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Thesis (MA)--University of Montana, 2009. / "Major Subject: Sociology" Title from author supplied metadata. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (PhD) -- AUT University, 2007. / Primary supervisors: Irena Ateljevic and Candice Harris. Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print ( 301 leaves ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 305.424563 ABR )

As a result of the rapid growth of tourism without planning and proper management, many island attractions in Thailand have experienced challenges and vulnerability leading to negative impacts. To handle with such effects, sustainability is considered an important notion in relation to tourism planning and development. Importantly, prior to moving tourism towards sustainability, it is essential to resolve existing problems affected by tourism through different stakeholders’ views and their involvements. This thesis is an examination of current tourism situation on the island of Koh Pha-ngan, Thailand. It categorises opportunities for, and constraints to, sustainable tourism development on the island, along with identifying the main variables of tourism sustainability relevant to island situations. Data from key stakeholders including tourists, members of the local community, tourism businesses and representatives of the public sector was collected via the form of between-method triangulation using qualitative and quantitative methods, then analysed through the uses of SPSS and NVIVO. The research indicates benefits and costs in three areas. Firstly, regarding economic characteristics, tourism benefits communities and improves the economy of the island. Simultaneously, the high cost of living on the island is caused by inflation. Secondly, in terms of the environment, although natural resources are partly damaged by members of the local migrant population, it remains largely unspoiled due to environmental conservation measures collaborated in by the stakeholders. Thirdly, for the socio-cultural structure, an improvement of infrastructure creates better living conditions for the residents. However, tourists influence socio-cultural features, particularly in the younger residents. Concerning opportunities for sustainable tourism development, these relate to the conservation of natural resources projects collaborated by all stakeholders on the island, an increase in employment opportunities, and out of season business opportunities on the island. However, a lack of tourism planning and management is considered a major constraint to sustainable development on the island. In addition, tourists, family businesses, migrant workers, and the full-moon parties contribute to sustainable tourism development as the main variables. These outcomes generates recognition on how responsibility in tourism for a destination to fulfil an integrated balance of guidelines for sustainable tourism development with the intention of making satisfaction and distribution of benefit and opportunities for all stakeholders on the island, whilst maintaining the environment and conserving the identity of the indigenous population.

This research explores the dynamic interplay between self-organised tourism planning and formal, linear and institutionalised tourism governance structures in the Santa Elena province, Ecuador. Complexity theory provides a framework and a language to understand actor-led, non-linear, bottom-up, and highly contextualised self-organised planning efforts that can change the future of tourism destinations amidst unstable and changing tourism governance conditions.

The purpose of this research was to analyse the content and context of tourism stakeholder management in Negara Brunei Darussalam and to investigate stakeholder views on tourism management, planning and development. The author attempted to identify the web of stakeholders as perceived by the main key groups of players in the tourism industry in the months leading up to the sultanate's first ever 'Visit Brunei Year 2001'. In addition, she attempted to investigate the underlying causes of ineffective tourism management in Negara Brunei Darussalam, which operates under a strict Malay Muslim Monarchy ('Melayu Islam Beraja' or'MIB') system of governance and national philosophy. Many hold the view that developing the tourism industry in Negara Brunei Darussalam is a necessary stepping-stone towards diversification from its dependence on oil and gas. However, very little effort has been made to educate the general community on its benefits and disadvantages. In addition, only a very select group of people are directly involved in its planning and development leading to conflict in the community. Little has been said about real community support of tourism development and on the impact it may have on its stakeholders. The present study has attempted to do this. Problems in tourism management, planning and development are expected to arise because of Negara Brunei Darussalam's inexperience in this field, lack of coordination and planning between government and private sectors; and, perhaps due to conflict between its MIB philosophy and the perceived negative nature of the tourism industry. Research was conducted in several stages from November 1999 to February 2001. Data collection from the fieldwork was elicited through questionnaires administered by four trained interviewers in all four districts in Negara Brunei Darussalam and through in-depth interviews with selected tourism stakeholders by the author. The author observed that key players of tourism were relatively unaware of the concept of community participation in tourism development and planning, as well as the identity of a wider range of tourism stakeholders. The community at large does support tourism development and planning and expectations for accrual of tourism revenue and benefits are high. Many in the private sector have voiced the view that the government should do more to give this industry a boost. Similarly, the governmental body believes that a pro-active private sector is needed for sustainability of this industry. An alternative model to western stakeholder management is proposed that is applicable to this small Muslim sultanate.

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Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are claimed to provide businesses with a competitive advantage, to the extent of reshaping entire industries. In tourism, an information-intensive activity and the impact of ICT has been extensively documented at the industry, destination and business level. eTourism Capability refers here to the contribution of ICT to tourism business performance. Therefore, the work is based within the Tourism domain. However, its methods are mainly emerging from the adapted combination of previous research in business and eBusiness. Previous work has urged for the development of wide-angle studies, assessing the eTourism Capability of a destination. However, existing research addressing this issue, tends to place the focus on only one specific aspect of technology adoption, it is not sector specific and/or does not take into consideration the different levels of contribution to performance made by systems. In order to develop an eTourism Capability Assessment Framework for Scotland, and to provide the baseline for its strategic benchmarking with other tourism destinations, the work included an extensive literature review of Tourism and eTourism, developed of a conceptual framework. This supported the selection of key tourism industry stakeholders, i.e. the accommodation sector within the established context. An electronic questionnaire enabled the data collection. Through a mix of statistical techniques, the data treatment provided answers to the research questions, which related to the most suitable approach for ICT indexing in the accommodation sector, the level of contribution to performance by the different ICT elements, patterns describing the impact of business characteristics on ICT uptake, and the predictive models for this uptake. The results suggested the suitability of IT-based indexes for assessing the ICT uptake of this sector. Additionally, the results suggested important differences in the contribution that each system makes to business performance. This even varies across systems supporting similar business functions. Furthermore, the results emphasised the influence of the individual ICT on their own adoption, and suggested several dimensions to describe systems, which underlie the association between business characteristics and ICT adoption by the accommodation sector. These are compatibility observability, physical accessibility, verticality of systems and whether these support standardisation of processes across branches. Since the influence of business characteristics on ICT uptake seem to be system-specific, the predictive models are developed for each individual system. Finally, recommendations for further research have also been made.

This thesis aims to further understanding of networks in tourism. Specifically, it focuses on networking between small tourism businesses and its contributions to destination development. These networks are understood in terms of social, communication and exchange relations. The research is located within the context of contemporary debates regarding small businesses and networking. Within tourism, it can be located in wider research regarding destination development and community tourism. The literature review examines early sociological studies on networks, providing a background to small business literature on networks. Early research tends to be quantitative-driven whilst later research stresses the need for a greater cultural understanding of network phenomena. Within tourism development, there is a move away from rigid models based on physical expansion to ones which stress the socially constructed nature of tourism destination evolution. This is complimentary to the 'organic' nature of networks. Field research was undertaken using a methodology called interpretative anthropology. Data was collected in two destinations with differing levels of tourism infrastructure development. One was in Scotland and the other was in India, resulting in in-depth interviews with a total of 34 respondents. Participant observation was additionally used in the Indian context. Collective templates were developed from the data and presented in two main areas. The first provided a social background to the business community and the second illustrated business networking as an integrated part of wider social norms. These were then discussed in relation to social, communication and exchange networks and their contributions to destination development. Practical implications of the findings are identified in relation to business growth and tourism destination development. A key outcome is that less developed tourism infrastructure results in greater reliance on networking between businesses, whilst more developed infrastructure reduces direct business contribution. The former results in a more directly significant contribution to tourism destination development than in the latter. The key is to achieve equilibrium between horizontal and vertical network support, rather than a transition from informal to formal. A further significant outcome is the influence of destination size and social network density. This impacts on the nature and effectiveness of the tourism businesses' contribution to destination development. Destination size and social network density are also significant success factors when viewed from an internal destination perspective i.e. sub-communities and/or tourism sectors. These are identified as crucial to understanding and supporting tourism business communities. The community embeddedness of networks means smaller business communities have much greater control and regulation of their own members, and their contribution to tourism destination development. This is achieved through stronger social norms. Support agencies need to be aware of this when assisting business communities, with advice tailored accordingly.