Destination Management Systems (DMSs) have had a chequered history, with only a few which have been perceived as successful. The habitual failure of DMSs and criticisms of the assumptions of the benefits accruing to Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMEs) from DMS representation must put a question mark over the wisdom of DMS developments. In 200l, the Wales Tourist Board (WTB) signed a $3 million contract with World.Net (an Australian company) to build a strategically focused DMS. This study aims to identify generic guidelines for the implementation of a successful DMS and to evaluate if the WTB has successfully achieved its intended aim of marketing the tourism businesses in Wales to a wider market through VisitWales - Wales' first DMS. The advent of the Web has created strategic opportunities and challenges for destination management organizations (DMOs) and persuaded many involved in destination marketing to implement DMSs and promote SMEs in their regions. The thesis explores a typology of DMSs, their funding models, their 'raison d'être', their development, the challenges they face and critical success factors. The literature review culminates with an organising framework enabling further exploration of DMSs operating currently in the different parts of the world. A research string of constructionism (epistemology) - interpretivism (theoretical perspective) - case study (methodology) is used to study the DMS phenomenon and to provide an understanding of different perspectives of key stakeholder groups using DMSs. Semi-structured interviews, document and website analysis, on-line survey, both participant and non-participant observation and discourse analysis, are used as tools for the development of the case study. Subsequently, discourse analysis has been used to go beyond the face value of what is said or written and enable a deeper exploration of the power structures and the political element influencing DMSs. The thesis examines some contemporary DMSs including visitsouthwest.co.uk, Tiscover.com, Purenz.com, VisitScotland.com along with VisitWales as separate case studies, focuses on their development and their perceptions of success and failure. The thesis presents generic guidelines for the successful implementation of DMSs. In attempting to explain why the majority of the DMS initiatives appear to have failed despite heavy investment, it suggests a wider political agenda influencing DMSs. It is concluded that success in implementing DMSs is attributable to a number of critical factors. These include: needs analysis, consultation, commitment of funding, co-operation of stakeholders, appropriate technology and investment in training. It is impossible to exclude the political element in the development of DMSs. Investment in DMSs is vested with a positive outcome as they are deemed to be effectively collaborating and distributing the fragmented SMEs, increasing both destination and SME competitiveness. However, this study challenges this view and recommends that a hard look should be taken at the financial implications and the political context within which they operate.

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This thesis explores national myths and tourism marketing in the postcolonial Chinese context, linking nation and nationalism studies with tourism studies. The symbolic foundation of a nation, its national myths and imagined common experiences has been challenged seriously by the increasing idea of heterogeneity, woven with fragmented, ambiguous and paradoxical discourses (Anderson 1991, Bouchard 2013, Foucault 1972, Özkirimli 2010). At the same time, tourism is increasingly recognised as a broader term related to social, cultural, political and historical understandings. In this sense, there is much more to tourism marketing than simply promoting a destination, as it has a “nationmaking” function. In this context, the thesis explores postmodern understandings of nation and examines how tourism transgresses boundaries. In particular, it discusses the symbiotic relationship between national myth-making and tourism marketing in the postcolonial Chinese destinations of Hong Kong and Macau. Both destinations are now Special Administrative Regions of the People’s Republic of China, following the handovers in the 1990s. This study analyses how their destination marketing in the subsequent years has discursively formed two unique imagined identities, based on their heritage and culture, different from and separate to China. The fieldwork for this qualitative inquiry was undertaken from August 2014 to February 2015 in Hong Kong and Macau. It combines semiotic discourse analysis of digital and print tourism promotional materials (in Chinese and English) with in-depth interviews with tourism stakeholders and cultural experts, in order to provide insights into different symbolic representations and their underlying power dynamics. The study demonstrates how Hong Kong discursively forms and enforces its national myths through demarking Chinese symbols. It also shows how Macau’s dependence on its more powerful neighbours of Hong Kong and China has determined its national myth of being “in-between”, defined in relation to China and Hong Kong. This study therefore contributes to conceptualisations of national myths and tourism marketing and suggests that tourism marketing not only reflects but plays a major role in nation-making processes.

The cultural practice of heritage is naturally and prominently about people. It is undeniably people who create, select, share, contest and construct heritage each and every day. Yet the hegemonic discourse of heritage currently disengages people from their past and reconstitutes our interactions with this past. The material realities of heritage are now selected, contested and represented for communities, by someone else. The authority of expertise and ancestry defines places for people, rather than defining those places with the people to whom they naturally belong, their communities. As such the topic of community engagement is increasingly important. As such this study identifies a clear and concerning dissonance between commercial and community views and perceptions of heritage in the destinations of Yorkshire and Huelva province. The purpose of this study was to identify any dissonance between the community and commercial voices behind heritage tourism destinations and any possible agency this has. The cross-cultural, qualitative and interpretivist approach to this research identified several consequences of the exclusion of these community voices when marketing and branding heritage tourism destinations. The outcome is a widening ideological gap between these two stakeholder groups. Consequently, the brand identity and destination product suffer as the value present in destination communities is not harnessed. This thesis argues that a greater understanding of the value of the community voice is required, and that heritage communities need to be included in the heritage destination marketing process. The findings of the thesis demonstrate that the dissonance between the community and commercial case study destinations studied here has direct implications upon both the community and commercial stakeholders of the destinations. The commercial implications are found to surround; word of mouth, friends and family, positive interactions and tourist perceptions. For the local community the agency of the dissonance has implications regarding the place attachment, place identity and place dependence. From the findings the model entitled “the key steps for community empowerment and engagement throughout the heritage destination marketing process” (Figure 21) has been developed. This was applied in the destination of Triguerors Andalucía, and is the central recommendation of this study for practitioners to apply and academics to study further.

This is an exploration of how an understanding of place, sense of place and belongingness is affected by place promotion. Case study research captures the unique experience of a town in Cornwall, part of a WHS and SSSI, geographically close to the tourist resort of St Ives,yet devalorised and with no appetite for regeneration or restoration. The approach to planning for place promotion demonstrates a balancing act between planned development and protection of the existing place image, identified as protective belonging.

This thesis provides an analysis and critique of the U.K. conference sector during the post-war period, in response to five hypotheses and research objectives. A pre-tested and piloted postal questionnaire was distributed to 3,000 U.K. conference venues that were drawn from secondary data sources, such as the Venue Directory. A total of 438 (14.6%) usable responses were returned. The research findings used quantitative analysis, with descriptive, explanatory, comparative and predictive research approaches also adopted. Holts linear and exponential smoothing was used to predict future trends. The literature review concerning the classification of the U.K. conference sector identifies that many of the typologies used over the last decade are often confusing and unnecessarily protracted due to sub divisions. This research forwards a typology comprising of four mutually exclusive classifications, namely purpose-built conference venues, hotels, educational establishments and visitor attractions all with conference facilities. This research identified many similarities and differences between the four venue classifications. Purpose-built venues initiated the U.K. conference sector during the 1950s. Hotels followed then educational establishments and finally the most recent are visitor attractions with conference facilities. Although purpose-built venues were the originators of the modern U.K. conference sector, growth rates from the other three venue classifications have, at one time or another exceeded that of purpose-built venues during the post-war period. Purpose-built venues were established in response to demand and were not initially economically focused, whereas the other three venue classifications added conference facilities to generate additional revenue sources and thus were economically motivated. The 1990s were the first decade in which over 37% of each venue classification opened their conference facilities, thus competition grew by over one third within the 1990s. The 1990s were also the most popular decade in which venues across the U.K. conference sector refurbished, with cosmetic changes such as upgrading furnishings and décor commonplace. Such refurbishments were undertaken to keep pace with customer’s demands, offering higher standards along with the need to modernise. Overall such refurbishments are viewed as a response to increased competition, cited by all venue classifications as a key issue encountered. Butler’s Lifecycle Model was utilised to explain the development of the U.K. conference sector, identifying that each venue classification has passed through its lifecycle at differing rates, with purpose-built venues having the longest lifecycle, but progressing through its lifecycle the slowest. Visitor attractions have the shortest lifecycle of the four venue classifications. Respondents perceive the future of the U.K. conference sector as positive, with increasing numbers of venues forecasted to open in the current and subsequent decade. Hotels conference venues still dominate the sector, although visitor attractions are predicted to experience the greatest levels of growth over the current and future decade. The majority of educational establishments and visitor attractions plan to refurbish in the future, whilst the majority of purpose-built venues and hotels do nWhere refurbishment is planned, cosmetic ch to furnishings and décor are commonplace, along wi iationdern conferquipnd hend safety i The majority ofe refurbiplannoccur wihe first half of the t . ll resps perceie fututerence sector totinued growth and increaseet----------------733b0988 Conisposifor;"c7_thesis phd ------------d3b0988ent-Dispositorm-data; name="c17_cre1" Wld -----------------------------7dab0988 ositiom-data; name="c17_creators_1_name_f -----------------7da1582a3b0988 CoDisposition: form-date="c17_creators__given" Junabeth -----------------------7da2031f3 Content-Disposition:data; name="c17_creators_1_name_fa -----------------------7da27c63 Content-Disposition: form-data; name="c17_creators_1_name_family"

With the emergence of the sustainable development paradigm in the 1980s and the growth of the travel industry it seemed inevitable that the two would coincide at one point or another. Emerging as a reaction to mass tourism and environmental destruction, sustainable tourism development is a combination of two main schools of thought; development theory and environmental sustainability. Once assumed to be a passing fad, two decades on the concept has gained widespread acceptance both within the academic circles and governments. Since the early 1990s, the sustainable tourism paradigm and its practical applicability has become the subject of much debate. Although it is widely acknowledged that sustainable tourism is impractical at macro level, it has long been thought that the principles of sustainable tourism development could be successfully applied at micro level. This thesis aims to contest this statement and demonstrate that small scale sustainable tourism development is just as unattainable. Drawing upon existing literature, it aims to weave together tourism and development theory and examine the links and discrepancies between the principles of sustainable tourism development and the wider framework of sustainable development. In doing so it reveals a number of fundamental weaknesses which undermine the viability of sustainable tourism development. In addition to examining the discrepancies and contradictions of the concept, the thesis also forms a link between the principles and practices of sustainable tourism development and a destinations area ‘life cycle’, thereby; providing a framework for its analysis. Using a sustainable tourism development cycle model (STDC), it will show how as a destination area passes through the various stages of tourism development it moves further away from the principles of sustainable development and consequently fails to meet the fundamental principles of sustainable development. Built upon and adapted from Butler’s (1980) ‘tourism area life cycle’ theory, the STDC model questions the sustainability of a tourism destination area and evaluates its progress in implementing the principles of sustainable tourism development as it evolves.

This research investigates Destination Management Organisation (DMOs) in China, and looks at their functions and their adoption of Performance Measurement Systems (PMSs). A two-stage questionnaire survey has adopted to achieve the pre-determined aims of the research. Finally, ninety-three DMOs took part in the first stage survey and thirty-four DMOs were involved in the second stage survey. The key findings from the research are as follows. (1) Irrespective of their nature and level, Chinese DMOs attached most importance to the functions of “economic-driver”, “marketing” and “coordination & collaboration”. (2) DMOs attached a second level of importance to the functions of “operator”, “administrator”, “statistics” and “training”; however, particularly at municipality and city levels; also Chinese public DMOs paid more attention to these aspects. (3) Chinese public DMOs, particularly at provincial and city level, placed more emphasis on the functions of “regulator” and “legitimacy”. (4) Chinese higher-level public DMOs paid less attention to the function of “public awareness”, “funding” and “international relations”, however they did performed much better than non-public lower-level DMOs to these tasks. (5) Chinese governmental DMOs at higher-level, and private DMOs, were the best at adopting PMSs in their organisations. (6) The PMSs of Chinese DMOs paid greatest attention to measuring the aspects of “visitor”, “earning” and “marketing”, and medium levels of attention to the aspects of “stakeholder”, “operation” and “event”, and relatively low attention to evaluating their performance of the aspects of “employment” and “innovation” in their organisations. Finally, a refined PMS model that could be adopted by Chinese DMOs in the future was developed at the end. Based on the above findings, the refined model aimed to measure the performance of “stakeholders”, “employees” and “customers” by assessing the outcomes of the aspects of “management” and “marketing” for Chinese DMOs. The refined PMS model was developed and based on the top-down operation system that currently existed in China and was supposed to pursue every major aspect of the system for each stakeholder in the DMOs.

The success of tourism, at a destination, is often accredited to the strength of its marketing; yet, the marketing environment is changing at a fast pace where developments in digital technology have had a profound effect on marketing strategies. Furthermore, the increased accessibility of long and short haul travel has resulted in greater competition for tourist visits among destinations. Such changes present a challenge for cold water island destinations with a seasonal tourism product and limited resources for destination marketing. The ability of such destinations to adopt target marketing strategies, using meaningful segmentation criterion, is of great importance for their future success. For cold water islands, it is vital that the promotional message resonates with the target audience, as such, an image segmentation is proposed. Although tourist segmentation is well practiced in tourism research, existing studies focus on socio-demographic or behavioural segmentation. Few studies have conducted image based segmentation, thus, this thesis explores the feasibility of image segmentation in cold water island destinations; using the Isles of Scilly as a case study. In this thesis image segmentation is used to develop a typology of visitors to the Isles of Scilly, and the intrinsic relationships between destination image, motivation, behaviour, evaluation and place attachment are also explored. Due to the difficulties in measuring image, a mixed method approach was adopted and a concurrent triangulation design employed. Quantitative data were collected from 500 ii respondents visiting the Isles of Scilly, by means of a face-to-face questionnaire, and a further 15 in-depth interviews formed the qualitative sample. Quantitative data were analysed using Exploratory Factor Analysis and K-means Cluster Analysis, while qualitative data were analysed using Thematic Content Analysis. The findings of this thesis revealed the feasibility of image segmentation, through the creation of a six-fold typology of visitors to the Isles of Scilly. Both theoretical and practical implications were derived from this study. The most significant theoretical contribution of this research is that offered to the understanding of image segmentation, as this is the first study conducted in the context of cold water islands. Theoretical contributions were also made with regard to the intrinsic relationships between destination image and motivation, behaviour, evaluation and place attachment. While findings of this study agreed with those of past research, valuable contributions are also offered. Notably, this study adds to a body of work relating to the relationships between complex image and motivation, on-site behaviour, evaluation and place attachment. Additionally, this study adds to tourism knowledge, where the role of on-site behaviour in the formation of positive image, and the influence of participation in special interest tourism, on the formation of destination image are identified. Furthermore, practical recommendations are provided in relation to marketing of the Isles of Scilly where lucrative image segments are identified. Finally, through the understanding of destination image, this thesis proposes seasonal marketing campaigns and the development of special interest tourism, with a focus on wildlife, in order to successfully promote and develop tourism in the Isles of Scilly.

The effect of globalization is recognized as the impetus which is forcing places to compete globally. Place marketing approach is an alternative for places to attract their target markets. Review on past literature indicates sustainable competitive concept is a possible solution to handling problem of place competition. The gap in knowledge indicated by rare studies on sustainable competitiveness implies the need to identify factors that describe sustainable competitive places. The sustainable competitive concept is explained through the assessment of the roles and the relationships among factors of place sustainability, place competitiveness, place attachment, place satisfaction, and place loyalty. Conceptual model of sustainable competitive factors demonstrates the relationships of these factors. Quantitative technique based on samples of two medium-sized Malaysian cities provides usable data on residents’ perception of the sustainable competitive factors. Variance based Structural Equation Modeling reveals the conceptual model’s explanatory power and predictive capability to explain sustainable competitiveness of places. The findings mark the importance of place attachment in explaining sustainable competitive places. Economic and social factors are the main components of place sustainability, and quality of life is the main component of place competitiveness. The findings reveal place loyalty as the main factor that influences sustainable competitive place. Inconsistencies in the conclusions of previous studies suggest that they fail to notice the aspect of attachment as an important predictor in investigating place - human relationships. Implications of the thesis findings are given to policymakers.