Local Authorities have a duty to promote the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of their communities. The study deals with the promotion of community involvement and other stakeholders by municipality in ensuring the tourism sustainability. The objectives of this research are to explain the theoretical analysis of the concepts: tourism and poverty alleviation; mechanisms and procedures to be used to encourage community participation in making tourism economically viable around Sedibeng District Municipality; results in economic benefits to business and host community and management of available resources and procedures. A random sample of thirty participants took part in the study. A questionnaire was used as research instrument for data gathering from the participants. Literature study was utilized to support the empirical research and to check implementation of legislation and regulations, regarding tourism management. It was discovered that municipalities may not be so capable of effectively addressing the role that tourism can play in poverty alleviation. As such, it is recommended that local government's existing mechanisms, resources and systems to manage tourism be reviewed to help promote a sustainable training programme. / MA, Public Management and Administration, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2011

The purpose of this study is to examine if the experience of whale watching can lead to increased knowledge of environmental problems. We also want to find out whether increased knowledge in turn could lead to changing environmental attitudes and behaviors. The theoretical framework consists of theories about sustainable tourism, ecotourism and responsible environmental behavior. The paper also has a section where previous research on ecotourism impacts on behavior and attitudes is discussed and subsequently addressed in the analysis section. Data has been collected through a case study where seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals who participated in whale watching. The results show that all respondents had greater knowledge of whales by their experiences, the degree of knowledge was due to respondents' prior knowledge. The respondents did not consider their attitude towards environmental issues has changed considerably by the experience or that it affected their environmental behavior. A number of conclusions were drawn from analysis of empirical data using the selected theories. It seems that it is easier to give people knowledge than to influence them to change their attitudes and it is particularly difficult to say whether the experience of a single ecotourism experience may impact deeply ingrained attitudes and behaviors. Overall, the results suggest that ecotourism experiences to some extent leads to the strengthening of participants' environmental awareness and thus increase their interest in participating in further ecotourism experiences. Through these circular effects, an increased environmental knowledge provided by ecotourism experiences in the longer term can help to develop more responsible environmental attitudes and behavior of individuals. / Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om upplevelsen av valskådning kan leda till ökad kunskap om miljöproblem. Vi vill också ta reda på om ökad kunskap i sin tur kan leda till förändrade miljömässiga attityder och beteenden. Uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk utgörs av teorier kring hållbar turism, ekoturism och ansvarsfullt miljömässigt beteende. Uppsatsen har även ett avsnitt där tidigare forskning kring ekoturismens inverkan på beteende och attityder diskuteras för att därefter behandlas i analysdelen. Uppsatsens empiri har samlats in genom en kvalitativ studie där sju semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med individer som deltagit i valskådning. Resultaten visar att samtliga respondenter fick ökad kunskap om valar av sina upplevelser, hur hög grad av kunskap berodde dock på respondenternas förkunskap. Respondenterna ansåg inte att deras attityder gentemot miljöfrågor förändrats avsevärt av upplevelsen eller att det påverkat deras miljömässiga beteende. Ett antal slutsatser har dragits utifrån analys av empiri med hjälp av valda teorier. Det verkar som att det är lättare att ge människor kunskap än att påverka dem att ändra sina attityder och det är särskilt svårt att säga om erfarenhet av en enda ekoturistisk upplevelse kan ha effekt på djupt inrotade attityder och beteenden. Sammantaget tyder resultaten på att ekoturistiska erfarenheter till viss del leder till att förstärka deltagarnas miljömedvetenhet och därmed också öka deras intresse för att delta i ytterligare ekoturistiska upplevelser. Genom dessa cirkulära effekter kan ökad miljökunskap som tillhandahålls genom ekoturistiska upplevelser i ett längre perspektiv bidra till att utveckla mer ansvarsfulla miljömässiga attityder och beteenden hos individer.

When tourism is growing fast it is important to develop it in a sustainable way which benefits the communities involved as much as possible. Homestay tourism can benefit local communities such as mass tourism has been widely criticized for failing to do. Homestay has shown to be successful as a tool for building sustainable tourism and contributing to locals involved in other countries. The concept has given hosts an opportunity to gain from their local resources. This gives the resources importance thereby locals preserve them. Although, there is a lack of studies on how the homestay concept can contribute to sustainable tourism development and how the concept is implemented in the Philippines. The aim with the research is to explore impacts of the homestay concept in sustainable tourism development through following perspectives: assess the social and economic impacts of having a homestay, identify motivational factors behind local peoples' decisions to put up a homestay, explore further ways of developing homestays in a developing country with focus on the central part of The Philippines. In the research, several challanges for implementing the homestay concept in a sustainable way have been identified and given suggestions on. The biggest challenge identified is that hosts do not have the skills and knowledge for the purpose of the homestay concept. The study argue that this challenge could be overcome by host-training to a large extent. This host-training should preferably be facilitated by the government, which in the Philippines has internal challenges such as reversed hierarchy and low commitment to overcome before being able to facilitate the homestays for a more sustainable tourism development.

Cette thèse se concentre sur la question de la détermination des prix des services touristiques et celle de l’évolution de leur qualité. La première partie s’intéresse aux canaux de distribution, en particulier aux incidences de la généralisation de l’usage des TIC sur leur mode de fonctionnement et les stratégies de prix qui y sont mises en place. Le premier chapitre dresse un état des lieux des évolutions récentes. Il met l’accent sur les modalités de tarification dynamique. Puis, le deuxième chapitre est consacré à l’analyse des offres opaques qui contribuent aujourd’hui beaucoup à l’activité des canaux alternatifs. Nous montrons que la diversification des modalités de vente opaque par un monopole n’est pas souhaitable en information complète, mais qu’elle peut en revanche améliorer les profits de ce monopole en situation d’information incomplète. La deuxième partie s’articule autour de problématiques liées à l’incidence de la montée des préoccupations environnementales sur la qualité et l’offre des produits touristiques. Ainsi, le troisième chapitre étudie théoriquement l’impact de la modification de la demande sur les stratégies d’offre des professionnels, dans un contexte de monopole, puis de duopole. Nous montrons comment une offre environnementalement responsable peut émerger, évoluer, jusqu’à évincer l’offre de produits traditionnels. Le quatrième chapitre part du cadre envisagé dans le précédent, en y adjoignant une population de résidents. La prise en compte des populations locales a deux conséquences : celle d’accélérer l’adoption de normes environnementales, mais aussi de limiter l’offre de services du tourisme. / This Ph.D. thesis focuses on tourism products pricing and quality evolution. The first part considers the impacts of ICT development on distribution channels, intermediation and pricing strategies. The first chapter identifies and analyzes prevailing distribution and pricing strategies. The focus is made on dynamic pricing models. Then, the second chapter focuses on alternative distribution channels, namely the innovative strategies of opaque selling. It analyzes the case of an intermediary in a situation of monopoly facing heterogeneous demand. Model results depend on consumers’ uncertainty levels. We find that when information is complete, the combination of opaque channelsis not profitable for the monopoly. On the opposite, in case of incomplete information, joint implementation of both systems provides the best results. The second part considers the influence of increasing environmental awareness on the quality of tourism products. In the third chapter, by adapting a demand-driven approach, in context of monopoly, and then duopoly, we explain the role of the industry in the adoption of environmental sustainability norms. We show, how sustainable tourism products emerge, evolve, and may even eliminate traditional products. Then, in the fourth chapter, based on the same theoretical core, we include another aspect of sustainability, which concerns interactions with local population. We consider how a population ofresidents influences the adoption of environmental norms. We show that taking into account residents’ actions leads the service provider to reduce its offer, and in most cases, to choose the sustainable solution.

M.Sc. (Environmental Management) / The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide and its role as a fundamental contributor to the economic sector cannot be understated. However, this growth has led to an increase in negative environmental impacts. The success of tourism rests on the quality of the natural environment where it has been developed. Therefore should the natural environment and its resources be damaged or destroyed, the very resource that attracted tourists is destroyed, and the tourism industry will eventually collapse. The worldwide drive toward sustainable development and the growth in environmental awareness has placed pressure on tourism ventures to measure and mitigate their environmental impacts. This study was initiated to investigate the current sustainable performance of two safari camps owned by Wilderness Safaris. The primary reason for selecting these specific camps, relates to the fact that they are situated on the boarder of one of the most sensitive environments on earth the Namib Desert, and therefore demand effective management in order to ensure environmental degradation is prevented. The study engaged in the development of a list of sustainable tourism issues and their associated indicators, to assess the current sustainability of the two camps. The research also aimed to formulate baseline data for future comparisons. The camp's current sustainability was determined by applying the selected sustainability indicators, to assess the camp's environmental, social and economic impacts on the surrounding biophysical and socio-economic environments. A cross-case analysis was then conducted comparing the results of each camps performance. The results were also compared to the company's group environmental minimum standards. This was done to provide Wilderness Safaris with an external verification of their camps current sustainable performance and to provide baseline data for future comparisons. The chosen set of sustainable tourism indicators provided a time and cost-effective means of assessing the current sustainable performance of the two camps. Site specific recommendations were made for each camp to improve their sustainable performance. Future studies conducted by Wilderness Safaris can use this study as a benchmark to compare the sustainable performance of their camps. In addition this study can also be used as a benchmark for comparisons by other tourism ventures in other developing countries around the world. The study contributes to the academic body of knowledge in the field of study surrounding the application of sustainable tourism indicators to measure and operationalize sustainable development of tourism ventures. Conclusions recounting the sustainable performance of the two camps are made as well as recommendations for further research.

Seal-based tourism in the Umeå archipelago Its possibilities and problems Marcus Vidberg Abstract Seal-based tourism is something that can be found throughout the world, including Sweden, which led to the question of why there is a lack of it in the region of Umeå. Studying the ecological conditions in the area has led to the conclusion that the Umeå archipelago has all the prerequisites for establishing a seal-based activity, meaning that there are more circumstances surrounding the possibilities of seal-based tourism. To fully understand the topic, one needs to study it from several different points of view, including the ecological, economical and socio-cultural aspects. There are a lot of different opinions surrounding the seals that need to be taken in to account before one reaches a conclusion. Furthermore it is also necessary to study the topic of tourism; globally, locally and its development. With a growing demand for nature-based tourism around the world, shouldn’t it be possible to establish a seal-based one in the Swedish north? The report also studies the already established operations throughout Sweden, to try to understand why the activities are located in some regions but not in others. The conclusion that has been reached in this report is that the ecological circumstances for a seal-based tourism exists in the Umeå archipelago, but a seal-based operation might find its biggest straits to be the economical and socio-cultural conditions.

This thesis deals with the concept of sustainable tourism development and application of this approach in Italy. The first chapter is devoted to the theory and explains the sustainability of tourism. The second chapter presents Italy as a tourist destination and its position on the international tourism market. The third part focuses on sustainable tourism and its form in Italy. The final chapter describes the most actual problems of Italian tourism and proposes possible solutions.

Tourism is an important force for sustainable development in many countries. It provides millions of jobs which, for some countries, entails an increased gross domestic product (GDP). Unfortunately, there are downsides of tourism as well, and work towards sustainable tourism is now a key feature of many travel organizations. To influence consumers into more sustainable behavior, organizations can use nudging as a tool. A nudge uses a specific psychological effect to guide individuals towards a predefined choice. Since many travel companies provide their products through digital environments, such as websites or apps, knowledge of digital nudging is mandatory. The aim of this study was to investigate how digital nudging could be used to encourage more sustainable decisions on a travel company website. How the digital nudges should be designed, and how digital nudging would be perceived by consumers were investigated. The use of existing guidelines for how to design digital nudges resulted in prototypes of a travel company's website including several digital nudges. The guidelines included four steps: define the goal, understand the users, design the nudge and test the nudge. The result showed several digital nudges that after some design improvements have the potential to influence consumers to make more sustainable decisions on a travel company's website. The result also showed that the majority of the consumers had a positive attitude towards digital nudging in this context, although this needs to be further evaluated. Further research is also recommended to assess which nudge that works best for a given choice situation.

Ao mesmo tempo em que o turismo é reconhecido como uma atividade potencialmente causadora de danos ao meio ambiente, motivando diversas pesquisas e ações que visam fomentar a sustentabilidade do setor, a imaterialidade permanece como característica amplamente aceita no entendimento da natureza dos serviços em geral. Nesse sentido, a pesquisa tem como objetivo discutir, à luz de teorias da economia de serviços, a materialidade dos serviços de hospedagem. Para tanto, utiliza se revisão da literatura e a estrutura analítica do conceito de ciclo de vida para abordar as entradas e saídas associadas aos aspectos ambientais do produto fornecido pelos meios de hospedagem. Foram considerados os estágios de produção e uso dos serviços de hospedagem. Assim, diferentes entradas e saídas associadas às fontes de materialidade desses serviços podem ser identificadas. As entradas são: consumo de energia, água, alimentos e bebidas, produtos de higiene pessoal, produtos de limpeza, produtos químicos, combustíveis fósseis e outros produtos. Já as saídas identificadas são: geração de resíduos orgânicos e inorgânicos, descargas de efluentes, emissões atmosféricas, emissões de ruídos e emissões de odores. Tais entradas e saídas decorrem do conteúdo material dos serviços de hospedagem, o qual se manifesta nos locais físicos de produção e na operação dos fatores de produção utilizados. Discutir a materialidade dos serviços e impulsionar um bom desempenho ambiental dos meios de hospedagem é parte importante de um contexto de promoção do turismo sustentável / While tourism is recognized as a potential cause of damage to the environment and motivates several researches and actions designed to promote the sector\'s sustainability, the immateriality remains a widely accepted feature in understanding the nature of the services. In this sense, the research aims to discuss, in the light of service economy theories, the materiality of the accommodation services. Therefore, the research uses literature review and the analytical framework of the life cycle concept to address the inputs and outputs associated with the environmental aspects of the product provided by the accommodation businesses. The stages of production and consumption of accommodation services were considered. Thus, different inputs and outputs associated to the materiality sources of accommodation services can be identified. The inputs are: consumption of energy, water, food and beverage, personal care products, cleaning products, chemicals, fossil fuels and other products. The outputs are organic and inorganic waste generation, effluent discharges, atmospheric emissions, noise emissions and odor emissions. These inputs and outputs are derived from the material content of the accommodation services, which is manifested in the physical sites of production and in the production factors operations. Discussing the services materiality and promoting a good environmental performance of accommodations businesses is important in a context of promoting sustainable tourism

This diploma thesis focuses on sustainable and responsible tourism in Šumava and the influence of the bad weather on sustainability in tourism in the Šumava National Park. The thesis is divided into two parts, a theoretical and a practical part. Positive and negative influences concerning tourism are explained at the beginning of the theoretical part. It further continues with characteristics of sustainable tourism, its principles, foundations, management and marketing. The last part of the theoretical part is focused on terms concerning responsible tourism and its principles. The practical part characterizes Šumava National Park and its relations with sustainable tourism. On the basis of secondary data, an analysis is conducted, which compares the influence of the weather on sales in tourism. The aim of the analysis is to establish the weather impacts on the economic outcomes. In the following part, the current portfolio of the available alternative tourist attractions during bad weather in the Šumava region is analysed. On the basis of the acquired results, tourism products are suggested. The products respect the principles of the sustainable and the responsible tourism. These are a network of the so-called shelters, a raincoat and a mobile application containing further information on the aforementioned products.