A decade of injury monitoring in the New Zealand adventure tourism sector: A summary risk analysis

Adventure tourism safety has received relatively little research attention despite the level of risk inherent in many adventure activities. In New Zealand, an absence of surveillance or monitoring of injury in the adventure sector has had important implications for the management of tourist safety. A series of studies conducted by the authors between 1996 and 2006 have sought to address this knowledge gap, with the aim of identifying the extent and nature of adventure tourism injury using a range of primary and secondary data sources. The paper reports on findings from a summary risk analysis of these studies, including evidence for the scale of the adventure tourism injury problem, and ranking of degree of risk for a range of factors for safety in adventure tourism participation. A conceptual model to assist risk management in the adventure sector is presented, and implications of findings for management and the adventure sector are discussed.     

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.     

Tourism development trends in England and experiences of recent projects

This paper considers the development prospects for tourism in England during the 1980s and beyond, and reviews a number of existing English Tourist Board (ETB) assisted projects and the ETB role in stimulating tourism in and to the UK.     

Developing a risk management model in travel agencies activity: An empirical analysis

This study applies a risk management model to identify risks for Romanian travel agencies. Through extrapolation, the results of this study may be useful to all intermediaries in tourism, whether in Romania or not. Risks are identified by factor analysis and categorised as being organisational, environmental, competitive, economic, political, those of infrastructure, circumstance, business deficiencies and specific (local) risk. Depending on the position relative to the risk we proposed a risk management model in tabular format, where any travel agency can add, delete, or move risks from a category to another.     

Wildlife Tours in Australia: Characteristics,the Place of Science and Sustainable Futures

Wildlife tourism is one of the fastest growing tourism sectors worldwide. Across the world the number of tourists seeking close interaction with wildlife in their natural environment is growing. Understanding the interface between visitors (social) and wildlife (environmental) can make a critical contribution to the sustainability of this industry. This study examined wildlife tours in Australia. Questionnaires were posted to wildlife tour operators in Tasmania, Western Australia and Northern Territory, seeking information on the characteristics of tours, and the place of science and monitoring in their business. The results illustrate several similarities between wildlife and ecotourism, suggesting the benefits of increasing education and interpretation, both central features of ecotourism, to enhancing the sustainability of wildlife tourism. For tour operators, interactive activities included feeding, swimming with and touching wildlife, and the level of interaction was identified as high, making it imperative to better define interaction and develop species or group-specific protocols for sustainably managing these interactions. Lastly, this study showed a low level of engagement of scientists in protecting the wildlife of interest to tours. Given the centrality of science to sustainability, mechanisms for increasing this involvement particularly in impact research, through partnerships and other means, are critical for the long term sustainability of this industry.     

Domestic tourists to Elmina Castle,Ghana: motivation,tourism impacts,place attachment,and satisfaction

Abstract

Current research on dark tourism lacks an in-depth investigation of the relationships between the various psychological factors that influence tourist satisfaction. Using the cognitive-affective-behavior system, this paper evaluates a theoretical model that postulates relationships between four constructs, namely: motivation, perceptions of tourism impacts, place attachment, and satisfaction. The study extends the tourism literature on cultural sustainability by showing the psychological connections of domestic tourists to a dark heritage site, and the implications for perceptions of tourism impacts on this heritage. Based on a sample of 414 domestic tourists at a dark heritage site in Elmina, Ghana, PLS-SEM confirmed several inter-relationships among the four constructs. Motivation had a positive relationship with perceptions of positive and negative tourism impacts, suggesting that the tourists who were more motivated to visit the site for cultural/learning experiences were also more inclined to perceive both positive and negative tourism impacts. Implications for dark tourism and how heritage site management can influence tourists’ perceptions of impacts are offered.     

Visiting the trenches: Exploring meanings and motivations in battlefield tourism

This paper provides insights into the motivations and experiences of tourists who visit sites associated with war and conflict, specifically 25 individuals who participated in a tour of the World War One battlefields of the Somme and Ypres. The paper discusses the narratives of four of these individuals to illustrate in detail how such battlefield tours offer opportunities for pilgrimage, collective and personal remembrance and event validation. All of the participants had a prior interest in warfare, which was a key influence on their battlefield tour experiences. For the study participants battlefield tours emerge as complex, deeply meaningful and in some cases life-changing experiences.     

Ideal image in process: Online tourist photography and impression management

This paper discusses the role of impression management in the production of online tourist photography and how it works along with other underlying dimensions that shape photographic decisions at various stages of image selection. The paper illustrates that the selection of photographs is so intimately linked to impression management that it even extends to the decision of whether to bring a camera along on a trip in the first place. Tourists are constantly caught in the dilemma of who to satisfy during the selection process. This study suggests that social media and photography facilitate social comparison, thus the tourist gaze is being redefined even more rapidly nowadays.     

Residents,their use of a tourist facility and contribution to tourist ambience: Narratives from a film tourism site in Beijing

Any tourist site open to local residents represents a point where residents and tourists become a back drop for the experiences of the other. This paper examines a specific Beijing film tourism attraction, Grand View Gardens, and the manner in which the site is used by local residents, the meanings attributed to it, and residents' role in creating an ambience for tourists. Residents have a daily connection with the site, and form audiences for events held at the Gardens. They often interact with tourists, becoming a source of information for tourists. The paper examines residents' motives for using such attractions, their attitudes towards tourists and suggests they possess a role in the creation of a sense of place that is valued by tourists. The paper fills a gap in an under-researched area, where, in the Chinese context, both residents and visitors form backdrops to each other's experience of place.     

Tourism in China and professionalism: An insider's perspective

This paper starts with an overview of tourism development in China in the past two decades. While highlighting much of the government initiative which makes progress possible, it tries to pinpoint the primary cause of the existing problems China faces. It is the lack of professionalism, which can be found in government decision making, business management and operation, education and training. The solutions will come mainly from the inside, and one can see efforts being made by policy‐makers and the front‐line people, but it is believed that overseas professionals have a positive role to play, as they have done in China's hospitality industry in the past.     

Social disruption theory and crime in rural communities: Comparisons across three levels of tourism growth

The study compares rural tourism places under different growth levels in terms of crime effects. Adopting social disruption theory, the study hypothesized that average crime rates would differ for tourism counties with different growth levels, and that high growth tourism counties would experience the greatest increase in average crime rates. The study used data from a sample of rural Colorado tourism communities. Results partially supported the hypothesis and confirmed some results of the relationships between rapid growth and crime identified in previous boomtown studies. The results of the study provide useful insights to public leaders and policy makers engaged in processes of evaluating alternative tourism growth strategies for their community.     

竞争与整合:中国旅游教育发展与广西的对策

在中国迈向世界旅游强国的进程中 ,旅游教育发展跨入了竞争与整合发展的新阶段。但目前中国旅游教育能力仍然滞后于旅游人才需求的增长 ,旅游教育必须走出被动适应市场需求的窘境。为此 ,要编制全国性的旅游教育发展规划 ,培育一批具有世界影响的旅游教育的品牌学校 ,规范旅游学科建设 ,加快旅游教育师资队伍建设 ,建构具有特色的“旅游人才教育高地” ,以形成与旅游强国地位相适应的旅游教育体系。广西要抓住全国旅游教育竞争和整合的机遇 ,继续保持规模增长的良好势头 ,努力规避旅游高等教育发展的分散化趋势 ,集中建设好桂林旅游学院 ,为建构适应旅游强国地位的旅游教育体系做出贡献     

强化国家义务之《旅游法》立法理念创新——基于公民旅游权保障视角

我国传统的管制型政府(国家)背景下,立法在规制国家与公民关系时,以公民基本权利-国家权力关系为指针,立法者将侧重点放在国家权力规范设计上,突出国家权力对公民权利的保障。今天,随着以人为本法治理念与服务型政府建设的推进,我国服务型政府正取代传统的管制型政府,公民权利保障制度设计上必然走出传统的公民基本权利-国家权力关系理念,采取替代性公民基本权利-国家义务关系理念。2013年4月通过的《旅游法》作为综合性法律,适应新形势要求,全面规范了国家尊重、保护、促进公民旅游权之义务,呈现了规制公民-国家关系之国家义务强化趋势。     

Carrying capacity and its implications in a Chinese ancient village: the case of Hongcun.

Hongcun, an ancient village in Anhui in China, is an UNESCO-gazetted village because of its Huizhou architecture. It attracts over 1.6 million visitors per annum. Based upon a simple spatial model, the results of this study indicate that its social carrying capacity is being vastly exceeded, and the consequences are discussed in terms of the impacts on village life using data derived from a survey of residents. In terms of addressing the issues of crowding, it is suggested that a number of future choices face the village, ranging from the imposition of quotas on visitation to sustain and protect its UNESCO status by significantly reducing overcrowding, or alternatively, to embrace mass tourism to become akin to a theme park that is based on Huizhou culture.     

Participatory music-making and well-being within immigrant cultural practice: exploratory case studies in South East Queensland,Australia

ABSTRACT

Music participation is a way of life for many cultures and is an activity that is often passed on generationally. It can become especially important as a leisure activity for maintenance of self- and national identity for people who have migrated to countries of contrasting cultures, such as Australia. This article describes exploratory, qualitative research into the ways in which participatory music-making within communities from immigrant backgrounds in Brisbane, Australia may influence aspects of participants’ wellbeing. The sample for this research included three broadly-defined cultural groups living in the region: people of Baltic origin; people from Latin American and Caribbean backgrounds; and ‘newly arrived’ immigrants and refugees. Interviews with individuals have been analysed to explore the ways in which this involvement might affect mental, social, and emotional wellbeing. Our qualitative analyses demonstrated that beyond these aspects, factors of subjective wellbeing, both hedonic and eudaimonic, were apparent. This article aims to provoke discussions on the divergent ways in which immigrant communities utilise music-making practices to foster different types of wellbeing and the importance of maintaining diversity through cultural practices.     

Energy use and leisure consumption in Norway: an analysis and reduction strategy

This article discusses the environmental impacts of leisure activities. Calculations are presented for the time-use, money expenditure and energy use involved in leisure services and goods consumed by Norwegians in 2001. The paper draws upon a two-year project financed by the Research Council of Norway. Leisure consumption represented around 23% of the total energy use within private and public consumption in Norway. The energy intensity of leisure consumption, measured in energy use per amount of expenditure, was 20% lower than that of everyday household consumption but 380% times higher than that of public consumption. Surveys show that around half of Norwegian leisure time is spent at home, with considerable use of electronic goods, but that the major energy users are holidays, outdoor recreation and second homes. Growing mobility in leisure patterns is a dominating problem. Leisure consumption is growing rapidly and energy-intensive forms of leisure consumption are growing fastest. A 10-point strategy for reducing the environmental impacts of leisure consumption is presented, including strategies for changing leisure production, changing patterns of leisure consumption, changing the volume of leisure consumption and utilising leisure as an educational arena.     

Bicycle tourism in the South Island of New Zealand: planning and management issues

Several emerging trends are pointing to the re-emergence of the bicycle as an important leisure and recreational transportation mode. Yet little research has been conducted into cycling within a tourism context. This paper examines the increasing phenomenon of bicycle tourism by defining bicycle tourists and bicycle tourism from a demand perspective, and describes the characteristics, infrastructure and travel behaviour associated with bicycle tourism through the examination of data collected on independent cycle tourists in the South Island of New Zealand. It illustrates through performance-importance analysis, the areas of major concern in the planning and management of bicycle tourism, and recommends that a demand side perspective is needed if the supply side of the industry is to be sustainable in the future. It makes recommendations for the future planning and management of bicycle tourism in New Zealand that may be of interest to countries currently developing cycle tourism.     

Weather risk management in ski resorts: Financial hedging and geographical diversification

As weather volatility increases, weather risk has become a critical management issue in weather sensitive industries. This study uses ski resorts as an example to examine two promising weather risk management strategies: geographical diversification and financial hedging. The empirical analysis results suggest that financial hedging might be a more effective strategy for ski conglomerates. Guidelines for ski conglomerates to achieve better weather risk management outcomes are provided based on simulating the interactions between geographical diversification and financial hedging. Although based on ski resorts and snowfall risk, the methodology is also applicable to other weather sensitive hospitality businesses.     

The creation and use of scorecards in tourism planning: A Spanish example

This paper proposes a preliminary model of a balanced scorecard for tourism destinations, with a specific emphasis on sustainable development. We begin with a review of the perspectives and critical performance variables for the traditional balanced scorecard. We then present empirical work based upon quantitative analysis techniques. A survey was completed by 1531 Spanish municipalities that are oriented towards tourism and have demonstrated interest in management issues. Based on the constructs emerging from this analysis, we then show how the balanced scorecard can be modified to support the strategic planning of tourism destinations. We conclude by discussing the advantages for long-term strategic planning and sustainable tourism management.     

Money illusion and inflation management in tourism: The hotel industry case

Using regression analysis, this study examines the relationship between inflation, room rates, capacity utilization, and profitability in the hotel industry. The results show that room rates and nominal profits have been strongly related to inflation while occupancy rates and real profits have been independent of inflation over the twenty year period examined. Findings suggest general absence of money illusion implying effective inflation management policies.