International Journal of Tourism Policy (10 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• Co-creating visitor experiences in cultural heritage museums: the avenue towards sustainable tourism development  
  by Nikolaos Boukas, Myria Ioannou 
  Abstract: Value co-creation is seen as an important premise on which destinations can capitalise upon. This is important for cultural heritage tourism as experiences produced in its context need to be memorable and long-standing. However, not much research has been conducted regarding co-creation in cultural heritage spaces, such as museums. The present study addresses the increasing calls for conceptualising the process of value co-creation in the field of cultural tourism. A qualitative approach is utilised exploring the perspective of professionals (i.e., policy makers and museum managers/employees) and visitors/tourists. Results substantiate the vital role of culture for the tourist experience. Specifically, they support the C-D logic of value co-creation, which explains how visitors construct their value perceptions via their own sense making process of the provided resource and activities. Drivers such as visitors predispositions and knowledge and informational attributes, educational/interpretation methods, and environmental variables, were found to be important for the co-created experience. Moreover, co-creation appeared to be an important element towards the sustainable development of destinations; it can provide a holistic experience, satisfying both visitors and the tourism industry, while incorporate and benefit local communities and appreciating the destination's environment. Museums need to utilise co-creation to co-design, co-produce, and co-disseminate memorable experiences.
  Keywords: cultural heritage tourism; museums; value co-creation; sustainable tourism; C-D logic.
  
  
• Environmental Conservation Strategies and Sustainability of Community Based Tourism Projects in Kenya: A Case of Maasai Mara Conservancies  
  by Winnie Tubey, Dorothy Kyalo, Angeline Mulwa 
  Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine how environmental conservation strategies influence the sustainability of community based tourism projects in Kenya. The study used descriptive survey research design and adopted a mixed methods approach anchored on pragmatism as its philosophical underpinning. The study was conducted in two conservancies in Maasai Mara; Naboisho conservancy and Olare Motorongi conservancy. The study made use of questionnaires, interviews, as well as document analysis to collect data. Qualitative data was analysed using content analysis while quantitative data used multiple regression analysis to test the nature and strength of the relationship between variables based on observed data and to predict the value of the dependent variable based on the value of the independent variable. With r =0.808, r2 = 0.653, F (1, 204) = 383.571 at p < 0.05, environmental conservation strategies had a strong positive significant influence on the sustainability of community based tourism projects. The study recommends that the focus on environmental conservation should be expanded to cover other areas such as waste disposal mechanisms, proper land use planning and the increased use alternative sources of energy as well as reviving and strengthening customary and indigenous conservation activities. There is need for longterm research at different ecological and social scales including monitoring to support biodiversity conservation both in-situ and ex-situ; establishing monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in conservancies and encouraging conservation through enterprise to improve the livelihoods of communities.
  Keywords: Environmental Conservation Strategy; Sustainability; Community Based Tourism Projects; Protected Areas.
  
  
• Dream career in Tourism and hospitality industry: Myth or reality?  
  by Anamul Hoque, Abu Sadat Muhammad Ashif 
  Abstract: This study intends to explore the undergraduate tourism and hospitality students perceptions of the industry as a career choice in Bangladesh. Two hundred and twenty tourism and hospitality students have participated in completing a set of questionnaires. The students were asked to rate 20 factors that might influence their career choice and to rate the extent to which they think that tourism and hospitality as a potential career offer these factors. The results indicate that, overall, the perceptions of students toward careers in the hospitality and tourism industry are unfavourable. It is observed that: pleasing working environment, a safe job, excellent promotion prospects, attractive starting salary, a position which brings respect are important factors students consider in choosing a career, but they do not believe the hospitality and tourism industry offers these factors. The study also shows that undergraduates having relatives in the tourism industry are more enthusiastic about pursuing a career in the respective industry.
  Keywords: undergraduates; perceptions; career choice; tourism; hospitality.
  
  
• Design and implement a model determining the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of tourist's wastes  
  by Elnaz Zarezadeh, Maryam Ataei Azimi, Neeraj Sunil Patil, Aliakbar Roudbari 
  Abstract: The aim of the study was to design and implement a model determining the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of tourist waste. The model is comprised of two sub-models: determining the number of tourists, and the nature of tourist waste. The results of the first sub-model are used in the second sub-model. The results showed that the destination hosted 38,305,388 domestic tourists and 68,761 overseas visitors. A total of 1,847,132 arrived by air, 39,300 by sea, 2,672,446 by rail, and the remainder arrived by road. Based on the results, it was estimated that tourist waste per capita was between 633 to 688 grams per day, and the density was between 231.5 to 235.5 kg/m3. PET and ferrous metal were the highest and lowest, respectively. The study showed the number of tourists is very variable; therefore, it is necessary to consider the required measures in terms of security, food supplies, accommodation, and transportation.
  Keywords: tourist; solid wastes; model; design; implementation.
  
  
• Tourism Businesses, Local State and Habits of Interaction: an institutional approach  
  by Bruno Gomes, Huáscar Pessali 
  Abstract: Tourism studies can benefit from inquiring into how interactions between businesspeople and governments work. The interdisciplinary approach of institutional economics provides a basis for investigating shared patterns of thought and action instituted in each class of agents and between them. This approach is here applied to Curitiba, a southern Brazilian state capital city that has become successful in attracting tourists since the late 1970s. Using semi-structured questionnaires, we interviewed 26 representatives from both the private and public sectors in Curitiba along 2013 and 2014. Partisanship, poor communication, and differing priorities were found to account for relevant coordination and planning problems, in a background of severe government budgetary constraints.
  Keywords: Tourism. Public Policy. Interaction. Habits. Curitiba.
  
  
• A Systemic Stakeholder Perspective on Cultural Heritage in the Schist Villages Network, Portugal  
  by José Moutela, Vivina Carreira, Fidel Martinez-Roget 
  Abstract: In a context of global changes in societies, the cultural elements of a tourist destination can determine the sustainability of the territories. Nowadays, the discussion about the preservation and management of cultural heritage as differentiating features of territories as tourist destinations is an emerging topic in international debates. The development of cultural tourism has attracted the interest of researchers, materialized in the publication of numerous works that analyze the increasing centrality of cultural tourism and the growing concerns with the impacts of tourism activities in the environment, local communities and possible distortion of the essence of cultural roots. The results of our research show the existence of significant differences in the perceptions of the various stakeholders regarding motivations, adjustment to the impacts of the tourist activities, and satisfaction with the different characterizing elements of the Schist Villages destination, in Portugal, especially regarding cultural items.
  Keywords: Cultural tourism; Stakeholders; Schist Villages; Portugal.
  
  
• THE EFFECTS OF EDUCATIONAL TOURISM ON THE SOURCES OF GROWTH: EVIDENCE FROM A KALECKIAN MACRO MODEL  
  by Chor Foon Tang, Hylmee Matahir 
  Abstract: The tourism industry is playing an increasingly important role in the economic growth of Malaysia. However, scant attention has been accorded to one of its vital sub-sectors namely educational tourism and its role as a potential catalyst of economic growth, especially when international students arrivals have increased exponentially over the past two decades. This paper seeks to elucidate the role of educational tourism in influencing economic growth in Malaysia by looking at its dynamic response to other growth variables using a Kaleckian model. The data used in this study consist of time-series quarterly data from 2002:Q1 to 2014:Q4, while the econometric methods deployed include the Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) framework and the impulse-response function. The results suggest that educational tourism can contribute to economic growth through its role as a catalyst for increased productivity and capacity utilisation. However, the study fails to find significant cross-linkages between educational tourism and investment. To surmise, policies designed to promote educational tourism has the potential of maximising this sub-sectors contribution to national economic growth.
  Keywords: Educational tourism; Economic growth; Kaleckian model; Structural VAR.
  
  
• Tourism governance through the eyes of local stakeholders: experiences and new possibilities in the Douro region (Portugal)  
  by Octávio Sacramento, Caroline Dominguez, Vítor Rodrigues, Edgar Bernardo 
  Abstract: Governance is a recurring and inescapable issue in current tourism research. However, there are still few studies focusing on the autochthonous governance perspectives of a given territory. In this sense, and considering the Douro region (northern Portugal), we developed an analysis of the ways in which the agents of this context experience and understand the political organisation of the sector and, simultaneously, of their projections on alternative paths to follow. This article seeks to characterise the political-organisational ecology in which the (inter)actions of multiple tourism stakeholders in the Douro region are inscribed and to understand their willingness to integrate new governance processes. Using an inductive approach, this analytical exercise is empirically supported by data collected through semi-structured interviews and documentary research. In general, these data points to the existence of structural gaps among the entities that intervene at different levels within the tourism system. Also, they reveal intra-regional dissensions that undermine any concertation and integrated tourism management processes. Aware of this atomisation scenario, local agents identify and justify some possibilities to be considered for building a coherent and sustained governance configuration for the Douro region tourism.
  Keywords: Tourism; governance; stakeholders; Douro region; Portugal.
  
  
• The nexus between Medical Tourism and Health Policy: A comparative case analysis of Australia, Germany, Italy and Poland  
  by Christof Pforr, Cornelia Locher, Michael Volgger, Anna Bialk-Wolf 
  Abstract: In many countries around the world an adequate financing of health care has been increasingly challenging in recent decades and has triggered a wide range of reform measures which are aimed at reigning in spiralling health care costs. In this paper it is examined in how far these developments have had an impact specifically on the demand and supply of medical tourism. The study is based on the analysis of four countries, Germany, Australia, Italy and Poland, which represent different types of health care systems regarding their service provision, financing and regulation. The paper demonstrates that the approach to health care governance adopted in the four case studies has led to distinct landscapes of medical tourism. It provides a welcome contribution to the still very limited body of research on the interplay of health care systems, health policies and medical tourism. It highlights the dynamics and complexities experienced in different destination contexts and in doing so offers a novel comparative perspective
  Keywords: medical tourism; health care systems; health policy; Australia; Germany; Italy; Poland.
  
  
• CITY BRANDING AND TOURIST REVISIT INTENTION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY  
  by Ananda Hussein 
  Abstract: This study aims to scrutinize the relationships among city branding, city image, visitor satisfaction and revisit intention in the context of city tourism. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed into the visitors of Malang City, East-Java Province, Indonesia. One hundred and eighty participants participated in to this study. Covariance Based SEM with Confirmatory Factor Analysis were used to analyze the data. The statistical estimation showed that city authenticity and city uniqueness as the elements of city branding do not have direct effects on visitor revisit intention. In affecting revisit intention, these two constructs must be mediated by both city image and visitor satisfaction. In addition, this study revealed the importance of city image in satisfying the visitors.
  Keywords: City Branding; uniqueness; authenticity; image; satisfaction; revisit intention.