The diploma thesis deals with such terms as sustainable development and sustainable tourism. Theoretical part contains a brief description of basic terms and of sustainable development conferences. The practical part of the thesis is focused on Vysočina region, its description, possibilities of utilization of European subsidies. The end of the thesis is devoted to possibilities of application of sustainable tourism in the region

This thesis explores the impact of volunteer tourism on the international tourist engaging in volunteer work in South Africa. A staged methodological design is adopted in this research. The first stage provides conceptual clarification of the term volunteer tourism, using grounded theory. Then a quasi-experimental study was carried out to collect data from volunteer tourists undertaking community and wildlife (including conservation) projects in South Africa. It consists of a standardised web-based personality inventory (IPIP-NEO) completed prior to, post, and one to two years following the volunteer vacation to measure personality changes in 15 core traits. A control group was used to enhance the validity of the scientific method. Thereafter, personal interviews were conducted to gain insight into the volunteering experience and any resulting changes in the volunteers’ day-to-day lives. This study’s findings point to significant changes in seven traits; some of these traits have not been previously identified by the literature and therefore broaden our understanding of the impact on the tourist. Additionally, while confirming some of the changes found in other studies, the findings of this study also point to some significant contrasts. Many of the changes identified were evident in the volunteer’s daily lives through their ‘personal circumstances’, ‘behaviour’, ‘emotions’, ‘confidence’, ‘values’, ‘knowledge or skills’ and ‘attitudes’. The experiences which the volunteers attributed to their changes were: active, involved, responsible, participatory, immersive and interactive, and whether they met volunteers’ expectations; influenced by: age, gender, project type and length of stay. The findings address a number of shortcomings in the volunteer tourism literature by providing statistical evidence of change; a better understanding of how change appears in participants’ everyday lives; and identifies some additional elements that influence change in the visitor, adding to knowledge of Engagement Theory. These findings can therefore contribute theoretically; and practically to tourism marketing, program design and volunteer satisfaction.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (February 26, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Tourism and local economic development are closely linked. Tourism can have a constructive effect on local economy and may help balance some of the inequalities between different parts of a country. Thus, in many regions in the world, the tourism sector is accepted as one of the greatest sources of economic growth and job creation. In line with economic contribution of the sector, tourism policy has become an instrument for territorial development and for enhancing an area&rsquo / s opportunities. It appears that tourism in Turkey, which is a tourism country, developed rapidly especially after the 1980s and gained important competitive advantage in international tourism market by using her mass tourism (sea, sand, sun) potential well. In addition to mass tourism, Turkey also has a significant potential for alternative tourism in different regions. Although Turkey takes important tourism share in the world, in terms of tourism revenues and arrivals, it is not sufficient considering the potential. It is obvious that alternative tourism potential is not fully explored due to some obstacle faced in the tourism sector. Insufficient commercialization of natural resources such as geothermal, lack of adequate infrastructure for diversification and geographical expansion, lack of effective promotion and marketing activities are some of these obstacles. Particularly, having rich geothermal resources, thermal tourism has come to the fore as a type of alternative tourism in Turkey. Thermal tourism is a significant tourism type, which helps to improve people&rsquo / s health condition by providing a complementary therapy and also allows many recreational activities for the visitors. The aim of this thesis is to point out the crucial position of geothermal resources in the context of thermal tourism for their contribution to local economic development. In this context, the first chapter introduces the main aim and the research questions of the thesis and second chapter mentions the importance of tourism for local economic development. The third chapter explains importance of thermal tourism, which is given priority in the diversification of alternative tourism policy in Turkey, is discussed. Within this context, the thermal tourism policies determined by the 2023 Turkey Tourism Strategy and Thermal Tourism Master Plan are investigated as the main local economic development tool of regions, which are all rich in geothermal resources. In the fourth chapter, the direct and indirect economic effects of tourism considering the multiplier effect of tourist spending. The methodology selected for the case study, is mentioned in the fifth chapter. Finally, as a case study Termal District of Yalova will be analyzed in terms of employment data as well as investments in these regions in detail in order to understand the economic importance of thermal tourism at local and regional levels in the context of Thermal Tourism Master Plan.

This thesis analyzes tourism and tourism policy in Russia from Tsarist to post-Soviet period. In this respect the main focus will be on the post-Soviet period. The collapse of the Soviet Union negatively affected tourism and tourism industry in the country. Tourism and tourism industry found itself in an uncertain environment during the transition period. With the establishment of Russian Federal Agency for Tourism in 2004, tourism policies became more effective in the Russian Federation. This study discusses the implementation of tourism policies and efforts of the Russian government for transforming the country into a well known touristic destination of the world.

This research takes an interdisciplinary approach and includes aspects of applied geography, applied management, political economy, development studies, sociology and anthropology, in line with the tradition of progressive tourism studies. It seeks to resolve academic concern about the limited insight within existing bodies of knowledge into how sustainability and sustainable tourism development are conceptualised at a grassroots level by inhabitants and other stakeholders of tourism destinations (Redclift, 1987; Liu, 2003; Swarbrooke, 1999; Mowforth and Munt, 1998; Maida, 2007) and furthermore how these conceptualisations are shaped through expressions of political economy in a post-crisis context. The research aimed to evaluate how political economy and interpretations of sustainability affected post-disaster tourism redevelopment using the case study of Phi Phi Island in Thailand, which was devastated by the tsunami of December 2004. An interpretive philosophy informed the research design, in which primary data was gathered using an inductive mixed methodology. Methods included online research, comprising the design and operation of a tailored website to overcome geographical and access limitations; and offline methods such as visual techniques to monitor change and confirm opinions offered by participants of the research; in-depth face-to-face interviews with hand-picked stakeholders of Phi Phi's development; open-ended questionnaires with tourists; and extended answer Thai script questionnaires in order to overcome language barriers and present the 'Thai voice'. The primary data was gathered from April 2006-December 2011 including a period working at [information removed for anonymity purposes] University in Phuket (June-December 2006). Twenty-five themes emerged from the data, the most significant being the social impacts of tourism, environmental impacts of tourism, power relationships and future desires. It was found that the factor with the greatest influence over Phi Phi's development is the desire to develop the economy through tourism, and the philosophy underpinning the development is largely economic. The tsunami did not cause any significant reassessment of the tourism development trajectory, but served to uncover a range of conflicts and unlawful activity, resulting from powerful stakeholders pursuing their own interests and desired outcomes, in order to suit their own needs rather than those of the community as a whole. In terms of how sustainability is conceptualised by different stakeholder groups, it was found that the meanings attributed to sustainability in this context differ greatly to meanings elaborated within western ideological debates. Stakeholders' conceptualisations of sustainability were mapped against key debates within literature. How meanings differed between stakeholder groups was also examined and a definition for sustainable tourism development on Phi Phi was compiled encompassing a broad range of interests. The thesis provides a rare opportunity to see which political, economic and cultural factors shape the planning of tourism development and whether actual practice mirrors the principles of sustainability. For islanders, present needs are yet to be met and education was recommended to increase islanders' understanding of impacts and sustainability, as well as their skills and knowledge base to enable them to compete intellectually with the ruling elite and reduce dependence upon landowners and the mainland. Numerous authors have highlighted a relative lack of academic attention directly addressing the influence of political economy on achieving sustainability in post-disaster reconstruction (Klein, 2008; Hystad and Keller, 2008; Olsen, 2000; Bommer, 1985; Beirman, 2003; Faulkner, 2001; Glaesser, 2003; Ritchie, 2004). This work therefore extends existing academic debates and studies in a number of areas. In existing academic debates concerning the political economy of post-disaster reconstruction there is a trend towards 'disaster capitalism' (Klein, 2005: 3) or 'smash and grab capitalism' (Harvey, 2007: 32) and 'attempts to accumulate by dispossession' (Saltman, 2007a: 57). However, this did not occur on Phi Phi. Despite claims of a 'clean slate' being offered by the tsunami in developmental terms (Pleumarom, 2004; UNDP, 2005; Dodds, 2011; Ko, 2005; Nwankwo and Richardson, 1994; Argenti, 1976; Rice, 2005; Altman, 2005; Brix, 2007; Ghobarah et al., 2006; Dodds et al., 2010), this research provides evidence and explanation of why this did not and would never exist on Phi Phi, a finding that may be applied to other destinations in a post-disaster context. In response to Blaikie et al.'s (2004) concerns that vulnerability is often reconstructed following a disaster and may create the conditions for a future disaster, this work has extended discussions of disaster vulnerability through an adapted application of Turner et al.'s (2003) Vulnerability Framework. This meets Calgaro and Lloyd's (2008) recommendation that further longitudinal research is required in other tsunami-affected locations. This research refines their work to identify a detailed framework of vulnerability factors intertwined with factors of political economy, presenting a post-disaster situation that remains highly vulnerable and non-conducive to sustainability. This is in response to Hystad and Keller's (2008) recognition that there is a lack of long-term studies, which not only show how disaster has shifted the nature of the destination and tourism product, but also identify successful strategic processes and actions in disaster response. The strategic response has been analysed through an adapted Strategic Disaster Management Framework (Ritchie, 2004) to identify the shortcomings of the disaster response to comprehend how such a disaster has influenced tourism development and planning on the island, showing that this was a mirror opposite to how a disaster should be handled according to the literature (Ritchie, 2004; Adger et al., 2005; Miller et al., 2006; Olsen, 2000; Coppola, 2007; Faulkner, 2001; Baldini et al., 2012). The researcher draws on the notion of 'strategic drift' (Johnson, 1998: 179) and 'boiled frog syndrome' (Richardson, Nwankwo and Richardson, 1994: 10) to explain how host attitudes to tourism may increase vulnerability. Both these contributions can assist in identifying destination vulnerability and limitations in disaster response and recovery. Unlike the work of Dodds (2010) and Dodds et al. (2011), the aim was not to assess the practice and attainment of sustainability on Phi Phi; rather, it was to elaborate interpretations and conceptualisations of sustainability. An examination of development philosophy established how specific factors of political economy and relationships of a hegemonic nature influence the development trajectory of both Phi Phi and Thailand. Despite governmental rhetoric influenced by a strong 'sufficiency economy' hegemony led by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the observations of dependency theorists provide a better fit for the experiences on Phi Phi and present significant challenges for the pursuit of sustainability. The thesis posits that an effective response to the disaster and pursuit of sustainability are undermined by the political economy of the destination.

Tourism has emerged as one of the most dynamic sectors in many countries; as one outcome, it has generated widespread hope that this particular industry can bring prosperity to numerous developing nations. Conversely, there is substantial suspicion of its capacity to bring equitable benefits to the poor. A recent proposition is to strengthen the tourism-poverty nexus by placing tourism at the heart of poverty reduction strategies. This thesis explores the application of this new and relatively untested approach. It does so by conducting a case study of the impact of heritage tourism, a community-based and poverty-focused tourism initiative, implemented in Anse La Raye, the most impoverished rural community in the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. Obviously a single case study cannot justify sweeping generalizations, but it can perhaps serve at least to raise a number of useful policy questions that might also have some broader application.The findings reveal that poverty-focused tourism development initiatives can positively impact the lives of the rural poor, under certain circumstances. Some observable effects included the creation of useful community infrastructure, linkages of direct and indirect employment benefits and consequent income generation. Notwithstanding these successes, this limited research piece suggests that, despite their nearly exclusive and commendable focus on the livelihood of the poor, pro-poor approaches to tourism also have limitations [for example, seasonal and part-time employment, and leakages] and certainly cannot be regarded as a panacea for reducing poverty in any poverty stricken region. Nonetheless, it is believed that St. Lucia, at least, can learn from the experiences of Anse La Raye as it further refines its tourism development policies in quest of further development targets.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 628-649). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (February 22, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-49)

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-106). Also available on the World Wide Web.