Networks,Conflict and Collaborative Communities

This paper develops critical understandings of the theoretical and practical implications of local tourism policy networks on collaborative planning. Application of the network concept in tourism has increased in recent years but has largely been focused on the competitive advantages of network organisation for small and medium size tourism enterprises. Critical discussion and development of the theoretical and operational dimensions of networks as a management approach beyond economic development has been limited. It is argued that network theory provides a useful lens for understanding the structures and social interrelations between government, tourism producers and civil society and, as such, has the potential to inform collaborative destination management policy and practice. This paper examines the contributions that networks can make in understanding collaborative planning, and how this knowledge may be able to improve collaborative planning practice.     

Applying the resilience principles for sustainable ecotourism development: A case study of the Nakdong Estuary,South Korea

When studying sustainable ecotourism, the ecotourism system can be better understood as a complex association of various elements that affects the local society and wildlife habitats. The purpose of this study is to plan an ecotourism system for the wise ecotourism resource management of estuary wetlands by using a resilience principle-based systems thinking approach. This study suggests an integrated management plan that considers diversity, connectivity, learning, participation, and polycentric governance to solve universal and important issues, such as estuary dam removal, urbanization, and natural resource use in the estuary's social-ecological system. The ecotourism system plans suggested in this study include minimizing ecological conflict and load through an improved sense of responsibility among stakeholders and strengthened protective activities. The results of this study suggest appropriate roles for various stakeholders in the management of tourism resources that can be used to establish new guidelines for ecotourism destination planning.     

Tourism in India: Policy pitfalls

Tourism destination marketing is now widely recognized as an essential component in the management of destinations. In harmony with the general marketing literature, which understands marketing as a management tool, some researchers understand destination marketing as a form of ‘market-oriented strategic planning’ and hence as a strategic approach to place development rather than a promotional tool. Based on the results of a case study of tourism destination marketing in the Nelson/Tasman Region, New Zealand, this article examines the suitability of tourism destination marketing as a tool and of Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO) as a vehicle for tourism destination management and development. A discussion of several difficulties in the implementation of tourism destination marketing in Nelson/Tasman Region leads to the conclusion that DMOs are unlikely to be able to claim too much responsibility for destination management but that they can play an important part in the management of the destination product.     

Understanding resident subjectivities toward tourism using Q method: Orchid Island,Taiwan

The pursuit of sustainable destination tourism should begin with an understanding of resident subjectivities. Residents are concerned with good governance and cultural integrity, and they are aware of their role as stakeholders in tourism in their communities. In this study, residents of Orchid Island, Taiwan, were interviewed using Q method in order to evaluate their subjectivities toward tourism. Forty-two statements regarding a theoretically and historically defined discourse of tourism were sorted by 34 respondents. This forced-choice method revealed four types of subjectivities, which are distinguished as Culture Broker, Cultural Conservative, Cultural Purist and Pragmatic Governance. The results show how the respondents perceived tourism in their destination. They agreed upon certain core issues regarding destination tourism, while contesting other issues. Respondents held strong views concerning how government policy affects their community and how tourism and culture shape each other. It is concluded that many issues in tourism research are highly relevant to residents of small tourism destination communities. This implies that tourism research should focus on understanding and coordinating resident subjectivities so as to inform government planning and decision-making, especially in indigenous communities or small islands.     

Visitor management in the public planning policy context: A case study of Cambridge

Visitor management plans are increasingly seen by local authorities as an essential contribution they can make towards sustainable tourism. However, tourism is subject to many external influences and is only part of the system of activities and land uses at the destination. Successful visitor management must, therefore, be broadly based and rooted in a wide range of policies. The objectives for sustainable tourism in Cambridge are supported by policies at the European, national, regional, county and local level covering tourism, recreation, transport, the environment, land use and economic development. This results in an integrated policy framework that ensures consistency, encourages cooperation and long‐term planning, makes the best use of resources, opens up additional sources of finance and provides a firm justification for refusing undesirable development. Achieving integration requires the visitor management plan to be seen neither as an end nor as a beginning, but as part of a process. In Cambridge this has involved a commitment to monitoring and reviewing strategies and to ensuring a policy input on tourism issues at all levels of decision making. Appropriate ad hoc bodies have been set up. Visitor management cannot succeed in isolation: other policies must be made to work for it, not frustrate action.     

Environmental policy integration as a strategy for sustainable tourism planning: issues in implementation

Both in a national and global context, it is challenging to identify key conditions for the integration of sustainable tourism in public policy. By studying a number of recent planning processes pertaining to tourism development, this article aims to contribute recent insight into how sustainability may be integrated into tourism planning. The study was motivated by a publicized shift in the Norwegian government policy strategy on sustainable tourism, from a sector approach to an integration approach. Through case analysis, the concept of environmental policy integration is applied. Findings show that sustainable tourism is partially integrated in all cases and three key issues are outlined. First, although Norway is characterized by a high degree of sector organization, it has a weak structure for overall tourism policy integration. Second, the integration of sustainable tourism has been stimulated by national horizontal integration, bottom-up integration prepared by institutional changes, public participation, and by active use of the municipal system of planning. Third, this study could not find any evidence for the announced shift from a sector approach to an integrated approach to sustainable tourism.     

Destination competitiveness and tourism development in Russia: Issues and challenges

With new border policies and the development of travel infrastructure, international tourism to Russia experienced double-digit growth in the past few years. Yet, few authors have reported on the challenges the country faces towards sustainable tourism development and competitiveness. This study discusses issues that have affected and that will continue to affect tourism in Russia. The tenets of destination competitiveness and sustainable development are used to guide a critical discussion of tourism in Russia. The study results from a three-year project that brought together European and Russian partners. Despite great potential, tourism development in Russia remains hindered by numerous issues such as destination image, infrastructure development, workforce training and education, quality management, and sustainable management. Beyond contributing to the tourism academic literature, this paper also aims at contributing to private and public policy stakeholders who prepare the future of Russia's tourism with Russian universities.     

Participatory complexity in tourism policy: Understanding sustainability programmes with participatory systems mapping

Linear logic models are insufficient to understand how interventions work in complex areas such as sustainable tourism. We present Participatory Systems Mapping (PSM), a novel method to develop shared understandings and collective management of complex policy issues among stakeholders. We use PSM with stakeholders in Barcelona to support the design of an upcoming evaluation of an existing sustainability programme. Discussion during workshops, and analysis of the PSM map produced, suggest sharing best practices and improving peer-to-peer learning are pivotal to improving sustainability. We show how a complex systems approach, implemented via PSM, can provide a more holistic understanding of the contexts and interactions of tourism policy. We offer learning and guidance on how the method can be used by others.     

Obstacles to achieving cross-border tourism governance: A multi-scalar approach focusing on the German-Czech borderlands

This paper aims to identify distinctive obstacles to the establishment of tourism destination governance in both transnational and within-country borderlands. Analysis of the German-Czech borderlands, a region also incorporating within-country borders between three German federal states, indicates the multi-scalar and political contestations of cross-border tourism collaboration. Local tourism projects are generally successful, both on a transnational German-Czech level and between the German states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia. However, structural cross-border destination management does not exist because of (transnational) multi-scalar institutional alignment problems and (internal) tourism-specific destination-level power contestations. Understanding destination management processes in borderlands, therefore, requires: (i) explicit multi-scalar analysis; (ii) recognition of both transnational and within-country contexts; (iii) more cross-pollination between tourism planning and cross-border governance research.     

A spatial approach for the management of groundwater quality in tourist destinations

Water resources and tourism need to be thought of in an integrated way, in order to provide urban planners and tourism managers with tools to promote water security and water equity. The objective of this paper was to apply an index capable of identify problems at the water-tourism interface, based on a spatial approach in GIS, meant to support the management of groundwater quality in tourist destinations. This index was applied to a tourist destination in northeastern Brazil, which uses groundwater to maintain its tourism infrastructure. The geographic phenomenon analyzed showed a spatial pattern between water use and tourism, with probable influences in hydrochemistry of groundwater. We suggest that the use of the propose index associated to GIS may be part of strategic planning efforts contemplating the interaction between tourism, urban management and water security, thus guaranteeing the infrastructure essential to strengthening the economy of a tourist destination.     

Developing sustainable tourism through adaptive resource management: a case study of Machu Picchu,Peru

Machu Picchu, Peru, is recognized as a top international travel destination. Pressure from the approximately 900,000 tourists who annually visit the ancient Inca city threatens the ecological integrity, physical substance and cultural authenticity of the World Heritage Site and surrounding area, including the Inca Trail. Multiple organizations and agencies currently involved in the management of Machu Picchu have distinct agendas for the conservation and development of the city, and conflicts regarding public access, economic growth and cultural preservation are rampant. Attempts to establish carrying capacities have failed, with proposed daily visitor levels ranging from 800 to 4000. This paper explores the complex issues surrounding tourism at Machu Picchu and presents a potential solution: an adaptive management approach based on the UN World Tourism Organization's (UNWTO) sustainable tourism framework. This integrative strategy accounts for multiple perspectives and synthesizes disparate goals embraced by diverse stakeholders, including the Peruvian government, international conservation organizations, foreign tourists, private tour operators, regional authorities and indigenous communities. The focus on Machu Picchu as an adaptive management case study site outlines key steps leading to implementation, offering planning and policy implications for sustainability initiatives at numerous developing-world tourism destinations facing similar political and socio-economic challenges.     

Smart governance for heritage tourism destinations: Contextual factors and destination management organization perspectives

The sustainable development of tourism is a major concern for destination management organisations (DMOs) in heritage tourism. Smart tourism advocates claim that technologically-driven innovations can help DMOs to optimise tourism development by addressing issues such as carrying capacity, stakeholder management and community involvement. This study enhances the understanding of smart tourism governance (SG), showing how contextual factors affect DMO perspectives of SG. A mixed-methods approach was used to investigate heritage tourism destinations in the United Kingdom. The results demonstrate that well-established DMOs do not perceive SG as potentially beneficial, as they already perform well in many areas in which SG promises improvements, such as citizen engagement, decision-making, and stakeholder engagement. Despite this, this research highlights the aspects of SG that these destinations can take advantage of as social inclusion, environmental performance and the provision of citizen-centric services. All of these can help heritage tourism destinations to optimise their tourism development. This research additionally demonstrates the effect of contextual factors, such as the level of public-sector support for tourism and the growing influence of non-tourism stakeholders in destination management, on DMO perceptions of SG and makes recommendations for how developments in the use of SG by DMOs can be made, in light of these.     

ENGAGING TIMESHARE OWNERS IN TOURISM DESTINATION MANAGEMENT: TOURISM PLANNING AND TOURISM MARKETING IMPLICATIONS

It is important to understand tourists' willingness to participate in tourism planning and the factors influencing their willingness because they are an integral part of the destination and ultimately one of the main buyers of the product. Timeshare owners are a special group of tourists who have additional connections with the tourism destination through their timeshare. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among timeshare owners' perceptions of tourism planning, civic engagement, sense of place, and willingness to participate in tourism planning.

This study was based on a questionnaire survey of U.S. timeshare owners. The total sample size was 302. A two‐stage structural equation modeling approach was applied in data analysis. Results from the measurement model suggested that the model fit the data quite well. Results from the structural model suggested that timeshare owners' perceptions of tourism planning, their past history of civic participation, and their sense of place significantly impact their willingness to participate in tourism planning, while timeshare owners' past experience in political participation did not significantly affect their willingness to participate in tourism planning. Implications of the findings in tourism planning and tourism destination marketing are presented.     

Resource-based local development and networked core-competencies for tourism excellence

The purpose of this article is to propose a complementary approach to the analysis of tourism systems which is grounded on theoretical frameworks deriving from the fields of dynamic capabilities and destination management. In particular, the paper explores the relationship between the networking approach of tourism firms and the development of tourism core-competencies. This perspective aims at providing a development path for policy maker actions based on the appraisal of local resources and tourism competencies. The empirical section studies an Italian area characterized by a high potential in terms of tourism resources but also, especially in the past, a medium-low relevance regarding the tourism economy. However, recently this area has shown a very interesting entrepreneurial dynamicity in tourism and cultural sectors. It is an appropriate field of research for the analysis regarding the determinants of tourism core-competence development.     

New Public Management in tourism: a case study of York

Issues concerning destination governance continue to engender much interest and debate in the development of more sustainable forms of tourism. This study explores the implications of a New Public Management approach to tourist destination governance in the historic City of York. Using secondary data, as well as drawing on interviews with a range of destination stakeholders, this study seeks to understand how market ideology is, via the notion of New Public Management, transforming tourism governance in the city. Rather than leading to greater levels of stakeholder engagement, the study demonstrates how the outsourcing of destination management functions to a private sector organisation has had the opposite effect, including a weakening of accountability and the widening of a democratic deficit. The paper provides a unique insight into how public policy discourses manifest themselves at the local level, with implications for tourist destination governance. A critique of New Public Management is offered which extends our understanding of tourism governance structures and stakeholder engagement, with implications for sustainable tourism development discussed.     

Developing a Tourism Destination Monitoring System: A Case of the Hawaii Tourism Dashboard

To develop and manage a tourism destination sustainably, it is important for all stakeholders to understand the interrelated tourism dimensions and activities within a destination. One way of determining the conditions of a destination's “health” is to establish a process by which existing data on various aspects of a destination can be assessed. For this purpose, this paper presents the development processes of the Hawaii Tourism Dashboard (HTD), an online information clearinghouse for multiple stakeholders and a diagnostic tool to monitor the conditions of Hawaii's tourism. As a joint effort between the industry and academia, it is hoped that the HTD can play an important role in increasing public awareness about tourism's multifaceted characteristics and in assisting decision-making and policy development by the government and the industry.     

Using a Regional Tourism Adaptation Framework to Determine Climate Change Adaptation Options for Victoria's Surf Coast

This paper reports research into adaptation to climate change for regional tourism destinations. It explains the application of a regional tourism adaptation framework model to the Surf Coast destination, within the state of Victoria, Australia. It then examines the usefulness of the framework model in guiding a vulnerability resilience assessment of the destination and developing strategies to increase the destinations resilience, resistance and readiness. A Delphi study was conducted, using a panel of experts, to determine the major risks and opportunities for tourism in the region as well as appropriate adaptation options. Although many of the findings focused on the best way to manage the negative bio-physical impacts of climate change, such as increased bushfire risk or more frequent and intense storms, several opportunities also became apparent including the potential to reduce seasonality. Tourism destination management is already a complex area and the introduction of climate change provides yet another challenge for managers and policy-makers. Consequently, the development and use of a regional adaptation framework can play an important role in assisting destination planning and management.     

The green globe programme: Developing a greener future for travel and tourism

This paper examines the concept of sustainable tourism planning in New Zealand and its relationship to the Resource Management Act. The paper considers the public sector planning responses towards tourism development issues within the context of New Zealand's Resource Management Act, and the ability of these organisations to respond to tourism issues. It argues that the absence of a national vision for tourism is a major constraint on achieving sustainable tourism options at the regional and local level because the Resource Management Act s principles of sustainable planning are not guided by any national policy or strategy. By using a postal questionnaire, the paper provides the first in-depth analysis of planners responses to tourism and their ability to integrate tourism into the planning process within New Zealand. The paper also expands the arguments initially developed by Dredge &; Moore (1992) on the lack of integration in relation to tourism and planning.     

Development Regimes in the City Fringe: The Case of Discover Islington,London

There is a growing recognition of the importance of inter-organisational collaborations, or partnerships, for tourism development at various geographical and sectoral levels. Academic studies of the phenomenon are, in part, a reflection of the increasing number and forms of partnership arrangements being established in a range of settings to develop tourism. This paper examines a particular case of inter-organisational collaboration for local tourism development for the London inner city fringe. Established in 1991, Discover Islington provides an illustration of an agency involving representation from diverse stakeholders with an interest in tourism within a single administrative district. The agency has been innovative in its approach to local tourism development in the inner city fringe, but it is confronted by issues that may affect its longer-term viability. The perspectives and experiences of the partners represented on the Board of Discover Islington are pertinent to the study of comparable collaborative arrangements for local tourism development in other urban fringe contexts. The analysis is based on interviews with Board members and their policy and strategy documents within a theoretical framework that draws on regime theory. Implications for other inner city fringe tourism development partnerships are offered in the conclusion of this paper.     

Demographic change and operationalization of the landscape in tourism planning: Landscape perceptions of the Generation Z

This study focuses on Generation Z, which is one of the most intriguing groups in terms of the future of tourism. The research questions of this study focus on what the landscape components that attract the attention of Generation Z in a tourism destination embrace, and how this interest can be operationalized in the tourism planning of that destination. The research was designed with an interpretive approach as the perceptions regarding landscape will differ according to the social location of the tourists. On-site observation studies were conducted with volunteer members from Generation Z, data being collected, and then analyzed with content analysis. The main findings of the study are as follows: Generation Z members enjoy interacting with local residents at a destination; they find traditional architecture and everyday-life interesting; and morphology, one of the natural environmental characteristics, is fascinating to Generation Z.