Honggen Xiao

Global Economic Crisis and Tourism: Consequences and Perspectives

The International Academy for the Study of Tourism convened a session on global economic crisis and tourism during its 20th anniversary conference in Mallorca, Spain, in June 2009. Three articles featuring on the impacts of economic downturn on tourism in Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and North America have resulted and appeared in this issue of the Journal of Travel Research. This summary aims at an integrated discussion on the consequences and perspectives on the global economic crisis and tourism. The prospects of world tourism for the years to come are also reflected.

The Managerial Gaze The Long Tail of Tourism Education and Research

Tourism has been studied and researched in higher education for more than 40 years and in many ways it has now established itself as a significant part of the academy. However, at a time of change and rationalization in higher education, tourism, along with other areas of study, needs to be able to justify its position. Increasingly, academic managers are seeking such justifications, often using readily available metrics. The purpose of this study is to examine the position of tourism using these same metrics, for teaching, research, and impact and for three different countries, Australia, China, and the United Kingdom. In doing so, it highlights tourism’s strengths and weaknesses from a managerial perspective but at the same time it exposes the relative narrowness of this managerial gaze. It points to the need for the tourism community to strengthen its provision and broaden the gaze of the decision makers.

A paradox of images: representation of China as a tourist destination.

Abstract This paper analyzes the image(s) of China as a tourist destination through the representational narratives of major English newspapers. Feature travel accounts—thirty-five articles from twenty sources—were used as information-rich discourse to explore the portrayal of the destinations image. Data were obtained through a focused search from LexisNexis Academic—one of the largest databases of international newspapers, and coded through Nudist Nvivo for an inductive analysis. It was found that a paradox of images has emerged from the contrasting perceptions of the changing versus the unchanged in the representational dynamics. The finding of paradoxical images provides an alternative to the interpretation of representational frames or patterns prevalent in the academic discourse with regard to the portrayal of culturally different tourist destinations. Implications, limitations of this analysis and future research issues are also discussed.

Tourism Knowledge Domains: A Keyword Analysis

This study examines author-selected keywords of research published in Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research and Tourism Management. In total, 5,534 keywords from 2,504 articles form the basis of this analysis. Iterative coding results in 200 core keywords serving as descriptors of major research subjects, and 10 gene words indicating knowledge domains formed through cross-references and hybridization of core keywords. The emergence of core subject areas supports the knowledge domains carved out by the three journals; the analysis also facilitates discussion on knowledge mapping and subject linkages in tourism studies. The study concludes with reflections on implications, limitations and future research associated with knowledge development in tourism.

Knowledge Linkage: A Social Network Analysis of Tourism Dissertation Subjects

Research subjects are indicative of problem areas amongst which knowledge traffic occurs and networks form in a scientific community. This article presents a social network analysis of tourism dissertation subjects based on ProQuest Dissertations and Theses–Full Text database (1994-2008). The study suggests an openness and vibrancy of tourism as a domain of knowledge from a social network perspective. Longitudinal examinations revealed a structural change in its knowledge development. Twenty-one subjects were identified as subdomains in this dynamic and interconnected knowledge system. The article also discusses the relationships between subject areas and doctoral program distributions for tourism research at North American institutions. Results of the study contribute to discussions on scientific community and knowledge networks in interdisciplinary tourism studies.

Towards a research agenda for knowledge management in tourism

Abstract Previous research has suggested that tourism has been slow in responding to knowledge management strategies in its planning, management and development practices and, as a result, there has been limited research in this field pertaining to knowledge management. In this conceptual discussion, knowledge management (hereafter KM) is broadly used as a term to refer to any planned and controlled application of knowledge for achieving goals and missions in tourism planning, management and development. The purpose of this research is twofold. First, the article presents a review of previous research and conceptual frameworks from the sociology of knowledge and KM that are potentially applicable to tourism. Second, it proposes a research agenda to address KM in tourism from five perspectives. The discussion encompasses issues such as tourism knowledge and tourism sectors, the structure and process of KM, and the role of information and communication technology in facilitating knowledge-based strategies. Implications for future inquiries are also discussed from these distinct perspectives.

Jafar Jafari: the platform builder

British historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle is attributed with the saying that “history is the essence of innumerable biographies”. In many ways, this also applies to fields of research and scholarship. As the history of a discipline adds breadth and depth to its intellectual life, so does biography contribute to the texture and richness of the thoughts embodied by its scholars. Fortunately in this regard, tourism, as a multidisciplinary field of research and scholarship, has its history and pioneers. This biography, in the form of a portrait, is about a pioneer in the history of tourism studies. Jafar Jafari, a faculty member of the University of Wisconsin-Stout School of Hospitality Leadership, United States, is known for a variety of roles. He is the founding editor of Annals of Tourism Research, chief editor of the Tourism Social Science book series, co-chief editor of the Bridging Tourism Theory and Practice book series, chief editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Tourism (2000), co-founding editor of Information Technology & Tourism, co-founder of Tourism Research Information Network (TRINET), and founding president of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism. To me, nevertheless, Jafar is best known as a builder of platforms for tourism education and research, and for the advancement of its knowledge and scholarship. In terms of method, this portrait of Jafar is drawn from historical and documentary sources available online or in print, and from the perspectives and narratives of his peers, but above all from my own long-term contact, email exchanges, and ongoing collaboration with Jafar as a great mentor. In the next few pages, I will unfold this portrait in the order of his understanding of tourism as a field of research and practice, his unrivalled role as a builder of platforms to facilitate education, research, and scholarship, and his views on the future of tourism as a field of research and practice.

The Governance of Nature‐Based Tourism in China: Issues and Research Perspectives

The design and establishment of an appropriate governance system for protected areas has been a major concern of national tourism authorities when countries are facing political/administrative reforms, financial challenges, and sociocultural changes. This article presents a critique of the governance discourse; on the basis of a review of new public management research and practice, an analytical framework is proposed for the scrutiny of governance of nature‐based tourism in the current social, economic, and political contexts of China. Private sector involvement is discussed at length in the development of nature‐based tourism in protected areas of China; the study also addresses issues pertaining to public ownership of land, transfers of managerial rights, and public–private partnerships and their corresponding supervision mechanism, with an intent to elucidate innovative governance approaches to the planning and management of nature‐based tourism in protected areas of this socialist regime. 国家旅游局一向十分重视自然保护区治理制度的制定和设计，尤其是适逢国家面对政治/行政改革、财政困难或社会文化变迁。本文对自然旅游治理的论述作出批评，并在评述新公共管理研究及实践的基础上建立分析框架。这一框架详细审查现时中国社会、经济和政治环境下自然旅游治理的现状。本文接着详细讨论私营企业在发展中国自然保护区自然旅游的参与，并试图解决与土地公有制、管理权转移、公共部门与私人企业合作模式及其相应的监督机制相关的问题，用意在于阐明规划和管理中国自然保护区自然旅游的创新治理方法。

Tourism and Local Economic Development in China: By Gang Xu. Curzon Press (15 The Quadrant, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1BP, UK) 1999, xvi+244 pp (tables, figures, bibliography) £50 Hbk. ISBN 0-7007-1152-X.

catalyst for national economic development. He argues that the lack of privatepublic partnerships and institutions for the promotion of tourism led to missed opportunities in terms of optimizing the benefits of the industry for the state. In particular, he notes that political and business elites profitted from development but the poor were further marginalized. Heather Hughes and Anne Vaughan made use of the case of KwaZulu-Natal to demonstrate the importance of a community-based tourism development program. Other particularly interesting papers include Atanza Kazakov’s look at virtual tourism; Simon Hudson, Tim Snaith, Graham Miller, and Paul Hudson’s study of travel agents; Jesper Fredborg Larsen and Susanne Storm’s analysis of frequent flyer programs in the EU; and Phillip Long’s study on tourism partnerships. It is not possible within the space of this review to give even a brief description of all the significant papers included in this book. Although most of the articles are relatively short, the collection is a rich source of information on a wide array of tourism topics for both students and researchers. A

Diffusion Patterns and Knowledge Networks: An Inductive Analysis of Intellectual Connections in Multidisciplinary Tourism Studies

ABSTRACT This article presents an inductive citation analysis to examine diffusion patterns and knowledge networks in the economic, geographical/environmental, and socio-cultural domains of tourism research. Articles typical of these specializations were selected from the latest issues of Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, and Tourism Management, to begin with the tracking of major sources of knowledge for research in a sub-domain. Citation data collection followed a theoretical sampling approach for a scrutiny of three “generations” of intellectual connections. Analyses and sorting of subjects and coauthorship networks were facilitated by ATLAS.ti. Diffusion patterns are visualized through “pointed and high” versus “thick and flat” tree diagrams for these subdomains. The study also describes knowledge networks typically embedded in the coauthorship patterns of the major sources. While the study lends to discussions on intellectual connections, this set of inductively derived results should be read in caution of the research design, the behavior of citation, and the perspectives of the authors.