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Tourism environments and management
Tourism environments and management The Congress of the World Leisure and Recreation Association, held in Sydney, Australia 16-19 July 1991, had as its focus the theme of ‘Leisure and tourism: social and environmental change’. Among over 140 papers on varied management, research and education issues a number examined the frameworks used to understand tourism environments and their management. Bill Bramwell, of the Centre for Tourism at Sheffield City Polytechnic, assesses the new insights offered by these papers.
There has tended to be only limited debate in tourism about alternative theoretical approaches to the subject. This is in contrast with the theoretical dialogue and revisions in, for example, leisure studies. The changing research agendas in such closely related fields have direct and important applications for tourism. A keynote paper by John Kelly of the University of Illinois, LJSA provided a masterly appraisal of recent approaches within leisure studies. Warning against single issue answers and oversimplification. he traced the continuing revisions which have taken place in leisure studies and the new areas of synthesis which may be emerging. The latest research :tgendas include a new concern to identify the ways in which economic roles provide contexts. resources and orientations for leisure. This is not a question of a simple determination but one of how definitions of both self and society are learned and emerge in a power differentiated social context. The issue of meanings is now very important. What are the symbols and meanings. the self definitions and world views that affect our actions‘? There is also a new concern to look beyond ideologies to examine the lived experiences of people in their leisure time.
Community
tourism
The communities living in destination areas are increasingly seen as central to the tourism product. They are also likely to be particularly affected by the impacts of tourism. Consequently, many people are now advocating tourism which is controlled more substuntially by all members of these local
TOURISM
MANAGEMENT
communities. This was reflected in several papers at the Congress. Steven Burr, of Pennsylvania State University, USA, looked at the theoretical approaches to community used in recent published research on the impacts of tourism on rural communities. The approach used in the vast majority of cases he defined as social research, although this framework is rarely made explicit. Here community is a system of roles and institutions through which a common life is organized and which endures through time. He contended that there is now a need to adopt more dynamic, interactional and critical approaches. These would view community as a dialectical, changing process incorporating relations of class and dominance. Such critical approaches were further considered in a paper on hallmark tourism events and their impacts on host communities by Michael Hall, of Massey University, New Zealand. Tourist spectacles and megn-events. such as the 1988 Brisbane Espo and 19S4 Los Angeles Olympics, were regarded as essentially political occasions. He argued they would be better understood if examined in relation to class interests and the use of power to allocate resources to them, and to their potential role in the legitimation of class hegemony. He also called for further study of the reactions and attitudes towards these events of different groups in the host communities. Another approach to community that of social exchange theory - was used by John Ap of Texas A & M LJniversity, USA. This was used to assess the reactions in an interview survey of residents of four communi-
December
1991
ties in Texas to the local impacts of tourism. Social exchange theory is concerned with understanding the exchange of valued resources - economic, social or psychological - between social actors. Ap suggested that the interview findings lend support to the value of social exchange theory, with residents perceiving tourism impacts positively when the exchange of resources is beneficial to them. The management implications of involving local residents in tourism planning were evaluated by David Simmons of Lincoln University, New Zealand. He considered that community involvement will not dispense with the need for traditional marketing and land-use planning approaches. Instead, these will need to be both integrated together and also to become part of the planning for other community functions. He also advocated wider recognition of the host communities as consumers of the processes of tourism development and not just as part of thr destination product. Attention should then be paid to identifying their needs and wants as consumers in these processes. This would reflect the recent ideas about social marketing which recognize that the public are not just consumers of products but also implicit consumers of the effects of the production and consumption of these products.
Sustainable
tourism
Concern for sustainable tourism development figured prominently in several papers, particularly in a session on the concept and practice of ecotourism. Bill Bramwell. of Sheffield City Polytechnic, UK, examined the extent to which rural tourism policy in the UK has been integrated with the ideas of sustainable development. While taking up several of the environmental concerns of sustainability, these policies have taken little account of issues of social justice or the pressure of free market competition. He went on to identify some key issues of sustainable development which are likely to be important for future rural tourism policies. These include attention to the balance of national and local priorities; the need
363
to make mass tourism more sustainable as well as develop radical new alternatives; the widening of access to tourism which strives for sustainability; and the provision of critical and sensitive interpretation. Myriam Jansen-Verbeke, of Nijmegen Catholic University, the Netherlands, applied the notion of ecotourism to the management of the touristic-historic city of Bruges, Belgium and of agritourism throughout Europe. A consideration of the problems of managing these environments suggests there is a considerable gap between the theoretical models of ecotourism and the practice of tourism planning. In Bruges pressure on the urban spaces has lowered the social acceptance of tourism and implies the need for more local government intervention, including a reconsideration of existing tourism promotion, attention to social priorities and strict land-use planning. In the agritourism context, moves towards more professional management and marketing to meet international standards are risking the loss of features which were originally distinctive and also attracted visitors. The relations betw>een Balinese culture and mass tourism were discussed in a paper by Jenny Small and Lloyd Stear, of the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Their interviews with Australian tour wholesalers operating programmes to Bali indicated that the supposed increase in tourists greatly interested in culture does not apply to the majority of Australians visiting Bali. More generally, many c~)mmentators on Bali consider that mass tourism has not made large negative impacts on Balinese culture. There are several potential explanations for this. First, while formal tourism planning in Bali has encouraged an interest in Balinese culture, this culture was to be brought to the tourists while staying in a dedicated tourism resort area. the Nusa Dua peninsula. It may also be that, second, the tourists generally have little understanding of the culture and are content with a limited exposure to it. A third influence is the strength of the Balinese culture itself, including its religion, the family and system of
364
localized decision making, and its long history of adaptation to outside influences. The management of tourists searching for very intimate relations with local culture and environment was considered in a paper on local initiatives in rural ecotourism by Veronica Long, of the University of Waterloo, Canada. Describing such initiatives in Costa Rica and Yucatan, Mexico, she explained ways of working alongside Iocal peopfe and warned of the dangers of cultural imperialism and of visitor numbers overwhelming their small-scale context. The issues surrounding visitor dispersal were evaluated in a paper on sporting activities and problems in the UK’s national parks by Michael Collins of Loughborough University, UK. He contended that sports with planning problems for these parks should not necessarily be transferred outside them. Instead, sports which depend upon those scarce natural resources of which a high proportion are found in the parks should be given every assistance to be part of their recreational richness, short of damaging the park eilvironments and society. The reloca-
tion of sports outside the parks may also simply transfer the same planning problems to very similar landscapes and communities that do not have equivalent supporting funding,
Next steps The Congress brought together tourism scholars and practitioners on a worldwide basis to share their experiences and views. It confirmed the increasing importance being given in tourism everywhere to c~~vironnlental issues and to sustainable development. The full Congress Proceedings will be published early in 1992. Furth er information is available from WLRA, PO Box 309, Sharhot Lake, Ontario KOH ZPO. Canada. The next World Leisure and Recreation Association Congress is planned to be held in late 1993 in Jaipur, India and wili have the theme of ‘Leisure, tourism and the environment: issues for human development’. Bill Bramwell Sheffield City Polytechnic Totley Hal/ lane S~e~iald S I 7 4hB, UK
The last paradise Pacific Telecommunications May 1997.
Couffcil Mid-year Seminar Bali, Indonesia,
‘Bali, The Last Paradise’ say the sloganed T-shirts festooning the tourist boutiques and street vendor stalls that jostle each other for space in the shadows of this famous island’s many luxury hotels. ‘Reality or myth’, or rather ‘How to achieve the reality without losing the myth’, might have been a more apt title for this seminar. Instead ‘The travei telecommLlnications interface and its role in national and regional development’ was the rather wordy title under which both speakers and delegates sought to turn their minds away from the paradise outside to the subject matter inside. Organized by the Hawaii-based
TOURISM
12-14
Pacific T~lecomm~lnications Council, a non-profit body working for the development of telecommunications throughout the Pacific region, over 200 delegates attended. The majority of delegates were from Indonesian, US, Japanese, Korean or Australasian companies as might be expected, but both France and FR Germany had strong commercial representation. UK companies were sadly conspicuous by their absence. The interrelationship between telecommunications and the travel industry was indeed the dominant theme of the proceedings. This was particularly fitting because the meeting was held
MANAGEMENT
December
1991
There has tended to be only limited debate in tourism about alternative theoretical approaches to the subject. This is in contrast with the theoretical dialogue and revisions in, for example, leisure studies. The changing research agendas in such closely related fields have direct and important applications for tourism. A keynote paper by John Kelly of the University of Illinois, LJSA provided a masterly appraisal of recent approaches within leisure studies. Warning against single issue answers and oversimplification. he traced the continuing revisions which have taken place in leisure studies and the new areas of synthesis which may be emerging. The latest research :tgendas include a new concern to identify the ways in which economic roles provide contexts. resources and orientations for leisure. This is not a question of a simple determination but one of how definitions of both self and society are learned and emerge in a power differentiated social context. The issue of meanings is now very important. What are the symbols and meanings. the self definitions and world views that affect our actions‘? There is also a new concern to look beyond ideologies to examine the lived experiences of people in their leisure time.
Community
tourism
The communities living in destination areas are increasingly seen as central to the tourism product. They are also likely to be particularly affected by the impacts of tourism. Consequently, many people are now advocating tourism which is controlled more substuntially by all members of these local
TOURISM
MANAGEMENT
communities. This was reflected in several papers at the Congress. Steven Burr, of Pennsylvania State University, USA, looked at the theoretical approaches to community used in recent published research on the impacts of tourism on rural communities. The approach used in the vast majority of cases he defined as social research, although this framework is rarely made explicit. Here community is a system of roles and institutions through which a common life is organized and which endures through time. He contended that there is now a need to adopt more dynamic, interactional and critical approaches. These would view community as a dialectical, changing process incorporating relations of class and dominance. Such critical approaches were further considered in a paper on hallmark tourism events and their impacts on host communities by Michael Hall, of Massey University, New Zealand. Tourist spectacles and megn-events. such as the 1988 Brisbane Espo and 19S4 Los Angeles Olympics, were regarded as essentially political occasions. He argued they would be better understood if examined in relation to class interests and the use of power to allocate resources to them, and to their potential role in the legitimation of class hegemony. He also called for further study of the reactions and attitudes towards these events of different groups in the host communities. Another approach to community that of social exchange theory - was used by John Ap of Texas A & M LJniversity, USA. This was used to assess the reactions in an interview survey of residents of four communi-
December
1991
ties in Texas to the local impacts of tourism. Social exchange theory is concerned with understanding the exchange of valued resources - economic, social or psychological - between social actors. Ap suggested that the interview findings lend support to the value of social exchange theory, with residents perceiving tourism impacts positively when the exchange of resources is beneficial to them. The management implications of involving local residents in tourism planning were evaluated by David Simmons of Lincoln University, New Zealand. He considered that community involvement will not dispense with the need for traditional marketing and land-use planning approaches. Instead, these will need to be both integrated together and also to become part of the planning for other community functions. He also advocated wider recognition of the host communities as consumers of the processes of tourism development and not just as part of thr destination product. Attention should then be paid to identifying their needs and wants as consumers in these processes. This would reflect the recent ideas about social marketing which recognize that the public are not just consumers of products but also implicit consumers of the effects of the production and consumption of these products.
Sustainable
tourism
Concern for sustainable tourism development figured prominently in several papers, particularly in a session on the concept and practice of ecotourism. Bill Bramwell. of Sheffield City Polytechnic, UK, examined the extent to which rural tourism policy in the UK has been integrated with the ideas of sustainable development. While taking up several of the environmental concerns of sustainability, these policies have taken little account of issues of social justice or the pressure of free market competition. He went on to identify some key issues of sustainable development which are likely to be important for future rural tourism policies. These include attention to the balance of national and local priorities; the need
363
to make mass tourism more sustainable as well as develop radical new alternatives; the widening of access to tourism which strives for sustainability; and the provision of critical and sensitive interpretation. Myriam Jansen-Verbeke, of Nijmegen Catholic University, the Netherlands, applied the notion of ecotourism to the management of the touristic-historic city of Bruges, Belgium and of agritourism throughout Europe. A consideration of the problems of managing these environments suggests there is a considerable gap between the theoretical models of ecotourism and the practice of tourism planning. In Bruges pressure on the urban spaces has lowered the social acceptance of tourism and implies the need for more local government intervention, including a reconsideration of existing tourism promotion, attention to social priorities and strict land-use planning. In the agritourism context, moves towards more professional management and marketing to meet international standards are risking the loss of features which were originally distinctive and also attracted visitors. The relations betw>een Balinese culture and mass tourism were discussed in a paper by Jenny Small and Lloyd Stear, of the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Their interviews with Australian tour wholesalers operating programmes to Bali indicated that the supposed increase in tourists greatly interested in culture does not apply to the majority of Australians visiting Bali. More generally, many c~)mmentators on Bali consider that mass tourism has not made large negative impacts on Balinese culture. There are several potential explanations for this. First, while formal tourism planning in Bali has encouraged an interest in Balinese culture, this culture was to be brought to the tourists while staying in a dedicated tourism resort area. the Nusa Dua peninsula. It may also be that, second, the tourists generally have little understanding of the culture and are content with a limited exposure to it. A third influence is the strength of the Balinese culture itself, including its religion, the family and system of
364
localized decision making, and its long history of adaptation to outside influences. The management of tourists searching for very intimate relations with local culture and environment was considered in a paper on local initiatives in rural ecotourism by Veronica Long, of the University of Waterloo, Canada. Describing such initiatives in Costa Rica and Yucatan, Mexico, she explained ways of working alongside Iocal peopfe and warned of the dangers of cultural imperialism and of visitor numbers overwhelming their small-scale context. The issues surrounding visitor dispersal were evaluated in a paper on sporting activities and problems in the UK’s national parks by Michael Collins of Loughborough University, UK. He contended that sports with planning problems for these parks should not necessarily be transferred outside them. Instead, sports which depend upon those scarce natural resources of which a high proportion are found in the parks should be given every assistance to be part of their recreational richness, short of damaging the park eilvironments and society. The reloca-
tion of sports outside the parks may also simply transfer the same planning problems to very similar landscapes and communities that do not have equivalent supporting funding,
Next steps The Congress brought together tourism scholars and practitioners on a worldwide basis to share their experiences and views. It confirmed the increasing importance being given in tourism everywhere to c~~vironnlental issues and to sustainable development. The full Congress Proceedings will be published early in 1992. Furth er information is available from WLRA, PO Box 309, Sharhot Lake, Ontario KOH ZPO. Canada. The next World Leisure and Recreation Association Congress is planned to be held in late 1993 in Jaipur, India and wili have the theme of ‘Leisure, tourism and the environment: issues for human development’. Bill Bramwell Sheffield City Polytechnic Totley Hal/ lane S~e~iald S I 7 4hB, UK
The last paradise Pacific Telecommunications May 1997.
Couffcil Mid-year Seminar Bali, Indonesia,
‘Bali, The Last Paradise’ say the sloganed T-shirts festooning the tourist boutiques and street vendor stalls that jostle each other for space in the shadows of this famous island’s many luxury hotels. ‘Reality or myth’, or rather ‘How to achieve the reality without losing the myth’, might have been a more apt title for this seminar. Instead ‘The travei telecommLlnications interface and its role in national and regional development’ was the rather wordy title under which both speakers and delegates sought to turn their minds away from the paradise outside to the subject matter inside. Organized by the Hawaii-based
TOURISM
12-14
Pacific T~lecomm~lnications Council, a non-profit body working for the development of telecommunications throughout the Pacific region, over 200 delegates attended. The majority of delegates were from Indonesian, US, Japanese, Korean or Australasian companies as might be expected, but both France and FR Germany had strong commercial representation. UK companies were sadly conspicuous by their absence. The interrelationship between telecommunications and the travel industry was indeed the dominant theme of the proceedings. This was particularly fitting because the meeting was held
MANAGEMENT
December
1991