A Hardy

Sustainable tourism: an overview of the concept and its position in relation to conceptualisations of tourism.

Reference to sustainable tourism is now made in most strategic tourism planning documents. Yet, despite its common use, definitional arguments exist over its meaning and subsequent operationalisation. In addition to this, literature on sustainable tourism rarely discusses its development prior to the publication of Our Common Future (World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), 1987) and its relevance to current conceptualisations of tourism. This paper analyses the context within which sustainable tourism was developed and has recently been conceptualised. It does this by assessing the development of sustainable tourism (with an Australian focus) and proposing a model which incorporates the development of sustainable tourism into tourism. The paper argues that sustainable tourism has traditionally given more focus to aspects related to the environment and economic development and that more focus should be given to community involvement.

Sustainable tourism or maintainable tourism: managing resources for more than average outcomes.

This article explores the concept of sustainable tourism and in particular the nexus between maintainable tourism and sustainable tourism. It argues that the nexus involves an understanding of stakeholder perceptions, and applies this to the Daintree region of Far North Queensland, Australia, to determine whether tourism in the region is operating in a sustainable or maintainable manner. In order to do this, an iterative approach was taken and local people, operators, regulators and tourists were interviewed, and content analysis applied to management and strategic documents for the region. The results illustrate the importance of understanding stakeholder perceptions in facilitating sustainable tourism.

Using Grounded Theory to Explore Stakeholder Perceptions of Tourism

This paper explores the application of grounded theory as a tool for building theory on the relationship between stakeholder analysis, perceptions of tourism induced change and sustainable tourism. An inductive research process, grounded theory is appropriate for situations where no pre-existing theory exists, yet has rarely been used by tourism researchers. This study established that little theory existed regarding the role of stakeholder analysis in facilitating sustainable tourism, therefore grounded theory was an appropriate methodological tool. Using the study area of the Daintree area of far north Queensland, Australia, grounded theory was applied through several iterations of data collection. The outcomes of the grounded theory approach were twofold. Firstly, recommendations specifically applicable to the region were made, which were related to the effects that tourism had on the local community and the culture of tourism in the region. These included a need to increase understanding of the variety of stakeholder perceptions within the region (including visitors), and a need for regulators to incorporate them into management strategies. Secondly, substantive theoretical propositions were induced from the findings. These illustrated the relevance of stakeholder analysis in facilitating sustainable tourism, particularly given its ability to track the effects of tourism when applied longitudinally.

An investigation into the key factors necessary for the development of iconic touring routes

In recent years, the concept of developing themed touring routes or self-drive trails has been given much attention. Consequently many have been developed, particularly in Australia and the USA. Themed touring routes have been advocated as opportunities to link regional communities together, form partnerships, encourage tourism development along commonly travelled routes, provide a more satisfactory tourism experience and maximise economic benefits to local business people by encouraging longer stays and greater spending in the region. Ultimately, touring routes can develop into tourist icons, such as the Cascade Loop in Washington State and the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail in the USA. This paper uses these two case studies to determine the key factors for the successful development of touring routes. It proposes that there are ten, including community involvement, an understanding of the drive tourist, the development of attractions, effective interpretation and signage and infrastructure.

THE TIES THAT BIND: EXPLORING THE RELEVANCE OF NEOTRIBAL THEORY TO TOURISM

In tourism studies/tourism management, traditional approaches to the segmentation of tourists have tended to focus upon the tangible aspects of why people travel, such as visitors’ motivations, demographic characteristics, and values and behavior exhibited at specific destinations. This review article from Hardy and Robards takes a critical approach to challenge the governing assumption involved here, that marketing studies of “tourism” should routinely or necessarily focus on the individual and thus upon class-based characteristics such as income to define tourists. Rather, the authors argue that tourists may be fruitfully segmented by commonalities of intangible aspects, such as “a shared sense of sentiment,” “tourist ritual,” “collective bonding,” and “belonging.” Hardy and Robards thereby suggest that neotribal approaches indeed offer rich opportunities to do this by empowering the exploration of tourists’ symbolic and behavioral characteristics. This review article consonantly proposes that by returning to Maffesoli’s work, researchers in the twin fields of tourism studies/tourism management may make substantial critical contributions to unfolding understandings of and about “consumer tribes.” Hence, Hardy and Robards suggest that subtribes exist within broader neotribes and that that sort of “membership” may not in fact be as fluid as many investigators have previously suggested. (Abstract by Reviews Editor)

Travelling neo-tribes: Conceptualising recreational vehicle users

Neo-tribes have been defined as including people from different walks of life who come together in fluid groupings, bound by common interests, similar lifestyles, rituals and language. This concept is popular in sociological literature, but has rarely been applied to travellers or tourism literature. This study sought to understand whether neo-tribalism could add insights into our existing knowledge of recreational vehicle (RV) users in Canada. Using a grounded theory approach including focus groups and in-depth interviews, the research found RV users exhibit neo-tribal characteristics which can be characterised as symbolic and behavioural. The behavioural aspects of this neo-tribe are evident in campsites, where rituals such as happy hours exist. Symbolic aspects included fluidity of membership and commitment to the RVing lifestyle. The findings suggest that the neo-tribal concept is a highly useful tool for understanding the motivations, behaviour and needs of travellers and adds new insights into our understanding of the RVing experience.

Neo-tribes and Antarctic expedition cruise ship tourists

ABSTRACT Recent research has explored the size and nature of the cruise ship industry and to a lesser extent the impacts of social interaction upon the experiences of individuals while cruising. However, there is little research that examines the performative aspects of social groups that form as a result of social interaction. Using a neo-tribal lens, we examine this phenomenon in the context of passengers on board an Antarctic expedition cruise ship. The neo-tribal lens offers insights into the lifestyles, sense of belonging, rituals and meeting places that form amongst groups of passengers. This research progresses the conceptualization of neo-tribes by suggesting that neo-tribes are a phenomenon that may occur in confined, liminal places. In doing so it advances an understanding of the outcomes of the cruise ship experience by looking past individualistic outcomes, to the behavioural aspects that can result from undertaking a cruise ship holiday in Antarctica.

Academic parenting: work–family conflict and strategies across child age, disciplines and career level

The research underpinning this article explores the impacts that parenting and primary caring responsibilities have upon academic careers. It takes an innovative approach by exploring three under-researched aspects of this issue: the longitudinal impacts that extend past the years immediately following the birth or adoption of a child; the differences and similarities that occur as a result of primary carer parenting across academic disciplines; and the impacts that primary carer parenting has upon the careers of those who are employed in senior academic levels. With these three aspects in mind, the research explores the strategies employed to cope with the impacts that birth or adoption has upon academic careers. In doing so, it broadens conceptual understandings of the career impacts of parenting, while offering recommendations for university administrators and leaders.

Chinese Travelling Overseas and Their Anxieties

The changing economic, social and political circumstances of China in the last decades, together with the uneven rolling out of social engineering programmes in the country, such as the promotion of selected Chinese traditions, urbanization, standardized education and exposure to plethora of popular cultures, have created a diverse group of Chinese who behave in similar and yet different ways, even when they travel. To make sense of the centripetal and centrifugal forces that shape Chinese tourists, this chapter will look at culture as a social institution that serves important functions and also an arena of conflict and negotiation. Essentially, this study analyses Chinese tourist behaviour in the context of the social forces they face at home and when they travel and found that tourism anxiety has been much neglected in literature. Fieldwork was conducted in Tasmania, Australia, and data was collected through interviews and participant observations. It revealed that the lack of planning and local knowledge, inadequate pretravel research, limited travel time, expectations for value of money, cultural clashes, quest for authenticity, language barriers and choices of dining are triggers of anxiety during travel. Consequently, anxiety influences Chinese tourists’ behaviour. Not only do these factors constrain positive outbound travel experiences, they also shape tourist travel behaviour and experiences. Mediators play a significant role in affecting some of the anxieties.

Introducing Contemporary Neo-Tribes

This chapter introduces the concept of neo-tribes and provides an in-depth, critical evaluation of its impact and influence on contemporary academic writing, by focusing upon aspects of culture and society. In the first instance, the chapter considers how neo-tribal theory has been applied across a variety of disciplines, often to different ends, with the result that the neo-tribal lens is somewhat multifarious. While this is to be expected when a concept assumes a multi-disciplinary resonance in the way that neo-tribes has, a key contention of this chapter is that there is a critical need to begin weaving together some of the conceptual threads pursued through the adoption and adaptation of neo-tribal theory across diverse disciplinary areas. Such a synthesis is necessary, it is argued, in order to ensure an underlying cohesion in both the way that neo-tribalism is understood by academic researchers and how it is applied as a theoretical framework.