Sustainable hospitality: a meaningful notion?

This paper explores the concept of sustainable hospitality. The relevance and status of this area of enquiry are assessed by discussing the current status of the concepts involved. These discussions are then linked to progress made in sustainable hospitality both in research and practical applications in the hospitality industry. At least six principal schools of thought within hospitality are noted: hospitality science, hospitality management, hospitality studies, the “three domain school”, the systems thinking school and the pragmatic tradition. This complexity and lack of clear definition are problems. The differences between sustainability and sustainable development, and between weak and strong sustainability add further complexities. This paper shows that progress in both sustainable hospitality and tourism has been limited by these problems. A series of technical, ethical and commercial problems are discussed. However, while sustainable hospitality as a research area is still in its infancy, it is concluded that it is very relevant within the wider context of sustainable tourism research, based on its impact and its specific position within the social–ecological–economic systems under investigation. Key areas of future work are suggested, notably to better understand the impacts of hospitality on the triple bottom line, and to explore systems approaches towards implementation.     

国际旅游地理的最新进展

长期以来,人们都认为旅游业是极富韧性的产业。在过去几十年中,旅游业虽然遭受了许多打击,但是依然呈现增长的态势。国际旅游地理研究也呈现蓬勃发展的态势。2020年以来的全球新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情对旅游业产生了巨大的影响,旅游地理研究也发生了相应的改变。本文对近十年来旅游地理学研究的主要领域进行了回顾,探讨在Covid-19影响之下,该学科于未来几十年中主要关注的问题。本文指出即便在全球疫情的严峻形势下,旅游地理方面长期关注的许多关键问题仍然具有重要的现实意义,例如旅游的影响、作用及其与可持续发展目标的关系,旅游与气候变化,近几十年及未来几十年旅游的地理尺度变化等。疫情影响下,旅游地理会更多地关注如何实现“更好的旅游业”、迅速崛起的旅游服务数字化和社交媒体对旅游业的影响以及旅游业的韧性。从与地理学的其他分支学科相比被边缘化,这场全球疫情以多种方式表明,休闲和旅游业从来都不是边缘产业,而是一个重要的经济产业,它不仅有助于人们的社会福祉,也有助于提升人们的幸福感。     

An Investigation of Professional Development Education for Tourism and Hospitality Employees Through University and Industry Cooperative Education Partnerships

ABSTRACT

Cooperative educational partnerships in Australia are innovative education partnerships where universities join with a business or industry association in a working relationship. The partners share resources to develop and provide undergraduate award-bearing professional development education courses for employees and association members. The aim of this research is to investigate the nature of outcomes that encourages tourism and hospitality organisations to encourage professional development education for their employees and members.

This research used a qualitative approach to understand and analyse five cooperative education partnerships operating in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia. The outcomes emerging for tourism and hospitality organisations include encouraging confidence and loyalty in employees and a strengthening industry commitment to further education. The university saw professional development education provided through cooperative education partnerships as becoming part of their core education activity. Communication difficulties between different organisation cultures appear to be a barrier to overcome.     

Are we all environmental tourists now? The role of biases in social comparison across and within tourists,and their implications

From a management and research perspective, it is important to get a better understanding of what influences tourists in their decision to choose environmentally friendly travel options, and how these are related to social cognitive processes. This paper reports findings from two separate studies investigating the role of biases in social comparison, with particular reference to tourists' perception of their personal roles as environmentally friendly tourists, and especially tourists’ views of the environmental attitudes of other tourists. Samples of N = 1607 and N = 2076 tourists, respectively, were obtained for two studies in Western Norway. Results indicate that tourists perceive themselves to hold more pro-environmental attitudes than other tourists (i.e. “typical tourist”, “average tourist”, “tourists”). This suggests that there are differences in the perception of the self and others when it comes to social comparisons concerning issues of environmental sustainability. The findings also suggest that tourists hold overly positive views of themselves generally concerning issues of environmental sustainability and that their environmental attitudes reflect perceived desirable standards. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed from a social psychological perspective, and implications for tourism managers and researchers noted.     

Tourism firms’ environmental rankings and financial performance: a multidimensional scaling approach

The relationship between firms' environmental initiatives and financial performance continues to generate considerable interest. Despite the progress made in the study of this relationship, there is a paucity of research addressing tourism sector firms’ simultaneous environmental and financial performance. This research sheds light on the link between tourism-related firms’ environmental and financial performance. Results indicate that firms that performed well financially ranked higher on environmental initiatives. This suggests that firms’ financial performance may influence environmental performance since firms with good financial performance are better able to allocate more resources to support environmental initiatives. However, since investments in environmental initiatives require financial and manpower resources, firms should only invest in such initiatives if resources are not diverted from core functions, since such actions could affect overall firm viability. Results also indicated that firms that have adopted green initiatives can be classified into four clearly defined categories: progressive firms, which includes firms that simultaneously excel on green initiatives and financial performance; repressive firms or those that perform poorly on both; aggressive firms or those that perform admirably financially but poorly on environmental initiatives; and green firms or firms that perform admirably on green initiatives but poorly financially.     

The nexus between sustainable practices in hotels and future Gen Y hospitality students’ career path decisions

This study explored tertiary hospitality students’ attitudes and overall perceptions about green and sustainable practices; and how these may impact their future career paths in the hotel industry. A thematic analysis with data from 12 semi-structured interviews with students in a hotel management school in Australia was used to identify patterns and interpretive themes. Results revealed positive attitudes among Generation Y hospitality students towards working in a green and sustainable hotel environment. Implications highlight the need for sustainability education in the curriculum of tertiary education providers and strong emphasis on sustainability practices in employee training programs. The results also suggest possible impacts of sustainability practices in recruiting and hiring in the hospitality industry and how this may affect future hospitality employees and leaders.     

Social learning and sustainable tourism development; local quality conventions in tourism: a Greek case study

This paper presents the trajectory of an innovative organisational scheme, the Local Quality Convention (LQC), concerning sustainable tourism development in the Lake Plastiras area, a less favoured area in Central Greece. It outlines the development issues of the area, the main actors, their views and practices and describes the creation, progress and emerging problems of the LQC scheme. Research reveals contradicting approaches to sustainable tourism development which, in turn, influenced the LQC's evolution. The findings are critically discussed in the light of the Social Learning (SL) approach to social change and sustainable development. According to SL it is only through interactive (participative), concerted action that stakeholders are able to co-construct an issue and its solutions. Given the dominance of “conventional” tourism in Greece as well as the top-down formation and implementation of policies, the importance of the long term facilitation of local stakeholders to achieve sustainable tourism development is demonstrated, along with other related lessons for planners and managers.     

Social planning for tourism in the developing countries

The usual perspectives on tourism planning have been economic. This paper argues for the need to take much more explicit account of non-economic costs (and benefits) in this field, and links the discussion to questions that have preoccupied those concerned with general issues of development in recent years. It emphasises that planners act in specific socio-politocal contexts, and that it is especially the dynamics of class structures and theis expression in the power relations at local and national levels which influence outcomes in this field. Practical issues of social planning for tourism are discussed, and the dangers of development which is too massive and too fast are stressed. Some attention is also paid to the role of transnational enterprises in the tourism field, and to the question of bargaining at the international level.     

亚太地区野生生物旅游的可持续发展实践与挑战

野生动物旅游主要基于生物多样性热点地区和标志性物种进行。亚太地区的野生动物旅游已经很受欢迎,预计在新冠肺炎疫情之后还会继续发展。本文为野生动物旅游的可持续发展提供了一系列建议,讨论了在野外观赏野生动物的准则以及植物和真菌观赏的可能性。野生动物旅游的优秀实践标准包括有效的保护区管理、健全的环境政策、控制旅游人数的增长、管理过度拥挤、导游培训、关注动物福利和监测旅游对野生动物的影响等,野生动物旅游的适当推广和营销也需要加以考虑。野生动物旅游的主要挑战包括对大环境的保护不到位,对实现可持续发展要求的误解,以及公园管理者和旅游经营者对游客管理的不足。新冠肺炎疫情的出现为野生动物旅游的影响研究提供了一个契机,反思以前的野生动物旅游业务并在未来维持并改进野生动物旅游。     

A Community-Based Tourism Model: Its Conception and Use

Community participation in the tourism planning process is advocated as a way of implementing sustainable tourism. There are, however, few studies that detail tangible and practical ways to promote or measure participation. This paper reviews the principal theories used to discuss community participation, including the ‘ladder of citizen participation’, power redistribution, collaboration processes and social capital creation. These theories form the basis for defining a community-based tourism (CBT) model. The paper shows how this model can be used to assess participation levels in a study site, and suggests further actions required. The model is applied in a case study in Palawan, the Philippines, where an indigenous community previously initiated a community-based ecotourism project. The project resulted in a number of problems, including conflicts with non-indigenous stakeholders. The model identifies the current situation of the project and provides suggestions for improvement.     

关于旅游学科发展与旅游管理专业课程体系建设的思考

本文提出了中国旅游事业以及高等旅游教育与科研近30年发展中几个主要方面问题:旅游和高等旅游教育科研的所得和所失、旅游的基本性质、高等旅游教育的定性、旅游学能否成为一门独立学科、旅游学科体系的建设、旅游管理专业课程体系构成、旅游管理专业主干课程及内容的确定,分析了这些问题的根源.在此基础上集中阐述了作者对旅游学科定性和定位、旅游学科理论体系结构、旅游学科的研究方法论、旅游管理专业课程体系构建等问题的观点.     

Tourists,black markets and regional development in West Africa

Currency brought into West Africa by tourists is strong support for black market operations. The positive as well as the negative effects of illicit currency exchanges are evaluated for their social and economic significance for the region. The black market is not only an index of economic conditions, but is important for individual and group survival and the maintenance of social structure in countries having long term weakened economies. Anthroplogical data provides Third World planners a broadened base for decisions dealing with the role of tourism in regional development.     

Bibliometrical analysis of Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research

Scientific journals are academic publications that produce information in a specific discipline. In the current study, 522 studies published between 2009 and 2017 in Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, were bibliometrically examined. According to findings, the author with the highest rate of contribution to the journal is Rob Law, the most often published institution is Hong Kong Polytech University, and the most researched topic is customer loyalty. Periodical analysis of academic journals enables inferences to be made about the intellectual structures of the disciplines and provides leading summary information on important studies, scientists, and research trends.     

Globalisation and food consumption in tourism

In this paper, the common perception of globalisation as a threat to local gastronomic identities is contrasted by its other facet, as an impetus that opens up new opportunities for reinvention of local gastronomic products and identities. Relevant perspectives and theories of globalisation are reviewed to provide a theoretical framework for the study. Key dimensions underlying food consumption in tourism are elucidated, and the impacts of globalisation on the culinary supply and tourist food consumption are discussed. A conceptual model is developed in an attempt to illustrate the influence of globalisation on food consumption in tourism. This study concludes that from the world culture theory perspective, globalisation can be an impetus to reconstruct or reinvent local gastronomic traditions and particularities.     

Tourism and the Sex Trade in Kenya’s Coastal Region

Faced with economic hardships, some Kenyans have devised various ways of survival including selling sex. This paper examines the relationship between tourism and the sex trade in Kenya’s coastal region. A questionnaire survey was conducted among commercial sex workers in the region in 2002. Analyses of the survey data reveal that a linkage exists between tourism and the growth of the sex trade in the region. The paper examines the interrelations between the two activities, and gives the first detailed and systematic treatment of the subject in Kenya. A complex operational interdependence between commercial sex workers and tourism is revealed. The conclusion discusses the role of sustainable tourism concepts in any drive to reduce the harmful impacts of sex tourism in the region.