No description available.

The primary goal of this dissertation was to gain a better understanding of individuals’ membership benefits preferences and attitudes toward donation programs in the context of urban zoo settings. The first objective of this dissertation was to provide a background on membership and donation related research in the context of zoos and other relevant organizations. Based on the review of literature, the second objective was to empirically examine, through two independent studies, zoo membership benefit preferences and attitudes toward a donation program. <div><br></div><div>Despite a wealth of knowledge in the literature with respect to zoo visitors, animals, exhibits, and related programs, little research has been conducted on individuals’ preferences for zoo membership benefit packages and attitudes toward donation programs. To fill the gaps in these areas, the first empirical study examined factors that influence current and prospective members’ decision-making when choosing a membership package at an urban zoo. More specifically, the study explored preferences for selected membership program benefits and benefit levels, as well as how these preferences varied among visitors grouped by key segmentation variables. The study findings suggested that price of membership package was the most important factor, followed by the discount on food and beverage and the proportion of membership fees devoted to animal conservation. As expected, the visitors who scored high on place attachment to the zoo were more supportive of the zoo and less sensitive to variations in the specific options included in the zoo’s membership package. <br></div><div><br></div><div>In the second study, attitudes toward a donation program at an urban zoo were examined. In particular, this study investigated subgroups’ differences segmented by their membership status, place attachment levels, and attitudinal positions. A two-dimensional/bivariate attitude approach was employed to explore potential differences among attitudinal position groups. The study findings indicated while most respondents held positive attitudes toward the donation program, zoo members and nonmembers did not differ significantly. The likelihood of joining the donation program was significantly higher for those in the positive dominant attitude group compared to those in the negative dominant and equally ambivalent groups. Additionally, a qualitative analysis revealed that many respondents were concerned about the cost or affordability of the donation program; and perceived the benefits of the program as a poor value.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Collectively, the two empirical studies provide useful insight for managers and professionals charged with developing membership and donation programs in zoological parks and other relevant organizations. The study results also suggest a number of potentially productive directions for future research in these areas.<br></div><div><br></div>

No description available.

Abstract Tourism has developed into an important field of economy in the northern sparsely populated areas of Finland. State bodies of different spatial scales continuously put efforts to foster tourism growth and tourism is viewed as a prosperous economic path for the future. The prevailing tourism development is resort-oriented, which has transformed rural geographies in the North. Critical tourism geography research highlights that such market-driven tourism development has negative social and environmental consequences. Thus, tourism change needs to be examined from a broader perspective than economic benefits alone. It is required that tourism economy serves people and not vice versa. To increase sustainability in destination localities, collective economic agency in destinations is encouraged in tourism research and development. To date, tourism research has tended to draw on multiple, often contradicting, theoretical perspectives in an attempt to clarify how collective agency in tourism destinations should be best organized in order to foster social justice and ecological sustainability. The aim of this thesis is to understand how sustainability can be facilitated through local economic relations in resort-oriented destination development contexts. Sustainability discussions in tourism research are advanced by drawing on economic geography and its critical takes. The thesis consists of three studies that each examine sustainability in tourism destinations from a different viewpoint. The thesis first examines how (un)sustainability currently manifests in local economic relations and then discusses what changes are required to move towards more sustainable tourism futures. Ethnographically oriented case studies and a contemporary variant of the grounded theory method enables approaching tourism economies from the perspective of everyday tourism realities. The empirical part of the research is conducted in the Ruka and Ylläs destinations in the Finnish North. Insights were gathered by semi-structured in-depth interviews with local tourism actors in 2012 and 2015. The study introduces a poststructural political economy approach to sustainability transformations in tourism destinations. The less growth-focused economic thinking that exists in destinations is brought to light. Tourism actors’ motives and aims can differ drastically from the rationales of growth-focused tourism destination development that dominate in networked tourism governance. Many of the tourism actors desire conservation of natural and cultural environment in destinations. This creates conflict between the coexisting tourism paths. In the thesis, it is argued that economic difference in tourism should not be conceptualized merely as a source of diversification of tourism supply and thus as beneficial for destination growth; it should be recognized as political agency in tourism economy. Tourism networking is already now often value-driven, and this needs to be encouraged. That is, transformative agency for tourism change can be gained and new tourism paths created also through incremental changes ‘from below’, not only via policy actions. To contribute to the critical (economic) geography research on social and economic change, this thesis highlights that it is central to understand not only what new economic futures look like but also how to work towards them in everyday politics. Although the alternative and critical voices are valuable as they accurately state a socially just view of how things ought to be, these voices may not be the best way to bring about a change. This is because power hierarchies are not easily recognized in everyday tourism work. Each actor interprets the social from their subjective point of view. Even actors with the most power can have personal experiences of powerlessness. Thus, to foster change, it is necessary to facilitate the transformation of the existing conflictual inter-group relations. Dialogical everyday politics could work as a means to foster understanding of different groups’ tourism realities and their mutual influence. Conflict could be regarded not solely as an innate feature of capitalist economic relations but also as moments where mutual understanding can be facilitated. This is a way to establish local economic relations that enable community building. Destination sustainability touches not only firm-level practices but the mode of economic organization in tourism destinations. The thesis highlights that to advance social justice and environmental sustainability in destinations, destination development and planning should account for the possibility for a less growth-focused destination development path. As alternative tourism paths do not, as a rule, depend on new, large-scale tourism construction, they would likewise not foster growth in international tourist numbers and air travel. This unconventional view on economic path creation is to be encouraged as it is better in line with climate change mitigation needs and critical sustainability theorizing. / Original papers The original publications are not included in the electronic version of the dissertation. Kulusjärvi, O. (2016). Resort-oriented tourism development and local tourism networks – a case study from Northern Finland. Fennia 194: 1, 3–17. https://fennia.journal.fi/article/view/41450 http://jultika.oulu.fi/Record/nbnfi-fe2019103136035 Kulusjärvi, O. (2017). Sustainable Destination Development in Northern Peripheries: A Focus on Alternative Tourism Paths. Journal of Rural and Community Development 12:2/3, 41–58. https://journals.brandonu.ca/jrcd/article/view/1466 http://jultika.oulu.fi/Record/nbnfi-fe2018051524148 Kulusjärvi, O. (accepted). Towards just production of tourism space via dialogical everyday politics in destination communities. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space.

<p>In many ‘Third World’ societies tourism is seen as a force for economic development and socie-tal change. Employment in tourism has increased, new destinations have been drawn into tour-ism circuits, and many ‘Third World’ governments have adopted ‘pro-poor’ tourism policies as part of their poverty reduction strategies. However, the tourism sector appears to be particularly volatile and can be subject to dramatic fluctuations, both in terms of volumes and tourists’ des-tination choices, which means that people working in tourism are exposed to globalising forces and preferences far beyond their control.</p><p>The aim of this study is to explore the contents and meanings of work within tourism as narrated by formal and informal tourism workers in an urban backpacker enclave in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The study is concerned with the ‘receiving end’ of international tourism, and specifi-cally with the experiences of people who make their livelihoods within the low-budget tourism sector, in which ‘Western’ backpackers are key actors.</p><p>In this study the tourism phenomenon is seen from the context of global asymmetrical power relations, but social relations at the local level in Yogyakarta city are given centre stage. The social relations that constitute the Sosrowijayan area as a place are complex. While back-packers come to Sosrowijayan in search of cheap tourism facilities, the general public in Yogya-karta construct the area as the centre of prostitution in the city. However, the inhabitants of Sosrowijayan draw boundaries between people and places in very refined ways.</p><p>These boundaries are gendered in the sense that above all female sex workers are blamed for the negative perceptions of the area. They are constructed as ‘outsiders’ because of their ‘deviant’ lifestyle and ‘choice’ of occupation (social class) and because they are said to be migrants from other areas in Indonesia. In Sosrowijayan boundary constructions also take place between male tourism workers who claim allegiance to different groups and categories within their profession or livelihood niche. They make distinctions between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’; the ‘insiders’ are born in the area, while the ‘outsiders’ are narrated as being from other parts of the city, or the country, and/or engage in sexual relations with Western tourists.</p><p>The study shows that relations of class, gender, and colonial and/or ‘race’ stereotypes come into play in encounters between tourists and tourist workers. Tourism workers consider themselves to be ‘providers of fun’ which means that they are supposed to meet the needs of the tourists, whatever those needs might be, such as material or sexual. In this relationship the Indonesian tourism workers might be interpreted as the racialised service class that make the backpacker-consumer possible. The study also shows that tourism workers in Sosrowijayan are not only immobile in comparison to the highly mobile backpackers from whom they earn their livelihoods, but also that they are at the receiving end of a type of mobility which is initiated and performed far beyond their control.</p>

In many ‘Third World’ societies tourism is seen as a force for economic development and socie-tal change. Employment in tourism has increased, new destinations have been drawn into tour-ism circuits, and many ‘Third World’ governments have adopted ‘pro-poor’ tourism policies as part of their poverty reduction strategies. However, the tourism sector appears to be particularly volatile and can be subject to dramatic fluctuations, both in terms of volumes and tourists’ des-tination choices, which means that people working in tourism are exposed to globalising forces and preferences far beyond their control. The aim of this study is to explore the contents and meanings of work within tourism as narrated by formal and informal tourism workers in an urban backpacker enclave in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The study is concerned with the ‘receiving end’ of international tourism, and specifi-cally with the experiences of people who make their livelihoods within the low-budget tourism sector, in which ‘Western’ backpackers are key actors. In this study the tourism phenomenon is seen from the context of global asymmetrical power relations, but social relations at the local level in Yogyakarta city are given centre stage. The social relations that constitute the Sosrowijayan area as a place are complex. While back-packers come to Sosrowijayan in search of cheap tourism facilities, the general public in Yogya-karta construct the area as the centre of prostitution in the city. However, the inhabitants of Sosrowijayan draw boundaries between people and places in very refined ways. These boundaries are gendered in the sense that above all female sex workers are blamed for the negative perceptions of the area. They are constructed as ‘outsiders’ because of their ‘deviant’ lifestyle and ‘choice’ of occupation (social class) and because they are said to be migrants from other areas in Indonesia. In Sosrowijayan boundary constructions also take place between male tourism workers who claim allegiance to different groups and categories within their profession or livelihood niche. They make distinctions between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’; the ‘insiders’ are born in the area, while the ‘outsiders’ are narrated as being from other parts of the city, or the country, and/or engage in sexual relations with Western tourists. The study shows that relations of class, gender, and colonial and/or ‘race’ stereotypes come into play in encounters between tourists and tourist workers. Tourism workers consider themselves to be ‘providers of fun’ which means that they are supposed to meet the needs of the tourists, whatever those needs might be, such as material or sexual. In this relationship the Indonesian tourism workers might be interpreted as the racialised service class that make the backpacker-consumer possible. The study also shows that tourism workers in Sosrowijayan are not only immobile in comparison to the highly mobile backpackers from whom they earn their livelihoods, but also that they are at the receiving end of a type of mobility which is initiated and performed far beyond their control.

The management of congestible recreation resources has been based largely on the concept of satisfaction. This concept is poorly defined and often does not reflect objectives for management of recreation resources. One way of addressing these problems is to define and use measurable objectives for management of recreation resources. One such objective is economic efficiency. The concept of efficiency is defined and economic theory developed to identify efficient allocations of congestible resources, the efficient capacities of resources under different allocation mechanisms, and the efficiency costs of use of lottery-based allocation mechanisms. The usefulness of this body of economic theory in allocation of backcountry recreational resources is addressed through investigation of ability to measure demand for congestible resources, and the problems associated with use of surrogate measures of demand. Theoretical models of efficient management of congestible resources cannot be applied with the current state of knowledge because existing non-market valuation methods are not able to identify Hicksian-compensated demand functions for congestible backcountry recreation. Use of Marshallian demand measures introduces the possibility of resource misallocations of unknown direction and magnitude.

New Zealand is internationally renowned for having some of the finest and most challenging trout fishing in the world. However, due to continuing development and angling pressure many fishing sites are showing signs of environmental degradation and over fishing. This trend is almost certain to continue into the future given continued population and economic growth. Understanding the determinants of site choice, preference heterogeneity and anglers’ substitution patterns is fundamentally important to fishery managers who have the difficult task of maintaining quality angling experiences on a number of fishing sites, managing angling pressure and maintaining license sales. Recent advances in simulation techniques and computational power have improved the capability of discrete choice models to reveal preference heterogeneity and complex substitution patterns among individuals. This thesis applies and evaluates a number of state-of-the-art discrete choice models to study angler site choice in New Zealand. Recreation specialisation theory is integrated into the analysis to enhance the behavioural representation of the statistical models. A suite of models is presented throughout the empirical portion of this thesis. These models demonstrate different ways and degrees of explaining preference heterogeneity as well as identifying anglers’ substitution patterns. The results show that North Canterbury anglers’ preferences vary considerably. Resource disturbances such as riparian margin erosion, reduced water visibility and declines in catch rates can cause significant declines in angler use of affected sites, and at the same time non-proportional increases in the use of unaffected sites. Recreation specialisation is found to be closely related to the types of fishing site conditions, experiences and regulations preferred by anglers. Anglers’ preference intensities for fishing site attributes, such as catch rates, vary across different types of fishing sites. This location specific preference heterogeneity is found to be related to specialisation. Overall, the empirical findings indicate that conventional approaches to modelling angler site choice which do not incorporate a strong understanding of angler preference heterogeneity can lead to poorly representative models and suboptimal management and policy outcomes.

Submitted by Marlene Santos (marlene.bc.ufg@gmail.com) on 2016-08-30T20:44:10Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Roberta Vieira de Oliveira Ramos - 2015.pdf: 6041505 bytes, checksum: 1312b8723c039bebd468790d3ff56589 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-08-31T13:16:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Roberta Vieira de Oliveira Ramos - 2015.pdf: 6041505 bytes, checksum: 1312b8723c039bebd468790d3ff56589 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-31T13:16:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Roberta Vieira de Oliveira Ramos - 2015.pdf: 6041505 bytes, checksum: 1312b8723c039bebd468790d3ff56589 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-06-22 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Humanity's constant search to know and understand the nature and its transformations leads us to questions and in-depth studies, especially listing the actions of Homo sapiens itself as a major modifier of the medium. In this context, we propose to investigate the tourism, with its social and environmental issues, limited and restricted to Rio Quente municipality (GO) through a comparison between the years 1990 and 2014. In addition to the permissive factor for economic development, tourism aroused the interest of scientists and geographers due to environmental impacts, forcing public and private managers to take responsibility and different postures. Thus, this work presents reflections considering the important concepts of Geography in the tourism approach and analysis of the environmental impacts of this activity. To this end, different stages were developed: literature searches, field and / or laboratory. Thus, it appears, at first, one of Tourism Geography literature; in a second time a review of the history of tourism; In a third step in a dialogue with the various authors dealing with the social and environmental impacts; and on the fourth time, we present an analysis of the perception of the human population on the Rio Quente municipality in this regard. Considering the peculiarity of the region, the tourist concentration on his unique place in Sector Esplanada and its great distance from the center and other districts of the city, it was decided to define the sector Esplanada as the main focus of the study. Tourism in Rio Quente municipality (GO), as analyzed, showed an exponential growth after the 1990 The increase in the number of tourists caused, hence the increase in public revenue from tourist activities in Sector Esplanada. This growth showed, however, various environmental issues and the transformation of the local landscape, especially in the sector in question who were the pillars of this study. The results obtained allow us to understand how the tourism phenomenon has influenced the new forms of appropriation and use of space, its commercialization, the willingness of the local culture and landscape. Further, the work allowed the identification of positive and negative impacts generated by tourism activity and turn to issues such as jobs, recreation for the local population, quality of life, income, among others. Therefore, the dissertation discuss the issue of tourism in this municipality goiano through the various concepts and the reality experienced by the native local population, serving as a reference, including, for improved management or actions to balance the identified environmental impacts. To extract relevant information when searching and studying the environmental and tourism issues, this dissertation added information regarding the concepts of geography, specifically, the positive and negative impacts that permeate tourism in Rio Quente (GO). This reflection involves, above all, the local human population, enabling the participation of citizens in the construction of the study, which contributed to the consistent thread of scientific reasoning, aligning it with the theoretical framework presented. The research presented here can only be considered an initiative, a tool and even a warning to the public and private agencies in Rio Quente municipality (GO) and surrounding with regard to the perception that local people have the their environmental projects in Sector Esplanada, to show their satisfaction or dissatisfaction, when comparing the application of economic resources in the 1990-2014 period. / A busca constante da humanidade em conhecer e compreender a natureza e suas transformações leva-nos a questionamentos e estudos profundos, mormente elencando as ações do próprio Homo sapiens como principal modificador do meio. Nesse contexto, propomo-nos a investigar o turismo, com suas questões socioambientais, delimitado e restrito ao município de Rio Quente (GO), através de um comparativo entre os anos de 1990 e 2014. Além do fator permissivo para o desenvolvimento econômico, o turismo despertou o interesse de cientistas e geógrafos devido aos impactos socioambientais gerados, obrigando gestores públicos e privados a assumirem responsabilidades e posturas diferenciadas. Assim, o presente trabalho apresenta reflexões considerando os importantes conceitos da Geografia na abordagem do Turismo e na análise dos impactos socioambientais dessa atividade. Para tanto, distintas etapas foram desenvolvidas: pesquisas bibliográficas, de campo e/ou de laboratório. Dessa maneira, apresenta-se, em um primeiro momento, uma da literatura da Geografia do Turismo; em um segundo momento uma revisão da história do turismo; em um terceiro momento um diálogo com os diversos autores que tratam dos impactos socioambientais; e, no quarto momento, apresenta-se uma análise da percepção da população humana no município de Rio Quente em relação ao tema. Considerando a peculiaridade da região, a concentração turística em seu único local no Setor Esplanada e sua grande distância do Centro e demais bairros da Cidade, optou-se por delimitar o Setor Esplanada como foco principal do estudo. O turismo no município de Rio Quente (GO), conforme analisado, apresentou um crescimento exponencial após a década de 1990. O aumento no número de turistas ocasionou, consequentemente, o incremento das receitas públicas provenientes das atividades turísticas no Setor Esplanada. Esse crescimento evidenciou, em contrapartida, várias questões socioambientais e a transformação da paisagem local, mormente, no Setor em análise que foram os sustentáculos do presente estudo. Os resultados alcançados permitiram compreender como o fenômeno do turismo vem influenciando as novas formas de apropriação e consumo do espaço, sua mercantilização, a disposição da cultura e da paisagem local. Ademais, o trabalho permitiu a identificação de impactos positivos e negativos gerados pela atividade turística e que se voltam para questões como oferta de emprego, lazer para a população local, qualidade de vida, renda, entre outras. Portanto, a dissertação discutiu a problemática do turismo nesse Município Goiano através dos diversos conceitos e da realidade vivenciada pela população nativa do local, servindo como referência, inclusive, para a melhoria da gestão ou ações para equilibrar os impactos socioambientais identificados. Ao extrair informações relevantes durante a pesquisa e por meio do estudo das questões socioambientais e turísticas, a presente dissertação agregou informações referentes aos conceitos da Geografia, especificamente, dos impactos positivos e negativos que permeiam o turismo em Rio Quente (GO). Essa reflexão envolveu, sobretudo, a população humana local, possibilitando a participação dos munícipes na construção do estudo, o que contribuiu para o encadeamento coerente do raciocínio científico, alinhando-o aos referenciais teóricos apresentados. O trabalho de pesquisa aqui apresentado pode ser considerado apenas uma iniciativa, uma ferramenta e, até mesmo, uma advertência para os órgãos públicos e privados no município de Rio Quente (GO) e circunvizinhos no que se refere à percepção que a população local tem dos seus projetos socioambientais no Setor Esplanada, ao mostrar sua satisfação ou insatisfação, quando se compara a aplicação dos recursos econômicos no período de 1990 a 2014.

Destination development has become a key issue in local and regional development. In particular, many governments recognize the industry's potential for fostering economic growth and development. The tourist destination is often conceptualized as a complex network with several levels of interaction – both networks of actors within the destination, but also networks linking it to its surrounding environment with potential and actual customers, other destinations, government bodies and so on. It is hence the assumption here that we cannot fully understand destination development in a particular community unless we have a good understanding of how the key stakeholders interact. By applying different network approaches that are based upon and united by a relational economic geography perspective to the study of destination development, we can widen our understanding of why some destinations struggle to survive and often decline, others maintain a threshold of success as tourist visiting areas, whereas there are still others, which exhibit a high level of competitiveness with local entrepreneurial milieus characterized by growth and long-term development. More generally, this thesis deals with a traditional core issue in economic geography, i.e., to explain what it is that makes a place or region characterized by growth and development. This thesis explores this issue, and expands our knowledge on the links between various types of network structures and growth in a destination context, as demonstrated by case studies of two successful tourism areas. These studies of the Swedish mountain resort of Åre, and of Icehotel in northern Sweden, explore relational destination development and the significance of tourism networks.