Since the early 1990s, rural decline has led many communities to begin social and economic restructuring. Several locales are seeking alternative approaches to the primary sector to support their declining industrial base (Markey et al, 2008). The tourism industry is an alternative to traditional rural livelihoods. Rural amenities and scenic landscapes have encouraged stakeholders to develop heritage tourism. The commodification of heritage has a profound impact on the place identity of rural landscapes. This is illustrated in the Model of Creative Destruction. In an earlier paper, Mitchell (1998) described the process of creative destruction through 5 stages being early commodification, advanced commodification, early destruction, advanced destruction and post destruction. In later papers, Mitchell and Vanderwerf (2010) describe the model as one that predicts that rural landscapes may evolve through three identities; rural town-scape, heritage-scape (or heritage village) and leisure-scape. Communities will remain as heritage-scapes if the desire to preserve is a dominant motivation. In contrast, if stakeholders are motivated more by a desire to profit or promote economic growth, then investments in non-conforming venues may result. This ultimately will shift the identity from one of heritage-scape to leisure-scape of mass consumption. Such investments may jeopardize a tourist’s heritage-seeking experience, and their perception of the community as a heritage village. Gaming recently has been introduced as a form of rural economic development in communities that commodify heritage (i.e. heritage-scapes). The introduction of slot machine parlours at racetracks (racinos) has helped combat the decline in the horse racing industry (Thalheimer and Ali, 2008). Furthermore, the positive economic impacts of these facilities are numerous. Negative implications, however, also accompany this type of tourism development. To date, little research has been conducted on the impacts that racino gaming developments have on communities, and, more specifically, on heritage-scapes. This thesis seeks to address this deficiency in a case study of Elora, Ontario and the Grand River Raceway. The purpose of this study was i) to determine the impact of the Grand River Raceway on Elora’s identity as a heritage village; ii) to identify the positive and negative socio-economic benefits that the facility has on the community and iii) to provide recommendations to communities who are considering similar development. To meet these objectives, data were collected through business and tourist surveys, unstructured interviews and a content analysis of secondary sources. Results suggest that the Grand River Raceway has not compromised Elora’s identity as a heritage-scape, in the eyes of business owners and tourists. Although the presence of the Grand River Raceway suggests that Elora is at the stage of early destruction or is on the way to becoming a leisure-scape, its presence has not detracted from visitor experience, as predicted by the model. This situation is attributed to marketing, location and uniformity with the existing landscape. Furthermore, the Grand River Raceway has had both positive and negative socio-economic impacts on Elora. Some of the benefits include employment, tax revenues, sponsorships and financial contributions to the municipality. At the same time, however, the Grand River Raceway has created a divided community, generated several legal issues and resulted in an uneven distribution of economic benefits. It is recommended that public consultation and resident involvement in decision making will help to minimize these negative impacts.

Food festivals and events are growing in popularity and warrant in-depth studies of festival visitors. Given the increasing socio-economic significance of this vibrant component of the world’s leisure industry, gaining knowledge of food festival visitors and their expenditure patterns is essential to festival researchers and destination marketers. This study examines the characteristics of food festival visitors and the determinants of their festival expenditures. Specifically, a conceptual model has been developed to delineate the correlations among festival spending patterns and the visitors’ event-related motivations, food-related motivations, and food involvement levels. Generally, the study was constructed around six hypotheses and five research questions, which were proposed based on a comprehensive review of literature related to events and festivals, culinary tourism, and food consumption. A questionnaire survey was designed to collect empirical data from festival attendees exiting the 9th China(Hefei) Crawfish Festival (CHCF) in Hefei city, Anhui province, China. Four aspects of food festival visitor characteristics were investigated: 1) festival expenditures in five categories (i.e., food and beverages consumed at the festival, food and beverages taken away, goods and gifts other than food and beverages, entertainment, and other expenses); 2) event-related motivations for attending, including eight individual motivators (i.e., relaxation, social, family, festival culture, excitement, escape, entertainment, and novelty); 3) food-related motivations for attending, including eight individual motivators (i.e., social, family, physical environment, food culture, celebration, sensory appeal, knowledge, and prestige); 4) food involvement traits, including four subsets (i.e., cooking, acquisition, eating, and preparing) and ten individual traits (i.e., food choice, food shopping, food processing, food presentation, cooking delight, cooking practice, taste judging, food preoccupation, and exotic food experiences). To gain a wider understanding of the food festival market, the study also investigated the visitors’ demographic and visit characteristics. A Tobit modeling procedure was applied to investigate the relationships between visitors’ festival expenditures (total and food-related) and their scores on festival motivations and food involvement scales. The results show that visitors’ total or food-related expenditures at the festival were not associated with their overall scores on event-related or food-related festival motivations, and visitors’ spending during the festival had negative correlations with their overall food involvement scale scores. However, a further investigation of sixteen individual motivators and ten food involvement traits revealed that within the event-related motivation category, “Novelty” and “Escape” were positively related to both the total and food-related expenditures, while “Social” and “Entertainment” were negatively related. Among the eight food-specific motivators, “Culture” and “Family” were negative correlates of both the total and the food/beverage spending and, respectively, “Sensory appeal” and “Social” were positive correlates of the total and food/beverage. In-depth investigations of the ten FIS items indicated that, in particular, the greater visitors’ interest in “Cooking practice” and “Exotic food experience”, the less they spent in total and on food/beverages. The only food involvement item that had a positive relation with the expenditures is “Cooking delight”. In terms of the relation between festival motivations and food involvement levels, the results of a series of t-tests reported that individuals who are more highly interested in food were more likely motivated to attend by food-related factors than individuals who are less interested in food, and those who reported less involvement with food showed equal interest in the food and event experiences available at the festival. With respect to visitor characteristics, empirical data gathered from the visitor survey provided a general description of the CHCF attendees’ age, gender, residence, and visit patterns. The findings illustrate that the visitors were typically young, and slightly more females than males attended the festival. The majority were local residents who came to the festival in a group with two or three family members or relatives/friends, and they tended to stay two to three hours at the festival. As could be expected with a food-themed festival, a great proportion of the visitors’ festival expenditures were related to food, especially, foods and beverages consumed at the festival. In terms of motivations for attending, generally, visitors were attracted to the festival by a synergy of food experiences available at the festival and the event itself. The most important motivations for attending were interpersonal, including both event-related and food-related “Social” and “Family” motivators. The event-related “Relaxation” and food-related “Physical environment” were also among the top three most important motivators in the two categories. With regard to food involvement, the visitors were relatively more highly involved with food than general food consumers; in particular, they were highly interested in “Cooking” and “Taste judging”. Overall, this study provides an in-depth examination of festival visitors and their consumption traits in a food festival context. When compared with those of the extant literature on culinary tourism and festival visitors, the results and discussion of the study confirm certain previous findings and, also, challenge some common assumptions. Based on the study’s key findings, the hypothesized conceptual model was extensively modified to illustrate the detailed correlations among a number of variables related to food festival visitors’ expenditures, event-related and food-related motivations for attending, and food involvement traits. Theoretical and practical implications of the study towards future research issues are subsequently drawn from the findings. It is suggested that the food festival market should be understood in a holistic sense within both the community festival and culinary tourism contexts, and future research endeavors should be directed towards a more comprehensive conceptual model that can thoroughly explain the food festival expenditure determinants.

Legislation has been proposed in Kentucky that would authorize city legislative bodies to levy a tax on restaurant meals of no more than 3%, regardless of the size of the city. The bill has garnered attention from Kentucky Travel Industry Association, the Kentucky Restaurant Association, and local tourism and restaurant organizations and associations that oppose the tax. The Kentucky League of Cities, an organization that represents the interests of city governments, supports the tax. The purpose of this research was to examine how a change in the tax rate on restaurant meals would affect restaurant demand. Effects of changes in restaurant demand were tested using the following independent variables: type of restaurant, menu offering, frequency, expense, and location. Self-administered online surveys were distributed to adult residents in Kentucky, which yielded a sample size of 1,263 individuals. Paired sample t test was applied to make comparison between scenario 1 (current) and scenario 2 (3%) and scenario 1 (current) and scenario 3 (JND). Findings showed that demand patterns in each class of city would be affected by increases in taxes and prices.

This research explores aspects of small tourism businesses in a Canadian context. A number of authors (e.g., Getz and Nilsson, 2004; Hall and Rusher, 2004; Lynch and Tucker, 2004; Morrison and Teixeira, 2004a/b) have noted that while small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are acknowledged as an important parts of the tourism industry, they are underrepresented in the academic literature. Of the small business research that has been conducted, a sizeable portion has focused on industries other than tourism; the tourism-specific research on SMEs has predominately been conducted in Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand and has frequently focused on a single segment of the industry, often the small accommodation sector. Little research of this nature has been done in a Canadian context. The study was set in Stratford and Goderich, Ontario, and compares and contrasts two parts of the tourism industry: the accommodation and food and beverage sectors. The study focused on small business owners and examined three main aspects: their motivations for starting/purchasing the business, how they evaluated the success of the business and the experiences they had while running the business. The research also set out to examine the demography of Canadian tourism SME owners and how they defined small business. A mixed methods approach was adopted. Data were collected through mailed questionnaires which were followed up with semi-structured interviews. Findings showed that despite motivations being similar between study sites and industries, the paths that lead owners to their business varied greatly. Though ‘lifestyle’ motivations were predominately cited, financial considerations were also noted. Owners frequently used financial calculations to measure the achievement of their lifestyle motivations. The experiences owners had with their business were overwhelmingly positive and were grouped into six themes: changes in the industry, relationship building, staffing, the importance of customer service, financial costs of running a small business and time management. The results of this study confirmed that Canadian tourism SME owners in Stratford and Goderich, Ontario, possess similar motivations, measurements of success and experiences as their national and international counterparts.

Many new forms of tourism have emerged over the past two decades claiming to provide an alternative, responsible approach to international travel. Unlike ecotourism and volunteer tourism, travel centered on solidarity activism has not been thoroughly explored in the academic literature. Through narrative interviews conducted with organizational staff, former travelers, and members of a rural host community, this study profiles three organizations that organize solidarity travel experiences in Nicaragua. Qualitative analysis of the interviews and secondary materials including blog posts and videos reveals that staff, travelers and community members feel that they benefit from the exchanges that take place during solidarity travel. However, the study participants also articulated a number of concerns and issues with the practice of solidarity travel, including the limited nature of ongoing contact between travelers, coordinating organizations, and the communities that are visited while in Nicaragua. The experience of solidarity travel provided participants with a greater understanding of the connections between Nicaragua and North America, and a critical self-awareness for young travelers in particular, as many were experiencing the Global South for the first time. The successful translation of that exposure and awareness into activism is less certain and is identified as an area for future improvement of the overall solidarity travel experience. Overall, this study contributes to the emerging literature on solidarity travel by comparing three organizations with different missions and methods, and showing how solidarity can be enacted in a variety of ways through travel. Through the inclusion of three distinct groups of participants, this study also highlights similarities and differences related to the way solidarity travel is experienced by members of these groups.

CARVALHO, Gisélia Lima. A Política de Turismo no estado de Goiás: um estudo sobre as escalas institucionais de intervenção. 2015. 211 f. Tese (Doutorado em Geografia)-Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, 2015. / Submitted by Vitor Campos (vitband@gmail.com) on 2016-10-18T21:08:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_glcarvalho.pdf: 4448936 bytes, checksum: 1155f7a17ae918d17553d234fb9c835f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jairo Viana (jairo@ufc.br) on 2016-10-19T19:34:09Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_glcarvalho.pdf: 4448936 bytes, checksum: 1155f7a17ae918d17553d234fb9c835f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-19T19:34:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_glcarvalho.pdf: 4448936 bytes, checksum: 1155f7a17ae918d17553d234fb9c835f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / One of the characteristics of the development of tourism, not only in Brazil, is its close relation to public and governmental actions, as well as the expectation surrounding its effects on local tourist territories. In view of this, the present thesis attempts to understand the historical process which promoted the tourism policy in Goiás State – by establishing a link between federal, state, and municipal scales of intervention –, in addition to assessing the effects on income and formal employment in local tourist territories. As claimed by governmental discourses, tourist activities are expected to produce their own dynamics, leading to clear results in the economy of cities. Therefore, this thesis proposes a time- and space-oriented theory concerning the State's role as a crucial actor in the tourism policy over the last four decades. This study included bibliographical research in the fields of public policies, tourism policy, and State planning; inventory and analysis of official documents on tourism; survey of quantitative data regarding municipal employment and income; fieldwork. The conclusions reached by this thesis claim the existence of an embryo State policy for tourism that can be traced back to the 1960s; also, despite the current overrated nature of spontaneity of tourism development in Goiás, the historical analysis reveals that the federal State is the leading character. On the other hand, social and economic impacts sought by public investments do not materialise in the expected quantities and quality within the municipal scale, as is usually the case in the execution of public policies. Hence local actors need to show a more effective shared responsibility within tourism planning. / Uma das características do processo de constituição da atividade turística, não só no Brasil, é a sua estreita relação com as ações de cunho público-governamental, aliada à expectativa quanto aos seus desdobramentos sobre os territórios turísticos locais. Tendo em vista essas máximas, esta tese esforça-se para compreender o processo histórico que engendrou a política de turismo no estado de Goiás, articulando as escalas de intervenção federal, estadual e municipal, assim como busca dimensionar os efeitos na ordem da renda e do emprego formal sobre os territórios turísticos goianos. Como postulam os discursos governamentais, espera-se, da atividade turística, uma dinamização própria, com resultados visíveis no âmbito da economia dos municípios. Para esta investida, a tese constitui-se de uma teoria formada no tempo e no espaço sobre a participação do Estado como ator fundamental na política de turismo nas últimas quatro décadas. O estudo pautou-se na pesquisa bibliográfica nos campos das políticas públicas, da política de turismo e do planejamento do Estado, no inventário e na análise de documentos oficiais voltados para o turismo, no levantamento de dados quantitativos sobre emprego e renda municipal e no trabalho de campo. As conclusões desta tese recaem sobre a assertiva de um embrião de uma política no estado voltada para o turismo desde a década de 1960, e, muito embora exista ainda hoje uma atribuição supervalorizada à espontaneidade do desenvolvimento turístico nos destinos goianos, a análise histórica comprovou que o Estado federal é o protagonista. Por outro lado, os impactos sociais e econômicos almejados pelos investimentos públicos não se materializam em quantidades nem em qualidade projetados quando se trata da escala municipal, como costuma ocorrer na execução de políticas públicas. Por esse aspecto, conclama-se a corresponsabilidade mais efetiva dos atores locais no processo de planejamento do turismo.

This thesis presents analysis of the organization of tourism policy in Spain. The thesis is structured into four chapters. First part of the thesis is devoted to description of tourism importance to the Spanish economy by using macroeconomic indicators, further presents Spain as an international tourist destination. Next part of the thesis explains various current trends and factors, which have influence on supply and demand of tourism and introduce new forms of tourism. Third chapter focuses on theoretical approaches to tourism policy in general. The thesis concludes with an analysis of tourism policy in Spain. This part involves characteristics of tourism organisation and governance, instruments and goals of tourism policy in Spain.

The focus of the thesis is an issue of system approach to formation and implementation policy of tourism in the Czech Republic with an emphasis on intersectoral cooperation in the field of cultural tourism. The work is divided into eight chapters, the first two are theoretical. The first chapter is devoted to the formulation and definition problem of the scope of the work. The second chapter deals with theoretical foundations and approaches to tourism policy issues both in general and in terms of the status of tourism in the national economy and in relation to the EU tourism policy. Attention is given to the objectives of cohesion policy, culture and tourism in the area of cultural tourism. The following two chapters deal with basic features, analysis and evaluation of policy concepts of tourism in the Czech Republic in the period after 1989. The core of the thesis is concentrated into chapter six, seven and eight. The assumption for the design of complex, dynamic tourism policy for the formation of functional institutional structure of the tourism sector management is to assess the fulfillment of the objectives of the different concepts of state policy. To identification the most important and recurrent problems of tourism policy are used the results of comparison of objectives and measures and practical experience of the author from the creation and evaluation of the conception documents. There is discussed in particular an evaluation framework and in this context there are suggested recommendations for its determination. In the field of cultural tourism is proposed a model of interdepartmental cooperation state-funded organizations CzechTourism and the National Heritage Institute. The proposal model is based on its own research, which is focused on the analysis and evaluation of assumptions monuments administered by the National Heritage Institute to participate in the creation of cultural tourism products. There are utilized data from the author primary survey and as well as secondary data from the National Heritage Institute. The model of cooperation is based on exemplification of the causal relationships between strategic objectives and processes within the strategies of both organizations by the model BSC (Balanced Scorecard) and from a proposal for their implementation using model 7 "S".

A pesquisa integra o debate sobre política pública e competitividade de destinos turísticos, tendo como objeto o índice de competitividade turística (ICT) adotado pelo Ministério do Turismo (MTur), fruto da parceria com a Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) e o SEBRAE Nacional, a partir da definição dos 65 destinos indutores do desenvolvimento turístico. Tem como objetivo geral analisar o ICT no contexto da política nacional de turismo. Para tanto, apresenta como objetivos específicos: traçar a trajetória da política ligada aos destinos indutores e ao ICT no MTur; analisar a metodologia do ICT sob a luz de modelos internacionais de competitividade turística e verificar a influência do ICT na definição de políticas públicas municipais nos destinos indutores, bem como a visão dos gestores sobre a política nacional. O percurso metodológico envolveu uma ampla pesquisa bibliográfica e documental e a realização de entrevistas abertas junto a cinco atores institucionais do MTur, do SEBRAE Nacional da Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) que ocupavam, na ocasião do surgimento do ICT, uma posição de liderança na implementação da política nacional e na criação da metodologia. Aplicou-se ainda um de questionário online com perguntas fechadas e abertas junto a 33 gestores (ou ex-gestores) de turismo dos destinos indutores que participaram do ICT, ainda que não ocupem tal função atualmente. A discussão aponta que a política dos destinos indutores e do ICT surge a partir da necessidade de aumentar a competitividade dos destinos brasileiros e do reconhecimento de que políticas públicas podem influenciar a competitividade. A seleção dos 65 destinos indutores e a criação do ICT demonstra a preocupação do MTur em oferecer uma ferramenta que norteasse ações e políticas para desenvolvimento dos destinos e em definir um recorte prioritário para investimentos. Acredita-se, porém, que os resultados foram pontuais, principalmente em função da mudança de estratégia do MTur frente ao ICT e aos destinos indutores, assim como da interrupção da política sem efetivo direcionamento de investimentos. Verificou-se que a metodologia do ICT apresenta algumas semelhanças com os modelos internacionais analisados, apesar de não haver consenso sobre os determinantes da competitividade. Por fim, acredita-se que os modelos de competitividade turística devem se preocupar primeiramente em separar os elementos que seriam suas causas e suas consequências e, a partir daí, determinar as formas de mensurar ambos. Avaliar ao longo do tempo a relação entre causa e efeito parece ser um caminho interessante a ser explorado. A presente proposta de pesquisa não pretende encerrar discussões acerca da competitividade turística e do índice adotado pelo MTur no contexto da política nacional e sim contribuir para a reflexão sobre a temática / This research composes the debate on public policy and competitiveness of tourist destinations and has as its object the tourism competitiveness index (ICT) used by the Ministry of Tourism (MTur) as a result of the partnership with the Fundação Getulio Vargas and SEBRAE, defining 65 inductor tourist destinations for tourism development. It has the main propose of analyzing the ICT in the scope of national tourism public policy. To do so, it has as specific objectives: to delineate the policy path linked to the key destinations and the ICT at the MTur; to analyze the ICT methodology under the light of destination competitiveness international models and to verify the influence of the ICT in the definition of local public policies in the inductor destinations, as well as the managers view on the national policy. The methodological path involved a wide bibliographical and documentary research and the conduction of open interviews with five institutional stakeholders of the MTur, SEBRAE and FGV who held a leadership position by the emergence of ICT. An online questionnaire with open and closed questions was also applied to 33 managers (or formers managers) of tourism of the inductor destinations that had participated in the ICT, even though they do not occupy this position currently. The discussion points out that the inductor destinations policy and the ICT arise from the need to increase the competitiveness of Brazilian destinations and from the recognition that public policies can influence competitiveness. The selection of 65 key destinations and the creation of the ICT demonstrate the concern of the MTur in offering a tool to guide actions and policies for the development of destinations and to define a priority area for investments. However, it is believed that the results were punctual, mainly due to the change of strategy of MTur against the ICT and key destinations, as well as the interruption of the policy without effective direction of investments. It was verified that the ICT methodology presents some similarities with the international models analyzed, although there is no consensus on the determinants of competitiveness. Finally, it is believed that the models of tourist competitiveness should first be concerned with separating the elements that would be their causes and their consequences and, from there, determining the ways of measuring both. Assessing the relationship between cause and effect over time seems to be an interesting path to be explored. This researchs proposal does not intend to end discussions about the tourism competitiveness and the index adopted by the MTur in the context of the national policy, but to contribute to the reflection on the theme

This thesis is a historical case study tracing the establishment and evolution of Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) in New Zealand. It describes their role, structure and functions and the political processes that have influenced how they have operated and changed from 1980 to 2005. RTOs are examined in the context of government policies, local and national politics and tourism private and public sector relationships. RTOs were central to many of the key recommendations of the New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010 (NZTS 2010) released in 2001. The NZTS 2010 attempted to address a range of tourism policy gaps created by a policy vacuum in the 1990s whereby the public and private tourism sectors focused mainly on international marketing. This strategy shaped government policy during this decade. The research findings show that although public and private sector institutional arrangements impacting on RTOs have changed, there remains, as in the past, no uniformity in their role, structure, functions and their future financial and political viability remains insecure. The NZTS 2010 raised destination management and its alignment with destination marketing as a major policy issue that needed to be addressed in the decade leading up to 2010 with RTOs having a pivotal role. A generic regional destination management model is presented. Structures and processes incorporated into this model include: a national destination management tourism policy; support for tourism by local government at the national level; a well defined destination management team; community collaboration; and tourism being integrated into the wider planning processes of local government. The model identified requisite building blocks to support regional destination management such as: the provision of staff and financial resources for regional tourism; the building of a high tourism profile in the community; the availability of statistics and research data at the regional level; local government planners acknowledging the impacts of tourism; and the existence of a legal mandate for tourism at the regional and/or local government level. When applying this model to the New Zealand context, it was found that a number of the structures and processes required for effective regional destination management were lacking, such as regional statistics and research data, staffing and financial resources for both RTOs and local government, the ability of council planners to understand and integrate tourism into the wider planning processes and a legislative mandate for tourism. The thesis concluded that a vacuum remains in the alignment of destination marketing and management. The historical and political processes of RTO change were also examined in the context of chaos and complexity theory. Chaos and complexity theory provided a complementary and different means to view change. This thesis also presented the opportunity to reflect upon the research process which led to the adoption of a multi-paradigmatic and bricoleur research methodology. Further reflexivity and reflection towards the end of the research process articulated ontological and epistemological philosophical investigations that underlay the multi-paradigmatic approach. A model is presented emphasising that a multi-paradigmatic research approach rests on ultimate reality (metaphysics) which informs the ontology. The model then highlights that ontology precedes and directs epistemology and that both inform the multi-paradigmatic research framework.