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A variety of econometric models have been created, including a travel cost model, contingent behaviour models and a contingent valuation model. Based on these models a “typical” day at Loch Lomond is valued at £20.53, with visitors willing to pay an additional £1.76 to fund environmental improvements. Looking at the particular environmental issues of noise, crowding and environmental damage, noise pollution appears to have the greatest influence on recreation enjoyment. Noise pollution is caused primarily by the use of personal watercraft (“jet-skis”). It was found that an asymmetrical conflict exists between jet-skiers and non jet-skiers. The research project reveals that there is no simple relationship between the perception of and reality of environmental damage. Although visitor perception of environmental damage often differs from actual levels of environmental damage, the relationship is complex. In terms of “real” environmental impact around the loch area, the visitor-induced environmental damage survey estimates that just over 9% of the loch shore suffers from severe environmental impact. Ecological vegetation surveys also confirm that recreation pressure is a statistically significant influence on the presence/absence of plant communities, but that this ecological impact is spatially limited to specific sites around the loch. Following on from both the perceptual and ecological results, policy and management implications are investigated and recommendations are provided – for example the implementation of a possible vehicle parking fee at various sites around Loch Lomond. It is suggested that recreational carrying capacity frameworks such as VERP should be applied, as they assimilate the ecological and social facets of outdoor recreation. An overall conclusion to the thesis is thus that a sustainable approach (framework) to recreation management, one that encompasses the perceptual and ecological dimensions of outdoor recreation, is the only way of maintaining the beauty and enjoyment of Loch Lomond – and, it is suggested, national parks world-wide – for present and future generations.

The aim of this research was to understand why some young talented dancers stay in dance training while others decide to leave. In order to meet this aim, commitment, adherence and dropout among young talented dancers was investigated in five studies using a multidisciplinary mixed methods design. Participants were from eight of the UK Centres for Advanced Training (CATs) in Dance, nationwide talent development schemes that provide high quality part-time training to young people aged 10-18 years. The first study was a review of the literature on talent identification and development in order to understand the nature of the cohort and the type of environment in which the young people trained. The second study investigated multidisciplinary characteristics of 334 students to gain a descriptive understanding of the participants. Thirdly, nineteen committed students were interviewed to understand their experiences in dance and reasons for staying in training from their own perspectives. In the fourth study, ten students who had dropped out from a CAT were interviewed about their experiences and reasons for leaving; this data was triangulated using demographic information gathered from the CATs. Finally, a set of multidisciplinary characteristics was used to predict adherence to the CATs in the fifth study (N = 287). Results revealed that commitment to the CATs was underpinned by enjoyment, social relationships with peers and teachers, the opportunities available on the scheme and parental support. Adherence was positively predicted by harmonious passion, a love of dance characterised by a flexible type of involvement, and negatively by ego-involving motivational climate perceptions. This means that students were less likely to stay in training if they perceived their learning environment to emphasise other-referenced learning, competition among peers, objective success and punishment of mistakes. The main reasons for dropping out of the scheme according to the participants were having conflicting demands, change in aspirations, course content, difficulty making friends, and lost passion. Injury, financial factors, low perceived competence, and teacher behaviour emerged as minor reasons. Younger students were more likely to cite course-related reasons for dropping out than older students, while older students were more likely to cite change in aspirations and lost passion than their younger counterparts. Although participants were involved in a talent development scheme, aspects of physical competence, as identified in the first literature review study, did not appear influential in adherence and dropout. Overall these studies address a complex and under-researched area in dance. Results indicate that commitment can be maintained or enhanced by maximising enjoyment and passion, minimising elements of ego-involving motivational climates, facilitating positive peer relationships, ensuring training incorporates appropriate challenge and encouraging parental support.

The aim of this doctoral thesis was to gain insight into ethical and responsible tourists, to understand their motivational values and to reveal the importance of these values in their holiday choice behaviour. This study has more than achieved this aim and makes unique contributions in several areas – not only has it extended what is known and understood about ethical and responsible tourist’s motivation but it has also underlined the utility of the values concept to understand their holiday choice behaviour. Further contribution derives from the application of the conceptual framework of the means-end chain theory (Gutman, 1982), which has enabled this study to explore the linkages between ethical and responsible tourists’ holiday choices, the perceived benefits of these choices and their underpinning values. This study has also found that, although useful, Schwartz’s (1992) value theory needs further modification if used within an ethical consumer context. Most notably, limitations have been found in the value types of power, achievement and hedonism when applied to ethical and responsible tourists’ holiday choice behaviour. Overall, this doctoral thesis has significantly advanced the tourist research agenda, not only by revealing the meaningful associations between ethical and responsible tourists’ values and their holiday choice behaviour, but also by providing crucial information on the specific values that prompt these holiday choices. From the key findings of this study, ethical and responsible tourists prefer to travel independently, perceive tourism to have the capacity to encourage inequitable relationships and understand how the tourism industry operates. They demonstrate sympathy for the principles of fair trade, with its emphasis on cooperation and partnership, and not only do they take active responsibility for sharing the economic benefits of their holidays they also want to make a lasting contribution to visited communities. Ethical and responsible tourists have a strong belief in their personal ability to facilitate change, not only by sharing their knowledge and experiences with family and friends but also because they believe their behaviour can demonstrate to others how to take an ethical or responsible approach to holiday choice. In addition, ethical and responsible tourists demonstrate a range of deeply held values including respect, responsibility and a duty of care towards both the planet and other people, the importance of sharing the economic benefits of tourism and a preoccupation with making sure their holiday choices are consistent with the values of equity, fairness and social justice.

By first detailing the religious, cultural and sporting heritage of Punjabi-Sikhs, the study focuses on how this sporting legacy of has been translated in Britain and how such translation has served to augment the perceived cultural traditions of British Punjabi-Sikhs. The inception of the Shaheedi Games tournaments and the proliferation of all-Punjabi-Sikh football teams are located within the wider phenomenon of post-war South Asian immigration to Britain. The first-hand oral testimonies of pioneering Punjabi-Sikh immigrants serve to script the narrative of the history and evolution of these tournaments. This work is also ethnographically informed through my association/interaction with a Punjabi-Sikh football club. The players/affiliates of this club provided a research environment and subject base allowing the investigation of their manifold identification with sport. The subjects of playing football and supporting professional football teams, along with the conspicuous absence of South Asians from top-flight professional football are used to highlight issues of racism(s) and the (re)negotiations of ethnic, cultural and regional identities. The Shadeedi Games tournaments are unique Punjabi-Sikh sporting/cultural events that have profound significance for Punjabi-Sikhs. The themes/principles of the carnival inform the discussion/exposition of these tournaments and point to their assumed counter-cultural motifs. This thesis aims to disavow uncritical conjecture that denies South Asians a diverse and prominent sporting pedigree/prowess. By uncovering and exploring the Punjabi-Sikh history and experience of sport, this thesis illustrates how this specific British South Asian community has an established, accomplished and multifariously dynamic identification with sport.

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Merleau-Ponty suggests that a non-dualistic understanding of embodied being must start from a theory of embodied practice. This allows us to think in terms of a body-subject, rather than seeing the body as object, and thus to consider embodiment as the basis of subjectivity and intersubjectivity. Further to this, I contend that if we are to truly move away from dualism in our understanding of human being, we need not only to conceptualise embodiment adequately in philosophical terms, but also to engage with lived embodied practice. This thesis ‘fleshes out’ embodiment theory through an approach which brings Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy into conversation with the experiential accounts of professional contemporary dance practitioners, accessed through in-depth qualitative interviews. In bringing together a philosophy (Merleau-Ponty) which is rooted in the notion of embodied practice, and an embodied practice (contemporary dance) which both grounds and is grounded in philosophically interesting themes such as subjectivity, identity, intersubjectivity, expression and communication, this conversational method allows mutual illumination and opens up a new conceptual space for the exploration of the embodied basis of being. This project therefore emphasises the seeking out of links and common ground between the two interlocutors rather than offering a reductive critique. The conversation between philosophy and practice covers four main areas where the dancers’ reflections on their (embodied capacities for) practical knowledge, subjectivity, intersubjectivity, and representation are explored in relation to Merleau-Ponty’s conceptualisations of the corporeal schema, intercorporeality and flesh [la chair]. It is argued that this conversational approach functions to open up a space which lies in-between the traditional dualisms of mind and body, philosophy and practice, and theory and data, and allows me to develop and explore new ideas, connections, perspectives and understandings of the embodied basis of being that a different methodological approach would not have facilitated to the same extent.