Antonio Paolo Russo

The "vicious circle" of tourism development in heritage cities

Abstract This paper explores the manifold relations among the spatial organization of tourism, the quality of tourism products in heritage cities, and the dynamics of the regional economies. The concept of “vicious circle” describes the self-feeding linkage between the emerging class of excursionist tourists in the later stages of a destination lifecycle, and the decline in a citys attractiveness. Reference is made to the case of Venice. According to this scheme, effective policies for sustainable tourism should attack the critical points where the vicious circle feeds, such as the quality and accessibility of cultural resources.

Planning considerations for cultural tourism: A case study of four European cities

Abstract Utilising the information gathered in four European cities, this paper discusses and tests a framework of reference for visitor-friendliness , a complex concept that encapsulates the main dimensions of the urban tourism product such as its quality, accessibility and image projection. This concept is particularly relevant to assess whether investments in culture and hospitality genuinely respond to the impulses coming from the market. The case studies highlight how specific soft elements of the urban tourism product are the ones that matter most in determining the attractiveness of a city for international visitors, and yet they are often overlooked by city planners. The paper also identifies a number of “best practice” in tourism management.

Temporal Activity Patterns of Theme Park Visitors

Abstract In this article, we illustrate the importance of time in understanding theme park visitor activity patterns. The study that is described here made use of the GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to track and record the time–space trajectories of visitors at the PortAventura theme park in Catalonia, Spain. The findings suggest that visitors to theme parks do demonstrate distinct diurnal and intradiurnal mass behavior patterns or rhythms of activity. The investigation of temporal activity patterns holds two main advantages: the first is that compared with spatial activity patterns, it is more straightforward to aggregate, present, and compare temporal patterns; the second is that the external validity of temporal activity patterns is generally higher than that of spatial activity patterns. That is to say that temporal activity patterns are more likely to repeat themselves in other environments. Practical, theoretical, and methodological insights that can be relevant to both researchers and site managers are discussed.

Toward a Sustainable Relationship between City and University A Stakeholdership Approach

While the impact of knowledge assets on regional economies receives much attention in the economic literature, management and planning issues regarding the relationships between academic and local agents are underinvestigated. In this article, it is argued that universities could be a driving force for urban development, provided cities succeed in embedding knowledge in the local social and economic networks, which is seen to depend to a large extent on the balance in the process of exchange between the various stakeholders of higher education: students and academic communities, entrepreneurs, and local communities. A model of sustainable city-university relationship is proposed and matched with evidence from nine case studies of European cities hosting a large higher education sector; the role of policy and planning to sustain and enhance such links is also brought to the fore through the illustration of various best practices in the case studies.While the impact of knowledge assets on regional economies receives much attention in the economic literature, management and planning issues regarding the relationships between academic and local agents are underinvestigated. In this article, it is argued that universities could be a driving force for urban development, provided cities succeed in embedding knowledge in the local social and economic networks, which is seen to depend to a large extent on the balance in the process of exchange between the various stakeholders of higher education: students and academic communities, entrepreneurs, and local communities. A model of sustainable city-university relationship is proposed and matched with evidence from nine case studies of European cities hosting a large higher education sector; the role of policy and planning to sustain and enhance such links is also brought to the fore through the illustration of various best practices in the case studies.

Advanced Visitor Tracking Analysis in Practice: Explorations in the PortAventura Theme Park and Insights for a Future Research Agenda

In this article we discuss the strategic use of visitor tracking data in the good management of visitor attractions and tourist destinations, also highlighting the challenges that could be presented by tracking visitors in different attraction types and sites. Based on the practice and results from a tracking experiment in the PortAventura theme park, an enclosed and controlled environment, we then illustrate the actual and potential uses that attraction managers can do of this information, proposing a number of logistic and technical solutions to enhance the use of tracking data in this specific type of attractions. Finally, the paper present a future research agenda into visitor spatial behaviour using tracking technologies in semi-open and open environments other than theme parks and leisure attractions.

SigTur/E-Destination: A System for the Management of Complex Tourist Regions

The development of digital and web technologies opened new horizons regarding the generation of personalized contents and the management of visitor services. The objective of SIGtur/E-Destination is to provide to the tourist and travel sector electronic tools for the sustainable management of destinations, also possibly leading to an increase in the effectiveness of visitor service firms. The SIGtur/E-Destination system includes a warehouse of geo-referenced information that updates the available information on the tourism activities in the Costa Daurada and Terres de l’Ebre in the south of Catalonia (Spain). This catalogue of information on resources, attractions, products, establishments and packages has to make possible the improvement of the interaction of between public and private agents and visitors. A recommender system uses this catalogue to offer personalized information to the tourists.

Creative Workforce and Economic Development in Precrisis Europe: Main Trends and Causality Relationships

Building on work funded by the European Spatial Planning Observatory Network 2013 Program, the article analyzes the regional development of the “creative workforce” among its active population against regional economic growth measured by changes in per capita gross domestic product over the period 2001 to 2008. The analysis establishes regional typologies in this relationship according to the “sense” and evolution of this association, allowing a critical evaluation of processes and policies that may explain the large degree of spatial variation encountered, and addresses the issue of causal relationships between these two dimensions, suggesting the need to rethink development policies based on “creative capital.”

The Strategic Importance of the Cultural Sector for Sustainable Urban Tourism

The impact of tourism activities on urban areas has been the subject of a comprehensive amount of research (Briassoulis and Van der Straaten, 1992, UNESCO/ROSTE 1993). Most of these studies focus on the processes of crowding-out caused by the huge pressure of tourism-related activities, relatively little space intensive and able to pay for high rents. Models of urban land use yield the optimal number of visitors that leaves unviolated the carrying capacity of the sub-system of which the city consists, or the optimal mix between categories of visitors characterised by different budgets and mobility patterns (Costa and Canestrelli, 1991). In a dynamic setting they can predict the optimal side-payment associated to a restriction to the visits (Batten, 1991).

Towards a European Spatial Policy for Culture

The European space finds itself in a moment of profound change. On one hand it is adapting to the challenges that are inherent to the global, post-industrial economy. A shift from traditional manufacturing towards innovative and service oriented activities, the relocation of economic activities to countries where inputs, in particular labour, are cheaper, an ageing population in combination with growing in migration from non-member countries have an immediate impact on the Europe of Regions. On the other hand, the extension of the European Union towards the East inevitably triggers complex and Europe-wide processes of social, economic and territorial reorganization. In this context, the role of Cultural Heritage and Identity (CHI) may very well become a very crucial one. First of all, cultural heritage and identity are assets that are putting Europe in pole position with respect to the rest of the world, offering all European regions, no one excluded, unique social and economic development opportunities. They are important inputs for the creative industry and the tourist industry, two of the most important (the second already employs more than 10% of the global workforce) and dynamic sectors of the post-industrial economy. Moreover, cultural assets are typical place products that can not be separated nor moved from the regions they are located in. This makes these economic strictly bound to that location and impossible to re-localize. Thirdly, many cultural assets and traditions are not only points of reference for the local populations but for Europeans as such. Finally, in a Europe that is pursuing cohesion and competitiveness contemporarily, CHI forms sort of a natural bridge between two (apparently) not always compatible objectives. This means that CHI should become a cornerstone of European territorial policy.

Place Branding and Intellectual Property

In the era of “mobility” as the overarching paradigm of social and economic organization and the fittest framework for social science enquiry (Urry 2007), it is relevant – above sectorial considerations – to look at places as being “mobilized” by tourism (Crang 2006; Ooi 2002) and at the development of tourist brands as a vehicle to identify affirmation and communication within a global context.