Sustainable Tourism has emerged as a major field of specialisation within tourism and has been so pervasive that some have suggested that the field represents a fifth platform of tourism research, while others have argued that the field has moved beyond a niche area of research to inform tourism research more generally.

Concern for the degradation of the environment (Holden, 2000; Russo, 1999) has seen the emergence of a small but steadily increasing number of UK organisations, which are primarily situated in the third sector (Office of the Third Sector, 2008). These are increasingly cited (Benson, 2004; Clifton & Benson, 2006; Coghlan, 2006) in the emerging and growing niche of volunteer tourism (Wearing, 2001).

Extensive research and practical implementation concerning the value of natural resources has thus far been conducted when one considers for example wildlife-, eco- and cultural tourism, however many of these values originate from industry and government perspective. This paper proposes the investment of minimal and sustainable resources in creating superior values from a customers’ perspective when visiting a national park.

Global concern about environmental sustainability and climate change has exploded in recent years and is now one of the most widespread political and social issues in Australia. The concern about the quality of life for future generations has taken hold and is affecting the way consumers behave. Increasing awareness of the impacts of the use of household products, car emissions, long haul travel and over-development is, in many communities...

What we value is intricately linked to our morality and our ethics, whether personal or corporate. Sustainability is essentially a statement of morality, embedding as it does the notion of inter- and intra-generational equity. This includes, among other things, social justice. The values underlying tourism development are dominated by the corporate expedient of profit and by the State concern for wealth generation, irrespective of the impacts on workers.

Tourism, like any other endeavour, operates within the social and political domains of a community, and it is therefore likely that residents with different social and political values would hold different representations of tourism. In the US, Snepenger and Johnson (1991) found that ‘conservatives’ were more negatively disposed to tourism than ‘liberals’. Lindberg and Johnson (1997) found support for a model that suggests that resident values regarding economic gain are positively related to perceptions of tourism.

The importance of values to tourism is but one aspect of the importance of values in human interactions with the natural environment and even more broadly to the human condition. However, attempts to understand the impact of values on behaviour requires a priori an understanding of what values are. This paper offers some insight into the language-in-use phenomenon pertaining to values within the context of a World Heritage Area that is a tourist draw card

Price competitiveness is one of the most important factors in the overall tourism competitiveness of a country or a destination. There is widely accepted evidence that prices are one of the most important factors in decisions about whether, and where, to undertake trips. This is reflected in the Travel &Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), where, in Pillar 10, Price Competitiveness is assessed using four sets of hard data, on Ticket Taxes and Airport Charges (10.01), National Purchasing Power Parity prices (10.03) Fuel Price levels (10.04) and the Hotel Price Index (10.05).

The recent explosion of second home development in tourism areas around the world is a reflection not only of the increased mobility of capital and people associated with the effects of globalization but also the development models employed in many tourism destinations that link real estate development with amenities such as golf courses, marinas and ski infrastructure

The role of human resources in sustaining hospitality enterprises has long been recognized (Hjalager und Andersen 2001; Baum 2007). Personnel are considered vital for the delivery of touristic experiences, thus being a central ingredient of the product offer (Baum 2007). Despite the high unemployment in the sector (Smeral, Huber et al. 2008), several researchers have reported on difficulties of hospitality enterprises to fill their vacancies (Hjalager und Andersen 2001; Smeral, Huber et al. 2008) and retain their employees (Iverson und Deery 1997; Hjalager und Andersen 2001; Smeral, Huber et al. 2008).

Sustainable tourism is perhaps the most prominent feature of contemporary tourism discourse. However, despite its prominence for several decades, achieving sustainability remains as elusive as ever. This paper explores the concept of the culture-ideology of consumerism developed by sociologist Leslie Sklair (2002) in order to ascertain the implications it holds for understanding how to secure meaningful sustainable tourism. Demonstrating that the current system of neoliberalism and its attendant culture-ideology of consumerism are inherently unsustainable, this paper argues we must consciously move away from this value system to one less damaging.

There is an increasing awareness of using cultural values to understand Chinese consumers. For instance, hospitality researchers have found that face and harmony significantly impact on Chinese consumers’ satisfaction, service choices and behavioural patterns (e.g. Hoare & Butcher, 2008; Lee & Sparks, 2007; Gilbert & Tsao, 2000; Eckhardt & Houston, 2002; Lockyer & Tsai, 2004).

National Parks and other protected natural areas are a significant point of focus for tourism activity globally. Consequently it is important to understand the values of parks for tourism to assist with effective policy, planning and management of protected areas as conservation reserves and as tourism and recreation resources. The gathering of knowledge to better inform understanding of tourism has been described as the Knowledge Platform.

Introduction: Nurturing effective intercultural dialogue through tourism has been positioned to be an emergent challenge to tourism professionals working toward sustainability in a globalised world (Robinson and Picard 2006). This interdisciplinary study devises inroads into ways of addressing this challenge through ‘reading’ the language of cosmopolitanism as it appears in writings about tourism and travel.

There is a need for a research agenda, which achieves a holistic understanding of the nature and influences of environmental learning on tourists’ environmental values and travel experiences in relation to climate change. Why, because tourists’ environmental values and environmentally friendly behaviour have been the focus of predominantly quantitative studies within the ecotourism context.

This research aims to propose a sustainable tourism development plan for the City of Nan. Since the year 2000, Nan civil society leaders, national and international stakeholders have tried to develop Nan into a world heritage destination. In 2003, Nan also received the first rank of national community participation from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP, 2003).

There has been increased attention given to sustainable tourism monitoring and evaluation efforts, including corporate policies, guidelines and codes of conduct as well as certification programs (e.g., Dodds and Joppe 2005; Font and Harris 2004; Holcomb, Upchurch and Okumus 2007). Few studies, however, have examined sustainable tourism awards programs as a source of innovation and learning.

The world has changed tremendously since the publication of Our Common Future by the World Commission for Environment and Development (1987), which elevated the concept of sustainable development from grassroots initiatives to the forefront of global politics and arguably public awareness. Some initiatives and progress can be documented in tourism research and the industry towards a more sustainable future.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) should be to Australia what Costa Rica and Belize are to the USA – a proximate and successful tourist destination that attracts sustainable numbers of tourists drawn to the extraordinary diversity of endemic wildlife, habitats and the diverse range of cultural groups. Belize and Costa Rica have embraced ecotourism to the extent that ecotourism is now a significant earner of foreign exchange as well as an important mechanism for conserving biodiversity and facilitating local and regional sustainable development (see Weaver 1999).

Achieving sustainability is a challenge for all of society, but one that may prove especially problematic for the business events sector. Tourism in general and the business events industry in particular may be even more susceptible than other sectors to changing public opinion regarding travel, particularly air travel and long haul flights. Long haul destinations, because of their physical location, are likely to be more susceptible than other destinations.

This paper reports on findings which are part of a broader research conducted under the Learning and Teaching Fellowship Award 2007/08, aimed at the assessment of innovative blended learning techniques and applied learning in alternative study contexts, facilitating cross-cultural interaction, capacity building and sustainable development in the wider community.

This paper explores the concept of quality of life (QOL) as perceived by residents in tourism destinations and examines differences in perceptions of QOL among culturally different destinations. The perceived QOL of local community is an important factor that should be considered in planning, developing and managing tourism in order to achieve long run prosperity and sustainability of the industry (Ritchie & Inkari, 2006). The industry must take into account the residents’ perceptions of QOL when developing sustainable tourism practices (Mattson, 1990).

For many decades authors (see Sontag, 1976, Baederholt, 2006, Chalfern, 1979, Crang, 1997) have recognised the fundamental role of photography within tourism. Many such as Urry (1999, 2002), Crouch (2000, 2002) and Crouch & Lubbren (2003) have explored the position of the visual in the tourist experience. Others have explored the social relationships between tourists that emerge through photography (Haldrup & Larsen, 2003; Badernholt, 2006), or the practices of photographing in a particular context (see Edensor 1998, 1999, 2001).

This presentation discusses the role of values in the context of sustainable tourism education. However, it does not seek to engage in the debate about the definition of Sustainable Tourism nor the differences between this concept and Sustainable Development, but rather focuses on ‘sustainability’ or ‘sustainability-driven thinking’ as a paradigm or frame of mind (Hunter, 1997; Bonnett, 1999).

This paper proposes a simple model that depicts the relationship between community and extra-community stakeholders that will enable the effective development of sustainable tourism. “Sustainable tourism” in this paper is defined as tourism that utilizes community resources for tourism development and re-invests the returns from tourism to the destination resources. The tourism relationship model, with a community-based intermediary as its subsystem, is introduced and applied to a case in Hokkaido, Japan.