Jo-Anne Lester

Cruise and Learn: Reflections on a Cruise Field Trip

This article reflects on the significance of field trips for undergraduate experiential learning. Experiential learning is critical to the development of managers as future reflective practitioners, and this case study makes a significant contribution to debate about field trips at a time when UK university spending cuts threaten their future provision. Based on a qualitative study, this article highlights the experiential learning generated by an undergraduate field trip that took place on a 7-day cruise out of Southampton, UK, during March 2009. Students reflect upon their learning experiences, both personal and professional, and their perceptions of the value of such learning experiences for their knowledge and understanding of cruise management. The article also discusses associated benefits of field trips, such as student self-development, the facilitation of group cohesion, and the marketing opportunities for educational institutions. The implications of the findings are useful for educators as well as the wider cruise community.

Tourism and visual culture, Volume 2: Methods and cases.

The study of tourism as a complex social trend is growing in importance as it receives recognition as a force far more significant than economic, environmental, and social analyses convey. This volume explores tourism as a significant phenomenon in both generating and receiving societies, examining methods and cases that demonstrate, develop, and affirm tourisms essentially visual nature. Tourism-related methodologies such as photographs, souvenirs and advertising material are used to discuss findings.

Lesbians and Gay Men’s Vacation Motivations, Perceptions, and Constraints: A Study of Cruise Vacation Choice

ABSTRACT This study explores the push-pull vacation motivations of gay male and lesbian consumers and examines how these underpin their perceptions and purchase constraints of a mainstream and LGBT1 cruise. Findings highlight a complex vacation market. Although lesbians and gay men share many of the same travel motivations as their heterosexual counterparts, the study reveals sexuality is a significant variable in their perception of cruise vacations, which further influences purchase constraints and destination choice. Gay men have more favorable perceptions than lesbians of both mainstream and LGBT cruises. The article recommends further inquiry into the multifaceted nature of motivations, perception, and constraints within the LGBT market in relation to cruise vacations.

Using Visual Evidence in Tourism Research

This section has been specifically introduced 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 section editor, Professor Julio Aramberri, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA. email: jraramberri@hotmail.com