This dissertation is concerned with the spatial dimensions of tourism and related physical planning issues, focusing on Greece. It explores relevant research in this area, analyses the structure of tourism at different spatial levels, and relates tourism's spatial structure to planning parameters. Within the W.European context, tourism's growth and spatial structure reflects a process of leisure division (tourism demand and consumption differentiation) attributed to (i) marked inter-country differences regarding socioeconomic, supply-attraction and accessibility factors, and (ii) the international organization of the tourist industry: the influential role of tour operators and airlines in controlling market size, price of the tourist product (TP), and transport links. Tourism's spatial structure in Greece is influenced by both endogenous and exogenous factors: (i) the country's socioeconomic development process, territorial structure and regional accessibility, and the organizational mode of the Greek tourist industry and relevant government policies (investments), and (ii) the way Greek regions are connected with the international travel system, and are affected by tour operations; the latter, building on existing locational advantages, and reinforcing development in "established" places. Physical planning, confined within a legalistic frame of restrictive measures, is weakly related to economic and sectoral planning; negatively affected by administrative-institutional constraints (inadequate planning system, legal-statutory frame, planning organization); ineffectively integrated into a planning process characterized by limited political commitment to, and social awareness and acceptability of planning action. The ineffectiveness of tourism and physical planning to influence endogenous or exogenous factors, underlying tourism's spatial structure, is evidenced by the absence of any substantial rapport between the kind of physical development taking place, and concurrent planning practices. The advanced "territorial profiles" and tourist policy proposals provide: (i) a methodological frame, conceptualizing tourism's organization on a territorial basis, for interrelating and integrating economic, sociocultural and physical dimensions in tourist development planning, and (ii) a planning guidelines-frame suggesting the main policy directions for TP and market restructuring, and for improving physical and tourism planning practice in Greece.

Ethnic tourism has emerged as a means that is employed by many countries to facilitate economic and cultural development and to assist in the preservation of ethnic heritage. However, while ethnic tourism has the potential to bring economic and social benefits it can also significantly impact traditional cultures, ways of life and the sense of identity of ethnic groups. There is growing concern in many places about how to balance the use of ethnicity as a tourist attraction with the protection of minority cultures and the promotion of ethnic pride. Despite the fact that a substantial literature is devoted to the impacts of ethnic tourism, little research has been done on how to plan ethnic tourism attractions or to manage community impacts of tourism. This research addresses the need for more research on planning for ethnic tourism by exploring the status and enhancement of planning strategies for ethnic tourism development. Drawing upon existing literature, a conceptual framework was developed and adopted to study ethnic tourism in a well-known ethnic tourist destination in China – Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. The research analyzes how ethnic tourism has been planned and developed at the study site and examines associated socio-cultural and planning issues. The framework is employed to compare and evaluate the perspectives of four key stakeholder groups (the government, tourism entrepreneurs, ethnic minorities and tourists) on ethnic tourism through on-site observation, interviews with government officials, planners and tourism entrepreneurs, surveys of tourists and ethnic minority people, and evaluation of government policies, plans and statistics. Economic advantages have been a driving force in ethnic tourism development. The government and tourism entrepreneurs are the main powers in developing ethnic tourism, but most of them are not ethnic members. Their administrative and commercial involvement in tourism strongly shapes the ways of staging, packaging and representing ethnic culture in tourism sites. Authenticity of attractions is not determined by the resource providers, the ethnic minorities, but is shaped by decisions of government and entrepreneurs. The commodification of ethnic culture and the production of cultural events and other tourist products are manipulated to fit the interests of business and political mandates. Minority people are usually marginalized or disadvantaged economically and politically because they have limited control over tourism resources and activities. Most minority people employed in tourism hold only low-paying jobs. The findings show that the production and commodification of ethnic culture is often accompanied by tensions among economic, political and cultural goals. Economic motives often outweigh other goals in tourism development. Thus, the balance between the use of tourism as a form of economic development and the preservation of ethnic culture should be addressed in tourism planning. More effective planning is required to mitigate negative impacts and to reinforce the positive aspects of ethnic tourism.

This study determines if participatory tourism planning has played a role in the creative destruction process on Salt Spring Island. This is important because it links together two bodies of literature that have formerly only been studied separately. Three objectives are identified. The first is to determine Salt Spring’s stage in the model of creative destruction. The second is to assess the role played by planning in the development of the Island. The third is to provide recommendations to ensure that the Island does not evolve any further along the creative destruction path. These objectives were met using a mixed methods approach. Data collection included two questionnaires (one for residents and one for tourists), semi-structured interviews with key informants, and content analysis of the local newspaper and planning documents. Results suggest that Salt Spring is in the stage of advanced commodification. This state has been achieved in the absence of any participatory tourism planning. The tourism planning that has taken place, has been motivated by a preservationist discourse. This partially explains why the Island has maintained its current position in the model of creative destruction. It is recommended that the tourism plan currently being developed include local participation and be used to create a policy to guide future development.

Ethnic tourism has emerged as a means that is employed by many countries to facilitate economic and cultural development and to assist in the preservation of ethnic heritage. However, while ethnic tourism has the potential to bring economic and social benefits it can also significantly impact traditional cultures, ways of life and the sense of identity of ethnic groups. There is growing concern in many places about how to balance the use of ethnicity as a tourist attraction with the protection of minority cultures and the promotion of ethnic pride. Despite the fact that a substantial literature is devoted to the impacts of ethnic tourism, little research has been done on how to plan ethnic tourism attractions or to manage community impacts of tourism. This research addresses the need for more research on planning for ethnic tourism by exploring the status and enhancement of planning strategies for ethnic tourism development. Drawing upon existing literature, a conceptual framework was developed and adopted to study ethnic tourism in a well-known ethnic tourist destination in China – Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. The research analyzes how ethnic tourism has been planned and developed at the study site and examines associated socio-cultural and planning issues. The framework is employed to compare and evaluate the perspectives of four key stakeholder groups (the government, tourism entrepreneurs, ethnic minorities and tourists) on ethnic tourism through on-site observation, interviews with government officials, planners and tourism entrepreneurs, surveys of tourists and ethnic minority people, and evaluation of government policies, plans and statistics. Economic advantages have been a driving force in ethnic tourism development. The government and tourism entrepreneurs are the main powers in developing ethnic tourism, but most of them are not ethnic members. Their administrative and commercial involvement in tourism strongly shapes the ways of staging, packaging and representing ethnic culture in tourism sites. Authenticity of attractions is not determined by the resource providers, the ethnic minorities, but is shaped by decisions of government and entrepreneurs. The commodification of ethnic culture and the production of cultural events and other tourist products are manipulated to fit the interests of business and political mandates. Minority people are usually marginalized or disadvantaged economically and politically because they have limited control over tourism resources and activities. Most minority people employed in tourism hold only low-paying jobs. The findings show that the production and commodification of ethnic culture is often accompanied by tensions among economic, political and cultural goals. Economic motives often outweigh other goals in tourism development. Thus, the balance between the use of tourism as a form of economic development and the preservation of ethnic culture should be addressed in tourism planning. More effective planning is required to mitigate negative impacts and to reinforce the positive aspects of ethnic tourism.

This study determines if participatory tourism planning has played a role in the creative destruction process on Salt Spring Island. This is important because it links together two bodies of literature that have formerly only been studied separately. Three objectives are identified. The first is to determine Salt Spring’s stage in the model of creative destruction. The second is to assess the role played by planning in the development of the Island. The third is to provide recommendations to ensure that the Island does not evolve any further along the creative destruction path. These objectives were met using a mixed methods approach. Data collection included two questionnaires (one for residents and one for tourists), semi-structured interviews with key informants, and content analysis of the local newspaper and planning documents. Results suggest that Salt Spring is in the stage of advanced commodification. This state has been achieved in the absence of any participatory tourism planning. The tourism planning that has taken place, has been motivated by a preservationist discourse. This partially explains why the Island has maintained its current position in the model of creative destruction. It is recommended that the tourism plan currently being developed include local participation and be used to create a policy to guide future development.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

This study examines the critical success factors of route tourism development. The aim is to provide a set to practical planning guidelines to assist the successful implementation of routes on a local level. Lessons are drawn from case studies of the Camino de Santiago in Spain, the heritage trails in Queensland, Australia, Hadrian’s Wall in the United Kingdom and of the Midlands Meander in South Africa. Routes are considered important because it demonstrated to be an effective vehicle for local economic development. The evidence of their positive impact on rural economies is confirmed throughout the case studies. It is argued that the successful development of tourism routes is not an exact science and emerging destinations often have many hurdles to overcome. Through an analysis of these four case studies, the study explores the elements of themed routes that constitute successful destinations and highlights the importance of planning, promotion and institutional development.

This thesis deals, as its subtitle indicates, with tourism on the neighborhood level. In it, I provide a comparative account of the recent history of tourism development in Berlin-Kreuzberg and Harlem, New York. Grounded in a discussion of the forces reconfiguring urban development as well as tourism in the advanced capitalist world, it examines how, by whom, and with what effects the two neighborhoods are re-imagined, re-constructed, and re-experienced as places to visit and explore; unburies the frequently omitted historicity of "slumming" and other niche tourism practices impacting so-called marginalized neighborhoods; elaborates upon the potential of tourism for socially equitable forms of neighborhood development and explores how the old face of tourism is being challenged by the increasingly complex and diverse realities of contemporary travel and leisure. Understanding tourism as a complex, dynamic system rather than simply an industry or process, the thesis pays particular emphasis to the need to rethink the way the demand side of tourism in cities is conceived and made sense of. Whereas tourism consumption in urban research has traditionally been framed as an altogether distinct activity, my research posits that distinctions between tourism and other forms of migration on the one hand as well as tourism and other forms of leisure and place consumption on the other hand have become increasingly blurred. This, I argue, not only brings about significant changes with regard to cities' tourism and leisure landscapes. Rather, I also find evidence that the increasing pervasiveness of mobility and tourism as well as its increased dedifferentiation, i.e. the blurred boundaries between tourism and non-tourism activities, also transforms meanings of place and space and raises important questions concerning several critical concepts in urban studies such as the notions of 'citizenship', 'community', and 'belonging' in the 21st century.

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

The purpose of this largely qualitative study was to develop a blueprint for planning and designing a staged-authentic heritage tourist attraction for small island nations. Data were gathered and analyzed in three phases. In Phase I, existing and potential supply, demand, and external variables associated with staged-authentic heritage attractions were identified, and a preliminary planning model and conceptual framework was developed. In Phase II, the model was refined. A blueprint containing seven major questions and 26 sequential steps was developed. In Phase III, the blueprint was tested using focus groups and an online tourist survey in the Caribbean region (Aruba) in order to determine the extent to which it could be useful to those responsible for the development of staged-authentic heritage tourist attractions. It was concluded that (a) the devised blueprint is appropriate and effective for planning and designing a staged-authentic heritage attraction for small island nations, (b) the seven questions and 26 steps developed to support the methodological flowchart ensure attention to essential activities and events in the planning and designing of a staged-authentic heritage attraction, and (c) continuous collaboration among all stakeholders is required in planning and designing staged-authentic heritage attractions so as to ensure commitment of those who would be contributors, supporters, and developers of the project. Implications for the use of the blueprint and for staged-authentic heritage attractions were offered. Also presented were recommendations for future research.