Tourism in cold and cool-climate regions is largely characterized by recreational and sightseeing activities at water-based natural attractions such as beaches, coastal cliffs, and waterfalls. While the economic benefits of the tourism industry can contribute to a sustainable future for these regions, the environmental implications of a hastilydeveloped industry cannot be ignored given that cold-climate and cool-climate landscapes are at risk of rapid environmental change from a warming climate and other environmental concerns. This study consisted of the development of the Tourism Impact Index for Water-Based Natural Sites, the first of its kind, and its application and refinement in the field at various water-based natural tourism sites in Iceland and the Washington Olympic Peninsula. As no direct precedent for the index exists, the creation of the initial index draft was informed by other environmental indices available from the literature in related disciplines. The index contains 44 visually-assessed indicators, each scored on a scale of zero to three regarding potential severity of environmental impact. As the index was applied throughout the two study regions, improvements were incorporated into the design so as to create a well-validated product that may be shared with tourism managers and developers and with researchers to aid in the continued expansion of literature on tourism-environment interactions.

Disertacijoje teoriškai pagrįstas turizmo vadybos studentų socialinės kompetencijos modeliavimas, empiriškai patikrintas turizmo vadybos studentų socialinės kompetencijos modelis, kai akcentuojamos universitetinio ugdymo tendencijos ir problemos,įvertintas universitetinių studijų turizmo vadybos studentų socialinės kompetencijos lygis, parengta turizmo vadybos studentų socialinės kompetencijos modeliavimo schema. / In the dissertation tourism management students‘ social competence was substantiated on the theoretical basis, model of tourism management students‘ social competence was empirically tested focusing on tendencies and problems of university education, tourism management students‘ social competence level was evaluated in university studies, scheme of tourism management students’ social competence modeling was framed.

The primary goal of this study was to construct and test a Community Relations Model (CRM) that may be implemented by policy makers, tourism planners, tourism managers and tourism developers as they develop tourism policies and manage the social impacts of tourism. Five objectives were derived from the primary research goal. The first objective was to analyse the social impacts of tourism by means of a literature study. This was achieved by examining the theoretical perspectives, framework and models for assessing host community perceptions of social impacts of tourism. In this regard, it was found that the social impacts of tourism are an integral part of sociology. Therefore, the social impacts of tourism may not be successfully addressed without drawing on the methods and perspectives of sociology. This indicates clearly that there is a relationship between sociology and other social science disciplines, particularly tourism management. The host communities' perceptions of tourism may be positive or negative and are critical in policy planning and management because they affect the behaviour of the residents toward the tourists. The second objective was to analyse the role of the community by means of a literature study. This objective was achieved by examining the role of the government, the private sector and the community in managing the social impacts of tourism. It was found that the main roles of the government are to facilitate, coordinate, plan and promote development of the nations and tourists products. The private sector's roles are to invest and promote tourism as well as the country. The community should actively participate in tourism management by seeking partnership opportunities with the stablished private tourism sector, voluntary groups and NGO's. Although the community is expected to playa vital role in the management of tourism, it was found that their actual involvement depends on their awareness of tourism activities, on how they perceive tourism developments and their involvement in tourism related issues. The third objective was to determine the components to be used in order to develop and test the Community Relations Model (CRM). This objective was achieved through both literature and qualitative analysis. Evidence from the literature and qualitative analysis indicates that the Katse community is unquestionably affected both positively and negatively by tourism developments. It was also clear that effective management of social impacts of tourism may be achieved through collaboration and partnership with the government, the private sector and the community. The stakeholders should work together in order to encourage the positive impacts and ameliorate the negative impacts. The community should be involved and made aware of tourism developments in their respective areas. Both the literature and qualitative study revealed the six community relations components: namely, the positive impacts, negative impacts, the role of government, the role of private sector, community awareness and community involvement that, were used to develop a measuring instrument for Katse residents. The fourth objective was to construct and test the CRM based on an empirical investigations. The CRM is intended to guide tourism planners, managers and policy-makers in managing the social impacts of tourism. To achieve this objective, nine research hypotheses were proposed and tested. The sample of 500 Katse residents was drawn from the household population of four villages: namely, Ha-Lejone, Ha-Poli, Ha-Mikia and Mphorosane. A combination of stratified and convenience sampling approaches were used for sample selection. Data was analysed with the aid of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). SPSS with AMOS 16 software was used to construct and test the SEM model. In constructing and testing model A, a two stage process was followed. Firstly, factors were calculated through the use of confirmatory factor analysis for the six community relations components. Secondly, the factors were used for SEM. Due to unsatisfactory data fit in model A, model B was constructed and tested. In constructing and testing model B factor analyses were not performed; instead all the items of each community relations component were used for SEM. In the resulting structural equation model for both model A and B, eight hypotheses were supported and one was not supported (H7). The results of the two models provided similar results; however, model B fitted the collected data reasonably while model A fitted the data poorly. The fifth objective was to make recommendations and suggestions on how the model may be implemented with regard to the management of the social impacts of tourism. It was recommended that the model should be implemented in the area of tourism management. In order to implement the model effectively the role players should know, understand and perform their roles and duties in managing the social impacts of tourism. The successful implementation of the CRM depends on a positive relationship between and among the role players in tourism management. Specifically, it depends on a positive relationship between the role of government, the role of private sector, community awareness, community involvement, positive impacts and negative impacts of tourism. The proposed model needs to be implemented through the partnership and collaboration of the role players in tourism management. which will lead to sustainable tourism. The most important contribution of this study is the construction of a model through which the positive and negative impacts of tourism may be effectively managed. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Business Administration))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

The primary goal of this study was to construct and test a Community Relations Model (CRM) that may be implemented by policy makers, tourism planners, tourism managers and tourism developers as they develop tourism policies and manage the social impacts of tourism. Five objectives were derived from the primary research goal. The first objective was to analyse the social impacts of tourism by means of a literature study. This was achieved by examining the theoretical perspectives, framework and models for assessing host community perceptions of social impacts of tourism. In this regard, it was found that the social impacts of tourism are an integral part of sociology. Therefore, the social impacts of tourism may not be successfully addressed without drawing on the methods and perspectives of sociology. This indicates clearly that there is a relationship between sociology and other social science disciplines, particularly tourism management. The host communities' perceptions of tourism may be positive or negative and are critical in policy planning and management because they affect the behaviour of the residents toward the tourists. The second objective was to analyse the role of the community by means of a literature study. This objective was achieved by examining the role of the government, the private sector and the community in managing the social impacts of tourism. It was found that the main roles of the government are to facilitate, coordinate, plan and promote development of the nations and tourists products. The private sector's roles are to invest and promote tourism as well as the country. The community should actively participate in tourism management by seeking partnership opportunities with the stablished private tourism sector, voluntary groups and NGO's. Although the community is expected to playa vital role in the management of tourism, it was found that their actual involvement depends on their awareness of tourism activities, on how they perceive tourism developments and their involvement in tourism related issues. The third objective was to determine the components to be used in order to develop and test the Community Relations Model (CRM). This objective was achieved through both literature and qualitative analysis. Evidence from the literature and qualitative analysis indicates that the Katse community is unquestionably affected both positively and negatively by tourism developments. It was also clear that effective management of social impacts of tourism may be achieved through collaboration and partnership with the government, the private sector and the community. The stakeholders should work together in order to encourage the positive impacts and ameliorate the negative impacts. The community should be involved and made aware of tourism developments in their respective areas. Both the literature and qualitative study revealed the six community relations components: namely, the positive impacts, negative impacts, the role of government, the role of private sector, community awareness and community involvement that, were used to develop a measuring instrument for Katse residents. The fourth objective was to construct and test the CRM based on an empirical investigations. The CRM is intended to guide tourism planners, managers and policy-makers in managing the social impacts of tourism. To achieve this objective, nine research hypotheses were proposed and tested. The sample of 500 Katse residents was drawn from the household population of four villages: namely, Ha-Lejone, Ha-Poli, Ha-Mikia and Mphorosane. A combination of stratified and convenience sampling approaches were used for sample selection. Data was analysed with the aid of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). SPSS with AMOS 16 software was used to construct and test the SEM model. In constructing and testing model A, a two stage process was followed. Firstly, factors were calculated through the use of confirmatory factor analysis for the six community relations components. Secondly, the factors were used for SEM. Due to unsatisfactory data fit in model A, model B was constructed and tested. In constructing and testing model B factor analyses were not performed; instead all the items of each community relations component were used for SEM. In the resulting structural equation model for both model A and B, eight hypotheses were supported and one was not supported (H7). The results of the two models provided similar results; however, model B fitted the collected data reasonably while model A fitted the data poorly. The fifth objective was to make recommendations and suggestions on how the model may be implemented with regard to the management of the social impacts of tourism. It was recommended that the model should be implemented in the area of tourism management. In order to implement the model effectively the role players should know, understand and perform their roles and duties in managing the social impacts of tourism. The successful implementation of the CRM depends on a positive relationship between and among the role players in tourism management. Specifically, it depends on a positive relationship between the role of government, the role of private sector, community awareness, community involvement, positive impacts and negative impacts of tourism. The proposed model needs to be implemented through the partnership and collaboration of the role players in tourism management. which will lead to sustainable tourism. The most important contribution of this study is the construction of a model through which the positive and negative impacts of tourism may be effectively managed. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Business Administration))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Le développement des TIC et les innovations numériques qui en découlent ont radicalement changé le comportement des consommateurs. Les organisations s’adaptent à ces changements en transformant leurs pratiques. L’objet de cette recherche est l’innovativité Web comprise comme la capacité des organisations à adopter les innovations Web. La recherche interroge les pratiques d’adaptation des organisations en faveur du numérique : Comment piloter le changement numérique dans les organisations ? Le champ de recherche porte sur les Organismes de Gestion de Destination Touristique (OGD) qui ont la responsabilité du management du tourisme sur leur territoire de compétence. Cette thèse s’articule en deux parties. La première partie se focalise sur la mesure de l’innovativité des sites Web des OGD. Une grille d’analyse de l’innovativité est proposée et les méthodes de l’Aide Multi-Critères à la Décision (AMCD) sont employées afin d’évaluer la performance relative des sites Web de 30 OGD français. La logique du benchmarking est adoptée. Les résultats hétérogènes de cette approche quantitative nous poussent à chercher dans un second temps les facteurs explicatifs de l’innovativité. Pourquoi certains OGD sont-ils plus innovants que d’autres ? Quels sont les facteurs qui facilitent l’adoption des innovations Web par les OGD ? A cet égard, notre seconde partie traite des facteurs d’adoption des innovations Web dans les organisations. Une analogie entre PME et OGD est proposé afin d’identifier théoriquement les facteurs d’adoption des innovations Web. La méthodologie de recherche retenue pour cette seconde partie est de nature exploratoire et qualitative et correspond à un positionnement épistémologique de type interprétativiste. Des entretiens semi-directifs sont menés auprès d’experts en Management du Tourisme et l’étude du cas d’un OGD particulier permet de comprendre en profondeur le pilotage du changement numérique dans les organisations. Cette thèse en sciences de gestion s’inscrit en Management du Tourisme et présente des apports théoriques, méthodologiques et managériaux. Nous proposons un cadre théorique d’analyse de l’innovation Web et nous proposons une méthodologie robuste pour l’opérationnaliser. Cette méthodologie utilise les nombres flous, encore peu employés dans les sciences de gestion et pourtant porteurs de sens lors d’évaluations utilisant des échelles linguistiques. Les résultats de cette approche quantitative sont autant de perspectives d’amélioration des pratiques par les responsables d’OGD. Enfin, nous étudions le pilotage du changement dans les OGD en identifiant les facteurs d’adoption des innovations Web. / The development of ICT has radically changed the customer behaviour and their decision making process. Therefore, the organisations/companies should adapt themselves to these changes by transforming their practices. This thesis has two parts. In the first part, we explore the website-service innovativeness of 30 French DMO websites. An empirical approach is used to establish a structured framework of six evaluation criteria for website’s innovativeness. Fuzzy logic is employed in order to objectively evaluate the service-innovativeness and overall e-service quality of the DMO websites by using the linguistic variables. The TOPSIS method enables a comparison of the relative rankings of DMO websites, and also facilitates an objective metric as a benchmark to compare innovativeness overtime. The heterogeneous results oblige us to conduct an exploratory study in order to understand the reason behind this ranking. In this regard, in the 2nd part, we have focused on the factors of ICT adoption. Semi-structured interviews have been done with the tourism experts in order to understand the factors that facilitate the ICT adoption by the French DMO. Finally, we present the case of one of our benchmarks (Bordeaux Tourist Office) in order to illustrate the ICT adoption process.

Main objective of the thesis is an analysis of tourism on Písecko from the perspective of the tourism market. On the basis of the status of the prepare to upgrade the tourism product, including its placing on the market. An important part of the preparation of the project of the tourism product in the selected area.

En ce qui concerne la perception du tourisme durable, on constate que les directeurs publics ont la même approche ou définition. Mais, en matière de stratégies, les moyens manquent dans tous les domaines pour développer un tourisme durable. De façon plus précise, les contraintes se résument aux cinq enjeux qui sont liés aux ressources humaines, aux méthodes de travail, au cadre juridique, à l'appui institutionnel et financier, et à la sensibilisation publique dans le secteur touristique du Cambodge. Ces insuffisances ont entraîné une exploitation peu réfléchie des potentiels de ressources touristiques et ont provoqué des fuites économiques élevées à l'étranger. Sans planification pensée à long terme, certaines attractions ne sont plus en mesure d'assurer leur durabilité, menant à la dévastation de trésors touristiques, à l’altération des valeurs socio-culturelles et d'identité nationale; ce mécanisme évolutif pourrait conduire à un développement incontrôlé contribuant à dégrader rapidement la communauté locale et l’environnement. Comme le ministère du Tourisme au Cambodge l’a souligné, s'il n'est pas correctement géré, le développement du tourisme permettra d'enrichir une petite minorité tout en excluant la majorité de la population du pays. Dans ces conditions, les directeurs provinciaux chargés du tourisme, en tant que représentants du ministère, jouent un rôle déterminant dans le tourisme durable et influencent directement à la fois le pouvoir politique et la prise de décision locale et même nationale. Leur rôle s’applique à la gestion interne et la coopération externe qui sont fortement dépendantes de la qualification personnelle des individus, c’est les « ressources et compétences ». Cependant, si les directeurs locaux sont aujourd’hui confinés dans un rôle plutôt de gestionnaires, avec de faibles moyens, nous estimons qu’ils pourraient devenir de véritables directeurs locaux susceptibles de faire travailler ensemble les acteurs dans le cadre d’une politique claire. / Current issues concerning the sustainable tourism in Cambodia based on the action of Local Tourism State Actors (LTSA) in terms of Resources and Competences, particularly defining the roles of the LTSA, are systematically explored in this research. The LTSA are the director of provincial or city tourism department who take a lead role in managing a localized tourism industry of the government. The central research question focuses on the “Strategy towards Sustainable Tourism in Cambodia, according to the perceptions of the LTSA”. In investigating to this context, the qualitative methods were used to collect primary data through in-depth interviews (semi-structured) with all the 25 LTSA. The data was further analyzed through a content analysis with a usage of NVivo10, a computer based program for coding or categorizing. The findings indicate that there are five main local challenges to Cambodia’s sustainable tourism: (1) Professional Tourism Skills and Qualifications, (2) Working Attitudes of Managers and Employees, (3) Tourism Law, Regulations, and Circulars, (4) Finances and Facilities, and (5) Public Tourism Awareness and Participation. These challenges can be broadly categorized as personal, institutional, and external problems; particularly related to the lack of financial resources, and especially human resources in regards to both quality and quantity of professional tourism officials. In order to effectively transcend sustainable tourism and local tourism management challenges, state actors play important roles. Firstly they have an internal managing role as a local manager, and secondly they have an external cooperating role which is closely defined as a local ambassador. Moreover, the state actor should strive for a third role: referred to as the personal advancing role. This is where the managers become a learner in order to improve personal skills and capacity based on experiential learning. Personal advancing roles can be further augmented through self-directed studies, workshops, seminars, training and education. As highlighted in the findings and discussion section, the quality of managing and cooperating roles of LTSA are heavily dependent on personal advancing roles. The role of LTSA has significant influence on sustainable tourism because the manager is the most central actor dealing directly with all relevant sustainable tourism stakeholders, especially for their contributions to the policy and decision making. Thus, the continuous advancement of qualifications, effectiveness and efficiency of LTSA in implementing their role is a priority and highly needed. State actors should focus on personal advancing roles to enhance managing and cooperating roles.

The tourism sector in Zanzibar Tanzania has emerged strongly in the past 15 years, helping the development of other Industries that support it. As a result, Industries such as telecommunication, IT, transport and hospitality have also emerged recently. It is, however, speculated that organizations in the tourism sector in Zanzibar generally lack the effective performance that is required of them to compete in the contemporary complex and turbulent market environment. This research thus set out to explore and diagnose the organizational effectiveness of the accommodation units of the tourism sector in Zanzibar. The research had specific objectives of diagnosing and finding the gap between the current and the optimal organizational performance in two particular units of accommodation as well as determining the factors affecting organizational performance in these units. The study furthermore set out to recommend implementation of suitable intervention activities to improve organizational performance in the units analyzed. In order to achieve the above objectives the research deployed an action research strategy with the Weisbord’s six box model as a framework to diagnose two five star grade accommodation units in Zanzibar. A qualitative method was used to collect data. Key findings of the research are briefly presented below: - The service output of the accommodation units analyzed was not very consistent and fell short of the expectation of their customers. This showed a gap in terms of the organizations’ performance. - Factors affecting organizational effectiveness were found to be mainly in the Purpose and Rewards functions of the organizations. - The specific areas in the Purpose function that appeared to have substantial problems were: -- Goals of the organization were not clearly stated -- Employees did not understand the purpose of the organization -- Employees were not involved in deciding their work unit goals -- Employees were not in agreement with the goals of their work units. -- Employees did not understand priorities of the organization The specific areas in the Reward function that appeared to have substantial problems were: -- The pay scale and benefits of the organization did not treat employees equitably. -- Employees felt that the salary they received was not commensurate with the jobs they performed. -- Not all tasks to be accomplished were associated with incentives. Following the diagnostics findings above, the research suggested the following intervention activities that could possibly help to address the above mentioned problems: - A Management by Objectives (MBO) process was suggested to redress the problems indicated in the Purpose function. This would help to set clearly agreed goals at all levels of the organizations. Employees and resources would then be directed towards achieving these goals that would enable the organizations to perform more effectively. - Revision of the current reward system was suggested to redress the problems indicated in the Reward function. The reward system should be implemented in a manner that creates a feeling of both internal as well as external (market) equity among employees. Furthermore, rewards should be linked to performance in order to direct behaviour and motivation among employees. The performance based reward system can also help to achieve the MBO process proposed above since rewards will be designated for achievement of individual, departmental and finally organizational objectives, thus increasing organizational effectiveness.

Tourism, as an industry, has a great impact on society and the environment. It adds to economic growth; and therefore, many governments try to enhance tourism because they realise the potential economic returns. Within each country, there are towns or cities that have great tourism potential. In South Africa, Knysna is a good example of a small town with great tourism potential. This study examines the critical success factors of tourism destination marketing for the town of Knysna. Most South Africans see Knysna as an ideal holiday destination, as it has the infrastructure and offerings to make tourists' holidays unforgettable. However, unfortunately, in recent times bad publicity has caused Knysna's image to be damaged. To improve the town's image and to add to its economic growth, tourism bodies and the community have had to work together to ensure that Knysna sustains its position in the national and international tourism markets. The best way to achieve this is through effective destination management and destination marketing. The aim of this study is to determine how effective destination management and destination marketing can lead to competitive growth and to enhancing a destination's position in the tourism industry, and also to providing a set of practical guidelines for the successful implementation of the destination marketing of the town of Knysna. A literature study was conducted to find out what the theory reveals about destination management and marketing. This was followed by an empirical survey; and this survey was conducted in Knysna in the Western Cape. The results of the survey were compared with the literature and tourism operators and managers can now use these as a point of departure to fill any gaps, thus leading to the optimal positioning of Knysna on the international tourism map.

The aim of this paper is an evaluation of destination's management in particular czech tourist destination. The paper begins with the theoretical part which explains basic relations and issues in management of destination. Such information is then applied in the practical part on destination Pec pod Sněžkou. It begins with the introduction of the destination. Afterwards are described main subjects, form of their cooperation and results of their activities. The deduction of the paper features an evaluation of destination and it's management and recommendations to the future.