Tourism has the potential of leaving permanent footprints on the physical, cultural and economic environments of tourism destinations. Understanding and managing these footprints is paramount to understanding the industry, and to the successful management of the associated host-guest relationships. Research questions and objectives examine the concepts of tourism carrying capacity and tourism space to determine whether tourism development in Tofino, British Columbia has exceeded its limits of acceptable use. Data were collected through surveys directed to three stakeholder groups; local residents, tourism businesses and tourists. Data were analyzed using quantitative, qualitative and spatial means. The research found that tourism carrying capacity has not been exceeded for the business and tourist participants, but is divided within the resident stakeholder group. Perceived tourism space was similar for all participant groups, but some identified areas did not match the defined boundaries of tourism use set forth by the District of Tofino.

Nature-based tourism is proposed as a conservation strategy in both the developed and developing world, yet few empirical studies exist examining how the conservation process is achieved. An emerging nature-based tourism industry in Black River, Jamaica was studied to determine the factors involved in creating a symbiotic tourism-environment relationship. The tourism-environment relationship brings into play many stakeholders and at the local level these include the tour developers, conservation authorities, the natural environment, the host population and the visiting public. In this study, surveys of tour developers, conservation authorities and the host population indicate that Black River nature-based tourism is degrading the natural and host environment. To modify this outcome of resource degradation adequate administrative arrangements must be established to disengage the elite growth process in favor of a more equitable distribution among a majority of stakeholders. Surveys of the visiting public indicate satisfaction of this consumer group and provide detailed information to guide marketing and management strategies for further improvement of the tour product. Recommendations are presented to strengthen the link between nature-based tourism and conservation of the environment.

Since its introduction into mainstream society two decades ago, ecotourism has become an international phenomenon. Claimed by its proponents to endorse ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable travel to natural areas, ecotourism is in many ways the conceptual fusion of conservation and development. Yet, despite the optimism often associated with the phenomenon, the question of the degree to which it actually contributes to development, however defined, has become a controversial issue. Theorists and practitioners hold a variety of opinions of ecotourism, ranging from cautious optimism (Honey 2008; Ross & Wall 1999) to outright rejection (Carrier & Macleod 2005; Wheeller 2003). Unfortunately, research shows that the poorest of the poor generally bear the burden of ecotourism initiatives without receiving an equitable share of the associated benefits (Stem et al. 2003; Western & Wright 1994). In response, a sustainable livelihoods approach is proposed as a practical means of understanding the complex livelihood strategies employed by indigenous populations. While tourism research has often focused on the economic impacts of ecotourism initiatives, current livelihoods discourse suggests that the poor draw on a wide range of assets and incorporate a variety of livelihood strategies, in their pursuit of economic gain (Ashley 2002; Ashley et al. 2001; Bebbington 1999; Bennett et al. 1999; Zoomers 1999). This discourse is especially timely for pastoral populations living adjacent to protected areas in Kenya. Recent changes in government policy have promoted the subdivision of land for private ownership (Homewood et al. 2009; Leserogol 2005; Lamprey & Reid 2004), an unexpected transformation that has led to the adoption of ecotourism as a sustainable livelihood strategy. Informed by development theory, tourism theory, and property rights theory, the purpose of this research was to examine the effect of different land tenure regimes on the distribution of benefits accrued from various ecotourism initiatives, and how those benefits impact the livelihoods of the pastoral Maasai living on the periphery of the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Culturally-appropriate, participatory research methods were combined with the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework to document an indigenous perspective on livelihood sustainability. By adapting the conceptual framework to include cultural and historical capital, it served as a lens for viewing and identifying the culturally embedded meaning associated with the recent privatisation of Maasai property. These changes include: significant increases in income generated from ecotourism initiatives, an increased desire to cultivate land, an enhanced capacity for participating in the decision-making process, and greater diversification in local livelihood strategies. However, the empirical evidence also demonstrated that changing property regimes have led to the increased sedentarisation of these semi-nomadic people, resulting in modifications to their pastoral culture, reductions in their herd sizes, and the occasional obstruction of wildlife migratory patterns through the construction of permanent fences.

Certification programs have grown exponentially over the past decade to respond to the increasing demand for more green and sustainable modes of operation from the part of customers. These schemes can be used as powerful tools to assist in the conservation of natural, human and cultural resources, helping better protect popular tourist destinations for future years to come. However, despite their potential to help codify important principles such as ecotourism and sustainable tourism, certification programs are currently facing several challenges that are hindering their overall practices. Much of the present tourism literature has examined the environmental aspect of these programs and the monitoring challenges they are currently facing. However, little research has explored the socio-cultural side of certification programs even if current literature increasingly demonstrates the strong connection that exists between environment, community and local culture when aiming to properly develop tourism in host destinations. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the importance and feasibility of adopting socio-cultural criteria in existing certification programs as to achieve proper sustainability. This goal is attained by using a qualitative research approach and by examining Green Globe certified hotels on the island of Barbados. The results of this research confirms that the culture, history, geography and/or policies of a tourist destination can shape and influence certification programs and their overall practices. This study also provided several examples of social and cultural actions that hotels could adopt, or have already adopted, demonstrating that it is feasible for certification programs to require tourism businesses to adhere to socio-cultural criteria before achieving certification. Moreover, results revealed several benefits that the accommodation sector can gain by becoming environmentally, socially and culturally responsible. The main conclusion of this study is that socio-cultural practices are necessary components to properly achieve newer designations of ecotourism and sustainable tourism, and therefore, certification programs need to include and/or make mandatory socio-cultural criteria in their programs. It is hoped that this information can provide guidelines on how to further implement both environmental and socio-cultural criteria for both certification programs and the accommodation sector. Although this research revealed interesting information on the socio-cultural aspect of these programs, much remains to be examined on this matter and recommendations for future studies are suggested at the end of this thesis.

This thesis examines the implementation of tourism strategies in a rural community context. Applying public policy implementation theory to tourism research, this study investigates questions related to connections and collaborations between stakeholders, decision-making and inducing action and the relation between objectives in a strategy document and actual outcomes of a policy process. Two tourism planning strategies in rural peripheral communities of New Zealand�s South Island are investigated adopting a case study approach. While these strategies have in common their geographical and content foci, they differ in terms of commissioning agencies, stakeholder and community involvement, age, resource allocation and planning and implementation approaches. The strategies are four and eleven years old. One is a top-down strategy by a government agency, the other is the result of a community bottom-up process. Using a pragmatic methodical approach and applying a framework that incorporates the implementation environment including stakeholders and decisive events during strategy making, this research assesses the two cases individually and comparatively. Thus applying a non-linear framework and examining strategies that allow for an investigation of longer implementation timeframes, this study overcomes long-standing issues in this type of research. It fills a gap in the literature as it is the first comprehensive analysis of tourism plan implementation to employ public policy implementation theory in one coherent case study approach. The methods applied in this study include semi-structured interviews as well as content analysis of strategy and policy documents, internal documents such as minutes of meetings and newspaper articles. Starting with strategy makers and �key implementers�, a snowballing process was used to identify further interviewees and to also follow the policy process as perceived by the main actors in it. This combination of methods allowed for a discovery of the policy story; it assisted a process-oriented investigation of tourism plan implementation while at the same time providing factual information and verifying stakeholder statements through triangulating interview results with the content analysis of documents. Overall, for both the top-down and the bottom-up planning case, implementation was found to be dynamic and highly dependent on the actors at the grassroots level. Many critical stakeholders are volunteer community members who have little or no experience in tourism planning. Most actors are tourism operators or are otherwise involved with the industry. However, as some actors are not actively involved in the tourism industry but represent interests related to the protection of the social and natural environment, their views and actions have the potential to be anti-tourism development and therefore they evoke conflict. The two planning approaches do not differ significantly in terms of bureaucratic control and political guidance. Institutions such as, for example, district councils or economic development agencies, mainly impact on the availability of resources to plan and implement strategy goals. Whether or not goals are achieved therefore ultimately depends on the commitment and interest of all stakeholders involved. Other important factors for policy success are the stability of stakeholder relationships and the level of information and knowledge held by those stakeholders, particularly in situations where there is little support from agencies. This is evident where a stakeholder�s previous experience in community work and relevant know-how is considered an asset among the volunteers who are responsible for many of the projects. The potential for conflict and the necessity for implementers to �make do� with the funding, knowledge and information they have, accounts for high volatility of priorities and goals during implementation. Key findings that relate to both the tourism planning and the public policy literature refer to the similarities of implementation processes for top-down and bottom-up strategies at a grassroots level, the significant role and decisive influence that inexperienced volunteer implementers have in such settings and the high degree to which policy change takes place during such processes.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Geographical and Environmental Studies, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 378-402.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2003. / "Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Centre for Integrated Catchment Management, University of Western Sydney, April 2003" Bibliography : leaves 338-356.

Thesis (M.B.A. (Investec Business School)) - Rhodes University, 2008.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1995. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 287-313).

Bibliography: leaves 71-78. Prospects and challenges to ecotourism promotion are explored through a case study on Yakushima. Recommendations to national/local governments, the tourism industry, NPOs and local people are made forecotourism promotion in Japan