Bernard Lane

What is rural tourism

This paper reviews the development of tourism in rural areas. It defines rural tourism as a discrete activity with distinct characteristics which may vary in intensity, and by area. It discusses the differences between agri‐tourism and rural tourism, and examines why there should be a special relationship between tourism in the countryside and the concept of sustainable tourism.

Sustainable rural tourism strategies: A tool for development and conservation

This paper reviews how the principles of sustainable tourism have special relevance to the development of rural tourism, and examines how those principles can be translated into practice by the writing and implementing of regional sustainable tourism strategies. It considers the advantages of this approach, and offers guide‐lines for future practitioners. A case study is given of the development of a strategy for an area in northern England, Berwick‐upon‐Tweed.

Interpretation and Sustainable Tourism: The Potential and the Pitfalls

Abstract From the outset, proponents of sustainable tourism have, consciously or not, set great store by interpretation, and gradually the linkages between sustainable tourism and interpretation have begun to be developed. This discussion examines the potential benefits of linking interpretation and sustainable tourism and assesses a number of the pitfalls or difficulties which are involved. The potential benefits include improved visitor management, local economic and environmental gains and fuller community involvement. Among the several pitfalls of linking interpretation and sustainable tourism which are considered are the dangers of over-interpretation, intrusion, creating ‘quaint’ tourist landscapes, and those of elitism.

Twenty-five years of sustainable tourism and the Journal of Sustainable Tourism: looking back and moving forward

This Editorial marks the 25th anniversary of the inaugural issue of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism. The journal has become the leading research publication dedicated to advancing the understand...

The Journal of Sustainable Tourism: The First Ten Years

This first issue of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism for 2002 marks the tenth anniversary of the founding of the journal, and the beginning of its tenth volume. Whether ten years is a meaningful length of time in the life of a journal – not least one committed to a long-term concept like sustainable development – is open to debate. Writing in 1798, the English poet William Wordsworthfound five years a long time: ‘Five years have passed; five summers with the length of five long winters!’ But he had had a rather traumatic period from 1793–1798, experiencing at first hand the French Revolution and undergoing numerous personal crises (Gill, 1998). In terms of sustainable tourism’s development as a subject, ten years is a relatively short period. What, if anything, can be claimed to have been achieved in the 1990s? One fundamental issue to consider is that of the survival of a lively debate about sustainable tourism. Ten years ago some commentators – privately or publicly – assumed that sustainable tourism would be a fad, a passing interest. They thought that it would be rejected and soon forgotten because it appeared to be opposed to commercial development, threatening business with impossible limits to growth. Others felt that it would become a less prominent concept as it had little mass-market appeal: sustainable tourism, perhaps like ecotourism, would become a minority activity. But, ten years on, the worst predictions of these pessimists have been proved wrong. Many of the tourism industry’s stakeholders still regard the sustainable tourism debate to be as relevant as ever, and perhaps more so. A second notable point is that today many more international bodies, governments and businesses, and even some communities and tourists claim to accept the concept of sustainable tourism. Of course the interpretations of sustainable tourism adopted by these organisations and individuals vary very markedly, and an acceptance of an idea does not necessarily mean that it affects their own activities to any great extent. During the 1990s there has been a huge expansion in academic debate about sustainable tourism, with some of these deliberations filling the expanding number of pages of this journal. Many tourism researchers now do not favour the relatively parochial sector-specific uses of the term sustainable tourism, preferring instead to see tourism issues as a facet of the broader concerns of sustainable development. Another view that has emerged is that the search for a single approach is unhelpful. Sustainable development entails developing differing approaches according to specific contexts, carefully linked to the needs and preferences of the various affected stakeholders. Other research is exploring the view

Implementing sustainable tourism in Scotland: an interview

Scotland has worked towards introducing more sustainable forms of tourism for many years. More recently, the now devolved government of Scotland has adopted a strong sustainable development policy for all sectors of the economy. Scottish tourism has introduced a series of new targets for growth, which must be sustainable. It aims to achieve a leadership position in sustainable tourism in Europe. In early summer 2009, Bernard Lane interviewed two important figures working towards sustainable tourism in Scotland. Maren Ebeling is the Tourism Officer for Scottish Natural Heritage (www.snh.org.uk). Scottish Natural Heritage is a non-departmental public body responsible through Ministers to the Scottish Parliament; it was created in 1992. It is responsible for conserving the natural heritage of Scotland, helping people to enjoy and value it and encouraging people to use it sustainably. Sandy Dear was, at the date of the interview, the Sustainable Tourism Manager for VisitScotland (www.visitscotland.com), Scotland’s national tourism organization, responsible for national tourism marketing, development and policy. He has now left VisitScotland to run his own sustainable tourism consultancy. The interview took place in Inverness, in the Scottish Highlands, the site of the main offices of both organizations since much of their work was decentralized from Edinburgh as a regional regeneration measure.

Tourism and Sustainable Development in an Economic Downturn

Even as the new millennium celebrations were subsiding, commentators were detecting the first signs of a global economic recession. That downturn has gathered pace following the attacks of September 11th 2001, and the still unfolding political and economic repercussions of those events. The travel and tourism industries have been especially hard hit. Tourism purchases are notoriously subject to times of recession: a holiday is not an absolute necessity. What has all this meant for the tourism sector ? In a recent ILO survey (www.ilo.org) about 6.6 million tourism-related jobs (8.5% of the tourism workforce) were reported to have been lost over the past two years because of global recession and the fear of terrorism. The optimists hope for a slow recovery, following the pattern of previous downturns. After all, the great motivating forces behind travel as a form of consumption – rest, escapism, fantasy, social status, indulgence and curiosity – appear to be alive and well. But pessimists speculate about the end of an era. Drawing on texts such as Francis Fukuyama’s The Great Disruption, they worry that 9/11 heralds his fears ‘that history is cyclical, with social order ebbing and flowing over ... multiple generations. There is nothing that guarantees that there will be upturns’ (Fukuyama, 1999: 282). Where does tourism’s potential contribution to sustainable development stand in the current uncertainties? Again there are at least two possibilities. One possibility is that sustainable development will become more important, if only in spheres where it provides new market and business opportunities. A potentially positive instance was Boeing Corporation’s decision in late 2002 to shelve work on its fuel-hungry, emissions-rich, Sonic Cruiser in favour of the super efficient and perhaps more environmentally friendly Boeing 7E7. Numerous regions, and some whole countries, could also benefit from holidays taken closer to home, potentially cutting environmental impacts. The other possibility is that low cost, but high environmental impact holidays will become an increasing norm. While budget airlines have risen rapidly, none so far have shown interest in environmental programmes. And, as tourism capacity moves into over-supply, destination regions may experience the over-capacity pressures that have hit the world’s agricultural regions. Where will higher cost, ‘greener’ tourism products be left then ? These are key concerns for this journal. During 2003, the journal will continue to publish new research, thematic discussions, and assessments of operational responses. There will be a double issue on the Mediterranean coasts,where international mass tourism came of age but where concerns have grown about the industry’s future economic vitality. The issue evaluates the implications for sustainable development of tourism policies in the region to diversify its prod-

A Fragile Recovery and China's Emerging Prominence

The tourism industry has experienced difficult times over recent years, brought about by 9/11, a world economic slowdown, the Bali explosions, war in Iraq and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). However, the second half of 2003 has seen signs of a selective recovery. Business has been encouraged to return by price discounting and by people’s expanding travel expectations. Nevertheless, the second issue of the WTO World Tourism Barometer (WTO, 2003a) presented in Beijing in October 2003, records a very varied picture around the world. Despite the problems across the industry, the Journal of Sustainable Tourism has had another excellent year,withmore subscribers thanever and a recordnumber of papers submitted. As we write, almost all of our 2004 issues are reserved for accepted papers. There is a range of special issues due for 2004, 2005and beyond, covering Climate Change, Transport, the role of NGOs, the Middle East and recent conferences. Seven new editorial board members have been appointed, and they will provide advice concerning the growing number and range of papers submitted. We are also pleased to announce that this journal, along with others from our publisher, has become part of the Learned Journals Collection of the Association for Learned and Professional Society Publishers. The associationbrings together 25 not-for-profit and specialist publishers from around theworld,with 247 journals, offering libraries a unique and cost effective way of accessing their best materials. More details are available from www.alpsp-collection.org or e-mail info@channelviewpublications.com One development that is gaining much importance on the tourism scene, and is of notable significance for sustainable tourism, is the question of travel related to China. China is the most populous nation on earth, with 1,295.33 million people recorded in 2000 (www.stats.gov.cn). It was onlywith the introduction in 1978 of Deng Xiao-ping’s ‘open door’ policies of economic reform that there was a reversal of the policies that suppressed travel under Mao Zedong’s regime, when both domestic and international travel were rare. Since then China has emerged as a major global tourism player. By 2001 China was the fifth ranked country in the world for international tourism arrivals (WTO, 2003b), and in 2002 there were 37 million foreign tourist arrivals (WTO, 2003b). In that year Chinawasalso the fastest growingmember of the world’s top ten ranking international inbound tourism nations, with 11% growth (WTO, 2003b). Growth is forecast to continue, with the WTO (1997) predicting at least 137 million arrivals by 2020. China is also becoming a major

Protected Areas in a neoliberal world and the role of tourism in supporting conservation and sustainable development: an assessment of strategic planning, zoning, impact monitoring, and tourism management at natural World Heritage Sites

ABSTRACT Societies collapse when there is an increasing natural resource scarcity and growing stratification of society into rich and poor. The neoliberal world of targets, business plans and short term economic justification in which we live exacerbates these risks to society. It is imperative to find new ways of governing natural ecosystems that protect them from these risks and allows usage that helps close the development gap. Tourism in Protected Areas (PAs) is one important vehicle to achieve sustainable conservation and development outcomes. This paper highlights that the increasing focus on promoting human activity, especially tourism, in and around PAs is increasingly enshrined in the mandate and governance structures of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation natural World Heritage Sites and Biosphere Reserves. It reviews strategic planning, zoning, impact monitoring, and tourism management by analysing all 229 natural World Heritage Sites, revealing that both overall strategic planning and tourism planning in these sites need improvements, notably through more consistent monitoring systems. The paper concludes by exploring the benefits of embedding World Heritage Sites into Biosphere Reserves, with a particular focus on core zoning, regional product development, and improved monitoring standards, and suggests ways to disseminate good practice worldwide to all types of PAs.

Responses to JOST papers

Very occasionally, the editors of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism receive written responses to papers that have been recently published in the Journal. And, very occasionally, if the response has useful or interesting implications, is well written, and has meaning on a wider scale, we review that response and eventually publish it if it is found to be of a suitable standard. When we do that, we always invite the author of the original paper to reply. We do not normally continue the process beyond the first response and reply. In the journal’s Special Issue on Sustainable Tourism and Indigenous Peoples, published in 2016 as Volume 24 (8 & 9), Stasja Koot, from Wageningen University, in the Netherlands, published a paper on “Contradictions of capitalism in the South African Kalahari: Indigenous Bushmen, their brand and baasskap in tourism” based on his research there. Professor Keyan Tomaselli from the University of Johannesburg, in South Africa, has also worked with the bushmen in the Kalahari in earlier years. His paper, “Picking on the Poor: the Contradictions of Theory and Neoliberal Critique. A response to Stasja Koot’s paper on the Contradictions of Capitalism for Indigenous Tourism in the South African Kalahari”, published in this issue, tells of his misgivings about Stasja Koot’s approach and findings. In his reply, also published in this issue, Stasja Koot refutes the misgivings discussed in Keyan Tomaselli’s paper. It is important to say at this stage that the two men do know each other, and have met and discussed each other’s work in the past. It is also important to realise that their dispute has implications beyond the immediate geographical area of study, or its subject. They include discussions about how Indigenous people should be involved in tourism, about how researchers can best work with local tourism projects, and about the methodologies and pre-requisites of research in another society and culture which is not one’s own. Neither Stasja Koot, nor Keyan Tomaselli, is a bushman. There are also fundamental questions that go beyond the discussion of Indigenous peoples and tourism. Can a researcher from another country or even continent understand a geographically prescribed area and its issues better than a “native” researcher from the same country? Does the clarity given to the outsider by distance give an advantage, or does the advantage lie with local knowledge and perceived understanding? Does Keyan Tomaselli’s work pose a threat to critical research, or is it simply in tune with the neo-liberal times? Whatever the answers, I thank the two authors for this carefully controlled contestation. Implementing sustainable tourism was never easy, and it would lose much of its special interest and special qualities if it was an easy task.