The interest in heritage tourism is increasing at the same time as the price on flight tickets is decreasing. World heritage has been around since 1972 when UNESCO adopted the convention for protection and conservation of world heritage. Today they are mostly seen as global icons and excellent tourist attractions, making tourists travel from all over the world to crowd around them. But how much do the tourists actually know – and care – about the real purposes of which the world heritages are elected? This thesis aims to examine the relationship between wanting to conserve and protect a world heritage, but at the same time wanting to use it and make it available for tourists. This has been done through a case study on the world heritage of the hanseatic town of Visby and interviews have been held with several of the responsible stakeholders. The result of the study tells us about how the destination Visby see the world heritage as something valuable they want to conserve and protect, but they also see many opportunities for tourism development that either follows from, or is benefitted by, the world heritage status. A recurring view is the importance of having a living city with people not only observing, but experiencing and understanding the history and culture of the world heritage. The importance of sustainable tourism is also discussed since it is considered a key to enable tourism development and still ensure the persistence of the world heritage in Visby.

The need to develop tourism and diversify as well as redirect the Nigerian economy away from crude oil as the sole foreign exchange earner is overwhelming for several reasons. Not only does tourism hold huge capacity to forge effective backward and forward linkages with the rest of the economy, it has proved to be a significant foreign exchange earner and a major source of employment and income in many developing countries. Given Nigeria’s many tourist attractions, tourism has the potential to attract huge internal capital investment as well as foreign direct investments necessary to enhance tourist infrastructure provisions and services. This is particularly so in rural areas given that most tourist attractions in Nigeria are rural based, and where tourism development can become a catalyst for rural development particularly where tourism is developed within the tenets of sustainable development. Presently, Nigeria’s tourism industry is rudimentary, undeveloped, and suffers from chronic shortages of infrastructure as well as supporting and enhancing institutions. In particular, the lack of awareness and appreciation for landscaping in particular, and the environment in general, has compounded the problems of tourism development in Nigeria. This research is motivated by the desire to understand the structure, conduct, and performance of the tourism sector in Nigeria and emphasise, amongst other factors, the significant role landscaping could play in the desire for sustainable tourism in Nigeria. In conducting the research, a mixed methods research approach was employed using the sequential strategy of quantitative survey; followed by a qualitative data gathering method using interviews. These were conducted among tourism stakeholders within two geopolitical zones in Nigeria, namely, the North-central and the South-west. This approach was informed by the pragmatic philosophy adopted by the researcher, which allows the triangulation of methods in order to come up with a more comprehensive and complementary results on the focus of this research. Data obtained were critically analysed using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSSx) and Nvivo8 software. The research identified setbacks which have prevented sustainable tourism development in Nigeria. Also is the need for the beautification of the attractions through landscaping as well as the provision of tourism infrastructures. The implication of the findings is that if landscaping is not made the centre of tourism policy, tourism is likely to fall short of expectation. A conceptual framework for the way forward was suggested based on the outcome of the analyses and two regression models developed and presented the roles landscaping could play in sustainable tourism and in Nigeria economic diversification. If implemented, the suggestions should provide a solid basis for redressing the current pitfalls in Nigeria’s tourism landscape.

Tourism does not operate in a predictable and mechanistic environment and is influenced by unpredictable circumstances. Influences include underlying values and perceptions keeping the system unpredictable and dynamic. Tourism that utilises natural resources is exposed to the additional unpredictability of natural changes and activities and/or decisions of other stakeholders. Tourism research generally adopts reductionist approaches and has not effectively understood tourism as a stakeholder within a complex system of stakeholders. Reductionist approaches have led to interpretations of sustainable tourism development being highly focused and sector specific limiting understanding of the complex systems in which tourism operates and resulting in narrow perspectives. To understand underlying elements influencing the system, a new paradigm is required.

Tourism is promoted by the governments of many developing countries because it offers the potential for creating jobs, thus generating income for the country and revenue for the government. However, the tourism industry can also be viewed as a destructive force, associated with negative externalities such as the loss of natural landscapes, congestion, and environmental and cultural degradation. These problems are more likely to be exacerbated where there is a lack of well-designed planning and effective management of tourism development. An essential component of any management of tourism is the ability to engage with, and get a positive response from, the tourism industry. There are a wide range of enterprises involved in providing tourist products and experiences, and in many nations, both developing and developed, a large number of these businesses are small and medium in size and tend to operate at a local scale. The informal nature of tourism enterprises in the developing world can make it difficult to spread awareness of tourism policy and to measure moves towards more sustainable performance on the part of the industry. Using the case study of tourism in the city of Hue, this thesis argues that it is essential to understand both what tourism enterprises know about sustainable tourism practice and policy and also how they respond to its adoption, if we are to more fully understand tourism and its links to sustainable economic development. Located on the central northern coast of Vietnam, Hue is well known for its cultural resources and natural beauty, and the province has become a major tourism centre in Vietnam. The city of Hue itself is recognized as having international heritage value and was listed as a world cultural heritage site by UNESCO in 1993. During the last decade, tourism revenues have increased by nearly 35% per annum, and Hue has made great efforts to both stimulate and cater for increasing demand for its tourism products and services. The Vietnamese government has introduced a number of policies designed to enhance environmental quality generally and, more specifically, to improve the sustainability of enterprises in the tourism sector. This thesis examines the degree to which tourism enterprises in the city of Hue are aware of the broad concept of sustainable tourism and of the specific legislation designed to influence the sustainability of their businesses. I examine the structure and make-up of the industry and then analyse whether characteristics such as size, ownership type and sectoral focus play a role in influencing awareness of, and response to, government policy. The research triangulates data-gathering methods: secondary data, literature reviews, semi-structured interviews and an enterprise survey are all used to gain insights into the core research questions. Each method feeds into and is strengthened by the others, and their combination (including 50 interviews and 180 survey responses) provides a robust data set to work from. The findings reveal that many of the firms operating in the Hue tourism industry are characterized by weak institutional practices, low financial capacity, poor facilities and a lack of broader awareness of policies that influence sustainable tourism practice. The tourism industry’s awareness of general sustainable development issues is low, and much business practice focuses on short-term rather than long-term perspectives. This limits the use of environmentally friendly practices by firms, especially small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), in their daily business activities. The study reveals that there is no significant variation in the adoption of sustainable tourism practices according to the size of enterprises, especially if the practices in question are simple and can be introduced with cost savings. However, as the cost and complexity of introducing environmental measures increases, we see a greater ability on the part of larger enterprises to adopt such actions – partly because they are in a stronger position to bear the short-terms costs of implementing such approaches. There are a wide range of factors that constrain the Hue tourism industry from adopting more sustainable tourism practices. Internal constraints such as limited financial and human resources are combined with external constraints such as increasing cost-based competition, the lack of enforcement of government policies, and limited awareness of sustainable tourism pracitces. All of these factors play a crucial role in shaping the actions of enterprises in relation to sustainable tourism practices and policies. The results of this study also point to the fact that government sustainable tourism initiatives that rely on ‘command-and-control’ approaches will have limited effect; instead, a variety of institutional economic instruments offer greater potential to overcome deficiencies in the ability of the market to drive tourism enterprises towards more sustainable business practices. The thesis also argues that it is important to develop approaches that can cope with the special challenges attached to management of sustainable tourism development in destinations that are dominated by SMEs. The thesis contributes to the growing body of theory and literature in sustainable tourism development and tourism-enterprise behaviour. It also makes an important contribution to our understanding of tourism enterprises in the developing world. In particular, the findings add an important layer of understanding to those attempting to develop a more sustainable tourism industry in Vietnam. Specifically, it provides policy-makers with important insights into the ways in which different types of tourism enterprises respond to initiatives that relate to improved business sustainability.

In this study environmental work in the Swedish hotel chain "Scandic" is investigated. Earlier studies point out sustainability and different environmental certificate programs as essential for the housing sector to contribute to sustainable tourism. The purpose and willingness to fulfill such a mission has been investigated by interviewing central actors in the hotel chain. The result shows that there is a desire to be part of environmental certificate programs mainly for the reason to be part of the system and not for the benefit of nature. Sustainable development is understood as being environmentally friendly. Different solutions to adapt and being more environmentally friendly is discussed. The results are connected with the perspectives of sustainable tourism and possible improvements in the housing sector are discussed. Svanen, who is a well-known eco-label in Sweden, is being discussed further on in this study. The eco-label represents a big part of the hotel chains environmental work and is therefore an important part to investigate further.   Keywords; Scandic Sustainable tourism, Sustainable development, environmental adaption, Svanen.

In the last thirty years, a large number of studies have researched the destination image that visitors, travel industry representatives, students, and general consumers have of tourist destinations. However, few studies have analyzed the perceptions that local residents have of their own countries as tourist destinations. Local residents can provide valuable information about their countries as tourism destinations and can help tourism marketers determine how to represent local culture in more authentic and sustainable ways. Local residents can also provide valuable information about how to improve tourism development based on their experiences living in the area. Residents can further provide information and services to visitors and are themselves an integral part of tourism at a destination. This study focused on understanding how destination marketing portrays the people and places of a destination and how residents perceive the visuals used in destination marketing and promotion. Using a visual qualitative approach, the study analyzed the images of recent promotional campaigns employed by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. The study then interviewed Puerto Rican residents regarding their attitudes toward tourism development in general and toward the specific imagery used in the campaigns. Overall, residents had rather positive opinions of tourism in Puerto Rico. They also had largely positive attitudes toward the visual imagery used to market the destination. However, they felt the portrayal was incomplete and did not reflect the modern way of Puerto Rican daily life.

Tourism development has been advocated for as a means by which to stimulate regional economic development in developing countries by international development agencies and governments seeking to transition from agricultural to industrial economies. First viewed as a purely private sector activity, tourism development planning was ad hoc or reactive to the demands of a quickly growing and highly dynamic industry. The externalities and negative impacts of rapid development and poor planning were quickly recognizable in small economies; high economic leakages, cultural encroachment, environmental degradation. When planning processes were undertaken, methodologies were derived from those of developed countries, proving not to be the most appropriate approaches to tourism development in lesser developed economies where administrative and structural capacities are weak or non-existent. Planning objectives also were heavily focused on physical requirements and financial outputs, all derived from identified market segments. Sustainable tourism development evolved from the recognition that the industry is dependant upon natural and cultural resources which must be preserved. Planning processes focus more on the capacity of these underlying resources, as opposed to simply meeting market demands for products and services. The integration of these resources as tourism amenities is furthermore thought to be crucial to sustaining the value of the tourism product. Nonetheless, sustainable tourism development planning is no better defined than its traditional counterpart. Implementation of planning processes, both traditional and sustainable, are challenging, especially in developing countries. This report seeks to identify fundamental differences in traditional versus sustaining planning processes for tourism in regards to vision, goals, objectives, strategies and performance indicators. The goals and objectives of sustainable tourism development are evaluated against national developmental indicators for socio-cultural, environmental and economic outcomes. A case study example is undertaken of the mass tourism destination La Romana-Bayahibe, Dominican Republic where, through the local private sector hotel association, the Interamerican Development Bank is funding the development of a “Sustainable Tourism Development Model”. An evaluation of the established goals and objectives is undertaken with the aim of identifying rational performance indicators for evaluation of the project’s impact. / text

Thesis (MTech. degree. Tourism and hospitality management) -- Tshwane University of Technology, 2013. / The purpose of this research was to analyse the community support for tourism in with specific reference to Ezulwini Valley. The research shows that, although some benefits have been identified, there remain many challenges in the Ezulwini Valley (EV). Since it is evident from various studies that community-based tourism brings more benefits for locals; more interaction is therefore needed between the locals and the government. Increased local involvement and participation will help to ensure that people are empowered and the conservation of natural resources takes place in Swaziland. The South African Government specifically indicated by means of the White Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism that responsible tourism should contribute to the sustainable development of Southern Africa. Economic, environmental and social guidelines should direct this type of tourism development and should encourage the involvement of the local communities through community-based tourism. The purpose of this research was to investigate the development of rural tourism in the Ezulwini Valley, analysing the involvement of the community in rural tourism, as well as identify potential unexploited rural tourism opportunities in the EV. The literature study revealed that the local community is not involved in making decisions concerning their environment and tourism development within their communities. The study also revealed a variety of possibilities that could contribute more to both entrepreneurial and employment opportunities for the local rural tourism communities in South Africa, and similarly for communities in Swaziland, such as the Ezulwini Valley. The target population in the study comprised of 200 questionnaires, and of these 177 or 88.5% completed the questionnaires. To clarify uncertainties resulting from the questionnaires that were used in the survey, an interview was conducted by the researcher with one authoritative person. The interview was with the director of the Swaziland Environmental Authority SEA), Mr. S.S. Vilakati. The objective of the interview was to prepare the questionnaire. The study includes a literature review related to community support for tourism in the Ezulwini Valley and a questionnaire. The questionnaire used includes open- and closed-ended questions. The target population is comprised by the residents of Ezulwini Valley. The majority of respondents agreed that they would support the community involvement (particularly by women) in decision-making. Respondents are also of the opinion that tourism is growing very fast in the Ezulwini Valley, in spite of certain inhibiting factors that require attention.

D. Tech. Tourism Management / South Africa is widely regarded as one of the best adventure destinations on the African continent. However, here and elsewhere, sustainability is a pressing issue in any tourism context. Therefore, adventure tourism destinations need guidance on the best ways to succeed and to be sustainable. The objective of this study was to propose a framework of indicators that are specifically formulated for sustainable adventure tourism. In order to achieve this objective, a literature survey of pertinent issues in this field was conducted, followed by an empirical study. Firstly, profiling of the destination (Waterval Boven) was conducted followed by determining respondents' knowledge of a number of pertinent iconic sustainable tourism organisations. Hereafter the sustainable tourism indicators were categorised into economic, social and environmental groups.

SANTRAUKA RAKTINIAI ŽODŽIAI: [darnumas, darni plėtra, darnus turizmas, ekoturizmas, kaimo turizmas] Skatinant darnumo idėjas Lietuvos visuomenėje labai svarbu vystyti tokias ekologiškojo turizmo šakas, kaip ekoturizmą ir kaimo turizmą, kurios Lietuvoje dar mažai šiuo metu plėtojamos, tačiau turi didelį potencialą. Tyrimo objektas – darnumas kaimo turizme ir ekoturizme. Tyrimo tikslas – išanalizuoti turizmo plėtros galimybes darnaus vystymo kontekste. Magistro darbą sudaro trys pagrindinės dalys. Pirmoje dalyje atskleidžiama darnaus vystymosi teorijos esmė, samprata ir pagrindiniai aspektai, įvertinamas darnaus turizmo daromas poveikis aplinkai, ekonomikai, kultūrai, bei išskiriami kaimo turizmo ir ekoturizmo pagrindiniai bruožai. Antroje dalyje pateikiama kaimo turizmo ir ekoturizmo raida pasauliniu bei Lietuvos mastu. Siekiama paneigti ar patvirtinti vieną iš iškeltų hipotezių. Trečiojoje dalyje pateikiami ir įvertinami tyrimų rezultatai bei pateikiamos išvados. Siekiama paneigti ar patvirtinti vieną iš iškeltų hipotezių. Hipotezę:„Kaimo turizmas Lietuvoje sparčiai auga, o tuo metu kitoje darnaus turizmo šakoje, ekoturizme jaučiamas nuosmukis“, reiktų laikyti dalinai teisinga. Augant kaimo turizmo šakai Lietuvoje, ekoturizmo šakos populiarumas auga taip pat. Hipotezę: „Lietuvoje kaimo turizmo sodybų savininkai vis labiau prisitako prie turistų poreikių, tuo pačiu perimdami turistų srautus iš ekoturizmo“. Ekoturizmas nusileidžia kaimo turizmui pagal turizmo paslaugos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / DYGLIENĖ, Raimonda. (2007) Sustainable Aspect in the Development of Tourism. MBA Graduation Paper. Kaunas: Kaunas Faculty of Humanities, Vilnius University. 95 p. SUMMARY KEYWORDS: [sustainable, sustainable development, sustainable tourism, ecotourism, rural tourism] When promoting ideas of sustainability in Lithuanian society it is very important to develop branches of the ecological tourism such as ecotourism and rural tourism that currently are less developed in Lithuania however posses a great potential. The object of research is sustainable in rural tourism and ecotourism. Purpose of the research was to analyze possibilities for tourism development in the context of sustainable development. This scholarly paper for master’s degree consists of three major parts. The first part reveals the essence, concept and the main aspects of sustainable development theory, assesses impacts of sustainable development on the environment, economy, culture, and distinguishes the key features of rural tourism and ecotourism. The second part presents evolution of rural tourism and ecotourism on the global and Lithuanian scale with the aim to deny or confirm one of the stated hypotheses. In the third part findings of the research are presented and assessed and conclusions are made with the aim to deny or confirm one of the stated hypotheses. Hypothesis that “Rural tourism is rapidly growing in Lithuania while in the other branch of sustainable tourism decline is experienced” should be... [to full text]