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Ecotourism Program Planning
PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW This Department publishes reviews of recent publications in or related to the study of tourism. Individuals interested in submitting review essays and book reviews should write directly to the Associate Editor for Publications in Review, Stephen Smith (Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1. Email ). Unsolicited reviews will not be accepted.
BOOK REVIEWS
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 1055–1056, 2004 Printed in Great Britain 0160-7383/$30.00
> www.elsevier.com/locate/atoures
Ecotourism Program Planning By David A. Fennell; CAB International 2002, xii þ 273 pp (figures, tables, bibliography, appendices, index) £ 25.00 Pbk. ISBN 0-85199-610-8
Patrick T. Maher Lincoln University, New Zealand This book is a result of what the author calls ‘‘a critical lack of information in the literature on ecotourism regarding the link between the service provider and the participant’’ (p. x). Fennell believes this link is the concept of recreation programming that, like so many others, can be transferred to tourism studies. To explore this link, he chooses to focus on ecotourism. This approach allows the most salient topics in recreation programming to be covered in greater depth and to be combined with a broad understanding of the community and ecological settings for ecotourism and the synthesis of the work from many disciplines. The book opens with a brief chapter on tourism and recreation, how these two concepts and leisure are interrelated, and how recreation programming and other topics have been transferred across disciplines. Chapter 2 examines the foundations of ecotourism, with specific attention to its definition, the philosophical basis behind it, and how this relates to the working of environmental systems. As one might expect, this chapter covers a huge breadth of literature from many perspectives and, when combined with the initial chapter, serves as a very useful introduction to the subject. The remaining chapters give overviews of program setting, programming, needs and assets, program design and implementation, and evaluation. While not providing a comprehensive view of all aspects of these topics, the book offers an impressively broad spectrum of ideas woven into a comprehensive argument for ecotourism program planning. The ideas covered include island biogeography, SWOT analysis, interpretation, first aid and survival, leadership approaches, marketing, and models of evaluation. 1055
PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW
1056
The seven chapters vary in detail, with three devoted to aspects of program design. Nonetheless, the author has brought together information and arguments into a single text that allows the reader to examine substantial volumes of material in a short time. While some of the material is dated, a reader can become quite intrigued by one aspect and easily follow it up using the references provided. The concluding chapter provides an overview of integrated ecotourism program planning. It summarizes much of what has been said in the rest of the book, with Figure 11.1 (p. 222), providing an excellent model of how Fennell envisions everything fitting together. Although the chapter is an excellent conclusion, the reader is left wishing the figure could have been introduced earlier to provide a better sense of how the chapters fit together. It is difficult at times to understand how everything is interconnected because of the superficial coverage of some topics, and this figure could have helped explain relationships much earlier in the text. The quality of the book’s presentation is varied. The writing is clear and concise, but it sometimes lacks focus. Production quality also varies, with editorial oversights, such as mislabelled table numbers and reference errors, detracting from the general presentation of the book. Overall, though, the book is a gem for anyone wanting a broad overview of the themes involved in ecotourism and especially program planning for it. It may not provide comprehensive coverage of all the topics presented, but it does list the breadth one needs to consider. This book is best suited as a text for an introductory ecotourism class where key issues need to be raised but should be supplemented with further readings. Indeed, this is also the intent of the author: to provide the reader with an introduction to the key literature and concepts and to supply a springboard for future study. A
_
Patrick Maher: Social Science, Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Group, Environment, Society, and Design Division, P.O. Box 84, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand. Email
Assigned 30 September 2003. Submitted 20 January 2004. Accepted 8 March 2004 doi:10.1016/j.annals.2004.03.010
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 1056–1058, 2004 Printed in Great Britain 0160-7383/$30.00
> www.elsevier.com/locate/atoures
Tourism in Destination Communities Edited by S. Singh, D. Timothy and R. Dowling. CABI Publishing 2003, xii þ 282 pp (index, references, tables, figures), £45 Hbk. ISBN 0-85199-6116
Michael G. Scantlebury University of North Carolina at Wilmington, USA From time to time, a book is published that takes the reader back to the fundamentals of his or her discipline. Tourism in Destination Communities is just such a
BOOK REVIEWS
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 1055–1056, 2004 Printed in Great Britain 0160-7383/$30.00
> www.elsevier.com/locate/atoures
Ecotourism Program Planning By David A. Fennell; CAB International
Patrick T. Maher Lincoln University, New Zealand This book is a result of what the author calls ‘‘a critical lack of information in the literature on ecotourism regarding the link between the service provider and the participant’’ (p. x). Fennell believes this link is the concept of recreation programming that, like so many others, can be transferred to tourism studies. To explore this link, he chooses to focus on ecotourism. This approach allows the most salient topics in recreation programming to be covered in greater depth and to be combined with a broad understanding of the community and ecological settings for ecotourism and the synthesis of the work from many disciplines. The book opens with a brief chapter on tourism and recreation, how these two concepts and leisure are interrelated, and how recreation programming and other topics have been transferred across disciplines. Chapter 2 examines the foundations of ecotourism, with specific attention to its definition, the philosophical basis behind it, and how this relates to the working of environmental systems. As one might expect, this chapter covers a huge breadth of literature from many perspectives and, when combined with the initial chapter, serves as a very useful introduction to the subject. The remaining chapters give overviews of program setting, programming, needs and assets, program design and implementation, and evaluation. While not providing a comprehensive view of all aspects of these topics, the book offers an impressively broad spectrum of ideas woven into a comprehensive argument for ecotourism program planning. The ideas covered include island biogeography, SWOT analysis, interpretation, first aid and survival, leadership approaches, marketing, and models of evaluation. 1055
PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW
1056
The seven chapters vary in detail, with three devoted to aspects of program design. Nonetheless, the author has brought together information and arguments into a single text that allows the reader to examine substantial volumes of material in a short time. While some of the material is dated, a reader can become quite intrigued by one aspect and easily follow it up using the references provided. The concluding chapter provides an overview of integrated ecotourism program planning. It summarizes much of what has been said in the rest of the book, with Figure 11.1 (p. 222), providing an excellent model of how Fennell envisions everything fitting together. Although the chapter is an excellent conclusion, the reader is left wishing the figure could have been introduced earlier to provide a better sense of how the chapters fit together. It is difficult at times to understand how everything is interconnected because of the superficial coverage of some topics, and this figure could have helped explain relationships much earlier in the text. The quality of the book’s presentation is varied. The writing is clear and concise, but it sometimes lacks focus. Production quality also varies, with editorial oversights, such as mislabelled table numbers and reference errors, detracting from the general presentation of the book. Overall, though, the book is a gem for anyone wanting a broad overview of the themes involved in ecotourism and especially program planning for it. It may not provide comprehensive coverage of all the topics presented, but it does list the breadth one needs to consider. This book is best suited as a text for an introductory ecotourism class where key issues need to be raised but should be supplemented with further readings. Indeed, this is also the intent of the author: to provide the reader with an introduction to the key literature and concepts and to supply a springboard for future study. A
_
Patrick Maher: Social Science, Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Group, Environment, Society, and Design Division, P.O. Box 84, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand. Email
Assigned 30 September 2003. Submitted 20 January 2004. Accepted 8 March 2004 doi:10.1016/j.annals.2004.03.010
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 1056–1058, 2004 Printed in Great Britain 0160-7383/$30.00
> www.elsevier.com/locate/atoures
Tourism in Destination Communities Edited by S. Singh, D. Timothy and R. Dowling. CABI Publishing
Michael G. Scantlebury University of North Carolina at Wilmington, USA From time to time, a book is published that takes the reader back to the fundamentals of his or her discipline. Tourism in Destination Communities is just such a