- Email: [email protected]
Preserve or destroy: Tourism and the environment
PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW
491
Finally, in chapter 13, Priestley concludes the text with a general discussion of the problems associated with tourism development in Spain. The solutions proposed include tourism education for managers and regional strategic planning; the author suggests that alongside other measures, these will provide the necessary mechanisms for the development of a high quality tourism product capable of evolving according to the dictates of demand. Unfortunately, the latter point would seem to contradict his earlier view (p. 195), where he suggests a key lesson from the Spanish experience is that products should be based on resource capabilities (supply driven) rather than new development being driven by the dictates of demand. Overall, this text is relatively disappointing and does not really address the breadth of sustainable tourism development (e.g., equity, viability, and sustainability), and is essentially concerned with the tourism/physical environment relationship. Considering its cost and the quality of presentation (some tables are difficult to read, references are missing and there appears to be text missing between pp. 98-99), readers interested in a general introduction and overview of "sustainable tourism" might be better off reading Tourism and Sustainable Development: Monitoring, Planning, Managing (reviewed in Annals 22:253-237) or Tourism Alternatives (reviewed in Annals 20:610-612). [] [] Kerry Godfrey: Oxford Centrefor Tourism and Leisure Studies, Oxford Brookes University, Headington, OxfordOX3 0BP, UK. Ernail [email protected]. Assigned 19 February 1996 Submitted 23 April 1996 Resubmitted 3 May 1996 Accepted 4June 1996
Preserve or Destroy: Tourism and the Environment By Jonathan Croall. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (98 Portland Place, London W 1N 4ET, UK), 1995, 180 pp. (glossary of projects and organizations, references, bibliography, index), £6.95 (paper). ISBN 0-903319-69-1.
Ginger Smith Colegio Universitario del Este, USA A journalist and expert on education, environment, and art topics, Jonathan Croall paints a masterful and compelling picture of the power of tourism and its relationship to its environments--physical, social, cultural, and economic. His largely descriptive text leads readers on a "familiarization tour" through rural tourism destinations in the United Kingdom and its environs, with particular attention to Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. Croall identifies principles of economically sustainable tourism development, and even de-development, particular to each example which together begin to comprise the tenets for best practice all over the world. In so doing, he provokes the imagination of his readers and stirs their strong desire to experience directly the beauty he describes. On the other hand, his knowledgeable and pragmatic
PUBLICATIONS
IN REVIEW
reports on the worst-case scenarios stemming from mismanagement and overcrowding provide these same potentially starry-eyed readers with a potent reality check and the thematic tension-preserve or destroyunderpinning the book’s success. The author states his goals clearly in the introduction. His first is “to concentrate on the notion of sustainable tourism” as the term providing the most useful perspective among the growing lexicon of labels such as “green”, “responsible”, “alternative”, or “eco” tourism (p. 2). It is the concept of sustainable tourism that best places “tourism into the mainstream of the general economic, social and moral debate about sustainable development” (p. 2). The author’s second goal is to focus on the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (p. 3) to present a spectrum of decisionmaking and administrative strategies at the grass roots level that are having positive effects, at most in managing tourism’s growth and at least simply in recognizing and minimizing tourism’s environmental damage. This reviewer is less optimistic than the author in assuming the existence of “an increasing environmental awareness in many countries...leading to a growing understanding of the need to develop alternative approaches” that recognize the fragility of the natural environment and respect the needs and aspirations of indigenous populations (p. 2). This instead might be best understood as the vision statement framing a mission to develop concrete goals and objectives for establishment of sustainable tourism policy and planning strategies at local, national, and international levels. Increasing environmental awareness, in other words, can be seen primarily as a result of, rather than stimulus for, development of alternative approaches. The author presents in-depth cases that provide comprehensive examples of the effectiveness of cooperation among residents, private small businesses, and local government in the management of valuable and fragile tourism resources. In this way, the author highlights specific methods and applications for local best practices. The subsection in chapter 7 on Northern Ireland (pp. 122-129) is particularly interesting in this regard. The author recommends the 1993 report, Tourism in Northern Ireland: A Sustainable Approach, published by the Northern Ireland Tourism Board, as an outline of principles of sustainable tourism benefiting the environment, the industry, the community, and the visitor. It appears to come the closest of the many reports cited in the volume to providing practical steps for local decisionmakers that can comprise strategies for sustainable development policies (pp. 124-125). While the contents are current, some method for summarizing findings across the various cases studied in the volume would strengthen the book’s overall appeal and impact and its utility to researchers and teachers. In many cases, a better job on this account is done in the boxed subjects outlining positive and negative international tourism and the environment experiences. A summary of findings placed at the conclusion of the various chapters or sections of the book would begin to build a picture, albeit qualitative, of tangible indicators and requirements for sustainable tourism that are consistent across projects, regions, and the world. The topics covered in the book, while poignant in detail and description, suffer from a lack of adequate acknowledgement of other important contributions in the growing body of literature on tourism and the environment. The book’s broad-sweeping title indicates this global review of literature as a prerequisite. In honor of the specific regions covered, addition of a subtitle such as “The Case of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland” would be in order. The 16 international examples provided in boxed areas are too short and descriptive to justify the international domain implied by the volume’s current title.
PUBLICATIONS
IN REVIEW
The written case material for the volume is presented in a clear, logical, and useful order. One noticeable omission in the presentation, however, is the provision of maps, even of a general nature, to orient the reader. For example, it is difficult at times for the reader to locate the project under discussion geographically, particularly if unfamiliar with the region. An overview map in the beginning of the book depicting the entire domain covered would set the geographic framework. This map could indicate via smaller symbols the regions discussed in greater detail in the chapters to follow. Larger scale blow-up maps or graphics dispersed throughout the book would add greatly to its visual appeal and interest and could be introduced in a manner sensitive to the needs of individual destinations seeking to minimize the tourism impact. Since the style is journalistic, higher quality and numbers of photographs also would contribute to improving the visual presentation of the book. The weakest area of an otherwise excellent book is the lack of a comprehensive index and full and accurate reference list. With the exception of a half-dozen subject-level entries (i.e., “ecotourism”, “park and ride schemes”), the index functions primarily as a proper noun reference back to city, project, and report titles cited only once in the text. This generates a one-dimensional index rather than one that works to cross-reference information on similar subjects. For example, “carrying capacity”, an important term in understanding tourism and its relationship to the environment, is cited in the text (p. 28) but is not listed in the index. The volume is underreferenced in the body of the text and the references cited are incomplete and difficult to locate among the various lists of reports, organizations, and notes in the back. This restricts the utility of the volume to other researchers. With the exceptions in presentation, indexing, and citations noted above, this volume is highly affordable and useful as a regional case-study reader for high school through graduate students in courses ranging from tourism awareness, tourism policy analysis, and destination marketing and promotion to environmental science. The book’s open-ended approach to topics suggests its use as a guide for further research. Projects described in the book in a 1994-95 context, for example, can be tracked as long-range case studies. These could include application of quantitative indicators of physical, social, cultural, and economic viability being developed by major international and intergovernmental organizations, such as the World Tourism Organization Environment Committee and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Tourism Working Group. This more rigorous approach would set the book’s excellent contribution in the area of qualitative research into the larger more quantitative framework of analysis that is emerging internationally for evaluating tourism’s relationship to its environments. q q Ginger Smith: School oflnternational Tourism and Hotel Management, Colegio Universitario Este, PO Box 2010, Carolina PR 00984-2010, USA. Email [email protected].
Assigned 1 March 1996 Submitted 20 May 1996 Accepted 4 June 1996
de1
491
Finally, in chapter 13, Priestley concludes the text with a general discussion of the problems associated with tourism development in Spain. The solutions proposed include tourism education for managers and regional strategic planning; the author suggests that alongside other measures, these will provide the necessary mechanisms for the development of a high quality tourism product capable of evolving according to the dictates of demand. Unfortunately, the latter point would seem to contradict his earlier view (p. 195), where he suggests a key lesson from the Spanish experience is that products should be based on resource capabilities (supply driven) rather than new development being driven by the dictates of demand. Overall, this text is relatively disappointing and does not really address the breadth of sustainable tourism development (e.g., equity, viability, and sustainability), and is essentially concerned with the tourism/physical environment relationship. Considering its cost and the quality of presentation (some tables are difficult to read, references are missing and there appears to be text missing between pp. 98-99), readers interested in a general introduction and overview of "sustainable tourism" might be better off reading Tourism and Sustainable Development: Monitoring, Planning, Managing (reviewed in Annals 22:253-237) or Tourism Alternatives (reviewed in Annals 20:610-612). [] [] Kerry Godfrey: Oxford Centrefor Tourism and Leisure Studies, Oxford Brookes University, Headington, OxfordOX3 0BP, UK. Ernail [email protected]. Assigned 19 February 1996 Submitted 23 April 1996 Resubmitted 3 May 1996 Accepted 4June 1996
Preserve or Destroy: Tourism and the Environment By Jonathan Croall. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (98 Portland Place, London W 1N 4ET, UK), 1995, 180 pp. (glossary of projects and organizations, references, bibliography, index), £6.95 (paper). ISBN 0-903319-69-1.
Ginger Smith Colegio Universitario del Este, USA A journalist and expert on education, environment, and art topics, Jonathan Croall paints a masterful and compelling picture of the power of tourism and its relationship to its environments--physical, social, cultural, and economic. His largely descriptive text leads readers on a "familiarization tour" through rural tourism destinations in the United Kingdom and its environs, with particular attention to Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. Croall identifies principles of economically sustainable tourism development, and even de-development, particular to each example which together begin to comprise the tenets for best practice all over the world. In so doing, he provokes the imagination of his readers and stirs their strong desire to experience directly the beauty he describes. On the other hand, his knowledgeable and pragmatic
PUBLICATIONS
IN REVIEW
reports on the worst-case scenarios stemming from mismanagement and overcrowding provide these same potentially starry-eyed readers with a potent reality check and the thematic tension-preserve or destroyunderpinning the book’s success. The author states his goals clearly in the introduction. His first is “to concentrate on the notion of sustainable tourism” as the term providing the most useful perspective among the growing lexicon of labels such as “green”, “responsible”, “alternative”, or “eco” tourism (p. 2). It is the concept of sustainable tourism that best places “tourism into the mainstream of the general economic, social and moral debate about sustainable development” (p. 2). The author’s second goal is to focus on the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (p. 3) to present a spectrum of decisionmaking and administrative strategies at the grass roots level that are having positive effects, at most in managing tourism’s growth and at least simply in recognizing and minimizing tourism’s environmental damage. This reviewer is less optimistic than the author in assuming the existence of “an increasing environmental awareness in many countries...leading to a growing understanding of the need to develop alternative approaches” that recognize the fragility of the natural environment and respect the needs and aspirations of indigenous populations (p. 2). This instead might be best understood as the vision statement framing a mission to develop concrete goals and objectives for establishment of sustainable tourism policy and planning strategies at local, national, and international levels. Increasing environmental awareness, in other words, can be seen primarily as a result of, rather than stimulus for, development of alternative approaches. The author presents in-depth cases that provide comprehensive examples of the effectiveness of cooperation among residents, private small businesses, and local government in the management of valuable and fragile tourism resources. In this way, the author highlights specific methods and applications for local best practices. The subsection in chapter 7 on Northern Ireland (pp. 122-129) is particularly interesting in this regard. The author recommends the 1993 report, Tourism in Northern Ireland: A Sustainable Approach, published by the Northern Ireland Tourism Board, as an outline of principles of sustainable tourism benefiting the environment, the industry, the community, and the visitor. It appears to come the closest of the many reports cited in the volume to providing practical steps for local decisionmakers that can comprise strategies for sustainable development policies (pp. 124-125). While the contents are current, some method for summarizing findings across the various cases studied in the volume would strengthen the book’s overall appeal and impact and its utility to researchers and teachers. In many cases, a better job on this account is done in the boxed subjects outlining positive and negative international tourism and the environment experiences. A summary of findings placed at the conclusion of the various chapters or sections of the book would begin to build a picture, albeit qualitative, of tangible indicators and requirements for sustainable tourism that are consistent across projects, regions, and the world. The topics covered in the book, while poignant in detail and description, suffer from a lack of adequate acknowledgement of other important contributions in the growing body of literature on tourism and the environment. The book’s broad-sweeping title indicates this global review of literature as a prerequisite. In honor of the specific regions covered, addition of a subtitle such as “The Case of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland” would be in order. The 16 international examples provided in boxed areas are too short and descriptive to justify the international domain implied by the volume’s current title.
PUBLICATIONS
IN REVIEW
The written case material for the volume is presented in a clear, logical, and useful order. One noticeable omission in the presentation, however, is the provision of maps, even of a general nature, to orient the reader. For example, it is difficult at times for the reader to locate the project under discussion geographically, particularly if unfamiliar with the region. An overview map in the beginning of the book depicting the entire domain covered would set the geographic framework. This map could indicate via smaller symbols the regions discussed in greater detail in the chapters to follow. Larger scale blow-up maps or graphics dispersed throughout the book would add greatly to its visual appeal and interest and could be introduced in a manner sensitive to the needs of individual destinations seeking to minimize the tourism impact. Since the style is journalistic, higher quality and numbers of photographs also would contribute to improving the visual presentation of the book. The weakest area of an otherwise excellent book is the lack of a comprehensive index and full and accurate reference list. With the exception of a half-dozen subject-level entries (i.e., “ecotourism”, “park and ride schemes”), the index functions primarily as a proper noun reference back to city, project, and report titles cited only once in the text. This generates a one-dimensional index rather than one that works to cross-reference information on similar subjects. For example, “carrying capacity”, an important term in understanding tourism and its relationship to the environment, is cited in the text (p. 28) but is not listed in the index. The volume is underreferenced in the body of the text and the references cited are incomplete and difficult to locate among the various lists of reports, organizations, and notes in the back. This restricts the utility of the volume to other researchers. With the exceptions in presentation, indexing, and citations noted above, this volume is highly affordable and useful as a regional case-study reader for high school through graduate students in courses ranging from tourism awareness, tourism policy analysis, and destination marketing and promotion to environmental science. The book’s open-ended approach to topics suggests its use as a guide for further research. Projects described in the book in a 1994-95 context, for example, can be tracked as long-range case studies. These could include application of quantitative indicators of physical, social, cultural, and economic viability being developed by major international and intergovernmental organizations, such as the World Tourism Organization Environment Committee and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Tourism Working Group. This more rigorous approach would set the book’s excellent contribution in the area of qualitative research into the larger more quantitative framework of analysis that is emerging internationally for evaluating tourism’s relationship to its environments. q q Ginger Smith: School oflnternational Tourism and Hotel Management, Colegio Universitario Este, PO Box 2010, Carolina PR 00984-2010, USA. Email [email protected].
Assigned 1 March 1996 Submitted 20 May 1996 Accepted 4 June 1996
de1