Tourism and the Precautionary Principle

The precautionary principle is an emerging norm of international environmental policy affirmed in many treaties and laws. The principle, congruent to the ideal of sustainable development, is a controversial future-focused planning and regulatory mechanism which mandates that to protect against threats of serious and irreversible damage, precaution should be exercised even before harm can be scientifically demonstrated. The intent of this paper is to provide a literature review of the precautionary principle, examine the fundamental concepts underlying the principle and present an introductory discussion regarding its applicability to the tourism industry. Time and again numerous direct and indirect impacts are produced by the tourism industry, yet the potential for integrating precaution into tourism planning has not been examined. The authors consider the critical elements of the principle (uncertainty, risk, costbenefit analysis and science) in relation to the tourism industry, and provide examples of reference to the principle in the policy documents of non-governmental tourism organisations. An adapted framework is proposed for incorporating the precautionary principle into better tourism-industry decision-making. The precautionary principle is predicated as a viable tourism development tool and planning mechanism that safeguards environmental and human health by anticipating and controlling for future impacts of tourism.     

The effects of environmental characteristics on the structure of hospital clusters

The population ecology view that variation in sets or clusters of organizations should be isomorphic with variation in cluster environment was used here to explain structural variation among hospital clusters. The structural characteristics studied were range of services offered within the cluster, average size of hospitals in the cluster, and cluster differentiation. In the causal model that was developed and evaluated, variation in the patient environment and variation in the supplier environment were compared. Four lagged panels of data on a national sample of fifteen hospital clusters demonstrated the relative superiority of supplier variables over patient variables. Supplier group preferences were more powerful than patient needs in determining the range of services offered by the cluster. Furthermore, increasing the range of services in the cluster had a positive, significant effect on average hospital size, whereas size apparently exerted no effect on range of cluster facilities. Cluster differentiation seems to be causally affected by range of services, average hospital size, and by the periodic closing of hospitals over time.     

A human ecological approach to tourism interactions

Building on the previous work of Budowski, Murphy and Butler, this paper develops a conceptual framework that examines tourism industry relationships from a human ecological perspective. In particular, predation, competition, neutrality and symbiosis are used to illustrate that tourism industry stakeholders (i.e., various types of tourism, operators, local people, and other land users) value and use resources differently and, in doing so, place varying levels of pressure on each other and the resource base. Human ecology is identified and discussed as a field of research that holds potential in strengthening our understanding of tourism's human ecological interactions. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Ecotourium Concept and Tourism-Conservation Symbiosis

The credibility of contemporary ecotourism is threatened by the global dominance of a model that minimally fulfils the three core criteria – nature-based attractions, learning opportunities, ecological and sociocultural sustainability – that characterise this sector. A more rigorous ‘comprehensive’ model is better capable of fulfilling ecotourism’s potential to achieve sustainable outcomes, but only if this model embraces both the hard and soft dimensions of the sector. Based on the latter premise and informed by the principles of complexity, knowledge sharing and interdisciplinarity, we propose the development of an international network of protected areas ‘ecotouriums’ that is designed to stimulate positive socioeconomic change within local communities and maintain and improve the ecological health of protected areas. Cornerstone themes that enable the ecotourium concept are research and education, ecological health, community participation and development, and partnerships.     

Leadership instability in hospitals: the influence of Board-CEO relations and organizational growth and decline

This study tested whether leadership instability--a systemic pattern of frequent succession in the top management position of an organization--was associated with sociopolitical structures that define the relationship between the board and chief executive officer (CEO), controlling for temporal patterns of the organizational life-cycle stage. In organizations that are not profit maximizing and subject to considerable uncertainty, such governance properties were hypothesized to affect leadership instability independent of organizational growth or decline. Results of regression analyses demonstrate strong main effects of board-CEO relations, net of the impact of organizational life cycle, on leadership instability.     

Adjusting Choice Models to Better Predict Market Behavior

The emergence of Bayesian methodology has facilitated respondent-level conjoint models, and deriving utilities from choice experiments has become very popular among those modeling product line decisions or new product introductions. This review begins with a paradox of why experimental choices should mirror market behavior despite clear differences in content, structure and motivation. It then addresses ways to design the choice tasks so that they are more likely to reflect market choices. Finally, it examines ways to model the results of the choice experiments to better mirror both underlying decision processes and potential market choices. Co-chairs. Author order is alphabetical.     

Race: China’s Question and Problem

Race poses a challenge to the ruling Communist Party of China. Contemporary news reports about China’s relationship with various African states warn of a reestablishment of 19th century colonial relations, with China standing in the shoes of England or France. When indictments of neo-colonialism are promoted, China recalls a historical brotherhood with African states under the banner of Third World solidarity. This paper attempts to shed light on both sides of this argument, demonstrating that for China, the issue of race in foreign relations poses both a question of motives and a problem of national identity.     

A Content Analysis of Ecotourism Definitions

One of the most habitual practices in the sub-field of ecotourism, from both academic and industry perspectives, is the development of definitions. Although the reasons for such a proliferation of definitions is unknown, it appears as though the trend will continue. This research sought to better understand the concept of ecotourism through an examination of 85 definitions of the term (chiefly from the perspective of 20 variables), using a content analysis methodology. The variables most frequently cited in the definitions include: (i) reference to where ecotourism occurs, e.g. natural areas; (2) conservation; (3) culture; (4) benefits to locals; and (5) education. From the perspective of time, the data indicate that the years ranging from 1991 to 1996, were the most productive in terms of the development of ecotourism definitions, and more specifically 1994 to 1996, when a number of the most comprehensive of these were coined. Conservation, education, ethics, sustainability, impacts and local benefits were variables which were better represented in the more recent definitions, showing a changing emphasis in how the term has been conceptualised over time.