Robyn Bushell

Tourism and Protected Areas : Benefits Beyond Boundaries : the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress

* Foreword, D Sheppard, WCPA * Preface, Eugenio Yunis, WTO Section 1: Tourism and Conservation in the 21st Century * Tourism and Protected Areas: Benefits Beyond Boundaries, R Bushell, R Staiff, University of Western Sydney, Australia, and P Eagles * Tourism as a Tool for Conservation and Support of Protected Areas: Setting the Agenda, R Bushell, and S F McCool, The University of Montana, USA * Global Trends Affecting Tourism in Protected Areas, P F Eagles * Key Principles and Directions for Tourism in Protected Areas: A Review of Existing Charters, Guidelines and Declarations, J Foxlee, Darwin, Australia Section 2: Management Issues and Case Studies * Tourism, Indigenous and Local Communities and Protected Areas in Developing Nations, L M Scherl, Arcadia, Australia and S Edwards, Recreation and Conservation International, Ecuador * Joint Management: Aboriginal involvement in tourism in the Kakadu World Heritage Area, P Wellings, Darwin, Australia * Tourism as a tool for community-based conservation and development, P Figgis, World Commission on Protected Areas, Australia, T Berno and R Bushell * The World Heritage Tourism Programme: Lessons Learned, Art Pederse, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, France * Transfrontier Conservation Areas and Sustainable Nature-based Tourism, A Spenceley, Durban, South Africa * Sustainable Nature Tourism in Europe: An Overview of NGOs, M Schelhaas, Plantage Middenlaan 2K, The Netherlands * Capacity-Building for Ecotourism: Training Programmes for Managers of Protected Areas, W Strasdas, University of Applied Sciences, Eberswalde, Germany, B Corcoran, Howick, South Africa and T Petermann, InWEnt, Germany * The Role of Certification and Accreditation in Ensuring Tourism Contributes to Conservation, M Honey, The International Ecotourism Society, USA. Section 3: Economic Issues and Case Studies * Tourism-based Revenue Generation for Conservation, A Drumm, The Nature Conservancy, USA * Economic Impacts of Parks on Surrounding Communities: Findings from New South Wales, N Conner, NSW Department of Environment & Conservation, Australia * Management Information Tools for Setting Visitor Fees, K Lindberg, Oregon State University, USA * Conservation and Community Development: The Conservation Corporation Africa Model, L Carlisle, CC Africa, South Africa * Sabi Sabi: A Model for Effective Ecotourism, Conservation and Community Involvement, R Loon, Hoedspruit, South Africa, I Harper, and P Shorten * Financial Parks through Marketing: A Case Study of Ontario Parks, E Halpenny, Waterloo, Canada * Concessions and Commercial Development: Experience in South African National Parks, P Fearnhead, Sunninghill, South Africa * Tourism on the Great Barrier Reef: A Partnership Approach, A Skeat and H Skeat, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Australia Section 4: Conclusion * Tourism, Protected Areas and the World Parks Congress: Fundamental Lessons, New Horizons and Promising Directions, * S F McCool, P F J Eagles, R Bushell and J McNeely, Gland, Switzerland.

Mutant mobilities : backpacker tourism in ‘global’ Sydney

This essay explores the complex mobilities of contemporary backpackers. Backpackers are not just tourists; they are also frequently students, working holidaymakers, highly skilled professional workers, and even, at times, long‐term semi‐permanent residents. How to define this group of physically and conceptually mobile travellers is often problematic, especially for local authorities. It is difficult to discern what cultural space and identity this type of mobility and this category of traveller occupy. Focusing on the tensions in residential communities which have developed as a result of backpackers not only travelling through but frequently dwelling in place, the essay analyses the ‘backpacker phenomenon’ as a complex and mutating mix of working, holiday and residential experiences that needs to be understood within a framework of increasing(ly) uneven, diverse and contested mobilities.

Interpretation in National Parks: Some Critical Questions

This paper notes an increasing cultural diversity in visitation patterns to protected areas/national parks, and goes on to question a series of assumptions that underpin conservation education and approaches to interpretation in protected areas. It is concerned with content rather than interpretational techniques; it questions the central role of Western, science based ecological thinking in interpretation. The paper stems from research in Minnamurra Rainforest Centre in New South Wales, Australia, which was carried out in a context of multi-culturalism in a postcolonial society, where it is widely acknowledged that Indigenous Australian peoples have significant moral and legal claims regarding the custodianship of natural landscapes. A dialogue between the worlds of museology and protected areas interpretation is developed, which leads to five critical questions for interpretation praxis: Who are the owners/custodians of the areas? How are they and the areas represented? Who speaks for them? What is spoken and why? Who is listening to the messages? There is a description of how the Minnamurra Centre is reacting to the changing conceptual context of its work.

Tourism Research in Australia

The number of inbound tourist arrivals to Australia has increased markedly in the past 15 years, along with the economic, social, and environmental significance of tourism. One of the consequences of this growth has been a new interest in tourism-related education and research. This article traces the rapid changes in this research in the past 15 years, identifies some of the achievements so far, and suggests the future for tourism research in Australia.

The rhetoric of Loas/French fusion : beyond the representation of the western tourist experience of cuisine in the world heritage city of Luang Prabang, Laos

Inextricably interwoven into the Western tourist experience of Luang Prabang, former royal capital and former French colonial town, is a food encounter increasingly subsumed under the description of ‘Lao-French fusion cuisine’. There has been a conscious exploitation of the connection between the cultural heritage of this World Heritage town, and the distinctiveness of its cuisine as intangible heritage. This article explores the intersections between the way the cuisine is represented, the contestations around these representations (what is included and excluded, the use of the past) and the Western cuisine experience of Luang Prabang. We argue the rhetoric of fusion is partial, selective and strongly influenced by the various ways Luang Prabang (re)presents itself to Western tourists. Further, that the touristic image/experience of Luang Prabangs cuisine camouflages under the fusion description a highly mobile set of dynamics and understanding of the food scenarios within the historic city. In particular, the intermingling of many food traditions; the highly improvized nature of cuisine, the interplay between local farming, markets and food production, food imports from Thailand, China, Vietnam and France, the way cuisine marks and ritualizes social groups (Lao bourgeoisie, students, monks, hilltribe ethnic minorities, expatriates, Western tourists, etc.) and the ebb and flow between these groups in food production and consumption. The heritage tourist rhetoric of fusion masks complexity and freezes an open-ended process into a fixed representation.

Conference Report... The Joint Australian National Education and Research Conferences 1994

The 1994 joint Australian Tourism Education (February 8-9) and the Tourism Research (February 10-11) national conferences were held at the Pan Pacific Hotel on the Gold Coast, Queensland. The conferences were organized under the auspices of CAUTHE (Council for Australian Universities for Tourism and Hospitality Education) and by the four local universities : Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology, the University of Queens land, and Bond University. This was the third in a series of conferences that is planned as a regular annual event.

Tourism in protected areas: Developing meaningful standards:

In response to research revealing only 21% of protected areas worldwide have ‘sound’ management practices, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has introduced The Green List for Protected Areas. A system of certification that has resulted from recognition of the need for global standards for protected area management. While not focused specifically on tourism, visitation and visitor management practices where relevant to the overall management of a park are important components. For many protected areas, tourism is integral, relying on visitors and tourism for financial support. Increasingly, partnerships between conservation and tourism are contributing to changes in attitudes around the issues of biodiversity conservation and environmentally responsible business practices. This paper discusses The Green List concept and a case study of one of the successful pilot sites, Arakwal National Park in Australia. The paper also explores partnerships between conservation and tourism and how these partnerships could unfold through the work of The Green List. The work of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council which encourages such partnerships is also discussed, focused on sustainable tourism criteria.

The “old” and the “new”: events and placemaking in Luang Prabang, Laos

The purpose of this paper is to explore Lai Heua Fai, Festival of Light, as a place making ritual in the world heritage town of Luang Prabang, a former royal capital of the Lao-speaking kingdom. It compares this centuries-old traditional festival with a very new place making festival, the Luang Prabang Film Festival which began only six years ago.,Sense of place theorization has developed considerably in recent decades as a number of discourses have co-mingled and as social and cultural research has embraced space/place as a crucial component of knowledge production. The study explores place making in a globalized, post-modern and post-colonial world. Fieldwork was undertaken in Luang Prabang between 2008 and 2016 including interviews, observations, photographic recording and participation, leading up to the 2013 celebration of Lai Heua Fai and the 2015 film festival.,Lai Heua Fai and the Luang Prabang Film Festival are spatial practices that represent the places they evoke. Both these events connect the past, the present and the future in place. The authors argue that separating “events” from “place” sets up a dichotomy that is problematic and unsustainable on many levels: perceptually, as a lived experience, epistemologically and analytically.,The authors suggest that these two identity forming events, in the life of Luang Prabang, herald “place” and “place making” as ongoing dynamic processes of construction and re-construction where the “traditional” and the “contemporary” are constantly re-constituted as markers, in the case of this research, of Luang Prabangan identity and place attachment.

Encouraging Environmentally and Socially Responsible Practices Through Well-designed Certification: A Case Study of the Camping and Caravan Industry, Australia

The tourism industry has developed a range of voluntary initiatives such as certification programmes as a means to improving environmental performance. The plethora of programmes and their criteria, benchmarks, monitoring and assessment methods raise questions of credibility. A WTO study conducted in 2001 revealed over 7,000 certified products worldwide. Of 500 voluntary initiatives examined, only 59 certification/ecolabel programmes had the basic requirements of a credible programme. This study produced a series of recommendations to improve the effectiveness of these initiatives. This article highlights how a major certification initiative for the New South Wales Camping and Caravan Industry Association (CCIA), Australia uses the critical elements from UNEP, WTO publications, the Mohonk Agreement, certification programmes, practitioners and tourism operators worldwide to produce a programme that is more effective, efficient and credible. It specifically focuses on how the new ‘Gumnut Award’ has tailored the programme to the needs of the industry, and that the fundamental process of stakeholder involvement is crucial to the success of any quality assurance programme. Engagement with stakeholders provides a greater understanding of their needs, attitudes and barriers to implementation and their willingness to participate, resulting in a more effective mode of delivery. CCIA NSW acknowledged the significant social, cultural, ecological and economic impacts on local communities. With an exceptionally high uptake by the industry to date, this paper benchmarks this programme against current best practice.

Health and tourism : a conceptual shift

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. Critical resumés on tourism projects and field researches will also be considered. For details contact Editor, TRR.