Towards a cohesive curriculum tourism: The case for a distinct discipline

This paper addresses a controversial topic in tourism scholarship which is simultaneously a problem and an opportunity in tourism education: the philosophical issue of academic disciplines and specifically, the question of a distinct discipline in tourism studies. It is argued that the orthodox approach to tourism education, multi-disciplinary studies, has become an impediment. It is suggested that a new discipline can be created by organizing the existing body of knowledge and that such a discipline can become the core of an inter-disciplinary approach. Certain characteristics of an embryonic discipline are outlined and innovations in this area at Sydney Technical College are discussed.     

Space for whom?

A critical assessment of the prospects and constraints of space technology in relation to the socioeconomic and sociocultural development of society emphasizes the need for a reevaluation of the progress made thus far. Proper use of the unique space environment and the adjustment of technology to the requirements of changing pluriform societies could provide mankind with new capabilities for a well balanced utilization of resources, environmental monitoring, and global management.     

Young people with intellectual disabilities and sport as a leisure activity: notions from the Finnish welfare society

Although disability sports have recently received positive attention, little concern has been directed towards them in youth research. In this article, we discuss the free-time sports in which youth with intellectual disabilities engage as a part of their leisure and their association with their peers. We maintain that every young person has a principal right to leisure and question what kinds of access youth with intellectual disabilities have to local sports communities in the Finnish context. Our empirical data consist of notes collected during sports training; interviews with young sports participants, their supervisors, and their parents; and online survey responses. Almost all sports are equally accessible to everyone; however, practical engagement in sports is not equally easy for everyone because long distances, lack of transportation, unsuitable sporting occasions and teams, or incapable coaches limit individuals’ participation possibilities. Furthermore, symbolic structures, such as neglectful attitudes, restrict the visibility of youth with intellectual disabilities in leisure sports. In many ways, supporting networks become significant when access to sport is under scrutiny. The most important enabling and restricting factors are families’ symbolic and material capital, as well as the unequal, poorly guided, and occasional leisure possibilities in different localities.     

The Development and Positioning of Business Related University Tourism Education

Abstract

The teaching of tourism at a higher education level has become well established in British universities, but in the UK, as elsewhere in the world, the place of tourism studies within the academic curricula remains uncertain. The paper considers the diversity and complexities of tourism studies through a categorisation of journal articles, and through an investigation of the underlying debates that have influenced the design of academic curricula in the UK. The paper concludes that tourism, at least at present, should not be regarded as discipline but as a field and that the most common approach in the UK has been to emphasise the business studies subjects. The University of Northumbria's established undergraduate travel and tourism management course is presented as a case study of this approach to the subject field.     

Students' Motivation to Learn

ABSTRACT

Often called a “Discovery Major,” the parks, recreation, and tourism major tends to have more transfer students than other majors. Research has shown that educators sometimes perceive transfer students as less motivated than continuing students. This study explored differences between Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (PRT) students and non-PRT students who represented 52 majors on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus. Survey results confirmed that PRT students were more likely to have changed majors. Although PRT students reported lower ACT and GPA scores, no significant difference was found between the two groups in their motivation to learn. However, compared with non-PRT students, PRT students attributed more value to their major when they perceived having more control of their learning.     

Bibliometric studies in tourism

This study evaluates bibliometric studies in tourism, depicts emerging themes, and offers critical discussions for theory development and future research. To achieve this aim, 190 papers with bibliometric analyses from leading hospitality and tourism journals were selected and critically analyzed. The research findings reveal that bibliometric articles published in these journals significantly increased after 2008. However, systematic review studies emerged as the major group, and relatively few studies utilized evaluative bibliometric and relational bibliometric studies. Study results suggest that paucity still exists, particularly in relational bibliometric studies in tourism. This is one of the first studies in this area that offers critical discussions and suggestions related to theory development and future research in this research vein.     

Approaching paradox: Loving and hating mega-events

This paper examines the role of paradoxes in research and proposes strategies of engaging with them. For this purpose, it analyses the ways in which six paradoxes are constitutive of sports mega-events such as the Olympic Games: the universalism paradox, the compliance paradox, the winner's paradox, the participation paradox, the uniqueness paradox and the passion paradox. It then develops three strategies of how researchers and practitioners can approach paradox. The first, exploration, examines the consequences and effects of the ambiguity of paradoxes. The second, differentiation, enquires into the spatio-temporal and social make-up of paradoxes. The third, reframing, recasts paradoxes by shifting theoretical perspectives. Instead of pressing to resolve paradoxes, researchers and practitioners alike should make productive use of their ambiguity.     

国外中国旅游研究进展：学术贡献视角的述评

文章分析了国外中国旅游研究的总体情况,对其主要进展进行了基于学术贡献视角的阐述和评价。研究指出,国外中国旅游研究主要的学术贡献集中在引介、应用和理论检验方面,而扎根于中国旅游发展实践的理论建构尚不多见。研究认为,国内外旅游学界存在的信息不对称,国外学界和业界了解中国旅游发展迫切的刚性需求,以及研究可进入性和调研深度的缺失,是导致目前国外中国旅游研究领域理论贡献成果较为欠缺的主要原因。深入中国旅游发展实践进行理论提升,并实现同西方现有理论的对话乃至超越,将是中国本土的旅游研究走向世界的关键。     

Tourism as complex interdisciplinary research object

Tourism is currently a complex and globalised phenomenon with demonstrated socio-economic importance. While tourism is a socially recognised phenomenon, its status as scientific object within an academic field seems to be still in question. We ask the following questions: What is the order of construction of the field of knowledge constituted around tourism? Is it a paradigmatic order or an epistemic order? In what ways do the scientific object’s specificities constitute an important element of understanding of a new episteme? How do different definitions of tourism allow for a reconstruction of the field? This article seeks to summarise the current debate in the light of broader reconstructions of scientific discourse and reflect from an interdisciplinary epistemological perspective.     

Visions and scenarios of democratic governance in Asia 2030

Using the Six Pillars foresight workshop process, forty-five Asian political, policy and activist leaders explored the futures of democratic governance. Organized and funded by Oxfam and the Rockefeller Foundation, the organizing hypothesis was that without a change in the nature of governance in Asia, poverty could not truly be uprooted. Changes in governance needed to be imagined and created from the ground up, not just imposed by the past or the elite. Five visions with accompanying causal layered analysis were developed by participants. Generally, these visions focused on more inclusion not just at the level of voting, but in terms of the participatory creation of alternative futures of culture, technology, economy and polity.