Responding to the dual pressures of globalization and economic downturn, communities across the world formerly driven by agriculture and industry are increasingly turning toward tourism as an economic mainstay. In order for industry leaders to compete with the efforts of competitors and savvy marketers, new business models must be defined which allow for the incorporation of e-tourism tools and expansion into the global marketplace. New Business Opportunities in the Growing E-Tourism Industry offers case studies and research that highlights the impact of globalization on travel and tourism and offers solutions to potential problems. Targeting an audience of researchers and business professionals, this volume brings together a diverse international body of scholars and researchers to provide a holistic perspective of future developments in the e-tourism industry. This volume compiles the research and perspectives of researchers and industry professionals, uniting a variety of topics including medical tourism, traffic-management, route-planning, virtual museums, digital spot-hunting via film-mosaic, and tourism for the elderly and disabled.

Service operations management in the tourism and hospitality industry requires a high level of coordination, communication and facilitation to satisfy visitors. In all of these activities, service excellence means a lot to visitors in terms of their experience, and to the business it means repeat customers and word-of-mouth marketing. Based on fresh empirical evidence from the field, this book captures the different approaches and challenges to service excellence in the Asian tourism and hospitality industry. Focusing on hotels, attractions, transport providers and other segments in tourism and hospitality, this book presents new case studies underlining and detailing global and local travel industry practices. The book is meant as a reference and supplementary reading for students, researchers and industry practitioners.

Tropical islands are fragile, vulnerable environments and yet they are coming under increasing strain due to coastal developments and global environmental change. As a result of their remote location, small size and limited natural resource endowments, tourism has become an important economic activity, leading to emerging conflicts between the interests of developers, tourists and residents. Whilst much has been written about tourism-related development in tropical islands from a socio-cultural and economic point of view, the political ecology of environmental change has received surprisingly little attention. Political ecology is a powerful tool with which to investigate the role and interests of different actors in the process of environmental change, and this highly original volume represents a first ever study of tourism and tropical island development employing this novel but effective approach. Central to the argument is the belief that environmental problems cannot properly be understood without considering their economic and political context. The political ecology focus allows the authors to compare a wide range of tropical islands and to identify more sustainable development paths. They are also able to analyse the role of the various actors involved in the tourism development versus environmental change debate such as the state, international organizations, the tourism industry, local communities and non-governmental organizations. The continued growth of tourism will undoubtedly cause greater environmental problems. This book makes a major contribution toward understanding and solving these conflicts, particularly in those islands where the problems are most pressing. It will be required reading for students, researchers and academics of tourism, service management, geography, environmental studies, human ecology and economic development.

Travel is widely acknowledged as an activity that increases individuals' levels of well-being. Nevertheless, the relationship between happiness and tourism is still a matter of investigation. Despite the overall beneficial effects of travel on happiness levels, tourism is not an activity with solely positive implications on peoples' lives. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how happiness manifests through tourism and how it can be expanded to different tourism actors, such as tourists, workers, and communities. The search for ways and methods to enhance the levels of happiness and well-being has grown significantly in recent years. Happiness and quality of life are timely issues and have become even more relevant due to the significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rebuilding and Restructuring the Tourism Industry: Infusion of Happiness and Quality of Life is a critical references source that examines the fundamental relationship between tourism, happiness, and quality of life. This book discusses relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest findings from empirical research in happiness, well-being, and quality-of-life-related tourism. Focusing on topics such as neurotourism, PERMA theory, the economics of happiness, tourism employment opportunity, and overtourism, this book will intrigue scholars working in hospitality, tourism, destination management, economics, marketing, sociology, anthropology, and health sciences as well as managers, travel agencies, restaurateurs, hotel managers, and professionals who want to improve their understanding of the relationship between tourism and happiness, providing them with tools to develop better and sustainable practices for the sector.

The tourism industry is the largest service industry and the largest employment generator in the world. This was made possible by increasing globalization and disposable income, with the labor force playing an important role. Factors such as quality of services and business performance depend on a well-educated, well-trained, skilled, enthusiastic, and committed workforce. Contemporary Human Resources Management in the Tourism Industry is a pivotal reference source that provides research on the role of human resource departments in creating value for the workplace through innovation and efficient work processes. While highlighting topics such as organizational structure, gender equality, and employee motivation, this publication explores the development of organizational culture, as well as methods of translating business strategy into action through dramatically managing staff on all levels in the tourism industry. This book is ideally designed for human resources managers, business owners, business professionals, researchers, and academicians seeking current research on the organizational skills and strategies necessary in creating effective tourism businesses.

The purpose of Niche Tourism is to provide students with foundational insight and practical understanding of the various types of niche tourism sectors within southern Africa. Each of these uniquely established niche tourism sectors contributes towards the development of the southern African tourism product and service offering and attracts large volumes of tourists annually to southern Africa.

Niche tourism has grown and expanded into various formats over the past few years. Within southern Africa there are unique tourism establishments that showcase how these niche tourism establishments contribute towards growing the economy, uplifting local communities, and conserving the natural and cultural heritage of southern Africa.

The tourism industry in southern Africa offers various entrepreneurial opportunities for tourism graduates. The aim of this textbook is to provide students with a strong theoretical foundation on the respective niche tourism segments supported with current practical examples of how these niche tourism sectors operate, to enable graduates to establish their own niche tourism establishments. In doing so, graduates would be able to not only contribute towards the regional economy of southern Africa but also enable the resolution of socio-cultural challenges whilst conserving and protecting both the natural and cultural heritage of southern Africa.

This innovative book presents a series of up-to-date analyses of the economics of outdoor recreation. The distinguished group of authors covers real-world recreation management issues and applies economic understanding to these problems. An extensive introduction by the editors details the historical background of economists' interests in this subject, and reveals how economics can provide practical insights into improving how we manage our natural recreation areas.The book is divided into three parts, each of which focuses on a specific environmental resource: mountains, forests, and rivers and the sea. An array of valuation methods - including stated preference and revealed preference techniques - are then applied to various outdoor recreation activities which occur in these different settings. These include such diverse pursuits as rock climbing, skiing, fishing, hunting and whale watching. The authors clearly demonstrate how recreation modelling can offer a productive link between people (their preferences and behaviour) and the natural environment. With extensive empirical examples from Europe and North America, this book will be of great value to economists, governments and NGOs who are interested in the environment, development and tourism. It will also be a valuable source of reference for policymakers concerned with land use and natural resource management, and students of environmental and resource economics.

The era of globalization allows for more connectivity between nations and cultures. This increase in international association gives citizens more availability to take advantage of opportunities in other nations, such as medical assistance and accompanying services. Current Issues and Emerging Trends in Medical Tourism focuses on the emerging phenomena of international travel by patients in search of improved healthcare services and treatment, wellness programs, and complementary recreational activities. Including extensive coverage and case studies focusing on patient mobility and new opportunities for health services across borders, this authoritative reference source is essential to the needs of healthcare providers, nonprofit organizations, students, and medical professionals seeking relevant research on the relationship between global travel and access to healthcare. This publication features innovative, research-based chapters spanning the spectrum of medical travel issues including, but not limited to, customer perceptions, ethical considerations, reproductive medicine, social media use, family caregivers, organ transplants, human trafficking, and surrogacy concerns.

The first text to fully explore the issue of ownership and governance of international events. Split onto two distinct parts of 'Theory' and 'Cases', it presents cases from sports as well as non-sports events, in addition to general principles regarding ownership and governance based on historical, legal and managerial considerations. Ownership and Governance of International Events explores these events as global common goods owned by communities of participants, be they athletes, spectators, visitors, tourists, fans, media consumers, local residents and their required partnership between public authorities (at local, regional and national levels) and private bodies (NGOs and commercial organisations). It argues that this perspective of an event as a 'common good' helps mega events to be better sustained over the long run and facilitates their acceptability by local residents and wider public opinion.

The first text to fully explore the issue of ownership and governance of international events. Split onto two distinct parts of 'Theory' and 'Cases', it presents cases from sports as well as non-sports events, in addition to general principles regarding ownership and governance based on historical, legal and managerial considerations. Ownership and Governance of International Events explores these events as global common goods owned by communities of participants, be they athletes, spectators, visitors, tourists, fans, media consumers, local residents and their required partnership between public authorities (at local, regional and national levels) and private bodies (NGOs and commercial organisations). It argues that this perspective of an event as a 'common good' helps mega events to be better sustained over the long run and facilitates their acceptability by local residents and wider public opinion.

Market positioning and branding has evolved from a peripheral process in the marketing effort to a critical process in any strategic planning initiative. Effective positioning will result in a strong brand that develops an emotional and productive two-way relationship. Positioning and Branding Tourism Destinations for Global Competitiveness focuses on utilizing destination branding and content marketing for sustainable growth and competitive advantage within the tourism and hospitality industry, including tools and techniques for travel branding and best practices for better tourism management strategies. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as hospitality, brand loyalty, and knowledge transfer, this book is ideally designed for industry professionals including those within the hotel, leisure, transportation, theme park, and food service sectors, policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and students.

Exploring the impact of the rise of digital media over the last few decades, this timely Handbook highlights the major role it plays in preserving and protecting heritage as well as its ability to promote and support sustainable tourism at heritage sites. Particularly relevant at this time due to the diffusion of smartphones and use of social media, chapters look at the experience and expectation of being 'always on', and how this interacts with heritage and tourism. Interdisciplinary contributions from leading scholars analyse how heritage and cultural destinations can benefit from digital media providing a range of relevant services and experiences, which can increase access to information for people participating in and visiting heritage sites. With critical overview chapters introducing and synthesizing connected topics in the Handbook, it further offers insights on how digital media can improve the experiences of visitors, connect both residents and visitors to heritage sites, remove barriers among actors in the field of heritage and tourism, and educate relevant stakeholders. Utilizing critical case studies throughout the text, this Handbook will be an invigorating read for social and cultural geography scholars as well as those focusing more specifically on digital media, heritage and tourism. Practitioners and policy makers working in heritage and tourism will find advice to integrate digital media into their actions.

Rural tourism marketing is a subject that remains significantly under-researched. Gunjan Saxena seeks to encourage a fuller understanding of rural tourism marketing by uncovering the lived experiences and enterprise of different actor groups as they respond to the impact of tourism on their communities and cultural identities. Marketing Rural Tourism presents actor narratives to reveal nuances inherent in their practices and perceptions as they develop, support or oppose tourism in their locality. By focusing on actors' experience and enterprise involved in the ongoing production, consumption and marketing of rural landscapes for tourism, this book enables an insight into varied storylines that underlie the processes of place making. Academics in the area of marketing and tourism as well as development studies will appreciate the contribution this book will make to the wider marketing discourse that circulates about rural destinations. The book will also be a valuable resource to undergraduate students looking to incorporate fresh conceptual insights into their projects, as well as postgraduate students looking to apply newer approaches to conceptualising tourism or place marketing.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. 'Muller's accessible and timely volume takes a bold step closer to keeping pace with the constantly evolving sub-discipline of tourism geographies, unafraid to challenge earlier foundations and keen to prioritise academic diversity and real-world contexts. The contributors' flair, perspective and passion comes across throughout what is arguably the ideal backdrop for shaping future research agendas in the field.' - Julie Wilson, Open University of Catalonia, Spain Over recent years, tourism geographies have developed into a vibrant field of research, facing increasing challenges from globalisation and environmental change. This Research Agenda presents a unique and original collection of contributions from both established and up-and-coming scholars in the field. Encompassing both contemporary issues, and paving the way for future avenues of research, this book explores and develops research on tourism geographies. Chapters address emerging themes and apply new methodologies, allowing for intellectual and practical challenges to be tackled. With fresh global insights, this book expands on the geographic dimension of tourism work and workers, the challenges brought by changing economic atmospheres, spatial dynamics, big data and climate change to provide a thorough understanding of the field. Ideal for graduate and post-graduate students of geography and tourism studies looking to develop thesis ideas, this Research Agenda highlights the interest and potential of tourism geographers to contribute to a geographical tradition and influence the future content of geography as a discipline. Contributors: M. Bauder, P. Brouder, R. de Cassia Ariza da Cruz, K. Debbage, M.G. Gren, M. Hall, H.V. Haraldsson, X. Honggang, E.H. Huijbens, Z. Ibrahim, D. Ioannides, D.K. Muller, R. Olafsdottir, J. Saarinen, R. Steiger, R. Tremblay, G. Visser, Y. Wu, K. Zampoukos

Cross-Cultural Aspects of Tourism and Hospitality is the first textbook to offer students, lecturers, researchers and practitioners a comprehensive guide to the influence of culture on service providers as well as on customers, affecting both the supply and the demand sides of the industry - organisational behaviour, and human resource management, and marketing and consumer behaviour. Given the need for delivering superior customer value, understanding different cultures from both demand and supply sides of tourism and hospitality and the impact of culture on these international industries is an essential part of all students' and practitioners' learning and development. This book takes a research-based approach critically reviewing seminal cultural theories and evaluating how these influence employee and customer behaviour in service encounters, marketing, and management processes and activities. Individual chapters cover a diverse range of cultural aspects including intercultural competence and intercultural sensitivity, uncertainty and risk avoidance, context in communication, power distance, indulgence and restraint, time orientation, gender, assertiveness, individualism and collectivism, performance orientation, and humane orientation. This book integrates international case studies throughout to show the application of theory, includes self-test questions, activities, further reading, and a set of PowerPoint slides to accompany each chapter. This will be essential reading for all students, lecturers, researchers and practitioners and future managers in the fields of Tourism and Hospitality.

The negative impacts associated with conventional tourism has occasioned more sustainable forms of tourism including community-based tourism (CBT). Among the benefits of CBT are the improvement of rural economies, empowerment of the local community, and poverty alleviation. In as much as CBT has been promoted as being more beneficial to local communities, its implementation is not without challenges. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, destination marketing organizations and managers of CBT projects have to adopt different marketing strategies including shifting to target new demographics in an effort to remain sustainable. Prospects and Challenges of Community-Based Tourism and Changing Demographics provides theoretical and empirical insights in the prospects and challenges associated with CBT, critically examining issues of structure, impact, management, marketing, support, changing demographics, challenges, sustainability, and implications for the future of CBT. It also highlights critical lessons and trends in CBT from both established and new CBT initiatives to inform the design, management, marketing, and sustainability of CBT projects. This book will be a useful addition to the literature on CBT with its coverage of topics such as conservation, cultural tourism, and sustainable rural livelihoods. This book provides an excellent resource for students, academicians, researchers, tourism and hospitality practitioners, managers, destination managers, stakeholders, tour operators, and policymakers.

Smart cities are cities which use different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect data. The gathered information and data is then used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently to improve the operations across the city. This book provides a new insight for the current issues and opportunities in smart cities and related concepts in the next generation of urban evolution. The smart cities of tomorrow engage locals, visitors, governments and businesses in the intelligent, collaborative and connected ecosystem. To this end, the goal of this book is to provide better understanding of city services but also enhancing and evaluating the local and visitor experience and city decision-making processes by creating livable environments and business solutions. With international contributions from well-respected and international academics, it brings state-of-art knowledge on marketing management (and related areas e.g., urban studies) from a new modern perspective within the smart cities. Via academic research and international case studies, it discusses issues such as: * Smart tourists in smart cities * The evolution of the smart city * Smart trends in the tourism and hospitality industry * Smart sports in smart cities * Creating a smart tourist destinations * What does it mean for the locals - the smart city as a proposal to improve the quality of life of residents

Tourism is one of the most rapidly evolving industries of the twenty-first century. The economy of many countries all over the world depends on their ability to attract visitors and maintain a distinct edge in a highly competitive market. International Tourism and Hospitality in the Digital Age brings together the best practices for growth, development, and strategic management within the tourism and hospitality industries. Highlighting comparative research that explores the cross-cultural contexts and societal implications of tourism, this book is an essential resource for professionals, researchers, academics, and students interested in a contemporary approach to promoting, managing, and maximizing profitability of leisure and recreation services.

This book gathers the proceedings of the 7th International Conference, with the theme "Culture and Tourism in a Smart, Globalized and Sustainable World," held on Hydra Island, Greece, on June 17-19, 2020, published with the support of the International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism. Highlighting the contributions made by numerous writers to the advancement of tourism research, this book presents a critical academic discourse on sustainable practices in the smart tourism context, improving readers' understanding of, and stimulating future debates in, this critical area. In addition to the knowledge economy and the concept of smart destinations, the book addresses new modes of tourism management and development, as well as emerging technologies, including location-based services, the Internet of things, smart cities, mobile services, gamification, digital collections and the virtual visitor, social media, social networking, and augmented reality.

Tourism is frequently seen as a way of creating new employment opportunities in those regions which have suffered from severe de-industrialization and major cutbacks in manufacturing industry.This important book - based on new and original research - examines the economic impact, measured in employment terms, of the North of England Open Air Museum at Beamish. The authors provide a detailed assessment of the direct, indirect and induced employment generated by the museum. The assessment of the museum's employment impact is placed firmly within the context of its historical development and of the region's tourism activity. Tourism, Museums and the Local Economy focuses on one particular museum, but the methodology and much of the discussion are widely applicable to the evaluation of other tourist attractions. The policy implications of the study are fully assessed by the authors who also make use of a series of international comparisons. The book will be of interest to economists, geographers and all those who have an interest in tourism, the arts and museums, and regional development. It will be an invaluable asset to planners and policymakers at both central and local government level.

An internationally focused text which explains strategic management, analysis and implementation specifically in the tourism industry. Fully revised and updated, this second edition covers strategic management in a variety of tourism contexts.

Tourism marketing is a vital tool in promoting the overall health of the global economy by not only bringing necessary revenue to a particular region, but also providing an opportunity for tourists to explore another culture, building tolerance and overall exposure to different ways of life. Strategic Tools and Methods for Promoting Hospitality and Tourism Services provides interdisciplinary perspectives in the areas of global tourism and hospitality. Highlighting cultural boundaries of strategic knowledge management through the use of case studies and theoretical research, as well as the opportunities and challenges of tourism marketing, this publication is an essential reference source for academicians, research scholars, marketing professionals, graduate-level students, and industry professionals interested in international travel and the vacation industry.

This book analyses the theoretical and methodological foundations of ecotourism and geotourism and examines the essence, content, factors, and models of ecotourism development. The authors conducted research to assess the tourist and recreational potential of ecotourism in Kazakhstan. The study analyses the current state and describes the problems of the long-term development of ecotourism. Besides, the authors also show the role of specially protected natural areas in ecotourism development, including a list of organizations that can create tourist products in the environmental direction. This book also defines the primary conditions necessary for ecotourism in protected natural and rural areas. The resulting cartographic material visualizes the geospatial potential of the regions of Kazakhstan, aiming a more targeted expenditure of financial resources allocated to tourism development. Thus, the presented book is relevant from a practical perspective to scientists and researchers and is of value to business structures and stakeholders.

This book features a selection of the best papers presented during the 8th ATMC (Advances in Tourism Marketing Conference) of 2019. With contributions from internationally regarded academic experts, this edited collection addresses two major challenges for the tourism industry. Firstly, the criticism that tourism marketing is exploitative and fuels hedonistic consumerism. This volume seeks to illustrate that marketing skills and techniques can also be used for the good purposes, by understanding market needs, designing more sustainable products and identifying more persuasive methods of communication to transform tourist unsustainable behaviours. The contributions in this volume present theories, methods and results for enhancing such techniques for more sustainable marketing. Secondly, the challenge of new and growing collaborative business models, with champions as Airbnb or Uber, that are often presented as more sustainable than traditional ones, as they empower ordinary people and promote the shared use of resources. This volume explores how sharing practices in business raises new social challenges and the ethical questions that arise as a consequence. Sustainable and Collaborative Tourism in a Digital World offers discussion and insights from some of the world experts in the area as to how tourism marketing can evolve and advance to rise-up to these new challenges and opportunities. Part of the Advances in Tourism Marketing Series - a series of cutting-edge research-informed edited books that introduce the reader to a range of contemporary marketing phenomena in the domain of travel and tourism. Series editors: Alan Fyall, UCF, USA, Metin Kozak, Dokuz Eylul University, Turkey and Antonia Correia, Universidade do Algarve, Portugal.

Digital communication is significantly expanding new opportunities and challenges in the tourism industry. Tourists, now more frequently than ever, bring their smartphones with them to every destination, and cultural tourists are particularly motivated to utilize a variety of services and platforms as they are especially open and interested in understanding in detail the places and heritage of the places they visit. Thus, researchers, educators, and professionals in the tourism and hospitality field should take advantage of this opportunity to propose new ways of presenting better content and creating a more immersive and optimized experience for tourists. The Handbook of Research on Digital Communications, Internet of Things, and the Future of Cultural Tourism shares research and experiences on the convergence between digital communication and cultural tourism, specifically the migration and creative appropriation of these technologies for increased tourist engagement and their role in destination marketing and strategic planning and decision making. Covering topics such as big data, e-tourism, and social media platforms, this major reference work is an invaluable resource for researchers, students, professors, academicians, government entities, museum managers, professionals, and cultural tourism managers and facilitators.