Conflict,Power and Tourism on Lombok

This paper analyses how different power relationships between tourism developers and operators and the local Sasak community affected tourism development on the island of Lombok, Indonesia. This study is set against the background of local and national tensions, and how these also have impacted on tourism. Two case studies are presented. The first example describes how tourism developers, operating under a system of privilege in the Soeharto era, attempted to force land acquisition at Rowok, in the south of Lombok. The subsequent protracted legal case has delayed any tourism development in this area. The second example describes a model of co-operative power relationships between the management of the Holiday Inn Resort and the local Sasak community at Mangsit, north of the main Senggigi Beach resort area. Local people are employed in a range of permanent positions, and there is clear evidence of a harmonious relationship between the hotel and the community. During three days of rioting in January 2000, the local community was unwavering in its support of this hotel. It is suggested that the way in which tourism developers and operators link with the local community is an essential indicator for tourism within the context of sustainable development.     

Volunteers as tour guides: a stakeholder–agency theory case study†

The use of volunteer tour guides by commercial tour operators has attracted little scholarly attention. This paper presents a qualitative case study of a commercially organized tour led by volunteer tour guides, and explores how the guides' status as volunteers shaped experiences of tour customers. Analysis, underpinned by stakeholder–agency theory, highlighted a range of service delivery issues that emerged during the tour. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed, with particular reference to how tour operators might negotiate the vexed issue of managing service delivery quality in the context of tour services paid for by customers, yet delivered by volunteers. Further research is required to explore potential differences in the willingness of tour operators to invest in human resource development initiatives for paid versus volunteer tour guides, along with possible flow-on implications for tour guides' role performance and customer satisfaction.     

Hearing the authentic voice of stakeholders? Implications for governance of tourism strategy-making

Exploring tourism strategy-making in the light of complexity theory, this research examines the interactions that take place between stakeholders as strategy is developed and codified. It focuses on York, a significant UK tourist destination. Taking a strategy-as-narrative approach, it seeks to identify the plurality of stakeholder voices as the embodiment of the authentic voice of strategy. Key research themes are identified concerning how discourses, as manifestations of socially embedded networks of power, surface in narrative within strategy-making; what power relations govern which come to the fore and which are silenced. A heuristic device explains the power relations at work as the interplay of performative, attributed, and contextual power. The study points to the need for further work to understand how all stakeholders might be enabled to contribute equally to strategy-making, addressing the power differentials between actors through the allocation of appropriate resources.     

The ‘Zest of Adventure’ in Australian Overland Narratives, 1920–2000

This paper is part of a broader research project which examines the history of leisure motor touring in Australia from the 1920s to 2004. At the core of this piece is an examination of the way adventure is presented in three non-fiction narratives that span 80 years. By considering different points in time the impact of the developing tourist infrastructure, improvements to roads and growing knowledge of the landscape, on the constructs of adventure can be seen. Yet, despite fundamental cultural shifts the lure and zest of adventure continued to function as a means of framing the overland experience. The narratives reveal the subjective nature of adventure and how it can be repackaged and re-presented at specific historical moments.     

Performing identity and culture in Indigenous tourism – a study of Indigenous communities in Québec,Canada

The aim of this paper is to analyze the ways in which Indigenous tourism affects representations of identity and culture, and how tourism practices are described, negotiated and related to development in Indigenous communities. This aim is met through a study, including interviews and observations in Québec, Canada, where Indigenous tourism has received increased attention and economic importance in recent years. Tourism is put forward as positive for economic as well as social and cultural development, through alternative income opportunities and the revalorization of traditions and cultural practices. Individuals from four different ethnic nations were involved in the study: Innu (formerly known as Montagnais), Cree (Eeyou), Wôbanaki (Abénakis) and Hurons (Wendat). From the interviews conducted for this study, we find that Indigenous tourism influences the ways in which individuals see themselves, and how they perceive their identity and culture. Through the production of Indigenous tourism products, the notion of authenticity is challenged, and performed in ways that benefit contemporary life within the communities. But these performances may also reproduce or challenge traditional Indigenous identities, and fuel tensions and conflicts between different groups within the communities.     

Exploring the experience value of museum visitors as a co-creation process

Museums’ visitors can play an active role both during and after the visit that will allow them to shape a significant experience. The present work explores this role of the visitor as co-creator of experiences. Prior knowledge and interest enable visitors to participate and interact during the visit, all of which basically allows them to build a more intense experience in those areas that require their involvement. It is these more active experiences, and only these, which drive the individual’s intention to continue participating actively after the visit, seeking information and revisiting the museum, following it on social networks and making recommendations on opinion pages.