Colin Michael Hall

Tourism and climate change: knowledge gaps and issues.

This Department has been specifically created to include findings of special significance and problem areas of subtle nuances in tourism research. Insightful contributions presenting the state-of-the-art, preferably from the developing societies, will be appreciated. It will also encourage scholars and authors to think against the grain, probing the consistency of theoretical notions and research trends whose heuristic value is all too often taken for granted. For details, contact Editor-in-Chief, Tourism Recreation Research, A-965/6 Indira Nagar, Lucknow, India, e-mail: tvsingh@sancharnet.in

Academic Capitalism, Academic Responsibility and Tourism Academics: or, the Silence of the Lambs?

This short response to Post-colonialism, Responsibility and Tourism Academics: wheres the Connection? finds several points of common perspective, but also several of difference. Any analysis of academic responsibility related to broader debates on global issues of importance must, of necessity, deal with ethical issues. But just as significantly we need to understand positionality and the location of individual academics, as well as academic institutions, within broader webs of power, values and interests.

On climate change skepticism and denial in tourism

The period leading to and immediately after the release of the IPCCs fifth series of climate change assessments saw substantial efforts by climate change denial interests to portray anthropogenic climate change (ACC) as either unproven theory or a negligible contribution to natural climate variability, including the relationship between tourism and climate change. This paper responds to those claims by stressing that the extent of scientific consensus suggests that human-induced warming of the climate system is unequivocal. Second, it responds in the context of tourism research and ACC, highlighting tourisms significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, as well as climate changes potential impacts on tourism at different scales. The paper exposes the tactics used in ACC denial papers to question climate change science by referring to non-peer-reviewed literature, outlier studies, and misinterpretation of research, as well as potential links to think tanks and interest groups. The paper concludes that climate change science does need to improve its communication strategies but that the world-view of some individuals and interests likely precludes acceptance. The connection between ACC and sustainability illustrates the need for debate on adaptation and mitigation strategies, but that debate needs to be grounded in scientific principles not unsupported skepticism.

Restaurant Manager and Halal Certification in Malaysia

Halal certification at restaurants ensures that foods are served according to Islamic dietary laws. Halal means permitted or lawful or fit for consumption. The purpose of this study is to explore the attributes of halal certification among Malaysian restaurant managers. A national mail survey was conducted on 2,080 respondents along with 33 interviews in 4 selected states and in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. The results indicate that restaurant managers have high expectations toward halal certification as it signifies attributes such as trust, safety, hygiene, and also perceived by participants as an important aspect in the food service industry.

Consumerism, Tourism and Voluntary Simplicity: We All have to Consume, But Do We Really have to Travel So Much to be Happy?

Copyright ©2011 Tourism Recreation Research We all have to consume. Consumption is an ecological necessity and is inherent in biological systems. The issue really is the nature of that consumption, and from whose – or what – perspective we are taking with respect to its appropriateness. In the case of tourism we are fundamentally dealing with two different, though related, aspects of consumption. First, there is the socio-economic dimension in which tourism is part of economic, cultural and lifestyle concerns that centre on economic, social and mobility capital. Second, there is the extent to which tourism consumes the non-human environment, what may be referrred to as natural or ecological capital. Both aspects of consumption are deeply embedded within contemporary capitalism (Hall 2010a).

Vanishing Peripheries: Does Tourism Consume Places?

Context The notion of the periphery and its relationship to tourism is one that has been a source of debate for many years. The concept of a periphery obviously raises the question of peripheral to what, while the term is often used in a relatively negative context with respect to levels of development and/or influence on central government decision-making. What the term does raise of course is the extent to which location still matters at a time when physical, virtual, capital and human mobility is supposedly greater than ever before. The four contributions therefore highlight a number of key points and debates surround the relative importance or, and relationship between, location and tourist movement. The lead piece by C. Michael Hall, from the Pacific periphery of the South Island of New Zealand, is charged with the topic of does tourism consume place and therefore lead to the loss of the periphery, and perhaps some of the very qualities that attracted tourists to it in the first place. The first response by David Harrison, also from the Pacific, looks at both the geographical and broader sodal scientific understandings of periphery. The second response from David Weaver utilizes the concept of experiential consumption to interrogate Halls paper and also link to Harrisons reference to the importance of development theory in understanding notions of periphery. The final response from GeoffW all approaches the topic from an overtly geographical perspective and brings the research probe full circle.

Weather preferences of French tourists: lessons for climate change impact assessment

Tourism has complex relationships with weather and climate, and there is consensus that tourism could be substantially affected by climatic change. While considerable research has been presented on how climatic change is likely to affect destinations and tourism stakeholders in the future, there remains limited understanding of the weather preferences of tourists. This is a research priority if the implications of climatic change for the temporal and geographic patterns of tourism demand are to be assessed with more relevance. This paper presents the results of a survey (nxa0=xa01643 respondents) of the weather preferences of French tourists. Results show the ranking of weather and climate as a factor of destination choice and satisfaction. They also indicate the high tolerance of tourists to heat and even to heat waves, whereas rainy conditions appear to be clearly repulsive. The weight of precipitation in indices like the Tourism Comfort Index should therefore be upgraded. The findings are also compared with studies in other countries. Slight differences in similar surveys can lead to a discrepancy in the appreciation of excessive heat and associated thresholds by 2–3xa0°C, which might limit the possibility to base climate change impact assessment on such fragile data.

Spirituality, drugs, and tourism: tourists’ and shamans’ experiences of ayahuasca in Iquitos, Peru

ABSTRACT This study critically evaluates the complex inter space of spirituality, drugs, and tourism through tourists’ and shamans’ accounts of ayahuasca tourism in Iquitos, Peru. Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic beverage traditionally consumed for spiritual and health purposes. Using micro-ethnography, one of the researchers was immersed for one month in the tourism experience of ayahuasca. The findings reveal the ambivalent nature of tourists’ experiences and the changing meaning and practices of ayahuasca. Tourists’ encounters with ayahuasca were perceived as spiritual due to better understanding and perception of ‘self’ and ‘others’. Shamans’ encounters with tourists were mostly positive but negative consequences on their practices were evident. The study highlights issues of fluidity, positionality, and self-identification of roles in tourism.

Tourists and Heritage: All Things Must Come to Pass

Heritage represents the things we want to keep. Therefore, heritage is the things of value which are inherited. If the value is personal we speak of the legacy of family or personal heritage, if the value is communal or national, we speak of ‘our’ heritage. The World Heritage Convention, often regarded as the pinnacle of international heritage conservation efforts, idealistically aims to conserve places which have universal value for the whole of humankind. The notion of inheritance and the responsibilities that it entails are at the heart of the World Heritage Convention. For example, Article 4 of the Convention states that each party to the Convention recognizes ‘the duty of ensuring the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the world’s cultural and natural heritage’ (World Heritage Centre 2008).