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The research offered in this submission presents the case for a PhD by portfolio and is presented in two parts: an 'Overview' and 'The Evidence'. It explores the synergies between resource planning, sustainability, and regeneration policy associated with the development of tourism. These processes are linked particularly with environmental and cultural resource issues within European and global contexts as well as more specific planning issues within the UK and Wales. Three projects are presented; they address culture and environmental tourism themes in project 1, specific interests in urban planning, regeneration and tourism in project 2, and rural tourism issues in project 3. The projects follow a chronological course that illustrates how the research has progressed between 1995 and 2003. They show development from an initial broad interest in planning and sustainable development issues, to more focussed work on heritage and cultural tourism niche markets within more recent urban and rural contexts. The findings from the projects explore notions of planning, regeneration, sustainability and the relationships and synergies that occur between these processes and the development of specialist tourism. The research conclusions from all three projects suggest there still remain critical policy, resource planning and management issues for achieving sustainability, protecting resources and developing new tourism opportunities. This is particularly pertinent for the effective implementation of sustainable tourism. Issues concerning the development of niche tourism markets as a sustainable option have been a key research focus. Concerns are raised regarding the role of planning policy, long term strategy, institutional support for sustainable tourism, empowerment of local communities, and tensions between market priorities vis-a-vis conserving environmental and cultural resources. The degree of 'trade off between these often conflicting policy goals are also discussed. In a broader context, evidence from the projects document the changing dimensions of planning, regeneration and sustainable development and tourism policies over nearly a decade and draw conclusions on the challenges still confronting these processes today. In this respect evidence from the projects shows that there is generally more divergence than convergence in policy initiatives which encourage tourism development linked to sustainability. This is particularly the case when alternative forms of tourism are considered. The main conclusion synthesised from the projects illustrate that the development of alternative tourism will challenge resourcing and planning activities as these markets look set to grow over the next decade. The portfolio proposes that developing a framework to ensure the successful implementation of new sustainable tourism markets will make strategic planning an increasingly important priority and a future focus for tourism research in this respect. The emerging and fairly recent concept of 'cultural regeneration' is proposed as a focus for this further research.

This thesis proposes a construct to measure the competitiveness of Brazilian tourist destinations and orient the actions of public and private tourism managers. The model of this study is based on a relevant literature review, a panel with specialists that have expertise in Brazilian tourism and field research. The investigation was carried out in 15 Brazilian tourist cities, representative of the socioeconomic diversity that characterises the heterogeneity of a developing country. The results of the study show the level of competitiveness of these 15 destinations according to the 13 dimensions proposed in the model, identifying the strong and weak points of local tourism. An assessment was carried out in detail that should serve to assist public managers in the strategic planning of these cities now and in the future. As a complementary result, the study may be successfully replicated in other destinations, thus initiating a historical series for monitoring the competitiveness of Brazilian tourist destinations.

This thesis analyses the relationship between tourism and the natural environment and explores ways in which the imbalance between the two may be redressed, with a view to achieving environmentally sustainable tourism. This involves a critical examination of the legal framework currently in place, so as to ascertain the relative effectiveness of presentday structures and organisations. First, both the tourism industry and the natural environment - as conceptual elements - are explored, including a review of their historical and comparative development over recent years. This provides a context within which the thesis can be placed and establishes the foundations upon which subsequent analysis may be built. Next, tourism is assessed in the context of the international legal system, in an attempt to evaluate how the international community has responded to the tourism phenomenon and, moreover, how the international legal system might apply to the various participants within the tourism industry. This provides a platform from which to evaluate, in greater detail, the applicability of international environmental law to tourism, assessing the relevant law currently regulating marine and atmospheric pollution, as well as species protection and habitat preservation. The final part of the thesis recognises the present ad hoc approach of international environmental law towards tourism, and questions whether there might exist some specific obligation for sustainable tourism within the international legal system. In order to assess this theory, the principle of sustainable development is employed as the framework concept from which sustainable tourism emanates, and allows for those various concepts which collectively constitute sustainable development to be analysed in light of sustainable tourism obligations. It is concluded that there are two primary areas where efforts to address tourism-generated environmental degradation should be concentrated. First, the World Tourism Organisation must adopt a stronger leadership position in respect of sustainable tourism and develop its role as a centralised mechanism for coordinating international and regional efforts to regulate and manage tourism activities. Secondly, there must be a concerted effort to further promote and develop the principle of `sustainable tourism', incorporating the legal rights and responsibilities embedded within this concept.

The research presented in this thesis is an investigation of the views of commercial home owners within Scotland. The thesis is designed to deepen understanding of the commercial home sector, and more specifically, the relationship the host has with the commercial home. The host’s relationship with their commercial home contributes to the provision of commercial hospitality within a home setting. The review of the literature points to a number of conceptual gaps in our understanding, notably that there has been no study directly focusing upon the host perspective of the commercial home and how this relationship with the home might potentially impinge upon the guest experience. The specific aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the host and their commercial home and its influences on product construction. As the hospitality product is more of a total sensory experience than has perhaps been acknowledged to date, it is appropriate to seek to understand the host perspective. Prior studies have very largely focused on readily accessible ‘objective’ issues, rather than below the surface issues accessing the inner self, the intangible dimensions of self, which may determine aspects of the hospitality product. The field research involved the researcher taking photographs of the commercial home properties and then using the photographs as prompts to interview the hosts and explore intangible elements such as memories, emotions and senses. A conceptual framework was developed from the data, identifying the main components of the host home relationship, and was revised as each commercial home was analysed. The framework is divided into three sections; Home, Host, and Business. In relation to the Home section themes that emerged include, Meanings of Home, Décor, and Artefacts. In relation to the Host section, themes include Family and Lifestyle. With regards to the Business section, themes include Feelings, Space, Guests, Performance, Target Market, Tourist Board and Competitors.

Abu-Dhabi (AD) is the largest of the seven Emirates that comprise the United Arab Emirates. Abu-Dhabi, the capital of the UAE with 1,493,000 inhabitants, accounts for 86.7% of the total surface area of the state. The emirate of Abu-Dhabi, through its Policy Agenda 2007-2008, the strategic Plan 2008-2012 and the Plan Vision Abu-Dhabi 2030 has recently re-branded itself and has made a series of assertive moves in order to boost the tourism and hospitality sectors as a means to a more diversified economy. The proposed study aims to examine the scope of accommodating alternative forms of hotel developments in the Abu Dhabi Emirate. Ultimately, the goal of the study is to evaluate consumers' decision making process with respect to the emirate's effort to tap into new markets by investing in various types of accommodation establishments. A major part of my research has concentrated in the use of stated preference discrete choice modelling (SPDCM) in the area of hospitality management. This is because understanding the basic drivers of tourists' choice patterns in terms of their vacation accommodation is at the heart of consumer behaviour in the hospitality sector (Mattila 2004). In practice, the empirical investigation has revealed that price, aversion to risk and quality matters are probably the 3 most significant factors driving individual preference patterns for the hospitality sector currently. When evaluating respondents' stated preferences for future or hypothetical managerial initiatives in the hospitality sector, the analysis identified particularly strong preferences towards more integrated and holistic types of advertisement and communication. At the same time, it appears that respondents value quite significantly their privacy and security of their personal space. This piece of finding from the elicitation of their stated preferences is a way confirms earlier findings regarding aversion to hotel security risk from the analysis of respondents' revealed preferences. The analysis of respondents' stated preferences also identified very strong and positive preferences towards superior 5* hotel developments in AD. This point alone could suggest a number of things. First, this piece of evidence, similar to the case presented above, confirms respondents revealed preferences from the descriptive analysis as far as the significance of quality matters on travellers' choice patterns. Second, it rather indicates that respondents have already developed an image of top – class destination (or probably a luxury type of destination) for the Emirate as a whole. In turn, this could imply that policy makers at a destination level, as opposed to a resort or a hotel level should make sure that the Abu Dhabi Emirate does not lose this comparative advantage. Compared to neighbouring Dubai that has not been promoted as a luxury but affordable destination but where one visits mainly for shopping destination, Abu Dhabi is perceived as the luxury destination alternative that offers a 'once – in – the – lifetime' experience. Finally, further analysis also focuses on the examination of visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travellers in Abu Dhabi Emirate, as a separate case of tourism demand at the destination. The empirical results indicate that VFR travellers to Abu Dhabi illustrate considerable heterogeneity as far as their duration of stay, their gender, their age structure, their educational attainment and the income classification. The empirical results suggest that policy makers and planners should take advantage of the current scale of values (culture and religion) as well as economic reasons in order to attract more VFR visitors at the destination. This is mainly due to the large European and Asian communities currently established in Abu Dhabi.

The issues of ecotourism development in Malaysia, which could benefit the local communities in remote areas, were rarely mentioned in the federal government’s tourism policies. The issues that were mentioned are often limited to factors such as supplementing income in (eco)tourism activities which was regarded as a priority, but never beyond that. This was the dilemma in the early phase of the implementation in the 1990s of sustainable (eco)tourism development in Malaysia, particularly in the state of Sabah. This is a qualitative research approach or specifically case study approach based on the critical theory paradigm or perspectives. Two villages were observed in this research: namely Batu Puteh village and Sukau village. These villages are located in the floodplain of Lower Kinabatangan River. This area is an extremely important site for ecotourism in Sabah and/or Malaysia: especially through ecotourists activities such as river boating, jungle trekking and wildlife viewing. The local people generally known as “orang sungai” (the river people) have recently participated in many aspects of ecotourism activities such as tourist guides, conservation volunteers, tourist lodges workers, homestay providers etc. Thus the main issues for these villages are: to what extent does ecotourism development in Batu Puteh and/or Sukau village have positive and negative impacts on the socio-cultural life of the local community? How and why are the local communities involved directly or indirectly in ecotourism development? To what extent has ecotourism development increased the level of participation, and improved the standard of living of the local community? To what extent can ecotourism be considered a potential instrument for rural economic development and/or environmental conservation to achieve sustainable development in the destination areas? These issues will be explored thoroughly in this research.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / The purpose of this study was to determine the socio-economic impact of tourism on communities around the tourist destinations and tourist attractions, with specific reference to the Pilanesberg National Park and the specific impact it has on the communities around it. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used and 252 respondents responded positively by filling in questionnaires. Interviews were conducted with the Pilanesberg National Park management. The research findings reveal that the communities around the Pilanesberg National Park, specifically Mogwase, Moruleng, Ledig and Mabele-a-pudi are benefiting from the National Park through employment. Findings also indicate that the National Park is contributing positively towards the local economy of the area and the development of the communities. At the same time, however, the research findings indicate that the national park is impacting negatively on the local communities by contributing to the increasing cost of services.

By the 1990s a research base had developed articulating the principles of sustainability, but there remained a need for work which analysed the implementation process and the implementability of sustainability in particular policy areas. The Rio UNCED conference (1992) had articulated concerns that all levels of governance should operationalise the principles of sustainability into deliverable actions. Whilst critics (e. g. Galtung et al., 1995) have challenged the legitimacy of these global pronouncements, there was nevertheless an expectation that Local Agenda 21 (LA21) might facilitate transformational change within local governance, with local authorities and other key actors engaging in communityorientated policy making to establish priorities for sustainability. It is within the context of these considerations that this research formulated three main research aims: to establish the role of LA21 processes in operationalising the principles of sustainability at the local level in the UK; exploring the interaction between politicians, local government officers and community representatives. 2) to consider the capacity of the policy area of tourism to operationalise the principles of sustainability at the local level and thus provide evidence of the wider implementability of sustainability principles within local government. 3) to scrutinise the potential of the example area of cycle tourism to provide a model for sustainable tourism at the local level. Adopting a case study research strategy, three example local authority types were identified within the LJK sub-region of Humberside. The research project highlighted a spectrum of corporate responses to sustainability, ranging from non-participation in the LA21 process, to a 'Centralist' approach driven by a strong political commitment, and thirdly a community orientated approach with priorities for sustainability evolving within policy communities at the 'Periphery. Policy 'animateurs' were identified who were committed to the integration of sustainability principles within initiatives for tourism and cycling.

Following the loss of heavy, manufacturing industry in many industrial areas in the 1970s and 1980s, tourism has featured extensively in urban and wateriront regeneration policy because of its ability to generate substantial economic benefits to destination communities. There is now an extensive literature covering urban tourism and dockland regeneration, but visitors' perceptions of urban waterfront destinations and their on-site behaviour and d experience remain largely unexplored. Additionally, whilst there is now a substantial body of literature relating to tourism's economic impact at the macro level, less is known about tourism expenditure at destination and sub-destination levels.