean that alliances become less important in the future, if deregulation allows mergers and acquisitions of airlines across national borders. Two scenarios of possible futures are presented, with an assessment of their impacts on tourism, as an aid to strategic analysis.     

Usage of the concept of culture and heritage in the United Arab Emirates – an analysis of Sharjah heritage area

Under the forces of an oil-based economy and the fast paced change, nationals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Gulf states are becoming very keen to preserve, represent and invent a distinct ‘national’ culture and heritage. Fears of ‘loss’ of identity and concerns about ‘global’ culture are powerful social forces. Heritage revival has become a significant social, cultural and political process in the UAE, the most public sign of this being the development of ‘Heritage Villages’. This analysis explores themes of heritage revival and the preservation, representation and construction of culture in the UAE with specific analysis of the Sharjah Heritage Area (SHA). It will be shown that heritage revival in the UAE is both a symbolic and practical negation of globalization. Heritage revival is also increasingly an affirmation of the fast paced development of international business and tourism in the Emirates which is the focus of economic diversification. SHA will first be examined as a museum exhibitionary complex combining museum, festival and shopping. The representation, performance, negotiation and interplay of local/global and old/new culture at the SHA will be outlined in the context of transnationalism and the oil-propelled modernization.     

Understanding Ifá: inserting knowledge of an African cosmology in leisure studies and nature-based research

Originating among the Yorùbá of West Africa, Ifá is an ancient spiritual system that spread throughout the globe due to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. But over the past 50 years because of a desire among various racial and ethnic groups, Ifá has grown and is seen as a ‘world religion’. Within Ifá resides the Orisha, representational forces serving the greater force of the Universe. Urban and rural natural environments are sacred spaces for practitioners as tourists to interact and communicate with these forces to intercede in their daily lives. This article will present the underlying environmental ethics of the system of Ifá and how it informs nature-based tourism and interactions with nature for both leisure and spiritual development. What is presented is a continued broadening of our understanding of differing cultural views, norms and behaviours with nature that has been initiated by Native-American–based scholarship.     

A Thematic Review of Australia's Club Management Magazine

ABSTRACT

This analysis of articles from 1993 to 2003 in Australia's premier club management trade magazine, Club Management in Australia (CMA), the publication of the Club Managers' Association Australia (CMAA), highlights a number of recurring key themes. These are: taxation legislation; employment relations and human resources; gambling, alcohol, smoking, and related social issues; club expansion, innovation and growth; and contribution to the community. This article analyses these themes and discusses the key forces driving change in these areas, while also identifying the viewpoints of club managers. It is concluded that empirical academic research into these themes and the issues pertaining to them is needed. This is especially true of gambling, smoking, and social issues, the effectiveness of new gambling and club-related legislation, and the contribution of clubs to the community. Further research will be required to test the validity of several of the arguments put forward by the CMAA in the articles reviewed.     

Changing family dynamics: A force of change for the family-resort industry?

Families are an important market to the success of the destination resort industry. While previous research has focused on the consumer, a supply-side understanding of this market's impact is limited. To address these needs, an exploratory study examining changes in family amenities from the destination resort perspective was conducted. Owners/operators of family-oriented destination resorts (FODRs) were interviewed concerning changes in their family-oriented amenities (FOAs). Findings show that while consumers play the most significant role in driving resort change, multiple factors act as both barriers to and forces of change. Discussion and managerial implications concerning these forces and barriers are provided at the conclusion of the article.     

‘It Does Not Harm the Environment!’ An Analysis of Industry Discourses on Tourism,Air Travel and the Environment

While a substantial part of the population in Europe seems well informed about the phenomenon of climate change, uncertainty seems to prevail in terms of its seriousness, its consequences for society and action that needs to be taken in order to prevent ‘dangerous interference with the climate system’. Many people seem to believe that there is no scientific consensus about climate change and that individual behavioural change is irrelevant in the face of uncertainty. Such a ‘psychology of denial’ seems particularly strong in the context of air travel, the fastest growing transport sector. This paper seeks to understand this phenomenon by analysing the discourses surrounding air travel. Four major industry discourses are identified: air travel is energy efficient and accounts only for marginal emissions of CO₂; air travel is economically and socially too important to be restricted; fuel use is constantly minimized and new technology will solve the problem, and air travel is treated unfairly in comparison to other means of transport. The validity of these claims is evaluated based on data and material presented in the scientific literature. Results show that there are substantial gaps between the discourses and the reality of aviation's environmental performance, which might partially explain the controversial understanding of air travel and its environmental consequences among the public.     

Collaborative Alliances:

In collaborative alliances as a management strategy and as an object of scientific inquiry is on the rise in the tourism field. Rapid economic, social, and political change is providing powerful incentives for tourism interests to recognize their interdependences and to engage in joint decision-making. Whether the issue is multi-national firms, tourism coalitions, or cooperative marketing strategies collaboration is the common ground linking these recent trends. This paper provides a framework for understanding this trend toward collaborative action. Constraints to collaboration are identifies as well as societal forces prompting collaborative responses from tourism stakeholders. Basic assumptions underlying scientific inquiry in this area are outlined and a theoretical process model of collaboration is presented. Implications for management strategy and research are discussed.     

Environmental Management Systems (EMS) of Tour Operators: Learning from Each Other

This research determined to what extent tour operators in Western Canada who use natural, public-owned assets as a main feature of their business operations have developed formal or informal environmental management systems (EMS)and which EMS elements they use most frequently and most successfully. Furthermore, the research investigated which variables drive the use of EMS elements to ensure good environmental performance. The findings suggest that those operators who seek environmentally related business outcomes, possess supply-side tourism development values, and have more business experience, will have developed more sophisticated EMS and find these systems more useful in ensuring good environmental performance. With this information, park officials can develop a plan for knowledge sharing and the education of all tour operators. Park officials can design appropriate training and development programmes by considering the barriers that they might encounter in encouraging tour operators to implement certain policies and procedures. Tour operators can transfer some elements of EMS, widely recognised as useful, to other tour operators by ‘assimilation’, as few barriers exist to the implementation of these elements. However, if beliefs and attitudes must change before operators will use an element, learning by ‘accommodation’ will be a more appropriate approach.     

Effects of Climate Change on Alpine Skiing in Sweden

Climate change has already affected and will continue to affect physical and biological systems in many parts of the world. For example, annual snow cover extent in the northern hemisphere has decreased by about 10% since 1966, and in Sweden, the last decade was wetter and warmer than the preceding 30-year period. These changes will affect many aspects of utilisation patterns that are dependent on the physical environment, such as alpine winter tourism. In this paper, we discuss the future development of the downhill skiing industry in Sweden. We first review trends in alpine winter tourism in relation to climate change together with regional projections of climate change. Secondly, we examine trends in climate parameters relevant to alpine winter tourism in Sweden during the last 30 years. Thirdly, we take these parameters, together with regional projections of climate change, and predict effects on the number of skiing days in order to estimate the monetary loss for the skiing industry in Sweden. The analyses show predicted losses that are larger than current ski-ticket sales. Adaptation strategies such as the development of year-round tourist activities should be developed as soon as possible.     

How hospitality managers learn: Are today's education and training programs designed to get the biggest bang for the big buck we're spending?

The greatest constant faced by hospitality managers in the 1980s and 1990s will be change. This challenges education and industry to find the most effective training methods for managers. This paper suggests that serious attention must be paid to research on how adults learn.     

Financial distress in the hospitality industry during the Covid-19 disaster

We implement the stress test methodology of the banking industry in conjunction with a Logit model of bankruptcy with parameters estimated with data from the Great Recession (2008–2013) to predict which firms would face financial distress among Spanish hospitality firms during 2020 due to the Covid-19 disaster. The predictions from both methods rely on the last accounting data available and on the expected revenue drop for 2020. Both methods coincide to predict that 25% of these firms will face a financial distress situation if revenues drop 60%. This forecast raises up to 32% of firms if revenues drop 80%. Financial distress will affect mainly small firms. Most of the firms in financial distress will face solvency problems, with total assets being insufficient to pay all debts.     

Exploitation of Renewable Energy in the Hospitality Sector: Case Studies of Gaborone Sun and the Cumberland Hotel in Botswana

This study examines the factors influencing the adoption of renewable energy technologies at two hotels in Botswana. Interviews with key informants from Gaborone Sun and the Cumberland Hotel were used to collect the data for this study. The study was designed along the general conceptual model of the drivers and barriers of corporate “greening.” Narrative analysis was used to present the findings. Results point to the fact that the availability of the biogas and solar technology in Botswana, political leadership, financial benefits, the availability of a comprehensive environmental sustainability program, and strong environmental management values were the driving forces behind renewable energy adoption by the two hotels. The major barriers against biogas adoption by the Cumberland Hotel included lack of financial resources and limited waste. For solar energy adoption at Gaborone Sun, the main problem was lack of space for further expansion, which has also constrained the hotel’s efforts for wastewater recycling. These results have implications at both local and national levels. Environmental management strategies and values should drive the exploitation of renewable energy by local hotels. At the national level, results imply that the government should take a more responsive approach in facilitating the adoption of renewable energy plans by the corporate world.     

An examination of the role of booking lead time in consumers’ reactions to online scarcity messages

Scarcity messaging is frequently employed by travel marketers to drive consumer conversion rate in the online sales environment. This study examines the effects of two types of scarcity messages, unit and option scarcity, on consumer booking intentions and explores the role of booking lead time on the scarcity messaging-booking intentions relationship in the context of the purchase of hotel accommodation. Findings suggest that when booking lead-time is long, unit scarcity messages will be more effective than option scarcity messages in influencing booking intentions as they are perceived as more credible, and induce higher perceptions of a sellout risk. When booking lead-time is short, consumers perceive no differences in the credibility of unit and option scarcity messages: both are equally effective in driving booking intentions. This research provides marketers with guidance on how and when to leverage scarcity appeals to drive consumer conversion rate.     

Market segments based on the dominant movement patterns of tourists

This paper presents an innovative method for tourist market segmentation-based on dominant movement patterns of tourists; that is, the travel sequences or patterns used by tourists most frequently. There were three steps to achieve this goal. In the first step, general log-linear models were adopted to identify the dominant movement patterns, while the second step was to discover the characteristics of the groups of tourists who travelled with these patterns. The Expectation–Maximisation algorithm was then used to partition tourist segments in terms of socio-demographic and travel behavioural variables. The third step was to select target markets based upon the earlier analysis. These methods were applied to a sample of tourists, over the period of a week, on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. A significant outcome of this research is that it will assist tourism organisations to identify tourism market segments and develop better tour packages and more efficient marketing strategies aligned to the characteristics of the tourists.     

Diaspora,authenticity and the imagined past

Ancestral tourism in Scotland, a sector of the heritage tourism market sensitive to consumer personalisation, has particular propensities towards process-driven co-created experiences. These experiences occur within existing categories of object-based and existential notions of authenticity alongside an emergent category of the ‘authentically imagined past’. The latter of these modes reveals a complex interplay between professionally endorsed validation of the empirical veracity of objects, documents and places and deeply held, authentically imagined, narratives of ‘home’. These narratives, built up in the Diaspora over centuries, drive new processes towards authenticity in tourism. We conducted 31 interviews across 27 sites throughout Scotland with curators, archivists, and volunteers to explore these notions of authenticity within the ancestral tourism context.     

城郊融合类村庄产业选择的演变及动力机制

受乡村旅游和乡村振兴双重动力的推动,城郊融合类村庄的新兴产业不断从传统产业中脱颖而出,并逐渐取代传统产业成为主导性产业,其产业的发展演变呈现出明显的阶段性和规律性。基于Structure-Conduct-Performance分析范式,城郊融合类村庄的产业演进可以分为4个阶段：农业单一主导阶段、农旅二元萌芽阶段、多元协同发展阶段和多元融合创新阶段,这4个阶段的发展演变受到居民自我发展意愿、乡村能人介入、企业驱动等内生动力的大力促进,也受到旅游产业发展、城镇化快速推进、居民消费升级等外生因素的积极影响;浔龙河村的案例印证了城郊融合类村庄产业演进具有典型的阶段性,且每个阶段都受到内生动力和外生动力的协同作用,每个阶段主要动力的表现具有差异性,这为城乡融合类村庄乡村振兴提供了参考和借鉴。     

Cross-channel opportunities for Britain : 1994 and beyond

The Channel Tunnel will be open for business in 1994 and even now the popular misconception of it as an opportunity for traffic to drive through from one side of the Channel to the other persists. This paper considers the services which are planned to operate through the tunnel. It discusses the alternative ways of crossing the Channel and the ways in which these will be trying to counter the new competition from the tunnel. Finally, the paper considers briefly the potential market opportunities and threats which will be created by this new era in cross-Channel travel.     

Mediating urban transition through rural tourism

This study examines China’s urban–rural transition in the process of development and change. Regarding tourism as a discourse of difference, it focuses on a rural ethnic community, Jiabang, in Southwest China. It aims to highlight the role of tourism in providing a stimulus for the creation of a local group identity that subverts wider discourses of rural areas. With the goal of understanding how toured places are imagined, presented and consumed, this study utilises mixed data sources collected from tourism promotional materials and ethnographic fieldwork. The findings suggest that the forces behind the touristic place creation and consumption are both integral to and the result of the changing attitudes and perceptions of people and places in contemporary China.     

旅游业能源需求与二氧化碳排放研究进展

人类利用能源导致温室气体排放量的持续增加是全球气候变化的直接驱动力。旅游开发、旅游活动及旅游业发展引起的温室气体排放是旅游业驱动气候变化的重要因素,同时也是发展旅游业主要的环境影响结果之一。随着旅游业的蓬勃发展,旅游业对环境和气候变化的影响被相关国际组织和社会各界所关注,旅游业能源需求与二氧化碳排放研究成为近5年来旅游研究领域的热点。国外研究综述表明,目前已识别旅游业能耗、排放的重点领域及结构;在旅游业能源消耗与二氧化碳排放的定量估算研究与情景分析方面形成初步结论。对不同类型旅游交通方式、住宿方式及旅游活动的单位能耗和排放强度等关键性参数取得一般性认识,并识别了明显的国别、地区及不同部门之间的差异。基本形成体系化的节能减排政策措施。基于国内外旅游业能源需求与二氧化碳排放的结构与途径、测算、预测与情景分析及节能减排对策与措施等方面对比研究,作者指出未来国内研究应重点加强旅游交通和住宿业等重点领域能源需求与排放的定量实证研究,加强旅游业能源需求与排放的预测分析和情景研究,加快推进旅游业气候政策研究,切实提高旅游业应对气候变化和节能减排的研究水平,提高政策措施针对性和可操作性,以期为我国旅游业节能减排、应对气候变化提供科学依据。     

Reassurance or reason for concern: Security forces as a crisis management strategy

This paper examines effects of the deployment of security forces to a popular winter migrant destination faced with a unique humanitarian crisis situation. The study surveyed past winter migrants to the region to evaluate their perceptions regarding sociocultural, economic, and psychological impacts of security forces deployed to the region. In addition, this study evaluates the deployment's impact on satisfaction with life in the region, return intention and likelihood of recommending the region to others to find that perceived safety from the security forces significantly affected community factors and that satisfaction with life fully mediated community factor effects on destination loyalty. These finding significantly add to the limited research in crisis management response effects and substantiates the use of signaling and signal crimes perspective in managing crises.