A kaleidoscope of tourism research:
Insights from the International Competence Network of Tourism Research and Education (ICNT)
Summary
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the editor
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Dedication
- Contents
- In Memoriam
- Editorial Introduction
- Learning in the Workplace: An Innovative Approach to Work Experience
- School-led Tourism in New Zealand: Educating Students for Global Citizenship
- Interpretation in Protected Areas: The case of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa
- Swimming with wild orcas in Norway: Killer whale behaviours addressed towards snorkelers and divers in an unregulated whale watching market
- Towards more sustainable marine mammal tourism in New Zealand – reviewing the literature and identifying the gaps
- It is mostly about money- discussions related to the political decision-making resulting in giant pandas moving into Ähtäri Zoo
- Tourist Relevance and Perception of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and National Parks in Germany: The Case Study of the “Wadden Sea”
- Motivations and Perceptions of Carbon Neutral Accommodation in New Zealand
- Increased travel experience and its effects on responsible and sustainable travel behaviour
- Identifying travel motives for visitors to Hemsedal during low season
- Customer insights of sustainability and responsibility in leisure travel intermediation in Finland
- Tourism and Political Crises: An Analysis of British Holiday Planning in Times of “Brexit”
- List of Contributors
- Series index
IN MEMORIAM
24/05/1965 – 14/03/2019
Peet van der Merwe and Elmarie Slabbert
Professor Melville Saayman was appointed at the previously known Potchefstroom University of Christian Higher Education on the 1st of January 1992 as a lecturer in the Department of Recreation. He was instrumental in the development of tourism management as a Science offered at the University in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Melville conceptualised the development of the Tourism Programme, which involved a variety of BA, BCom and BSc packages, appropriate curriculum and textbooks to fill this gap in academia. He headed the tourism programme for 17 years (2009) after which his focus shifted to the further development of the research unit. Melville took over the Institute for Leisure Studies in 1995 and changed the name to the Institute for Tourism and Leisure Studies. In the early 2000s, the National Research Foundation (NRF) put out a call for the establishment of research entities and this led to the birth of the first tourism niche research entity called SEIT (Socio-Economic Impact of Tourism), after which the name was changed to TREES (Tourism Research in Economic, Environs and Society). In 2015, TREES became a research unit and to date is one of the most successful tourism research units in South Africa.
On a National level Melville served on several boards as a director, including the South African Tourism Board (SATOUR), North-West Parks and Tourism ←9 | 10→Board, Institute of Environment and Recreation Management, National Zoological Council, South African National Recreation Council (SANREC), North-West Recreation Council (PROREC-NW), North West Development Corporation and Aardklop National Arts Festival. At an international level, he was a member of the executive committee of the Association of International Experts in Tourism (AIEST) and also served on the World Tourism Organisation’s panel of experts. He also formed part of the ICNT network, which is a network between various universities worldwide, focusing on teaching and research in tourism. He served on various journal editorial boards and has published in most of the major national and international tourism journals. He became the first South African to be nominated as resource editor of the leading tourism journal, Annals of Tourism Research.
Melville was active in the field of tourism and leisure economics and development with a clear focus on poverty alleviation. Lately, he has contributed significantly to research in the fields of event economies, nature-based tourism, marine tourism, and how these types of tourism alleviate poverty. He became the first National Research Foundation (NRF) rated researcher in tourism in South Africa. From his pen, numerous leisure and tourism books (20), scientific articles (240), technical reports (420) and in-service training manuals (8) have been published. He was study leader and promoter to 98 Master’s and PhD students and presented more than 100 papers at international conferences. He has also been an examiner of more than 50 Master’s and PhD theses. In 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015 Melville was awarded researcher of the year of North-West University. In 2017 he was acknowledged by the Department of Science and Technology for his contribution to Sustainable Tourism. He was also ninth on the top 100 list of Tourism scholars based on citation records compiled by Scopus (in total, only three are from Africa). Melville received a well-deserved Life-time Achievement Award from the Tourism Educators of South Africa in 2018.
Besides his excellent career, we as a tourism family had the privilege to work closely with him, learn from him and be part of several projects, discussions and developments. He believed that in order to teach tourism effectively, you need to travel and experience what you teach first hand. We, therefore, visited many places together and built excellent industry networks through this approach. Melville did not work alone, which created opportunities for each tourism staff member to develop to the best of their ability. He had a good sense of humour, and we will not forget all the special moments we shared with a lot of laughs and good times. He always offered advice, had a plan and believed that we can do whatever we put our minds to – this empowered us to believe in what we do. Melville changed lives, gave direction and positively did this. He ←10 | 11→lived his life to the fullest and the memories created through this will always be with us. Melville will be missed by everyone that crossed his path but his dreams for the School of Tourism Management and TREES will be achieved by those he taught.
Editorial Introduction
Since 2007, ICNT partners from all corners of the world have met annually at one of the member university’s home, presented and discussed a wide array of tourism issues, and explored the local areas, sampling tourism products. This group of dedicated tourism researchers is as diverse as a tourism group can be, but they have one thing in common: A passion for the tourism and hospitality industry, sustainable development and operations, teaching and learning, and a love for people. This diversity is fascinating, and regularly results in publications that are as diverse as the authors. This is the 6th volume stemming from the work of ICNT partners, which is published as part of the overall book series of the Institute for Management and Tourism (IMT) (renamed in September 2020 to German Institute for Tourism Research) at the West Coast University for Applied Sciences in Heide, Germany. Previous volumes covered topics, such as national park tourism (Eilzer et al., 2008), global tourism experiences (Eilzer et al, 2011), social aspects of tourism (Lück et al, 2015), perspectives on destination management and tourist experiences (Lück et al., 2016), and multi-stakeholder perspectives in tourism (Ali & Hull, 2018). This volume once again showcases a kaleidoscope of tourism and hospitality topics, ranging from tourism education, to sustainable tourism, wildlife tourism, crises in tourism, and to travel intermediation, and tourist motivation and experiences.
Universities are constantly being challenged to innovate to keep ahead of the dynamic and volatile operating environment. In the first chapter, Ali and Murray introduce the reader to Sheffield Hallam University’s response to the increasing pressure graduates experience during their job search post university: They introduce an innovative way of learning by partnering with a large hotel in the USA, where students spend one semester and gain valuable experience as part of the Learning in the Workplace course.
In Chapter 2, Schänzel and O’Donnell report on school-led overseas trips as an endeavour to create global citizens. Employing an interpretive paradigm, this exploratory study provides insights into the socio-cultural experiences and meanings gained by nine New Zealand students on an international school trip to Thailand.
Moving from formal education in the previous two chapters to informal visitor education in the South African Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Botha and ←13 | 14→colleagues provide an analysis of interpretation and, through a case study, provide practical guidelines on how interpretation can be incorporated practically in protected areas. Their study identifies the interpretation needs tourists expect from this park. Not only are specific interpretation services identified, but the tourists also show particular interest in specific topics (e.g., climatology or ecology), as well as preferences in specific media in which such interpretation should be presented.
The demand for closer and more personal interactions with marine wildlife has been catered for by the commercialisation of in-water interactions with various species of marine wildlife. Norway is the only country in the world where commercial and unregulated swim-with-programmes with orcas have been regularly offered on a small scale. Orcas are highly mobile predators and, where potentially dangerous animals are involved, humans are at risk of experiencing aggressive, defensive or dangerous play behaviour. In Chapter 4, Pagel and colleagues report on a baseline study in Norway, investigating the long-term effects of human–wildlife interactions with wild orca. The present results facilitate the general interpretation of interspecific killer whale behaviour, which is essential for safer interactions with these marine predators and enables a sound comparison with similar studies featuring other odontocetes.
Staying with marine wildlife, Elmahdy and colleagues, in the following chapter, review pertinent literature to identify gaps in the quest to achieve sustainable marine mammal tourism in Aotearoa New Zealand. Their findings illustrate that there is a need for an investigation and assessment of the effectiveness of the current marine mammal tourism management regime in New Zealand to ensure the long-term sustainability of the industry and conservation of the targeted species.
In Chapter 6, Holmberg takes the reader to the Finnish Ähtäri Zoo, which has hosted giant pandas as a loan from China since 2018. Analysing published newspaper and Internet articles, Holmberg explores how the controversial political decisions related to accepting the pandas to Finland and Ähtäri Zoo were discussed in Finnish media.
Köchling introduces the reader to the German National Park Wadden Sea, and how visitors perceive this park. She examines the general interest of German residents in a journey to UNESCO world heritage sites and national parks, the impact of the designations UNESCO world heritage site and national park on German residents’ destination choice, and the perception of all German UNESCO world heritage sites and national parks as well as four international reference destinations by German residents. The study also provides implications for the sustainable development of national parks.←14 | 15→
In Chapter 8, Knowsly and colleagues, present a case study in New Zealand which aimed to identify the motivations and initiatives involved in curbing carbon emissions in the accommodation sector. The only carbon neutral hotel in New Zealand, Sudima Hotel Auckland Airport was selected as the sample. Data analysis from the hotel management and the customers shows that ecological responsibility and competitiveness were key motivating factors. The findings in this study also provide practical value to businesses interested in implementing carbon-mitigating initiatives while maintaining customer satisfaction.
Focusing on the experienced and hybrid tourists, Seeler and colleagues (Chapter 9) present the findings of a mixed-methods study conducted in Germany and New Zealand to explore the relationship of travel experiences and sustainable tourist behaviours. The quantitative survey results demonstrate that tourists with higher experience levels tend to participate in more sustainable forms of travel and experienced tourists show high interest for activities and experiences that positively contribute to the sustainable development of the tourism industry.
In Chapter 10, Engeset and Velvin present the findings of a visitor survey on the motivations, satisfaction, and future visit intentions of visiting Hemsedal, Norway. This study identifies several different types of push and pull motivations for tourists visiting Hemsedal during the summer season. This study provides implications for the development of destinations with high seasonal fluctuation in demand.
Using quantitative methods, Ritalahti (Chapter 11) analyses the importance of sustainability and responsibilities of travel agencies from customers’ perspectives. This Finnish study illustrates the challenges to traditional travel intermediation businesses. The participants of the research have emphasized the importance of responsible operation and the values of looking after the wellbeing of its employees.
In the final chapter, Köchling and colleagues examine whether the UK leaving the European Union (Brexit) would affect British travel plans in 2017 in general and their intention to visit Germany as a destination. An online panel survey with 2000 people was conducted in UK. The results show that Brexit seems to have little impact on the planned holiday travel behaviour of the British travelling to Germany, and their interest in participating in domestic tourism in the UK remains the same.
With the wide range of interest of the individual authors, this volume once again provides a wide range of tourism research around the globe. We would like to take the opportunity to thank all authors for their generous ←15 | 16→contributions to this book: Alisha Ali, Elricke Botha, Yasmine Elmahdy, Marit Engeset, Eva Holmberg, Amber Knowsley, Anne Köchling, Philip Murray, Donna O’Donnell, Mark Orams, Chantal Pagel, Tomas Pernecky, Jill Poulston, Julian Reif, Jarmo Ritalahti, Melville Saayman, Heike Schänzel, Michael Scheer, Sabrina Seeler, Elmarie Slabbert, Peet van der Merwe, Jan Velvin, Matthias Waltert, and Rebekka Weis. Thank you also to Bernd Eisenstein, who is the master behind the scenes, and to Christian Eilzer for his admirable and meticulous work to always get our ICNT books to the publisher!
It is with great sadness, that we learned about the passing of one of our core ICNT members, and dear friend, Melville Saayman. We have all seen him in high spirits at the 2018 meeting, which he co-hosted at North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa. Melville was always the sunshine of the ICNT meetings, in good spirits, full of humour and energy. He was gentle and kind to presenting colleagues and (sometimes very nervous) postgraduate students, asking pertinent questions without intimidation. One could bet that he would ask a question about “memorable experiences”, something he was passionate about, and he certainly left us with many memorable experiences from over ten ICNT conferences. ICNT is not the same without Melville, and he will be sorely missed. But his spirit lives on, as he has taught us so much about compassion and laughter, which we will carry on for many years to come. We dedicate this book to his memory, and his closest colleagues and friends, Peet and Elmarie, provided us with a memoriam at the beginning of this volume.
Michael Lück and Claire Liu
Auckland, New Zealand
Details
- Pages
- 298
- Publication Year
- 2021
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783631852835
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783631852842
- ISBN (MOBI)
- 9783631852859
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9783631846964
- DOI
- 10.3726/b18323
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2021 (May)
- Keywords
- sustainable Tourism tourist motivation tourist experiences travel intermediation travel behaviour
- Published
- Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2021. 298 pp., 39 fig. b/w, 19 tables.
- Product Safety
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