Yael Ram

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.

Hostility or hospitality? A review on violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry

The present work reviews the current knowledge about violence, bullying and sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry. It indicates the high prevalence of these aggressive behaviours, and identifies structural reasons, insufficient managerial skills and/or common beliefs as their causes. The negative impacts of bullying, violence and sexual harassment on employees include intentions to leave and psychological upset. These personal negative feelings and attitudes contribute to negative organizational performance indicators, such as high staff turnover rate and low profitability. In addition, the high prevalence of violence creates a negative image for the tourism and hospitality industry in general. The review shows that intervention plans are scattered in aims and time frames, focus mainly on managerial policies, and almost completely overlook immediate actions as well as guest violence. Given its importance, the low number of appropriate intervention tools, policies and agendas clearly suggests the urgent need for more research. The final section of the work provides an overview of three core themes that can potentially contribute to the development of an effective intervention agenda, namely, corporate social responsibility, social media and comparisons to other sectors.

Climate change and cultural heritage: conservation and heritage tourism in the Anthropocene

This paper reviews some of the actual and potential effects of climate change on cultural heritage and its management with special reference to heritage tourism. This analysis will help to identify knowledge gaps and issues in relation to different types of heritage, management strategies and policy-making, as well as enabling an understanding of the potential significance of climate change impacts in a regional, national and international setting. The analysis is also relevant to understanding the broader pressures of environmental and global change on the management of heritage tourism sites, and cultural heritage in particular, in the Anthropocene.

Measuring the relationship between tourism and walkability? Walk Score and English tourist attractions

ABSTRACT Walking is an important part of the tourist experience and a significant element of sustainable mobility. Although the concept of walkability has substantial health, social, economic and environmental dimensions for permanent residents, little attention has been given to the concept of walkability from a tourist perspective. This study examines the relationships between walkability and indicators of successful tourism as measured by visitor numbers and TripAdvisor reviews for leading English visitor attractions. Walkability is measured by using the Walk Score® index that assesses the walking potential of an origin point through a combination of the shortest distance to a group of preselected destination points, the block length and the intersection density around the origin. The Walk Score algorithm includes built environment characteristics but not route characteristics. The study found only weak relationships between walkability and visitor numbers and walkability and number of TripAdvisor ratings for the top 330 visitor attractions in England. No significant relationships were found for Londons attractions although a weak relationship was noted between walkability and TripAdvisor ranking. It is concluded that tourism-specific assessments of walkability and transport choice are required if visitors are to be encouraged to engage in active transport at destinations.

Tourism, landscapes and cultural ecosystem services: a new research tool

ABSTRACT This research note presents a new tool for analysing the benefits of landscapes for visitors and tourists using the Cultural Ecosystems Services (CES) framework as defined by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) in 2005. The authors reflect on the challenges of defining Cultural Ecosystem Services and interpreting and translating these categorisations for the purposes of questionnaire research. Previous studies had noted the difficulties inherent in capturing many of the intangible elements inherent in the CES terminology. Familiarisation with CES categories arguably affords new opportunities to bring together many of the disparate elements which have often been managed independently in landscape and tourism studies (e.g. cultural and intangible heritage, eco-systems, socio-cultural impacts of tourism and community-based tourism). A questionnaire was designed consisting of nineteen statements which related closely to the CES categorisations. It was translated into eight languages and distributed in autumn 2015 to visitors in Belgium, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Macedonia, Netherlands and Poland in six different kinds of landscape: forest, mountains, lakeside, seaside, mountains, desert and a combination of nature and manmade. In total, 876 valid questionnaires were obtained and were proven statistically to make a useful contribution to the field of CES research, landscapes and tourism studies.

Sexual harassment: overlooked and under-researched

Purpose This paper aims to focus on the gap between the very high prevalence of sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry (the phenomenon) and the limited academic discussion about it (academic knowledge), and suggests ways to bridge this gap. Design/methodology/approach The gap between phenomenon and knowledge is identified by comparing official data regarding sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry with a content analysis of the academic literature. Tribe’s (2006) knowledge force-field model is used to analyze this gap. Findings The five truth barriers identified by Tribe (2006), namely, person, rules, position, ends and ideology, are confirmed by the data. Five counter-forces – triangulation, interdisciplinary, collaboration, humanism and critical praxis – are developed to counter these truth barriers. Practical implications The five counter-forces offer practical solutions for research, higher education programs and the tourism industry. They demonstrate ways to reduce the high prevalence of sexual harassment in the industry and improve the working conditions of employees. Originality/value Underpinned by Tribe’s conceptual model, the paper identifies and analyzes a relative silence regarding sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality academy in contrast to its prevalence in the industry. Additionally, it advances Tribe’s model by identifying five truth-facilitating forces. Further, it offers a research agenda for revealing hidden topics and/or biased knowledge by understanding the relationship between tourism and hospitality phenomena and academic knowledge.

Heritage in the intergovernmental panel on climate change assessment reports: a lexical assessment

A lexical analysis is conducted of the five intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) assessments reports undertaken between 1990 and 2014. The analysis indicates that the term heritage is little used in the reports, although it has become more widely used over time in different chapters. In contrast, reference to indigenous culture and heritage has greatly increased. The implications are discussed especially for the way in which the IPCC frames culture and heritage. Implications for research communication are briefly discussed.

Length of family vacations, children's age and parenting style

Length of vacation is an important aspect of tourism (Alegre & Pou, 2006). However, despite growing recognition of the role of parenting style with respect to consumption practices (Bakir, Rose, & Shoham, 2006), including for tourism (Liang, 2013; Ram, Uriely, & Malach-Pines, 2014), relatively little attention has been given to the influence that parenting style and children’s age may have on the length of family vacations (Schänzel, Yeoman, & Backer, 2012). This exploratory study examines these relations. The highly influential theory of “Parenting Style” was developed by Baumrind (1967, 1991). Baumrind based her approach on the motives of parental control and defined three parenting styles: authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive. Authoritarian parents rely on rules and discipline. Authoritative parents communicate efficiently with their children and guide them successfully. Permissive parents do not make demands and accept their children’s requests. Studies based on Baumrind’s model consistently yield findings that suggest that authoritative parenting style is associated with positive educational, social, emotional, and cognitive developmental outcomes in children, whereas authoritarian and permissive parenting styles are usually linked to poorer outcomes (Chao, 2001). The relationships between fathers’ and mothers’ parenting styles are modest to weak (Gamble, Ramakumar, & Diaz, 2007; Winsler, Madigan, & Aquilino, 2005) and suggest that the parental system is prone to disagreements. Musick and Meier (2010) observe that disagreement between parents is associated with a wide range of negative outcomes for family relations. Thus, this study extends this perspective and examines whether disagreements between parents with different parenting styles shorten the time that families spend together on vacation. Yet, disagreements are not the only factor in determining the length of family vacations, and the age of children may also play a crucial role (Schänzel et al., 2012). Two hypotheses were used:

Geopolitics of Tourism and Academia in the Holy Land

ABSTRACT The premise for this paper is that tourism scholars researching in Israel and Palestine are, in effect, actors in the geopolitical landscape of the Holy Land. Political tourism is a significant factor in how the Israel–Palestine geopolitical conflict is represented. The current paper provides an analysis of how tourism academics address the situation. A research team of Israeli, Palestinian and a third country origins collaborated to produce a narrative synthesis by systematically reviewing 35 academic papers selected through defined criteria. This approach minimized bias and aimed for analytical robustness and validity. Two main conclusions are derived from the analysis. First, papers tend to focus on the social, touristic and religious aspects of tourism not on the core issues of the geopolitical conflict. Second, the works did not contribute to dialogue between parties but reinforced separateness thus reflecting the political conflict.

Walk Score and tourist accommodation

The purpose of this paper is to extend the research on tourist walkability and Walk Score® by posing the question “does tourist accommodation benefit from being located in walkable places?”.,Using Tel Aviv municipality as a case study, the prices and number of reviews of 81 hotels and 97 Airbnb listings were associated with their corresponding Walk Score® measures.,The relationship between Walk Score and prices and number of reviews was not linear or strong. However, the most expensive accommodation and more popular hotels were below the median Walk Score of Tel Aviv.,The findings may reflect the specific conditions associated with Tel Aviv, such as city compactness, topography and planning regulations.,The study suggests that accommodation is beneficial if it is located on the margins of very walkable areas. This raises regulatory and promotion issues for accommodation, and challenges for transport and tourism planners.,The study adds to the limited knowledge regarding tourism-related walkability, and is the first examination of links between walkability (measured by Walk Score index) and tourist accommodation (hotels and Airbnb).