- Email: [email protected]
Aviation trends in the new millennium
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Book reviews Aviation trends in the new millennium R. Abeyratne, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2001, xiii, pp. 508, price: d69.95 hardback, ISBN 0 7546 1299 6
In contrast to the area of aviation economics and management, where a number of interesting books have been recently produced, aviation law issues remain relatively unexplored in the literature. On these grounds, Aviation Trends in the New Millennium is a valid contribution, which fills the gap and offers valuable insights despite some emerging difficulties. In particular, the book contains 25 chapters classified into four major sections. The first part (Chapters 1–10) deals with commercial issues in civil aviation. Strategic airline alliances (Chapter 1) are initially explored in a brief and concise way followed by the study of legal issues in aircraft leasing (Chapter 2). The book then examines three main issues in aviation competition namely slot allocation and airport congestion (Chapter 3), privatisation of airports (Chapter 4) and the display of airline computer reservation systems on the Internet (Chapter 5). The remaining chapters of this part are related to legal implications of more specialised commercial issues such as the use of the smart card (Chapter 6), the exchange of trade secrets relating to information technology (Chapter 7), trademarks (Chapter 8) and carriage of inadmissible passengers and refugees (Chapter 9). The first part concludes with some environmental law considerations on the fuel tax and emissions trading in air transport (Chapter 10). The second part of the book (Chapters 11–19) deals with a legal topic par excellence, namely liability in air transport operations using the Warsaw Convention as a benchmark. Turbulence and personal injury are first discussed (Chapter 11) followed by the study of tuberculosis in the aircraft cabin (Chapter 12), wilful misconduct of the airline (Chapter 13) and mental injury (Chapter 14). The remaining chapters refer to negligence of the airline pilot (Chapter 15), unruly passengers (Chapter 16), transportation of abducted children (Chapter 17), state liability for the global navigation satellite system (Chapter 18) and liability issues emerging from the prevention of controlled flights into terrain (Chapter 19). It is unfortunate that the book was produced in April 2001 and consequently does not examine the crucial legal liability issues arising
from the terrorist attacks of September 11th; still, the reader can deduce some indirect conclusions on this matter. Part three of the book (Chapters 20–24) studies the emerging aviation issues in the various regions of the world. The emphasis on the American Region analysis (Chapter 20) is put on the collaboration with Europe to form the Transatlantic Common Aviation Area (TCAA) and the implications for civil aviation of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) clause in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Both of these are now set within the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Asian (Chapter 21) and South American Regions (Chapter 24) are discussed briefly focusing on political considerations and policy issues, while the African (Chapter 22) and the European Regions (Chapter 23) are examined mostly in the context of their recent multilateral intra-continental aviation agreements, namely the Yamoussoukro Declaration and the Single European Aviation Market respectively. The book concludes with part four (Chapter 25), which essentially summarises the issues examined in the previous three parts. In essence, this is a well-researched book written by one of the international authorities in aviation law: the subject index and table of cases add to the accessibility and user-friendliness of the book. Nonetheless, the book faces a number of issues. First, the title does not reflect fully the contents of the book: while the book is about implications of aviation law, this is not mentioned in the title, while ‘‘Trends in the new Millennium’’ are clearly addressed only in part three. Second, the writing style of the book is heavily influenced by a legal approach, which inter alia involves heavy terminology and cross-comparison with other legal cases. Consequently, the book will be of great value and interest to law practitioners and academics, but may be not to the readers of Tourism Management as the regular digression to non-tourism legal cases and the extensive treatment of very special topics (e.g. transportation of abducted children) make the book less appealing. Still, those involved in tourism-related industries will definitely appreciate the analysis in part three. A final issue to consider is the price of the book (about d70), which might discourage its purchase by students or
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even professionals not directly related to aviation law. Nonetheless, tourism university/college libraries and relevant consulting companies should get a copy of this book as it treats aviation law in an integrated way.
Dr. Andreas Papatheodorou School of Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU27XH, UK E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(03)00128-6
The business of Alpine tourism in a globalising world: an anthropological study of international tourism in the village of St. Anton am Arlberg in the Tirolean Alps Jacqueline McGibbon, Vetterling Druck, Rosenheim, 2000, pp. 224 plus bibliography, ISBN 0-646-39113-5 This book is based upon the author’s doctoral thesis, for which she won a Dean’s commendation in Anthropology and Comparative Sociology at Macquarie University in 1998. Such a detail would normally be irrelevant in a review of a book, but in this instance such an award is truly indicative of the quality of the work. Good anthropological or ethnographic research requires both an immersion into the culture being studied and retention of the role of observer—and beyond these two attributes a further necessity exists for the researcher to locate himself/herself within the text as the prism by which the light is fractured into its component parts. In reflecting the multiple truths, and by examining the darknesses where no light exists, the anthropological researcher defines and redefines the structures of the social interaction being studied. Dr McGibbon does this in a way that fully contextualizes the emergence of tourism in this village in the Tirol, in a narration from the medieval period to the late twentieth century. The stories are carefully examined, and McGibbon makes telling points about a deliberate amnesia about the Nazi era when the commencement of many of the attributes of the modern ski-based tourism occurred. The study of images is writ large in this study. There are images of ski-instructors as Lotharios, of modernity as skiing is shown to be heavily dependent on an evolving technology, of competition as spectacle, and of the commodification of traditions associated with Tirolean culture. And the counterpositions are also presented—whereby the role of females as housebound entrepreneurs are examined, as is the nature of host– visitor–seasonal worker boundaries, the relevance of postcard culture to the resident young, the role of tourism enterprise within political and power relationships, and the means by which tourism exposes a community to the transnational forces of an expanding European Union.
These complexities are not simply described but are illuminated by a specific usage of contemporary perspectives about tourism drawn explicitly from the literature. While this is done consistently throughout the text, the Introduction itemises the concerns of the author as including a discussion of methodological issues, while the first chapter is specifically entitled ‘Approaches to the Study of Tourism’. While this chapter offered little that was new to this reviewer, it nonetheless evidenced an ability to not simply note contributions on social symbolic approaches but to provide interesting observations such as, noting the comparative lack of studies in the tourism literature pertaining to certain differences, such as those of gender or sub-cultures, and how leisure simultaneously continues, as an oppression structured within the status quo while also offering opportunities for individual autonomy. Again, reference to the literature is clearly identified with a penultimate chapter that includes sections on cultural discourse, academic theories of resistance and commodification. From this review it is evident that this reviewer enjoyed reading the text. Are there not, however, some possible limitations? As in many cases, one’s advantages are also a limitation. Gender and youth play a role, as the author’s sex aided in obtaining insights from female respondents as to their roles as young mothers having to handle the demands of tourists in accommodation based on domestic residences, and their view of male roles in the local community—but equally the author becomes more of an informed observer rather than a confidant in writing of the lives of young and old men within the community. Their formal roles are observed, but there is not the same kind of reporting of more intimate thoughts. This is not a criticism of the author, simply an observation; but perhaps it does recognize a difficulty for the single researcher (of whichever gender) and represents a case for a team approach. Equally, the author does legitimately ask herself to what extent it was possible to fully participate as an actor in the life of the community being studied. This is a perpetual question within such research, and without recourse to a lifetime involvement, perhaps reinforced by spousal responsibilities, can it ever be said that any researcher really
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achieves a commonality with the subject of such research topics. Again, at times, one wished for a little more detail. For example, on pages 97 and 98 it is noted that ‘... the locals had to be instructed about many aspects of ‘‘traditional’’ Tirolan life.... Thus when ‘‘Tirolean-ness’’ was first being constructed for tourists, it was also being outlined to Tiroleans themselves’. In turn, therefore, this raises questions about the nature of facilitating and inhibiting factors that gave rise to this situation—why some aspects were brought into and others rejected, and how and why ideologies were constructed? Yet it is a value of the text that answers (not the answers) to such questions are found, but that the reader is encouraged to discern them for himself/herself. McGibbon’s comment that mountain sports are part of a complex, shifting symbolic field that ‘includes a range of discourses, practices and institutions, from which people draw various, even contradictory, cultural meanings and satisfactions’ is perhaps a summary of the entire text
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and the adopted approach. This is no text that tries to reduce its findings to a series of bullet points, nor does it pretend to represent a ‘whole’ truth—it makes clear that it represents a perspective, informed by a detailed understanding of the academic literature, a knowledge of German, of skiing, of comparative youth, of enthusiasm and love for the location—it is an honest and self-reflective study and thus represents a telling analysis of what is one of Europe’s major tourist locations. One final, minor but irritating criticism can also be noted—there is no index, which is a great pity.
Chris Ryan Department of Tourism Management, The University of Waikato Management School, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(03)00129-8
Marine ecotourism: issues and experiences B. Garrod, B. Wilson and J. Wilson (Eds.), Channel View Publications, Clevedon, 2003, price d49.95 hardback, ISBN 1873150423 As Garrod and Wilson (p. viii) note in their preface, marine ecotourism is a major growth area within ecotourism, which is itself a major growth area within the tourism industry as a whole. One example of this growth in marine ecotourism is whalewatching: As several chapters in this volume note, whalewatching experiences, now more economically valuable than commercial whaling ever was (Garrod and Wilson, p. viii), are offered at approximately 500 locations around the world, with over 9 million participants in 1999 and a growth rate of over 12% per year throughout the 1990s (Cater, p. 37), and accounted for total expenditures of over US$50 million in 1998 (Berrow, p. 67). As a result of the growth of ecotourism in general, the United Nations Environment Programme designated 2002 as the International Year of Ecotourism; however, several major international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called for an alternative designation of the International Year of Reviewing Ecotourism. They argued that the term ecotourism has been widely employed as a marketing buzzword or as a form of greenwashing; that is, many projects or companies have claimed to be involved in ecotourism but are merely using green language in their marketing in an attempt to
ride on the crest of the ecotourism wave (Honey, 2002, p. 6). The result has often been serious negative environmental, social, and economic impacts. Garrod and Wilson (p. ix), however, argue that the ideal state of ecotourism is one that presents local communities with a sustainable development alternative one that benefits local ecosystems, local economies and local people themselves. The purpose of their book therefore is to inform readers about the concept of marine ecotourism and the key issues involved in ensuring that marine ecotourism is developed in a genuinely sustainable manner (p. x). The book attempts to do this by examining ythe concept and historical development of marine tourism, including recent debates questioning the true value of ecotourism as a sustainable development option. The major principles of marine ecotourism, as it ought to be understood as a genuinely sustainable form of tourism, are explained in detail and debated in different local and national contexts (p. x). This reviewer concludes that the book is very successful in meeting its goal and objectives. In the introductory chapter, Wilson and Garrod begin by noting the difficulty in defining not only ecotourism, but also marine ecotourism. Any activity that claims to be ecotourism, it is argued, must have three characteristics: it must be nature-based, have a learning orientation, and involve the application of principles of
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sustainable development. With respect to the latter characteristic, however, recognition is given to the potential threats to the global environment of the transport implications of any form of tourism, noting the desirability of minimising the energy consumption of holiday travel, an acknowledgement that is missing in much of the literature on ecotourism. Their definition of marine is broad, encompassing the foreshore, offshore, and coast zones; they note that, while marine ecotourism is often based on wildlife attractions, it also includes the cultural and heritage characteristics of coastal regions and communities. Some readers (including this reviewer) may find their list of marine ecotourism activities controversial; it includes wildlife viewing, scuba diving and snorkelling, beach and coastal path walking, rock pooling, sightseeing by boat, submarine and aircraft, possibly sea and shore angling, visiting marine interpretation centres, and viewing coastal seascapes. This reviewer has trouble, for example, reconciling sustainable development with submarines, sea angling (which raises images of trophy marlin hanging at a dock), and scuba diving (despite the fact that he is a certified diver). The first section of the book, Issues in Marine Tourism, contains five chapters dealing with the objectives and principles of marine ecotourism and the practical considerations involved in planning, managing, and regulating marine ecotourism. Because there are many meanings of marine ecotourism, Garrod uses a Delphi technique to explore the possible components of a definition, concluding with an excellent discussion of the merits and dangers of establishing a common definition. Using examples from around the world, Cater then explores the positive and negative impacts of marine ecotourism, concluding that collaboration among stakeholders is essential to identify and attempt to deal with these impacts. With a focus on policy to enable, promote, and regulate marine ecotourism, Wilson concludes that the nature of the marine environment, use conflicts, and sectoral issues are serious barriers for planning and management. Concentrating on regulation, Berrow presents an assessment of the framework, legislation, and monitoring required for developing sustainable whalewatching. The final chapter in this section is the most problematical one in the book for this reviewer. Vin˜als et al. discusses the development of a recreational carrying capacity model as a tool for managing tourism in wetland environments; the chapter is discordant with the most of the rest of the book because it is purely theoretical and does not provide an example of its application. Moreover, this reviewer agrees with the contention of Johnson and Thomas (1996) that carrying capacity is a guiding fiction, i.e., an heuristic framework that cannot be operationalized, but which helps planners and managers to contextualize problems and solutions.
The second section, Experiences with Marine Ecotourism, concentrates on stakeholder experiences with marine ecotourism in order to assess practice against principles, to highlight areas of challenge and promise, and to discuss practical lessons relating to the initiation, development, planning, management, and regulation of marine ecotourism. Halpenny uses six case studies to examine the role of NGOs supporting marine ecotourism in the conservation of natural and socio-cultural resources. Musa then examines the impact of dive tourism on the tiny island of Sipadan (Malaysia), concluding that the current level of development is unsustainable and that major changes are immediately needed in order to avoid the destruction of the island’s ecosystem. Townsend also focuses on the environmental impacts of diving, reporting on positive results of an experiment in the British Virgin Islands with modified dive briefings aimed at reducing the impacts. Following up on this theme of visitor education, McDonald and Wearing argue for a communitydirected education program to reduce the negative impacts of line fishers on the Avoca Beach Rock Platform (Australia). In a case study in West Clare (Ireland), Hoctor documents how local participation in the development of marine ecotourism can lead toward development that is sustainable. This argument of the importance of local participation is echoed by Chakravarty in a case study of a proposed marine park at Malvan (India). In the light of significant increases in the demand for dolphin watching in the Shannon Estuary (Ireland), Berrow focuses on the need for an effective management system, including the designation of a protected area, licensing of vessels, and a code of conduct. In a chapter that is quite different from the others, Speedie demonstrates the necessity of sound scientific research on marine animal behaviour, their reactions to the presence of vessels or divers, and their vulnerability to collision with vessels, using the example of the potential for viewing basking sharks in the waters of Cornwall and Devon (England). The regulatory framework within which diving tourism in Greece currently operates is examined by Petreas, who concludes the sustainable development of diving tourism would require significant changes to the regulations. In the final chapter, Orams examines New Zealand as a world class marine ecotourism destination, noting such problems as rapid growth in demand, the negative impacts of other economic activities (e.g., forestry) on the marine environment, and the role of indigenous Maori people in the development of marine ecotourism. In summary, this is an excellent first book on the subject of marine ecotourism that would be useful both to graduate and undergraduate students interested in tourism in general or ecotourism in particular and to professionals and communities involved, or thinking about becoming involved, in marine ecotourism. Specifically, Garrod and
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Wilson’s introduction and Garrod’s first chapter present a comprehensive overview of the meaning and nature of marine ecotourism. With the one exception noted above, the other chapters are equally useful in presenting a variety of issues related to marine ecotourism; their strength is rooted in a fine blend of both theory and practice. Overall, the book justifies the editors’ claim in the preface: It is clear, therefore, that the growth of marine ecotourism activity should be a principal concern for policy-makers, practitioners and researchers worldwide, not only in terms of its local sustainability but also in terms of its transport-related environmental impacts at the global scale (p. ix).
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References Honey, M., (Ed.), (2002). Ecotourism & certification: Setting standards in practice. Washington, DC: Island Press. Johnson, P., & Thomas, B. (1996). Tourism capacity: a critique. In L. Briguglio, B. Archer, J. Jafari, & G. Wall (Eds.), Sustainable tourism in islands and small states: Issues and policies (pp. 119–136). London, New York: Pinter.
Paul F. Wilkinson Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ont., Canada M3J 1P3 E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(03)00122-5
Living with tourism H. Tucker; Routledge, London, 2003, price d65, ISBN 0415298563 This is an important book which deserves to be judged by the highest standards. It is a contribution to the literature on tourism based, unusually, on solid ethnographic research which pushes the boundaries of understanding in a number of directions. It should be required reading for courses which seek to emphasise the cultural frameworks of encounters in the worlds of tourism and also illuminates the discourse in several important ways. The study amply lives up to the claims of the interesting series on ‘‘Contemporary geographies of leisure, tourism and mobility’’ as a whole, which are ‘‘to explore and communicate the intersections and relationships between leisure, tourism and human mobility within the social sciences.’’ The book reports on a long-term study of the Turkish town of Goreme, location of the moon-landscape of natural cones and columns which have been excavated to form cave-dwellings, stables, places of worship which have housed the community for several hundred years. The study is placed in a helpfully adumbrated geopolitical historical framework which characterizes the special features of Goreme as a tourism site, and contrasts it with other sites such as Gurup and some coastal resorts which have suffered under the heavy efforts of a centralized planning approach to tourism development. The methodology is appropriate and clearly described. The author established relations with local inhabitants, in particular with the family of one of the principal local tourist agencies, and became accepted in
her research role as a feature of the community. She is open about the advantages and drawbacks of this positioning in the frameworks of social relationships that constituted life in the village. It is reasonably certain that she perceives both sides of the host–guest relationship essentially from the perspective of an outsider who is able to empathize with the frames of reference, perspectives and analytical categories of the community, but without overstepping the line, becoming an insider and ‘‘going bush’’. Tucker goes beyond the one-sided emphasis on the tourist gaze and identifies the community norms of hospitality as constituting a key set of processes for analyzing the interactions between residents and tourists. She raises the possibility that in claiming ownership of the boundaries of authenticity in the tourist experience, the ‘‘guests’’ transmogrify into ‘‘hosts’’ temporarily imprisoning the locals within the visitors’ discourse. Thus, ‘‘as ‘‘guests’’ the tourists have to oblige their hosts by accepting the hand-crafted headscarf offered to them, and they have to pay the small fee that is asked for it’’ (p. 125). However the locals are also constrained into acting the role of hosts in a ceremony that originally derived its significance from its relative rarity in the diurnal experience of village life, and now risks becoming routinized and commodified. Her understanding of the multi-layered complexity of the role of the stranger in rural Turkish life, infused with Islamic concepts of identity and social duty. This enables her to comment judiciously on the multiply ambiguous social identities and opportunities for reintegration of the ‘‘returners’’ who have left to establish new opportunities for economic and personal fullfilment in the West, especially in Germany. Many of these returners now find themselves exposed to the risk of a
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double jeopardy in terms of cultural marginalilty so that when they return ‘‘home’’, the milieux of the tea-shop, and the routines of social communication have to be cautiously re-negotiated. This analysis resonates with the insights of Amin Malouf in his seminal tract ‘‘On Identity’’, and confirms the sense in which the attempt to claim, legitimately, multiple identity is still even in our global world, a dangerous exploit. Tucker has wise comments to make on the issues related to ‘‘authenticity’’ and the shifting sands on which these claims for ‘‘authentic cultural experience’’ are often based. When Tucker comments with dismay on p. 14 that the national and regional tourist agencies and bureaucratic representatives of the hospitality and travel industries in Turkey do not seem to recognize Goreme as a ‘‘tourist site’’, she is perhaps surfacing a factor that has preserved more ‘‘authentic’’ cultural vitality and diversity in the village by isolating it somewhat from the egregious influence of official and academic expertise. An important aspect of the development of tourism in Goreme is that it has largely remained in local control, by contrast with other destinations in which larger economic and social interests have dominated the scene. This enables Tucker to focus on the locally played out games of ‘‘the politics of representation and identity’’(p. 4) and illustrates through vignettes of ‘‘close encounters’’ between hosts and tourists and the social role of gossip in mediating the ‘‘indirect confrontations’’ which to the tourist may be experienced as lies and deceptions. But to the locals form part of ongoing resolution of economic and political sources of conflict in which tourism constitutes the framework, but not the intended outcome. She is also very insightful in tracking the expectations of certain of the tourists, themselves in search of their own projects of life, their own identities, their own escapes from temporarily intolerable identity-problems in their home territories, unwilling to engage further than with other like-minded seekers after their own perceived authenticity. Some of these tourists see their opposition to ‘‘the tour’’ experience as qualifying them as individuals, renegades, rebels against officialdom, commenting in such terms as ‘‘I don’t take tours because I prefer being free to being guided and controlled-then I can explore, and climb up tunnels whenever I want to’’ and ‘‘We’re not tour people, it is better to discover it for yourself. Its like exploring as a child, you feel as though you will find something that no-one else has found’’ (p. 56). Tucker comments that ‘‘they want to be able to frame their experience for themselves rather than having it staged and pre-framed for them.’’(p. 57) and that these expectations cannot be met either within the virtual domains, however complex and sensation-rich these may be. But she shows also that the realities of constraining budgets and the resolution of the practical uncertainties of travel and accommodation reduce these
potential outcomes to a few limited and predictable journeys in which the encounters with other similarly constrained travelers form an integral part of the vicarious experience. In these ways Tucker elaborates Urry’s distinction between the ‘‘romantic gaze’’ and the ‘‘collective gaze’’, showing that each of these is a proxy characterisation, standing-in for deeper complexities, rooted in more ambiguous specifications of social identity. This is good ethnography, taking us beyond description into theoretical amplification and semantic precision. Not all encounters are well negotiated and lead to common understanding and increased respect for differing values and frames of reference. Tucker recounts the incident of a New Zealand woman tourist who justifies her repeatedly annoying village women returning tired from a long day in the fields by obtrusively photographing them in their ‘‘natural ‘‘state by explaining ‘‘the traditional way of life is disappearing and so of course we want to take photographs of it, and they should respect thaty They should respect our culture too, that we want to take photos.’’(p. 124). But this cultural naivety of the tourist about the symbolism of images in Islam resonates with a neo-colonial discourse which asserts that visitors should have some absolute rights without countervailing duties of respect for the ‘‘irrational’’ prejudices of ‘‘traditional’’ society. Regrettably these difficult encounters are characteristic of a widespread mis-reading within the West of a perceived ‘‘traditionalism’’ and ‘‘backwardness’’ in Islamic society with dangerous implications not merely for the tourism industry. The larger socio-political issues frame Tucker’s account, but not obtrusively, and there is no sense of observation and micro-analysis being commandeered for macro-theoretical predilections. This book is fair to its own data, and the sunlight of illuminating detail shines into the deepest recesses of these cave homes. Even the intrusive and presumptively ‘‘globalizing’’ introduction of the internet does not diminish the possibilities of increasingly informed agency for villagers and tourists for ‘‘In Goreme villageythe tourists can cope even with the presence of the highly ‘‘modern’’ Internet, as long as they and the villagers are in a situation both to write their interactions and experiences partly for themselves also to have interactions and experiences that are subject to happenstance’’(p. 185). In fact, Tucker avoids the simplistic discourses of ‘‘abuse’’ and ‘‘exploitation’’ to illustrate the complex interpenetration and symbiotic inter-dependences of the learning experienced by both tourists and hosts in the village, leading inevitably to new cultural frames and practices so that ‘‘while the back streets of the village are shrouded in preservation rhetoric, the central area comes closer every year to resembling a Flintstones theme park.’’ (p. 182).
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Hence, when five local men were discussing a plan to open a new business to be called ‘‘Bedrock Travel Agency’’, one of them commented ‘‘Why not, Goreme is Bedrock, isn’t it?’’ But Tucker’s analysis is ultimately optimistic about the prospects for the continual re-discovery if not necessarily the preservation of ‘‘authenticity’’ because in her analysis there is room for serendipity.
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Read this book. The research is very solid. The theory is well integrated. It makes you think. David Weir Ceram Sophia Antipolis, Rue Dostoievski BP 085, Sophia Antipolis 06902, France E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(03)00123-7
Global ecotourism policies and case studies perspectives and constraints M. Luck and T. Kirstages (eds); Channel View Publications, Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall, Victoria Rd., Clevedon, 2002, 216 p. hbk ISBN 1-873150-40-7 ‘Global Ecotourism Policies and Case Studies: Perspectives and constraints’ is another offering from the Channel View stable, and another in the series ‘Current Issues in Tourism’. The aims stated are to provide readers with the latest thinking on tourism worldwide, while simultaneously introducing a new generation of international tourism authors. This latest volume furthers the ‘Current Issues’ mission with a timely edition to coincide with United Nations proclamation of 2002 as the International Year of Ecotourism. An ideal ecotourist, it is said, is the one who stays at home, and so therein lay the paradox of theorising and practising ecotourism. Torsten Kirstages and Michael Luck quite rightly address this fundamental issue, in the first and second to last chapters, by questioning whether ‘sustainable mass tourism’ is just another oxymoron that has developed out of the new global ‘sustainable development’ mantra. Overall this edited book provides a range of up to date case studies in the area of ecotourism themed around the question of ‘mass tourism’ and ‘ecotourism’ as complementary or contradiction. The strengths of this volume emerge from two main sources, firstly the voice given to the wide array of researchers and practitioners from the developed and developing world (this is indeed a strength of the ‘Current Issues in Tourism’ series as a whole). Secondly, the focus on case studies provides a diverse range of ‘in field’ issues for the reader to relate to. The joint themes of ‘perspectives’ and ‘constraints’ are borne throughout the book. The main weakness is a clear and well-defined theoretical basis for the individual chapters. The descriptive nature of the book means it lacks explanatory power. For instance, theory relating to commodification, environmentalism, feminism, post-
industrialism and post-structuralism would have strengthened many of the chapters, adding greatly to the book’s general thrust, as well as articulating a much bolder vision for the future. The book begins with Torsten Kirstage’s criticism of the ‘tourism system’ and its relationship to ecological and social impacts. He questions many of the basic assumptions that sustainable tourism has been built upon. Rodrigo Gonzalez and Adriana Otero explored the growth of alternative tourism activities, particularly the demand for more active forms of tourism by visitors to the Argentinean–Chilean Great Lakes Corridor in the Patagonia region of South America. Inge Niefer, Joao Carlos da Silva and M. Amend undertook a study in Superagui National Park, Parana, Brazil, the outcome of which was the development of visitor profiles that turned out to be congruent with the various ecotourist conceptualisations found in the literature. Pamela Wright offered a very good chapter exploring the critical difference between growth and development—an important distinction given the worrying increase in unsustainable growth cloaked in the guise of sustainable development (Khan, 2002). The ‘growth’ and ‘development’ distinction is looked at in terms of the Alberta Provincial Government’s role. In conclusion, Wright (2002, p. 70) sadly notes that the Government’s ecotourism initiatives of the mid-1990s had, in the space of 5 years, reverted back to the economic development imperative ‘‘with essentially no initiatives in support of sustainable development principles, which has virtually paralleled the privatisation initiatives of government’’. David Barkin and Carlos Pailles Bouchez explored an ecotourism project on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico involving the local community and the locally based NGO the Centre for Ecological Support (CSE). Ron Mader, another researcher based in the Oaxaca region of Mexico, explored the definition of ‘ecotourism’ in the context of Latin America and the often-good intentions that come with this buzzword, but do not often materialise. W. Croy and Lise Hogh investigated
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the differences between best practice theory and its application to an eco-resort developer’s procedure in New Zealand. Ric Goodman’s chapter on the indigenous Maasai of Tanzania found that their exclusion from traditional lands for conservation purposes has threatened this people’s livelihoods. Thea Schoemann investigated the viability of ecotourism development in the Qwa– Qwa National Park, South Africa. Using the South Thailand SeaCanoe operation as a case, Noah Shepherd laments the growth in mass tourism and copycat operations in the area, and again questions the relationship between mass tourism and ecotourism. Heidi de Haas and Harold Goodwin’s pragmatic chapters on the South Pacific island of Niue and community involvement in tourism around National Parks, respectively, offer very solid descriptive analysis and a range of well thought out remedial activities. Michael Luck concludes with a chapter on the book’s main theme—reconciling ‘mass tourism’ with ‘ecotour-
doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(03)00124-9
ism’ and a look at the future of ecotourism as a sustainable activity.
References Khan, S. A. (2002). Beyond the limits of sustainable growth: Earth on the market. Le Monde Diplomatique, p. 8. Wright, P. A. (2002). Supporting the principles of sustainable development in tourism and ecotourism: Governments potential role. In T. Kirstages (Ed.), Global ecotourism policies and case studies: Perspectives and constraints. Clevedon, UK: Channel View Publications.
Matthew McDonald, Stephen Wearing University of Technology, Sydney, P.O. Box 222 Lindfield, NSW 2070 Australia E-mail address: [email protected], [email protected]
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Book reviews Aviation trends in the new millennium R. Abeyratne, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2001, xiii, pp. 508, price: d69.95 hardback, ISBN 0 7546 1299 6
In contrast to the area of aviation economics and management, where a number of interesting books have been recently produced, aviation law issues remain relatively unexplored in the literature. On these grounds, Aviation Trends in the New Millennium is a valid contribution, which fills the gap and offers valuable insights despite some emerging difficulties. In particular, the book contains 25 chapters classified into four major sections. The first part (Chapters 1–10) deals with commercial issues in civil aviation. Strategic airline alliances (Chapter 1) are initially explored in a brief and concise way followed by the study of legal issues in aircraft leasing (Chapter 2). The book then examines three main issues in aviation competition namely slot allocation and airport congestion (Chapter 3), privatisation of airports (Chapter 4) and the display of airline computer reservation systems on the Internet (Chapter 5). The remaining chapters of this part are related to legal implications of more specialised commercial issues such as the use of the smart card (Chapter 6), the exchange of trade secrets relating to information technology (Chapter 7), trademarks (Chapter 8) and carriage of inadmissible passengers and refugees (Chapter 9). The first part concludes with some environmental law considerations on the fuel tax and emissions trading in air transport (Chapter 10). The second part of the book (Chapters 11–19) deals with a legal topic par excellence, namely liability in air transport operations using the Warsaw Convention as a benchmark. Turbulence and personal injury are first discussed (Chapter 11) followed by the study of tuberculosis in the aircraft cabin (Chapter 12), wilful misconduct of the airline (Chapter 13) and mental injury (Chapter 14). The remaining chapters refer to negligence of the airline pilot (Chapter 15), unruly passengers (Chapter 16), transportation of abducted children (Chapter 17), state liability for the global navigation satellite system (Chapter 18) and liability issues emerging from the prevention of controlled flights into terrain (Chapter 19). It is unfortunate that the book was produced in April 2001 and consequently does not examine the crucial legal liability issues arising
from the terrorist attacks of September 11th; still, the reader can deduce some indirect conclusions on this matter. Part three of the book (Chapters 20–24) studies the emerging aviation issues in the various regions of the world. The emphasis on the American Region analysis (Chapter 20) is put on the collaboration with Europe to form the Transatlantic Common Aviation Area (TCAA) and the implications for civil aviation of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) clause in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Both of these are now set within the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Asian (Chapter 21) and South American Regions (Chapter 24) are discussed briefly focusing on political considerations and policy issues, while the African (Chapter 22) and the European Regions (Chapter 23) are examined mostly in the context of their recent multilateral intra-continental aviation agreements, namely the Yamoussoukro Declaration and the Single European Aviation Market respectively. The book concludes with part four (Chapter 25), which essentially summarises the issues examined in the previous three parts. In essence, this is a well-researched book written by one of the international authorities in aviation law: the subject index and table of cases add to the accessibility and user-friendliness of the book. Nonetheless, the book faces a number of issues. First, the title does not reflect fully the contents of the book: while the book is about implications of aviation law, this is not mentioned in the title, while ‘‘Trends in the new Millennium’’ are clearly addressed only in part three. Second, the writing style of the book is heavily influenced by a legal approach, which inter alia involves heavy terminology and cross-comparison with other legal cases. Consequently, the book will be of great value and interest to law practitioners and academics, but may be not to the readers of Tourism Management as the regular digression to non-tourism legal cases and the extensive treatment of very special topics (e.g. transportation of abducted children) make the book less appealing. Still, those involved in tourism-related industries will definitely appreciate the analysis in part three. A final issue to consider is the price of the book (about d70), which might discourage its purchase by students or
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even professionals not directly related to aviation law. Nonetheless, tourism university/college libraries and relevant consulting companies should get a copy of this book as it treats aviation law in an integrated way.
Dr. Andreas Papatheodorou School of Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU27XH, UK E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(03)00128-6
The business of Alpine tourism in a globalising world: an anthropological study of international tourism in the village of St. Anton am Arlberg in the Tirolean Alps Jacqueline McGibbon, Vetterling Druck, Rosenheim, 2000, pp. 224 plus bibliography, ISBN 0-646-39113-5 This book is based upon the author’s doctoral thesis, for which she won a Dean’s commendation in Anthropology and Comparative Sociology at Macquarie University in 1998. Such a detail would normally be irrelevant in a review of a book, but in this instance such an award is truly indicative of the quality of the work. Good anthropological or ethnographic research requires both an immersion into the culture being studied and retention of the role of observer—and beyond these two attributes a further necessity exists for the researcher to locate himself/herself within the text as the prism by which the light is fractured into its component parts. In reflecting the multiple truths, and by examining the darknesses where no light exists, the anthropological researcher defines and redefines the structures of the social interaction being studied. Dr McGibbon does this in a way that fully contextualizes the emergence of tourism in this village in the Tirol, in a narration from the medieval period to the late twentieth century. The stories are carefully examined, and McGibbon makes telling points about a deliberate amnesia about the Nazi era when the commencement of many of the attributes of the modern ski-based tourism occurred. The study of images is writ large in this study. There are images of ski-instructors as Lotharios, of modernity as skiing is shown to be heavily dependent on an evolving technology, of competition as spectacle, and of the commodification of traditions associated with Tirolean culture. And the counterpositions are also presented—whereby the role of females as housebound entrepreneurs are examined, as is the nature of host– visitor–seasonal worker boundaries, the relevance of postcard culture to the resident young, the role of tourism enterprise within political and power relationships, and the means by which tourism exposes a community to the transnational forces of an expanding European Union.
These complexities are not simply described but are illuminated by a specific usage of contemporary perspectives about tourism drawn explicitly from the literature. While this is done consistently throughout the text, the Introduction itemises the concerns of the author as including a discussion of methodological issues, while the first chapter is specifically entitled ‘Approaches to the Study of Tourism’. While this chapter offered little that was new to this reviewer, it nonetheless evidenced an ability to not simply note contributions on social symbolic approaches but to provide interesting observations such as, noting the comparative lack of studies in the tourism literature pertaining to certain differences, such as those of gender or sub-cultures, and how leisure simultaneously continues, as an oppression structured within the status quo while also offering opportunities for individual autonomy. Again, reference to the literature is clearly identified with a penultimate chapter that includes sections on cultural discourse, academic theories of resistance and commodification. From this review it is evident that this reviewer enjoyed reading the text. Are there not, however, some possible limitations? As in many cases, one’s advantages are also a limitation. Gender and youth play a role, as the author’s sex aided in obtaining insights from female respondents as to their roles as young mothers having to handle the demands of tourists in accommodation based on domestic residences, and their view of male roles in the local community—but equally the author becomes more of an informed observer rather than a confidant in writing of the lives of young and old men within the community. Their formal roles are observed, but there is not the same kind of reporting of more intimate thoughts. This is not a criticism of the author, simply an observation; but perhaps it does recognize a difficulty for the single researcher (of whichever gender) and represents a case for a team approach. Equally, the author does legitimately ask herself to what extent it was possible to fully participate as an actor in the life of the community being studied. This is a perpetual question within such research, and without recourse to a lifetime involvement, perhaps reinforced by spousal responsibilities, can it ever be said that any researcher really
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achieves a commonality with the subject of such research topics. Again, at times, one wished for a little more detail. For example, on pages 97 and 98 it is noted that ‘... the locals had to be instructed about many aspects of ‘‘traditional’’ Tirolan life.... Thus when ‘‘Tirolean-ness’’ was first being constructed for tourists, it was also being outlined to Tiroleans themselves’. In turn, therefore, this raises questions about the nature of facilitating and inhibiting factors that gave rise to this situation—why some aspects were brought into and others rejected, and how and why ideologies were constructed? Yet it is a value of the text that answers (not the answers) to such questions are found, but that the reader is encouraged to discern them for himself/herself. McGibbon’s comment that mountain sports are part of a complex, shifting symbolic field that ‘includes a range of discourses, practices and institutions, from which people draw various, even contradictory, cultural meanings and satisfactions’ is perhaps a summary of the entire text
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and the adopted approach. This is no text that tries to reduce its findings to a series of bullet points, nor does it pretend to represent a ‘whole’ truth—it makes clear that it represents a perspective, informed by a detailed understanding of the academic literature, a knowledge of German, of skiing, of comparative youth, of enthusiasm and love for the location—it is an honest and self-reflective study and thus represents a telling analysis of what is one of Europe’s major tourist locations. One final, minor but irritating criticism can also be noted—there is no index, which is a great pity.
Chris Ryan Department of Tourism Management, The University of Waikato Management School, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(03)00129-8
Marine ecotourism: issues and experiences B. Garrod, B. Wilson and J. Wilson (Eds.), Channel View Publications, Clevedon, 2003, price d49.95 hardback, ISBN 1873150423 As Garrod and Wilson (p. viii) note in their preface, marine ecotourism is a major growth area within ecotourism, which is itself a major growth area within the tourism industry as a whole. One example of this growth in marine ecotourism is whalewatching: As several chapters in this volume note, whalewatching experiences, now more economically valuable than commercial whaling ever was (Garrod and Wilson, p. viii), are offered at approximately 500 locations around the world, with over 9 million participants in 1999 and a growth rate of over 12% per year throughout the 1990s (Cater, p. 37), and accounted for total expenditures of over US$50 million in 1998 (Berrow, p. 67). As a result of the growth of ecotourism in general, the United Nations Environment Programme designated 2002 as the International Year of Ecotourism; however, several major international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called for an alternative designation of the International Year of Reviewing Ecotourism. They argued that the term ecotourism has been widely employed as a marketing buzzword or as a form of greenwashing; that is, many projects or companies have claimed to be involved in ecotourism but are merely using green language in their marketing in an attempt to
ride on the crest of the ecotourism wave (Honey, 2002, p. 6). The result has often been serious negative environmental, social, and economic impacts. Garrod and Wilson (p. ix), however, argue that the ideal state of ecotourism is one that presents local communities with a sustainable development alternative one that benefits local ecosystems, local economies and local people themselves. The purpose of their book therefore is to inform readers about the concept of marine ecotourism and the key issues involved in ensuring that marine ecotourism is developed in a genuinely sustainable manner (p. x). The book attempts to do this by examining ythe concept and historical development of marine tourism, including recent debates questioning the true value of ecotourism as a sustainable development option. The major principles of marine ecotourism, as it ought to be understood as a genuinely sustainable form of tourism, are explained in detail and debated in different local and national contexts (p. x). This reviewer concludes that the book is very successful in meeting its goal and objectives. In the introductory chapter, Wilson and Garrod begin by noting the difficulty in defining not only ecotourism, but also marine ecotourism. Any activity that claims to be ecotourism, it is argued, must have three characteristics: it must be nature-based, have a learning orientation, and involve the application of principles of
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sustainable development. With respect to the latter characteristic, however, recognition is given to the potential threats to the global environment of the transport implications of any form of tourism, noting the desirability of minimising the energy consumption of holiday travel, an acknowledgement that is missing in much of the literature on ecotourism. Their definition of marine is broad, encompassing the foreshore, offshore, and coast zones; they note that, while marine ecotourism is often based on wildlife attractions, it also includes the cultural and heritage characteristics of coastal regions and communities. Some readers (including this reviewer) may find their list of marine ecotourism activities controversial; it includes wildlife viewing, scuba diving and snorkelling, beach and coastal path walking, rock pooling, sightseeing by boat, submarine and aircraft, possibly sea and shore angling, visiting marine interpretation centres, and viewing coastal seascapes. This reviewer has trouble, for example, reconciling sustainable development with submarines, sea angling (which raises images of trophy marlin hanging at a dock), and scuba diving (despite the fact that he is a certified diver). The first section of the book, Issues in Marine Tourism, contains five chapters dealing with the objectives and principles of marine ecotourism and the practical considerations involved in planning, managing, and regulating marine ecotourism. Because there are many meanings of marine ecotourism, Garrod uses a Delphi technique to explore the possible components of a definition, concluding with an excellent discussion of the merits and dangers of establishing a common definition. Using examples from around the world, Cater then explores the positive and negative impacts of marine ecotourism, concluding that collaboration among stakeholders is essential to identify and attempt to deal with these impacts. With a focus on policy to enable, promote, and regulate marine ecotourism, Wilson concludes that the nature of the marine environment, use conflicts, and sectoral issues are serious barriers for planning and management. Concentrating on regulation, Berrow presents an assessment of the framework, legislation, and monitoring required for developing sustainable whalewatching. The final chapter in this section is the most problematical one in the book for this reviewer. Vin˜als et al. discusses the development of a recreational carrying capacity model as a tool for managing tourism in wetland environments; the chapter is discordant with the most of the rest of the book because it is purely theoretical and does not provide an example of its application. Moreover, this reviewer agrees with the contention of Johnson and Thomas (1996) that carrying capacity is a guiding fiction, i.e., an heuristic framework that cannot be operationalized, but which helps planners and managers to contextualize problems and solutions.
The second section, Experiences with Marine Ecotourism, concentrates on stakeholder experiences with marine ecotourism in order to assess practice against principles, to highlight areas of challenge and promise, and to discuss practical lessons relating to the initiation, development, planning, management, and regulation of marine ecotourism. Halpenny uses six case studies to examine the role of NGOs supporting marine ecotourism in the conservation of natural and socio-cultural resources. Musa then examines the impact of dive tourism on the tiny island of Sipadan (Malaysia), concluding that the current level of development is unsustainable and that major changes are immediately needed in order to avoid the destruction of the island’s ecosystem. Townsend also focuses on the environmental impacts of diving, reporting on positive results of an experiment in the British Virgin Islands with modified dive briefings aimed at reducing the impacts. Following up on this theme of visitor education, McDonald and Wearing argue for a communitydirected education program to reduce the negative impacts of line fishers on the Avoca Beach Rock Platform (Australia). In a case study in West Clare (Ireland), Hoctor documents how local participation in the development of marine ecotourism can lead toward development that is sustainable. This argument of the importance of local participation is echoed by Chakravarty in a case study of a proposed marine park at Malvan (India). In the light of significant increases in the demand for dolphin watching in the Shannon Estuary (Ireland), Berrow focuses on the need for an effective management system, including the designation of a protected area, licensing of vessels, and a code of conduct. In a chapter that is quite different from the others, Speedie demonstrates the necessity of sound scientific research on marine animal behaviour, their reactions to the presence of vessels or divers, and their vulnerability to collision with vessels, using the example of the potential for viewing basking sharks in the waters of Cornwall and Devon (England). The regulatory framework within which diving tourism in Greece currently operates is examined by Petreas, who concludes the sustainable development of diving tourism would require significant changes to the regulations. In the final chapter, Orams examines New Zealand as a world class marine ecotourism destination, noting such problems as rapid growth in demand, the negative impacts of other economic activities (e.g., forestry) on the marine environment, and the role of indigenous Maori people in the development of marine ecotourism. In summary, this is an excellent first book on the subject of marine ecotourism that would be useful both to graduate and undergraduate students interested in tourism in general or ecotourism in particular and to professionals and communities involved, or thinking about becoming involved, in marine ecotourism. Specifically, Garrod and
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Wilson’s introduction and Garrod’s first chapter present a comprehensive overview of the meaning and nature of marine ecotourism. With the one exception noted above, the other chapters are equally useful in presenting a variety of issues related to marine ecotourism; their strength is rooted in a fine blend of both theory and practice. Overall, the book justifies the editors’ claim in the preface: It is clear, therefore, that the growth of marine ecotourism activity should be a principal concern for policy-makers, practitioners and researchers worldwide, not only in terms of its local sustainability but also in terms of its transport-related environmental impacts at the global scale (p. ix).
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References Honey, M., (Ed.), (2002). Ecotourism & certification: Setting standards in practice. Washington, DC: Island Press. Johnson, P., & Thomas, B. (1996). Tourism capacity: a critique. In L. Briguglio, B. Archer, J. Jafari, & G. Wall (Eds.), Sustainable tourism in islands and small states: Issues and policies (pp. 119–136). London, New York: Pinter.
Paul F. Wilkinson Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ont., Canada M3J 1P3 E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(03)00122-5
Living with tourism H. Tucker; Routledge, London, 2003, price d65, ISBN 0415298563 This is an important book which deserves to be judged by the highest standards. It is a contribution to the literature on tourism based, unusually, on solid ethnographic research which pushes the boundaries of understanding in a number of directions. It should be required reading for courses which seek to emphasise the cultural frameworks of encounters in the worlds of tourism and also illuminates the discourse in several important ways. The study amply lives up to the claims of the interesting series on ‘‘Contemporary geographies of leisure, tourism and mobility’’ as a whole, which are ‘‘to explore and communicate the intersections and relationships between leisure, tourism and human mobility within the social sciences.’’ The book reports on a long-term study of the Turkish town of Goreme, location of the moon-landscape of natural cones and columns which have been excavated to form cave-dwellings, stables, places of worship which have housed the community for several hundred years. The study is placed in a helpfully adumbrated geopolitical historical framework which characterizes the special features of Goreme as a tourism site, and contrasts it with other sites such as Gurup and some coastal resorts which have suffered under the heavy efforts of a centralized planning approach to tourism development. The methodology is appropriate and clearly described. The author established relations with local inhabitants, in particular with the family of one of the principal local tourist agencies, and became accepted in
her research role as a feature of the community. She is open about the advantages and drawbacks of this positioning in the frameworks of social relationships that constituted life in the village. It is reasonably certain that she perceives both sides of the host–guest relationship essentially from the perspective of an outsider who is able to empathize with the frames of reference, perspectives and analytical categories of the community, but without overstepping the line, becoming an insider and ‘‘going bush’’. Tucker goes beyond the one-sided emphasis on the tourist gaze and identifies the community norms of hospitality as constituting a key set of processes for analyzing the interactions between residents and tourists. She raises the possibility that in claiming ownership of the boundaries of authenticity in the tourist experience, the ‘‘guests’’ transmogrify into ‘‘hosts’’ temporarily imprisoning the locals within the visitors’ discourse. Thus, ‘‘as ‘‘guests’’ the tourists have to oblige their hosts by accepting the hand-crafted headscarf offered to them, and they have to pay the small fee that is asked for it’’ (p. 125). However the locals are also constrained into acting the role of hosts in a ceremony that originally derived its significance from its relative rarity in the diurnal experience of village life, and now risks becoming routinized and commodified. Her understanding of the multi-layered complexity of the role of the stranger in rural Turkish life, infused with Islamic concepts of identity and social duty. This enables her to comment judiciously on the multiply ambiguous social identities and opportunities for reintegration of the ‘‘returners’’ who have left to establish new opportunities for economic and personal fullfilment in the West, especially in Germany. Many of these returners now find themselves exposed to the risk of a
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double jeopardy in terms of cultural marginalilty so that when they return ‘‘home’’, the milieux of the tea-shop, and the routines of social communication have to be cautiously re-negotiated. This analysis resonates with the insights of Amin Malouf in his seminal tract ‘‘On Identity’’, and confirms the sense in which the attempt to claim, legitimately, multiple identity is still even in our global world, a dangerous exploit. Tucker has wise comments to make on the issues related to ‘‘authenticity’’ and the shifting sands on which these claims for ‘‘authentic cultural experience’’ are often based. When Tucker comments with dismay on p. 14 that the national and regional tourist agencies and bureaucratic representatives of the hospitality and travel industries in Turkey do not seem to recognize Goreme as a ‘‘tourist site’’, she is perhaps surfacing a factor that has preserved more ‘‘authentic’’ cultural vitality and diversity in the village by isolating it somewhat from the egregious influence of official and academic expertise. An important aspect of the development of tourism in Goreme is that it has largely remained in local control, by contrast with other destinations in which larger economic and social interests have dominated the scene. This enables Tucker to focus on the locally played out games of ‘‘the politics of representation and identity’’(p. 4) and illustrates through vignettes of ‘‘close encounters’’ between hosts and tourists and the social role of gossip in mediating the ‘‘indirect confrontations’’ which to the tourist may be experienced as lies and deceptions. But to the locals form part of ongoing resolution of economic and political sources of conflict in which tourism constitutes the framework, but not the intended outcome. She is also very insightful in tracking the expectations of certain of the tourists, themselves in search of their own projects of life, their own identities, their own escapes from temporarily intolerable identity-problems in their home territories, unwilling to engage further than with other like-minded seekers after their own perceived authenticity. Some of these tourists see their opposition to ‘‘the tour’’ experience as qualifying them as individuals, renegades, rebels against officialdom, commenting in such terms as ‘‘I don’t take tours because I prefer being free to being guided and controlled-then I can explore, and climb up tunnels whenever I want to’’ and ‘‘We’re not tour people, it is better to discover it for yourself. Its like exploring as a child, you feel as though you will find something that no-one else has found’’ (p. 56). Tucker comments that ‘‘they want to be able to frame their experience for themselves rather than having it staged and pre-framed for them.’’(p. 57) and that these expectations cannot be met either within the virtual domains, however complex and sensation-rich these may be. But she shows also that the realities of constraining budgets and the resolution of the practical uncertainties of travel and accommodation reduce these
potential outcomes to a few limited and predictable journeys in which the encounters with other similarly constrained travelers form an integral part of the vicarious experience. In these ways Tucker elaborates Urry’s distinction between the ‘‘romantic gaze’’ and the ‘‘collective gaze’’, showing that each of these is a proxy characterisation, standing-in for deeper complexities, rooted in more ambiguous specifications of social identity. This is good ethnography, taking us beyond description into theoretical amplification and semantic precision. Not all encounters are well negotiated and lead to common understanding and increased respect for differing values and frames of reference. Tucker recounts the incident of a New Zealand woman tourist who justifies her repeatedly annoying village women returning tired from a long day in the fields by obtrusively photographing them in their ‘‘natural ‘‘state by explaining ‘‘the traditional way of life is disappearing and so of course we want to take photographs of it, and they should respect thaty They should respect our culture too, that we want to take photos.’’(p. 124). But this cultural naivety of the tourist about the symbolism of images in Islam resonates with a neo-colonial discourse which asserts that visitors should have some absolute rights without countervailing duties of respect for the ‘‘irrational’’ prejudices of ‘‘traditional’’ society. Regrettably these difficult encounters are characteristic of a widespread mis-reading within the West of a perceived ‘‘traditionalism’’ and ‘‘backwardness’’ in Islamic society with dangerous implications not merely for the tourism industry. The larger socio-political issues frame Tucker’s account, but not obtrusively, and there is no sense of observation and micro-analysis being commandeered for macro-theoretical predilections. This book is fair to its own data, and the sunlight of illuminating detail shines into the deepest recesses of these cave homes. Even the intrusive and presumptively ‘‘globalizing’’ introduction of the internet does not diminish the possibilities of increasingly informed agency for villagers and tourists for ‘‘In Goreme villageythe tourists can cope even with the presence of the highly ‘‘modern’’ Internet, as long as they and the villagers are in a situation both to write their interactions and experiences partly for themselves also to have interactions and experiences that are subject to happenstance’’(p. 185). In fact, Tucker avoids the simplistic discourses of ‘‘abuse’’ and ‘‘exploitation’’ to illustrate the complex interpenetration and symbiotic inter-dependences of the learning experienced by both tourists and hosts in the village, leading inevitably to new cultural frames and practices so that ‘‘while the back streets of the village are shrouded in preservation rhetoric, the central area comes closer every year to resembling a Flintstones theme park.’’ (p. 182).
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Hence, when five local men were discussing a plan to open a new business to be called ‘‘Bedrock Travel Agency’’, one of them commented ‘‘Why not, Goreme is Bedrock, isn’t it?’’ But Tucker’s analysis is ultimately optimistic about the prospects for the continual re-discovery if not necessarily the preservation of ‘‘authenticity’’ because in her analysis there is room for serendipity.
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Read this book. The research is very solid. The theory is well integrated. It makes you think. David Weir Ceram Sophia Antipolis, Rue Dostoievski BP 085, Sophia Antipolis 06902, France E-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(03)00123-7
Global ecotourism policies and case studies perspectives and constraints M. Luck and T. Kirstages (eds); Channel View Publications, Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall, Victoria Rd., Clevedon, 2002, 216 p. hbk ISBN 1-873150-40-7 ‘Global Ecotourism Policies and Case Studies: Perspectives and constraints’ is another offering from the Channel View stable, and another in the series ‘Current Issues in Tourism’. The aims stated are to provide readers with the latest thinking on tourism worldwide, while simultaneously introducing a new generation of international tourism authors. This latest volume furthers the ‘Current Issues’ mission with a timely edition to coincide with United Nations proclamation of 2002 as the International Year of Ecotourism. An ideal ecotourist, it is said, is the one who stays at home, and so therein lay the paradox of theorising and practising ecotourism. Torsten Kirstages and Michael Luck quite rightly address this fundamental issue, in the first and second to last chapters, by questioning whether ‘sustainable mass tourism’ is just another oxymoron that has developed out of the new global ‘sustainable development’ mantra. Overall this edited book provides a range of up to date case studies in the area of ecotourism themed around the question of ‘mass tourism’ and ‘ecotourism’ as complementary or contradiction. The strengths of this volume emerge from two main sources, firstly the voice given to the wide array of researchers and practitioners from the developed and developing world (this is indeed a strength of the ‘Current Issues in Tourism’ series as a whole). Secondly, the focus on case studies provides a diverse range of ‘in field’ issues for the reader to relate to. The joint themes of ‘perspectives’ and ‘constraints’ are borne throughout the book. The main weakness is a clear and well-defined theoretical basis for the individual chapters. The descriptive nature of the book means it lacks explanatory power. For instance, theory relating to commodification, environmentalism, feminism, post-
industrialism and post-structuralism would have strengthened many of the chapters, adding greatly to the book’s general thrust, as well as articulating a much bolder vision for the future. The book begins with Torsten Kirstage’s criticism of the ‘tourism system’ and its relationship to ecological and social impacts. He questions many of the basic assumptions that sustainable tourism has been built upon. Rodrigo Gonzalez and Adriana Otero explored the growth of alternative tourism activities, particularly the demand for more active forms of tourism by visitors to the Argentinean–Chilean Great Lakes Corridor in the Patagonia region of South America. Inge Niefer, Joao Carlos da Silva and M. Amend undertook a study in Superagui National Park, Parana, Brazil, the outcome of which was the development of visitor profiles that turned out to be congruent with the various ecotourist conceptualisations found in the literature. Pamela Wright offered a very good chapter exploring the critical difference between growth and development—an important distinction given the worrying increase in unsustainable growth cloaked in the guise of sustainable development (Khan, 2002). The ‘growth’ and ‘development’ distinction is looked at in terms of the Alberta Provincial Government’s role. In conclusion, Wright (2002, p. 70) sadly notes that the Government’s ecotourism initiatives of the mid-1990s had, in the space of 5 years, reverted back to the economic development imperative ‘‘with essentially no initiatives in support of sustainable development principles, which has virtually paralleled the privatisation initiatives of government’’. David Barkin and Carlos Pailles Bouchez explored an ecotourism project on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico involving the local community and the locally based NGO the Centre for Ecological Support (CSE). Ron Mader, another researcher based in the Oaxaca region of Mexico, explored the definition of ‘ecotourism’ in the context of Latin America and the often-good intentions that come with this buzzword, but do not often materialise. W. Croy and Lise Hogh investigated
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the differences between best practice theory and its application to an eco-resort developer’s procedure in New Zealand. Ric Goodman’s chapter on the indigenous Maasai of Tanzania found that their exclusion from traditional lands for conservation purposes has threatened this people’s livelihoods. Thea Schoemann investigated the viability of ecotourism development in the Qwa– Qwa National Park, South Africa. Using the South Thailand SeaCanoe operation as a case, Noah Shepherd laments the growth in mass tourism and copycat operations in the area, and again questions the relationship between mass tourism and ecotourism. Heidi de Haas and Harold Goodwin’s pragmatic chapters on the South Pacific island of Niue and community involvement in tourism around National Parks, respectively, offer very solid descriptive analysis and a range of well thought out remedial activities. Michael Luck concludes with a chapter on the book’s main theme—reconciling ‘mass tourism’ with ‘ecotour-
doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(03)00124-9
ism’ and a look at the future of ecotourism as a sustainable activity.
References Khan, S. A. (2002). Beyond the limits of sustainable growth: Earth on the market. Le Monde Diplomatique, p. 8. Wright, P. A. (2002). Supporting the principles of sustainable development in tourism and ecotourism: Governments potential role. In T. Kirstages (Ed.), Global ecotourism policies and case studies: Perspectives and constraints. Clevedon, UK: Channel View Publications.
Matthew McDonald, Stephen Wearing University of Technology, Sydney, P.O. Box 222 Lindfield, NSW 2070 Australia E-mail address: [email protected], [email protected]