Leisure,gender and family: the influence of social policy

A number of authors have recently called for reconsideration of the way in which gender and the family are investigated within leisure studies. This paper proposes that future analyses should include more explicit recognition of the ideological and practical influence of social policy on contemporary gender relations. The paper suggests that social policy has particular significance for debates within leisure studies, about the relationship between men and women's market and domestic labour, and their access to leisure. The paper investigates the influence of social policy on male and female adult life patterns through comparative analysis of social policy interventions and labour market outcomes in the economically advanced nations. It focusses on the policy stance in relation to paid work, especially maternal and paternal employment. It is shown that ‘family-related’ social policies universally support fathers' employment, but vary in the extent to which they encourage mothers' labour market activity. The implications of this for gender differentiation in leisure are explored through analysis of cross-national data for male and female sports participation in Europe. The analysis shows a strong correlation between gender discrimination in family-related social policy, and differentials in male-female sports participation rates. The paper next considers the implications of policy intervention for divergence within the female population. A detailed case study of the UK examines how family-related policy may differentially affect women in different socio-economic situations. The paper concludes that whether family-related policies encourage women to see themselves primarily as caregivers within the family unit, or as citizens with individualized rights, is likely to affect both their sense of entitlement to personal leisure and their ability to access it.     

A framework for the development of event public policy: Facilitating regional development

Governments around the globe are utilising events as an integral part of their policies for regional development. Therefore, there is an increasing need to ensure event public policy has the capacity to facilitate opportunities for regional development.The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for the development of public policy for regional events. The framework was conceived to address criticisms which emanated from the analysis of 219 event policies published from 1974to 2004 by nineteen Australian local governments. These criticisms suggested that the event policies contain redundant rhetoric, are ad hoc and reactive, are developed by an insular policy community and do not contain enough proactive, theoretically informed initiatives. Thus the framework was designed to provide a constructive foundation for local governments to collaboratively develop theoretically informed event policy which has the capacity to proactively develop strong and vibrant regions.     

How can we manage the tourist-historic city? Tourism strategy in Cambridge, UK, 1978–2003

This paper draws on research into 25 years of tourism planning and management in Cambridge, UK, to explore the long-term effect that tourism strategies can have in managing the development of tourism in historic cities. It focuses particularly on strategic aims and the policies designed to implement them through regulating the city. It finds that five successive Tourism Strategies from 1978 onward have had consistent aims, strongly influenced by the locality characteristics of Cambridge. It explores how strategic aims are derived, focusing on the balance between local and external influences, and how policies to implement the aims are developed. It argues that locality factors, and the role of local regimes and policy communities are more important than national government policy in accounting for aims and policies. It suggests that tourism management issues are rarely finally resolved, and questions whether true ‘tourism management is currently achievable in a historic city.     

我国高尔夫政策变迁与效果研究

文章对中央政府20多年来涉及高尔夫的政策研究表明,我国的高尔夫政策经历了“支持——限制——禁止”3个阶段.其中,规范和限制高尔夫用地类型的政策起到了较好效果,但限制和禁止高尔夫项目发展的政策失效;政策失效原因在于地方政府及文化、体育、旅游部门具有建设高尔夫项目的合理诉求和强烈动机,导致高尔夫政策前后不一致、部门不一致和上下不一致;对高尔夫采取规范发展政策将能起到更好效果,有利于高尔夫项目合理规划,促进高尔夫旅游科学发展.     

New tourism for old? Policy developments in Cornwall and Devon

This paper will examine current tourism policies in Cornwall and Devon. Although long established, the tourist industry is in need of restructuring in order to compete in an increasingly discerning and heterogeneous market. Beginning with an overview of the current role and characteristics of tourism in the two counties, this paper will analyze aspects of European, national, regional and local policy. It will be shown that the restructuring of tourism within Cornwall and Devon has resulted in a shift in institutional control over tourist space which is in part a response to a wider context of changes in the nature of commodification and consumption. In conclusion it will be argued that the analysis of tourism policies and strategies cannot be simply reduced to the function of economic imperatives, but needs to be analyzed by conceptualizing such developments as a complex multi-dimensional set of socio-cultural relations and flows.     

Targeted poverty alleviation in China: segmenting small tourism entrepreneurs and effectively supporting them

Abstract

Cultivating and encouraging local small tourism enterprises (STEs) is considered an effective way to alleviate poverty. Chinese local governments tend to concentrate their limited policies and initiatives on targeting STEs and effective ways to achieve better performance, following the proposed government policy called Targeted Poverty Alleviation by Tourism Development (TPATD). To discover which group is targeted and how, this study classified small tourism entrepreneurs and examined determinants of their performance. A quota sampling survey of 273 entrepreneurs in five tourism communities within a scenic area known as Yuntai Mountain was conducted in 2016. Seven determinants were identified: business skills, leadership, innovation, social relations, governmental support, autonomy, and locus of control. Three distinct small tourism entrepreneur segments were classified as independents, followers, and autodidacts. Each segment is worth helping but in different ways. Leadership, business skills, and innovation are key determinants of performance for all segments. Governmental support should be more visible, targeted, and recognized by locals. The administrative subcontract of TPATD in China is also discussed.     

Sustainable tourism implementation in urban areas: a case study of London

Sustainable tourism is a concept widely embraced by managers and planners of tourist destinations. However, it has received little attention in the context of urban tourism, an area of research that has until recently been largely neglected by academics. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge on sustainable tourism implementation in large cities, by using London as an exploratory case study. Through the collection and analysis of both primary and secondary data (online survey, semi-structured interviews and document analysis), it seeks to explore whether local authorities have implemented policies towards sustainable tourism in the capital. The findings indicate that although the concept of sustainable tourism is perceived as important by policy makers, only a few local authorities in London promote its principles in their policy documents and even fewer have initiatives to put them in practice. Most of these initiatives are isolated activities which address limited aspects of sustainable tourism. The paper concludes that despite some progress made to date, in the current economic climate, growth and development remain the main objectives of governments and local authorities, while social and environmental issues are often left behind.     

Why It's Good To Be Bad: The Role of Conflict in Contributing Towards Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas

This paper examines the historic and contemporary role of one Canadian environmental non-governmental organisation (ENGO) in the operationalisation of sustainable tourism. In particular, the extent to which the ENGO has contributed to coordinated, cooperative policy development and implementation within this policy domain is examined. While coordinated policy making is widely accepted as a basis for environmentally sustainable tourism development, organisations may contribute more towards this goal by choosing not to be included, or by being excluded from, this framework of coordination. This paper uses an interorganisational relations perspective to explore the position, influence and relationships of one ENGO active within Canada's national park tourism policy domain. Implications are drawn for the implementation of sustainable tourism within protected areas.     

Tourism and the Environment: The Innovation Connection

Increased environmental awareness is a driving force for innovation in the tourist industry. New green products and services are emerging, and being combined with measures such as recycling, energy savings etc. The rationale for the tourist industry is to stay in business and to gain competitive advantages through innovative behaviour. This articles reviews public policy instruments for sustainable tourism development. An important and not always sufficiently envisaged side-effect of the policies and their implementation is the occurrence of innovations in the tourism sector. Types of innovation are identified, and the article concludes that not all policy instruments are equally efficient.     

贫困与非贫困户旅游扶贫政策绩效感知差异研究——以恩施为例

为了明确回答旅游扶贫是否存在"扶富不扶贫"现象,文章以恩施州22个旅游扶贫重点村农户的问卷调查数据为依据,以农户感知为视角,采用探索性因子分析从政策执行和效果两大方面探索旅游扶贫政策绩效感知的维度,并评价感知水平,采用独立样本t检验分析贫困户与非贫困户对旅游扶贫政策绩效感知的差异及形成原因。研究发现:旅游扶贫政策绩效包括3个政策执行感知维度和6个政策效果感知维度;受访农户总体上对宏观政策覆盖的感知高于对微观政策覆盖和政策执行力度的感知,对旅游发展带来的环境、经济、素质提升的正面效应感知高于对环境、经济、社会负面效应的感知,但认可度都不高;与非贫困户相比,贫困户更不认可旅游发展促进了地方经济的发展、个人收入的增加和素质提升的作用,却更认可旅游发展带来的经济成本,表现出相对剥夺感。最后,根据研究结果,从充分发展旅游经济、实施制度增权、建立利益分享机制3个方面为恩施州旅游扶贫政策的完善提出了针对性建议。     

The Effects of Music on Room Attendants' Work Performance — An Exploratory Study

Abstract

In recent years, the hospitality industry has become increasingly concerned with environmental sustainability. This trend has been apparent mainly in traditional areas of the industry such as hotels and restaurants. In universities, there have been moves to develop environmental policies, which have impacted on those sectors of the hospitality industry involved with foodservice and student residences. This study investigated the implementation of waste management policies and practices within twenty-seven university residences in Ontario and Quebec. Despite the small size of the sample, this study found a significant variance between the location of the university residence and the existence of a written waste management policy and waste management practices. University residences in Ontario were more likely to have a written policy, although the differences in the number of practices implemented by universities in Ontario and Quebec were not significantly different.

In this paper it is argued that universities are in a strong position to influence consumers of the future through their procedures and practices. This is supported by the findings of the research, which indicate that response to the needs of students is one of the main reasons given for developing waste management policies.     

Protected area policies and sustainable tourism: influences,relationships and co-evolution

This paper explores the adoption of sustainable tourism ideas in a Park Authority's policies over a period of two decades in a developed world, category V protected area. There is only limited research on influences encouraging the inclusion of sustainable tourism ideas in protected area policies, or on relationships between sustainable tourism policies and other policy priorities. The paper departs from an approach which considers sustainable tourism policies in isolation, because potentially they are reformulations or extensions of other previous policies, or else indirect outcomes of other policies. There is assessment of influences on the Park Authority's sustainable tourism policies, and of the co-evolution between sustainable tourism policies and other policies. Such influences as government funding reductions and rising concern for community well-being affected the Authority's adoption of sustainable tourism ideas. Incorporation of sustainable tourism ideas in policies occurred gradually. It involved re-labelling established policies as well as reframing and extending those policies. It was often an indirect outcome of policy developments not focused specifically on sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism-related policies co-evolved with, and through, policies for community well-being, actor participation, and sustainable development. The approach used here is relevant for research on policy co-evolution in other policy fields.     

Improving tourism policy implementation - The use of hybrid MCDM models

Few studies have presented a holistic approach to evaluating complex national tourism policies, successfully quantified the dynamics at play, or proposed an improvement model. The corresponding purpose of this study is to address this problem, using the method of hybrid MCDM (multiple criteria decision-making) to examine the dependent relationships among various dimensions and criteria of tourism policies and, ultimately, to suggest an optimal improvement plan for Taiwan tourism policy. A decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) is employed to construct a network relationship map (NRM), which then is used to illustrate the influential network of the tourism policy improvement model. The DEMATEL-based analytic network process (DANP) and VIKOR are adopted to evaluate the weights and the gaps to the aspired level of implementation. The model is useful in identifying both an influential network and a priority sequence of dimensions/criteria related to tourism policies and, thus, is helpful to tourism policy management.     

Community participation in outdoor recreation and the development of Millennium Greens in England

A growth in community participation (CP) in outdoor recreation provision and maintenance emerged from the post-war voluntary movement but from the 1970s, discrete initiatives were spawned in the context of management experiments, threats to urban open space from development, the enhancement of forestry recreation opportunities and European funding to remoter rural areas. A shift in the style of government from an executive to an enabling role in the 1980s and 1990s has formalized CP in public policy. This has been exploited in CP for the rights of way system and in the provision of new recreation areas: Millennium Greens. An assessment of some of the characteristics of CP in Millennium Greens is provided in relation to motivations for their development, the support of the community, the social characteristics of those affected, their spatial distribution and raised expectations where schemes have been unsuccessful. It is concluded that some executive state controls over such schemes are necessary to ensure their effective operation but this too can be enhanced by involving communities in policy formulation as well as in development and implementation. There is some evidence to suggest that governmental enabling policies benefit those who are already most enabled relative to the more marginal sectors of society and this issue merits further research.     

Corporate social responsibility: The disclosure–performance gap

As increased stakeholder pressure requires companies to be transparent about their CSR practices, it is essential to know how reliable corporate disclosure mechanisms are, testing the gap between corporate social responsibility claims and actual practice. This study benchmarks corporate social responsibility policies and practices of ten international hotel groups of particular importance to the European leisure market. We found that corporate systems are not necessarily reflective of actual operations, environmental performance is eco-savings driven, labour policies aim to comply with local legislation, socio-economic policies are inward looking with little acceptance of impacts on the destination, and customer engagement is limited. Generally larger hotel groups have more comprehensive policies but also greater gaps in implementation, while the smaller hotel groups focus only on environmental management and deliver what they promised. As the first survey of its kind in tourism, both the methodology and the findings have implications for further research.     

中国旅游发展政策的历史演进(1949~2013)——一个量化研究的视角

文章从1949~2013年中央政府及相关部委发布的379个旅游政策文件的多维度统计分析入手,以全新的视角剖析了新中国成立以来我国旅游发展政策的演化历程。研究发现:(1)我国旅游政策演化是资源配置的行政化转向行政权力制约下的资源配置市场化过程。(2)旅游政策目标始终与国家经济社会发展的战略目标相一致,可大致分为服务外事、经济型事业、经济新增长点、国家战略性支柱产业四个阶段。(3)旅游政策工具以微观管制为主,对资本、土地、技术、人才等生产要素宏观调控能力不足。(4)旅游政策的制定部门范畴不断扩大,政策力度呈波动趋稳态势。研究认为,旅游经济的有效运行高度依赖于社会经济系统的制度安排。在《旅游法》颁布、旅游业进入全新的发展阶段后,技术进步、市场需求、企业竞合关系协同引领的产品业态与商业模式创新是未来产业效率提升的基本方向,宏观调控和公共服务将成为政府旅游管理的基本内容。     

Introducing the concept of environmental policy integration into the discourse on sustainable tourism: a way to improve policy-making and implementation?

Many studies have explored how the tourism sector and tourism policies understand and relate to the concept of sustainable development. A common conclusion is that tourism concentrates on economic and social viability at the expense of environmental sustainable development. This paper considers if and how the concept of environmental policy integration (EPI) could improve sustainable tourism policy implementation. It defines EPI, and explores both the three-level (co-ordination, harmonization and prioritization) and four-level (inclusion, consistency, priorities and reporting) EPI approaches. It notes that there is both strong and weak EPI, and both political systems and policy analysis approaches. The paper then describes Norway's post-2007 adoption of sustainable tourism as a central part of its national tourism development strategy, with 10 defined principles, and suggested defined development standards, and assesses the implementation of the national strategy through the lens of the EPI concept. While there are now 18 pilot sustainable tourism destinations, with 44 criteria and 108 indicators, there remain many difficult issues to address. A series of suggestions are made, the chief of which is the need for a politically strong central authority that has been entrusted with having environmental concerns within the tourism sector as its key mandate.     

A decade of compulsory competitive tendering in UK sport and leisure services: some feminist reflections

The last decade has witnessed the transformation of public policy in the UK following an extensive programme of privatization across a range of public services. When compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) in sport and leisure services was first proposed in 1987 there was widespread opposition from feminists and also from the Labour party who had been out of government for eight years. This period out of office was to continue for a further ten years until New Labour was elected to government on 1st May 1997 with a landslide majority and a manifesto which embraced, rather than rejected, many of the policies of the four previous Conservative administrations. Instead of the widespread failure and subsequent abandonment of CCT predicted a decade ago by feminists, national labour politicians and local labour authorities, CCT is now widely accepted as here to stay. Following ten years of private sector involvement in local authority sport and leisure provision, and the apparent likelihood that such provision is set to continue, it is timely to reflect on CCT in sport and leisure from a feminist perspective. What have been the successes and failures of this policy transformation for women's sport and leisure; how can these successes and failures be explained; and what are the challenges facing research on women and leisure in local government in the future? This paper attempts to offer a state-of-the-art review of CCT and local government sport and leisure provision for women by providing a comprehensive review of CCT literature and surveys, supported by primary research in the form of a regional case study of CCT and its impact on policy, provision and participation for women. The findings demonstrate that, whilst CCT has led to some significant improvements in service levels in sport and leisure generally, there are many areas related to access and opportunity for women participants which still provide cause for concern. Moreover, the findings illustrate that sex-segregation within sport and leisure management continues to be combined with women's marginalization from many aspects of power and decisionmaking in sport and leisure provision. Analysis of the author's survey findings, qualitative interview data and policy analysis illustrates the need for a new research agenda to advise on future policy developments. Such a research agenda, it is argued, needs to take account of, and develop further, research within three areas if the nature of CCT and its implications for gender relations are to be more fully documented and understood: feminist sport and leisure studies, service sector management, and local government studies.     

Sustainable performance index for tourism policy development

Development of sustainable tourism policies could be a useful way of encouraging new forms of business, increasing employment and promoting the conservation of landscapes; in this regard, the application of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas represents a referential methodology for local development and a possibility to involve local stakeholders in the definition of sustainability policy. In many cases, integrated sustainability indicators are developed within a participatory process; the present study represents an innovative attempt to evaluate sustainability holistically, by defining specific targets through the definition of indicators suitable to measure and evaluate the temporal evolution of development policies, mainstreaming sustainability to reduce adverse effects on the environment and promoting conservation of local and traditional values. Application of sustainability indicators to measure welfare and development at local scales is strategic to evaluate the short and long term effects of strategies developed through the European Charter participatory process.     

The role of local government and the private sector in China's tourism industry

For many less-developed regions in China, cultural and natural attractions are often used by local governments as regional economic drivers. However, the expectation is that income generated from the direct use of culture and nature will only provide the initial round of working capital to facilitate development of other industrial sectors. One strategy in recent years is to separate government from business operations in these attractions to improve the economic performance of businesses and better conserve cultural and natural resources. This paper examines the impact of these policies on resource-dependent tourism companies (RDTCs) for the period 2003–2012. Data on economic performance are derived from listed companies. It is shown that RDTCs have better performance than other tourism sectors because of their monopoly status on high-quality natural and cultural resources. Yet local governments still have a role in tourism operation. Their involvement tends to lead to the reduction of the economic effects of RDTCs and results in discernible overcrowding at sites, thus resulting in negative ecological consequences. The implications for policy and companies are discussed.