As bird-watching gains popularity, there have been various techniques utilized by tourism planners to attract birdwatchers. One method of drawing birders to a specific region is through the development of a birding trail. Although there are many birding trails with varying levels of success, there was little research as to how birding trails should be designed, implemented and managed. Perhaps, a new and viable approach to birding trail development would be to plan them as tourism product clubs. A product club is an association of tourism service providers working together to deliver an integrated service. Product clubs have been successfully implemented in Barbados with golf tourism and in Spain with winery tourism. However, the concept of a product club has never been applied to bird-watching tourism. Therefore, this research tested the idea of utilizing the product club concept for bird-watching tourism. The methodology had three separate phases. Phase one involved interviewing officials of existing tourism trails, to see how they planned and managed their trails. These interviews illustrated how and what is involved with tourism trail planning and management. Phase two involved the choice of a case study location, the County of Essex and Chatham-Kent in Ontario. Phase three was planning the trail by forming an Advisory Committee consisting of key industry, non-government and government stakeholders. The Advisory Committee assisted with the following key decisions: trail size and scope, selection of birding sites, choosing accessory tourism service institutions, developing a product club oversight organization, marketing the product club, and the management, evaluation and monitoring of the trail. The thesis provides recommendations that can be used to implement a birding trail as a tourism product club. The research findings concluded that a birding trail can be planned and managed as tourism product clubs.

As bird-watching gains popularity, there have been various techniques utilized by tourism planners to attract birdwatchers. One method of drawing birders to a specific region is through the development of a birding trail. Although there are many birding trails with varying levels of success, there was little research as to how birding trails should be designed, implemented and managed. Perhaps, a new and viable approach to birding trail development would be to plan them as tourism product clubs. A product club is an association of tourism service providers working together to deliver an integrated service. Product clubs have been successfully implemented in Barbados with golf tourism and in Spain with winery tourism. However, the concept of a product club has never been applied to bird-watching tourism. Therefore, this research tested the idea of utilizing the product club concept for bird-watching tourism. The methodology had three separate phases. Phase one involved interviewing officials of existing tourism trails, to see how they planned and managed their trails. These interviews illustrated how and what is involved with tourism trail planning and management. Phase two involved the choice of a case study location, the County of Essex and Chatham-Kent in Ontario. Phase three was planning the trail by forming an Advisory Committee consisting of key industry, non-government and government stakeholders. The Advisory Committee assisted with the following key decisions: trail size and scope, selection of birding sites, choosing accessory tourism service institutions, developing a product club oversight organization, marketing the product club, and the management, evaluation and monitoring of the trail. The thesis provides recommendations that can be used to implement a birding trail as a tourism product club. The research findings concluded that a birding trail can be planned and managed as tourism product clubs.

第一章緒論，介紹俱樂部財理論發展背景，並且定義俱樂部的正確範疇。第二章基于 個人效用函數相同之假定，以個體的觀點，用數學及幾何模型來探討說明俱樂部財的 最適提供條件及會員條件。第三章放寬個人效用函數相同之假定，而以整體經濟的觀 點，來探討分析比較與前章各項條件之異同。第四章則探討現存有關文獻的一些具爭 論性的觀點；並且評介歧視性俱樂部（discriminatary club ）與多財貨俱樂部（m- lti-product club）之模型。第五章則利用遊戲理論的觀點，來檢討俱樂部內及俱樂 部之間的穩定性問題。第六章結論，總結本文的觀點，並且提示未來可能研究之方向 。 本文研究的動機乃在于，俱樂部理論已蔚為經濟、財政理論之重要一環。其研究方法 結合福利經濟學、公共財政、遊戲理論。其本身可提供地方公共財、政治軍事聯盟、 公共事業定價．．．等之研究基礎，因此乃撰此文，期有助學術界瞭解俱樂部理論之 內涵。