A new take on an old structure? Creative and slow tourism in Krakow (Poland)

The contemporary tourism market trends indicate an increasing need for the individualisation of tourist experience and necessitate a move away from the standardisation of tourism products, including those offered within the cities that primarily market their cultural heritage. The concept of creative tourism as a way of practising cultural tourism is a response to the changing needs and expectations of tourists. This is because it offers non-traditional uses for the cultural potential of cities. This article attempts to embed creative tourism in the overall tourist product using an example of a historic city – Krakow. The authors examine the development of tourism products in Krakow, focusing primarily on cultural and historical heritage tourism and secondarily on new forms of tourism that have emerged, such as creative tourism and slow tourism. They analyse this issue in terms of districts – traditional and new tourist areas, indicating the potential for tourism growth.     

A critical discourse analysis of racial violence in South Carolina,U.S.A.: implications for traveling while Black

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to present a rich, detailed case that illustrates the way in which the discourse of racial violence has been constructed in the United States (U.S.), and how that has impacted Black travel. Using South Carolina, a state centrally-located along the East coast with historic, political, and social ties to the U.S. South as the context for this analysis, this paper employs a critical discourse analysis to examine the intersection of racial violence and tourism, situating cases of violence – historic to the modern. This study makes a case for more focused attention on the intersection of tourism and violence within the literature, as well as a call to the tourism industry to be proactive to discourses of violence, demonstrate a desire for diversity in their visitors, consider the critical issues of racial representation in their tourism products, and be aware of the emerging organizations supporting and facilitating Black travel.     

Nature-Based Tourism and Poverty Alleviation: Impacts of Private Sector and Parastatal Enterprises In and Around Kruger National Park,South Africa

International programmes and national policies around the world have identified tourism as an appropriate mechanism for sustainable development, poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation. To evaluate the impact of nature-based tourism on the poor, socio-economic assessments were undertaken at enterprises based within South African protected areas. Comparisons were made between local economic interventions reported by enterprises and neighbouring community member's perceptions of their initiatives. Socioeconomic impacts evaluated included employment, gender equality, procurement, corporate social responsibility, dependency on tourism and access to markets. The studies demonstrate that isolated efforts from individual tourism companies have little tangible impact on the majority of people living in highly populated rural communities but impacts are substantial for the few people who directly benefit. Implications of these findings for future socio-economic initiatives through tourism, and options to increase net benefits to the poor are explored.     

Exploring attitudes to edgy urban destinations: the case of Deptford,London

The role of tourists and tourism in urban development is not fully understood. Research has focused on tourism districts within city centres, but less is known about tourism in peripheral, less affluent urban districts. These areas can appeal to visitors as edgy alternatives to mainstream destinations. This study establishes who is interested in visiting and why, and it explores the underlying rationale for negative attitudes. The aims are addressed by an in-depth analysis of Deptford in South East London. This area is a relatively deprived part of a world city, albeit one that has long been earmarked as London's next cool district. The study uses a mix of different sources to analyse the case. Responses to a New York Times article on Deptford are analysed and the attitudes of actual visitors and key stakeholders are explored. The discussion includes an examination of different interpretations and attitudes towards the notion of edginess. Edginess is deemed attractive by certain audiences; something linked to a reverence for working-class life in the arts. The study concludes that, whilst edginess is a noted characteristic, what people appreciate about Deptford is its ‘distinctive ordinariness’ – its contrast with more polished and contrived urban districts.     

The relevance of the tangible and intangible social impacts of tourism on selected South African communities

Most tourism social impact studies emphasise tangible social impacts such as economic improvement. In developing countries such as South Africa, a small percentage of tangible benefits filter down to community level. This creates a problem as various studies revealed the importance of community support for the sustainability of the tourism industry. Therefore it was important to explore the role of both the tangible and the intangible social impacts of tourism. Communities with established tourism industries (Clarens, Soweto and Jeffreys Bay) formed part of the quantitative research. Through exploratory factor analyses, 31 social impact statements could be categorised into four tangible and two intangible impacts. The tangible factor Economic improvement obtained a low rating, meaning that it was not directly experienced by residents, while the intangible factor Community pride and upliftment obtained the highest rating among all factors. This, together with the fact that community members continue their support for the tourism industry, is a novel find, indicating the significant role of intangible social impacts in fostering community support. This finding shows the importance of incorporating intangible social impacts into tourism planning in developing countries. Contributions are made towards social impact research methodology and literature.     

Local community perspectives towards dark tourism development: The case of Snowtown,South Australia

This paper critically examines the perspectives of a local community towards dark tourism development. Based on the infamous case of the Snowtown murders in South Australia, this preliminary study observes the local community's perception towards dark tourism development and adopted a qualitative methodology using observation and interview. The findings revealed that attitudes towards the development of dark tourism varied considerably depending on residents' length of immersion in the area. Whilst long-term residents were predominantly against the development of tourism involving Snowtown's recent dark past, others, particularly those that had moved to the area after the perpetrators of the Snowtown murders were caught (post-1999), were welcoming of the idea. The study posits that official tourism bodies in South Australia need to respond to the demand for dark tourism in Snowtown and provide the area with appropriate tourism infrastructure. However, due to the highly contrasting resident opinions towards dark tourism, it is also imperative that they consult the local community in future decision-making processes.     

Community Participation in Tourism Planning and Development in the Historic City of York,England

This paper examines two potentially contradictory trends in tourism planning in cities; the emphasis on partnership and public participation. Public–private sector partnerships are part of the post-Fordist planning orthodoxy in the UK and involve a coalition of local and non-local agents and particularly elite groups. These partnerships are often one step removed from urban government and raise issues about accountability and local democracy. The tourism literature on community tourism development and community involvement is underdeveloped in the context of urban tourism. Nonetheless, evidence suggests that local urban social movements can be influential in the development process and that planners and developers need to embrace these interests if sustainable tourism products are to be developed. The considerable growth in cultural and heritage tourism and recreational shopping has created tensions within tourist historic cities, which may be amenable to resolution through public participation. In York, heightened civic awareness of the role of tourism in the local economy and the intensification of competition for investment/consumption, demands a re-evaluation of its tourism strategy. These participatory policies are far removed from the more radical models of public participation but may be all that is achievable in a competitive climate dominated by entrepreneurial city management.     

Applying relative deprivation theory to study the attitudes of host community residents towards tourism: the case study of the Zhangjiang National Park,China

Host community is one of the most important stakeholders involved in tourism development. Their attitudes and supports for tourism are highly significant to underpin the sustainable development of the industry. However, host community has not been attached adequate importance, and is usually marginalised to be a salient disadvantaged group in the process of tourism development. Although relative deprivation theory (RDT) provides a powerful theoretical tool to analyse the attitudes of disadvantaged social groups, the theory has rarely been documented in tourism literature. This paper takes the case of tourism development in the Zhangjiang National Park, China, and applies RDT to empirically examine how and why host residents suffer from the relative deprivation problem resulting from tourism development and attempts to unveil its influence on their attitudes towards tourism development. The study indicates that there exists a close and negative correlation between the locals' relative deprivation and their attitudes towards tourism development. The more host residents suffer from relative deprivation, the more negative their attitudes towards tourism are, and vice versa. Furthermore, the Relative Deprivation Index proposed in this study proves to be simple and effective in quantitatively depicting the spatial differences/heterogeneity of relative deprivation issues in the case study area.     

Understanding the residents’ social impact perceptions of an African Cultural Festival: the case of Macufe

ABSTRACT

The Macufe is one of the Africa’s largest cultural festivals, and takes place annually in Bloemfontein, South Africa. This 10-day event attracts approximately 140,000 attendees, meaning that the residents have to share facilities and services with tourists. The effects of such interactions can be both positive and negative. Community members are stakeholders in any tourism ventures that take place in their area, meaning that their goodwill is of utmost importance. Therefore, the social impacts of this event should be well managed to foster community support. For this reason, a quantitative study was done to determine residents’ social impact perceptions towards the event. A total of 425 questionnaires were completed by willing residents who lived in proximity to festival activities. From an exploratory factor analysis, four factors were extracted, namely community enhancement, community degradation, tourism growth and increased public spending and interaction. It was found that the event does not generate significant levels of positive social impacts, and that the negative social impacts are viewed almost equal to the positive social impacts. This was one of the first social impact perception studies done on an African arts festival, which contributes to the sustainable management of such crucial events.     

Survival theory: tourist consumption as a beneficial experiential process in a limited risk setting

This body of research developed over a number of individual but linked studies, predominantly carried out in the Bournemouth environs in the South Coast of England as well as on the islands of the Isle of Wight and Guernsey. The focus of these studies has been to examine the process, meaning and sought outcomes of the consumption process of individuals while on holiday. The relationship of non‐everyday setting and increased desire for interpersonal and intrapersonal significance within holiday consumption experiences are shown to be pivotal in generating a perceived developmental event for the consumer away from the routine of everyday living. An explanation for this is considered within risk‐based consumer models as well as within humanist developmental and post‐modern identity/experience choice orientations. Within holiday consumption there was found to be a high proclivity to discover, learn and reflect on the developing self, and close social unit (as well as social interactions in general) while on holiday within a non‐everyday cultural experience; with inherent alteration of consumer behaviour when in the holiday ‘state of mind’. The generally more affective, rather than cognitive, basis of tourist retail consumption is considered relating to the ‘risky’ nature of individual learning and socialisation processes and consumption behaviour within the limited risk environment of a holiday setting. In further considering risk‐based models of adventure holiday consumption, the herein proposed Survival Theory of tourist consumption offers a more general beneficial human development role (individual and social) for most tourist interactions which contrasts with much tourist literature (and popular cultural beliefs) which assumes tourism to be a selfish, destructive or harmful process within the sphere of human behaviour. Differentially across the sample, a tentative typology of tourist consumers is also proposed, with some reference to potential life‐stage association and applications to experiential‐based marketing of holidays to various consumer groups. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Factors influencing cultural event tourism in Nelson Mandela Bay,South Africa

ABSTRACT

Cultural tourism has established a market share of approximately 20% in the tourism sector globally. In addition, it fosters socio-economic benefits for a destination and its residents. This study explores residents’ attitudes towards cultural events in Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB), South Africa, to enhance the destination image and induce stakeholder engagement. In this study, 3659 residents of NMB either completed an online questionnaire or a face-to-face interview. The results indicate that the residents of NMB have a positive attitude to cultural events. Notably, the demographic profile of the respondents is representative of the country and may be transferred to a national level to assist the South African tourism industry. The findings clarify insights to the market needs and cultural differences that may be used to tailor unique selling propositions in culturally diverse destinations.     

Network dynamics of tourism development in South Korea

This study utilizes network analysis to trace the evolution in the organizations of tourism development during South Korea’s transition from a developing to a developed country spanning the period from 1945 to 1999. This is studied by examining changes within a network of organizations as their means and objectives evolve. Data are drawn from news articles that deal with tourism and development from 1945 to 1999, and coded into organizations, development-related means, and objectives. Two-mode and a one-mode metric network analysis and correspondence analysis of coded data were undertaken. The results show the dynamic nature of networks interacting among organizations along with their means and objectives. Furthermore, this study states that the “social embeddedness” of the tourism network became stronger over time, leading to further development opportunities.     

Host community attitudes toward tourism and cultural tourism development: the case of the Lewes District,southern England

Increasingly research is being conducted on host community attitudes toward tourism. However, few studies have been conducted at a regional level and none have examined the attitudes of the host community towards both tourism and cultural tourism development. This paper outlines a study conducted in the Lewes District of southern England and notes that although residents are generally supportive of tourism development and cultural tourism development, there are differences in opinion concerning the perceived economic and social benefits. In particular, levels of income and proximity to the tourist centre were major influencing factors. Conclusions and recommendations are made concerning the need for tourism planners to distribute the benefits more widely and to engage residents from different socio‐economic groups and localities in tourism planning and development activities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When Hosts Become Guests: Return Visits and Diasporic Identities in a Commonwealth Eastern Caribbean Community

The broad intent of this paper is to further contribute to the existing literature that addresses VFR tourism. It suggests that the return visit may ultimately be positioned as a form or type of travel within the larger category of VFR tourism, but a form or type that has built within it a more clear understanding of historic and social contexts and processes. The other broad intent of the paper is to highlight the importance of the relationship between the returning visitor, originating from diasporic communities abroad, and the host community as a stage for the negotiation of identities. The return visit is shown to reflect such underlying processes yet continue to incorporate aspects of individual motivation, which when taken together demonstrate the fluidity of diasporic spaces and transnational identity structures. Using data obtained from ethnographic fieldwork among social networks within the Commonwealth Eastern Caribbean community in Toronto, Canada, it is suggested that return visits are used to retain social histories and contextualise social and cultural backgrounds after migration. The implications for VFR tourism and the relationship between diasporas, transnationalism and tourism are discussed, as is a conceptual model of the return visit.     

Fostering community empowerment and capacity building through tourism: perspectives from Dullstroom,South Africa

This study observed tourism development in the popular South African destination of Dullstroom, Mpumalanga, and sought to identify the significant social benefits that have been fostered as a result. Dullstroom is synonymous with fly-fishing and is well-known throughout the country for its unique natural environment that is host to diverse flora and fauna. In the South African context, the impacts generated by tourism development on local communities have remained preoccupied with the economic benefits they deliver and rarely the important social gains that may also be developed. Between October 2012 and March 2013, a qualitative research methodology was developed to capture the views and experiences of 46 local employees (predominantly Non-white, South African females) and 16 owners or managers of local tourism-focused businesses. The findings reveal that tourism development has provided a number of positive impacts and that local community members encountered a number of benefits that ventured beyond economic factors. These benefits included empowerment through capacity building and the acquisition of positions that involved a high degree of responsibility, many of which would have been otherwise unobtainable but for the support of local tourism businesses. Others were afforded opportunities to pursue formal qualifications that enabled them to pursue dreams of senior positions or even new career paths beyond Dullstroom. The platforms that enabled these outcomes are discussed from the perspectives of both employers and employees in the local tourism economy.     

Social Capital,Tourism and Regional Development: SPCC as a Basis for Innovation and Sustainability

Traditional views of regional development have focused on economic factors and potential innovation in technical and resource exploitation processes. Similarly, regional tourism development is usually couched in economic terms, such as number of jobs and increasing land values. This approach usually ignores the social and community aspects of tourism development; thus an alternative view argues that the community needs to be factored into our planning and development strategies to balance the traditional economic view. It is argued in this paper that fostering innovation in regional development is much more than a process of community consultation. Rather, what needs to be factored in is SPCC – social, political and cultural capital. This works in both directions; tourism development depends on a level of social, political and cultural capital in order to be a successful regional development tool (even in economic terms) while at the same time tourism development can be undertaken in a way that contributes to SPCC in the region. The paper outlines the key concepts of social capital, political capital and cultural capital. It does so within the context of regional tourism development and the concepts of systems of innovation and sustainable development.     

Evaluating urban residents’ attitudes towards tourism development in Belgrade (Serbia)

This study empirically examines the relationships among residents’ place image, various domains of tourism impacts, and residents’ support for tourism development in an Eastern European city, as well as the role of residents’ socio-demographic characteristics and place attachment. The direct, indirect, and moderating effects were investigated using structural equation modelling and the method suggested by Hayes and Preacher [2010. Estimating and testing indirect effects in simple mediation models when the constituent paths are nonlinear. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 45, 627–660]. The findings show that none of the tourism impacts mediate the relationship between place image and residents’ support for tourism development. Moreover, with respect to Belgrade, perceived economic impacts have the strongest effect on residents’ support, followed by perceived socio-cultural impacts. By assessing the respective contribution of the three tourism impacts simultaneously, the results highlight the weight residents assign to a city’s peculiarities, thus illustrating contextual influences such as post-communist and centrally planned economy legacies.     

Evaluating residents' attitudes and intentions to act towards tourism development in regional Victoria,Australia

With the tourism industry expanding post‐2001, research on the impacts of tourism development continues to be important. Previous research has focused both on the types of impacts on the residents and the segmentation of the host community. Most of these studies have used attitudes as the clustering base. Although the resultant cluster groups have been able to discriminate community groups who either support or oppose future tourism development, these groups are difficult to identify in the community and the influence these attitudes have on the behaviour of residents remains unknown. This research investigated the link between positive and negative attitudes and the residents' intentions to act either to support or protest future tourism development. The results found no significant relationship between negative intentions to act (protest) and demographics, attitudes or the various community cluster groups. However, positive intentions to act (support future development) were related to gender, age, education, life cycle, length of residence and tourism business connection. Further, positive intentions to become more involved in tourism development within the community were related to both positive and negative attitudes. Finally, this research found that residents who traditionally involved themselves in proactive community groups had the strongest intention to ensure future tourism development benefited the community. Implications for the tourism industry, local government and the management of future tourism development were explored. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rural Residents' Perceptions Toward Tourism Development: a Study from Iran

This paper focuses on the identification and explanation of rural residents' perceptions toward the impacts of tourism development and their grouping with respect to these attitudes. Data from 262 households are used in the empirical analysis. Because of emerging stages of tourism development in the study area, most residents expressed a quite strong support for tourism development, although some social and environmental concern was expressed. The results revealed that respondents most value economic objectives, but the community was not homogeneous in its views. Education, gender, age, income, employment and a high degree of community attachment were found to be the major factors affecting the attitudes of residents. Findings of this study indicate that local people value the tourism in ways consistent with the social exchange theory. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Equity in new active travel infrastructure: A spatial analysis of London's new Low Traffic Neighbourhoods

In this article we examine equity in new active travel infrastructure in London, UK. We focus on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) introduced during Covid-19. These area-based schemes mainly involve ‘modal filters’ that restrict through motor traffic from residential streets within a neighbourhood. Such approaches to traffic management are traditional in the Netherlands, but are relatively novel in London and other global cities such as Barcelona. LTNs are often controversial, with one criticism being that they are implemented in affluent areas and hence benefit richer residents.London represents an excellent opportunity to investigate whether these rapidly introduced schemes have so far been equitably distributed. We focused on LTNs introduced between March and September 2020 and still present at the end of October 2020. Having generated datasets representing these new LTN locations and their boundary roads, we matched these to Output Areas (OAs, administrative areas containing around 300 residents). We then examined the extent to which LTN implementation was associated with age, ethnicity, disability, employment and car ownership (using Census 2011 data) and small-area deprivation (using the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019).We estimated that 3.7% of all Londoners live inside a new LTN, and 8.9% live within 500 m walking distance of a new modal filter. Across London as a whole, people in the most deprived quarter of OAs were 2.5 times more likely to live in a new LTN, compared to Londoners in the least deprived quarter. While overall Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people were slightly more likely than White Londoners to live in a new LTN, this varied by ethnic group. Specifically, Black Londoners were somewhat more likely, and Asian Londoners somewhat less likely than White people to live in a new LTN. Car-free households were more likely to live in a new LTN.We also examined equity within London's districts, which lead on implementation of LTNs. In the median district, people in more deprived areas were more likely to live in an LTN than people in less deprived areas, suggesting that, on average, individual districts have prioritised their more deprived areas. However, in the median district, BAME residents were slightly less likely to live in an LTN than White residents. Across districts implementing LTNs there was wide variation, with some much more or less equitable than others. A third of districts implemented no LTNs at all. Finally, at the micro level, residents living in LTNs were demographically similar to neighbours living in OAs that touched an LTN boundary road.We conclude that LTN implementation has been broadly equitable at the city and micro levels, but the picture is more mixed at the district level, despite districts being encouraged to consider deprivation when planning LTN locations. Equity metrics should be used in policy and research to monitor and improve the distribution of active travel interventions.