In practice, tourism organisations tend to be more serious towards their financial viability and therefore undermine long-term socio-cultural and environmental consequences. In so doing they impede their own ability and that of the destination to develop in a sustainable way. This may lead to ‘strategic drift’ where, organisation’s existing strategy gradually, if imperceptibly, moves away from addressing the forces at work in its environment. The paper argues the role of effective knowledge management (production, use and distribution of knowledge) as a possible resolution to the problem. Essentially, any tourism experience can be seen as an amalgamation of a wide range of products and services. A diversified group of both tourism and non-tourism organisations provide the ultimate tourism experience through their networks of relationships. In that sense, combining the concepts of tourism networks with the insights provided by knowledge management may merit new managerial and theoretical endeavours to ensure the sharing and adaptation of tourism knowledge across tourism networks. In other words, learning tourism networks, characterised by processes of mutually reinforcing interactions and collaborations of knowledge creation and flow among tourism organisations, is the future imperative for sustainable tourism development and may be a possible resolution to avoid strategic drift. A conceptual framework and a set of research propositions are discussed in the paper. The conceptual framework of the paper depicts the nature of sustainable tourism practices of a tourism destination (micro and macro) and aims to address how network-based knowledge management process can effectively enhance the sustainability-related practice and avoid strategic drift.

The areas of tourism planning and strategy are frequently at the focus of academic enquiry; however, the implementation of the planning results is not. The small number of existing studies suggests that many difficulties associated with plan or strategy implementation in tourism are related to stakeholders, their interrelationships and behaviour. They include rivalry/ competition between actors, individuals or organisations, the stability of stakeholder relationships, the distribution of information and, accordingly, communication gaps and feared or perceived loss of autonomy in cooperative structures. Dislikes between individuals that may result in altered involvement or performance of an organisation were found to be prevalent at the local and community levels. Other known challenges in the implementation of plans include cost and time constraints as well as red tape. This study aims to reduce the knowledge gap related to plan or strategy implementation in tourism by investigating stakeholder involvement and relationships in implementation processes. Taking a network approach, it investigates stakeholder interaction and collaboration in the implementation of the current national tourism strategy, the New Zealand Tourism Strategy (NZTS) 2015.

Being faced with global trends that challenge the way tourism is conducted at present (Dwyer, Edwards, Mistilis, Roman and Scott, 2009; Dwyer, Edwards, Mistilis, Scott, Roman and C., 2008), educators worldwide have recognized the need to adapt tourism students’ education in order to enable them to recognize changes in the environment and manage the implications (Bramwell, 1996; Sheldon, Fesenmaier, Woeber, Cooper and Antonioli, 2008). Efforts range from the development of educational materials such as collecting international case studies of good practice (Bramwell, 1996; Carlsen, Liburd, Edwards and Forde, 2008) and the design of topic specific teaching modules (Liburd and Edwards, 2010) to the creation of a new framework for teaching (TEFI, 2009). The latter asks for a fundamental change in teaching, away from a mere development of business skills and other tourism-related competences and towards values, which underlie all behavior as professionals and individuals. TEFI (2009) identified five central values related to future tourism education, namely stewardship, knowledge, professionalism, ethics and mutuality. Some of these values relate to individuals’ qualities, their human capital, while others like knowledge are closely linked to the social capital of a person.

This paper highlights the importance of new and established networks that underpin the innovation processes in sustainable tourism. It will draw on published literature as well as case studies to describe the various types of networks that have developed as an integral part of the innovation process (Carlsen et al, 2008). Innovation rarely occurs in isolation. Invariably, collaboration between like-minded individuals or agencies is essential in order to transform an idea or opportunity into a reality. In some cases, the links are not always intuitive or apparent and may come about through serendipity rather than strategy. In other cases, the formation of new networks gives rise to further innovation, creating a virtuous circle of process, product or service innovation. Established networks, such as those developed between government, industry and universities, are also a substantial source of innovation through research, knowledge development and dissemination.

This paper highlights the importance of new and established networks that underpin the innovation processes in sustainable tourism. It will draw on published literature as well as case studies to describe the various types of networks that have developed as an integral part of the innovation process (Carlsen et al, 2008). Innovation rarely occurs in isolation. Invariably, collaboration between like-minded individuals or agencies is essential in order to transform an idea or opportunity into a reality. In some cases, the links are not always intuitive or apparent and may come about through serendipity rather than strategy. In other cases, the formation of new networks gives rise to further innovation, creating a virtuous circle of process, product or service innovation. Established networks, such as those developed between government, industry and universities, are also a substantial source of innovation through research, knowledge development and dissemination.

How the informal sectors create and share innovation in gaining competition is very important in tourism development. Commonly, informal sectors are embedded in their routines and lack of innovation capacities. Based on the case of pedicab drivers in Yogyakarta, it was found that as informal sector in tourism activity, the drivers have created product innovation. This street level of innovation is mainly done by seeing the tourists as the potential demand/profitable customers. They have created innovation on physical performance of the pedicab, the capacity of pedicab to serve the tourists, and the union as the organization of the pedicab drivers. Furthermore the pedicab has transformed not only as a transportation mode but also as one of cultural tourism attraction in Yogyakarta.

This case study complements recent research on FDI in tourism in African countries conducted by the United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). These projects aim to better understand the pro-development effects of tourism and tourism FDI in developing countries. The Gambia was chosen because of the significant role that both tourism and FDI have played in this country. An assessment of how tourism FDI impacts on the economy is made using data collected from a sample of foreign and locally owned hotels via an in-depth questionnaire, plus key informant interviews with stakeholders in the tourism sector. To determine the impact of FDI, a comparison is made between foreign and local hotels within similar categories (upmarket, midmarket and budget) in terms of a number of factors including employment, profitability, environmental sustainability and community linkages. This case study also discusses the challenges to tourism-induced development in The Gambia and the ways to enhance its socioeconomic contribution to poverty reduction.

As climate change gains global attention from events like the summit in Copenhagen held during December of 2009, the need for sustainable tourism is more important than ever; with comprehensive education in sustainability concepts and practices essential, and methods for networking to share information critical. Specifically, sustainability focuses on the triple bottom line of equity, economics, and environment; or people, products, and the planet (Dhiman, 2008); or education, environment, and economics (personal communication with Carrie Blaskowski, Jackson County Green Energy Park, January 12, 2010). All of these relate to sustainable tourism, which can be defined as “an alternative form of tourism that improves or, at the minimum, maintains the quality of experiences for the visitors, life of host communities, and the environment [indefinitely] on which both the host community and the visitor depend.” (McIntyre, 1993, p. 11; Sirakaya-Turk, Ekinci, & Kaya, 2008, p. 414; Tosun, 1998, p. 596).

This paper presents an interacting multi-agent model as a new method of examining the impact of climate change on Alpine leisure tourism and ski areas in a complex interacting model network. Since tourism varies at a small scale concerning natural resources as well as offered market segments, a regional differentiated analyse of the effects of climate change on both the tourism supply side and demand side is essential. Therefore, we have developed a high-resolution simulation model to rate the tourism development under different climate and societal scenarios in the German and Austrian Upper Danube catchment. As a result, we evaluate implications on the tourism industry for the next fifty years. As the model analyses tourism development on a high level of individualisation, it fosters the finding of economically reasonable investment strategies and supports the policy makers' outward reasoning by making the decisions more objective and transparent. The effects on climate change are very different on a small spatial scale: Some larger and higher located ski resorts will operate very successful in the next decades. They will profit from the shift of guest caused by the problems that smaller and no more snow-reliable ski areas are facing.

The aim of this paper is to describe an action-based research project entitled the Management Local Tourism Master Class (MLTMC) and to discuss the merits of this extension tool in building sustainable tourism management practices across local government divides. The MLTMC is specifically designed to explore and build awareness of local government’s role in tourism management in the Australian context and to address a number of challenges being faced by Australian local governments including the need for a ‘joined-up’, networked model of management and service delivery for tourism. These challenges are not unique to Australia, and are common in many other parts of the world. The MLTMC demonstrates an innovative approach to information sharing and solution building in a complex organisational setting. The findings suggest there is potential to develop issue-based networks to address a range of sustainable tourism challenges faced by local government. However, collaboration is an essential forerunner to this issue-based network approach.

The paper deals with the research activity carried out by the Authors in the context of the European Project “Listen to the Voice of Villages”. The focus is on the governance asset and tools able to enhance sustainable tourism development in European rural villages. The subject of the research activity regards the Project’s first year, dedicated to structural analysis of the target territories and the definition of the methodology in order to identify existing governance networks. The Authors have elaborated on such basis a governance model, adaptable to the peculiar characteristics of every area, able to foster the creation of Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) where they do not as yet exist, or to improve their activity. In the following two years the implementation of a transnational association is foreseen (Vital Villages Association) to support local development and to certify the sustainability of the process, in order to raise international visibility of European rural villages as tourism destinations.

Rapid growth in resort areas, combined with environmental and market stresses, has recently created concern amongst resort decision-makers about future paths of development. Growth models have operated effectively in maintaining resort competiveness but there is evidence that this approach needs to be re-assessed (Beritelli et al., 2007). Globalization forces together with global environmental change are necessitating institutions to rethink how they ‘do business’; who is involved and has power or influence in decision-making; within what spatial and temporal frames decisions need to be made; and to whom they are accountable. In this paper, we propose an evolutionary network approach that will guide empirical research on changing approaches to governance in mountain resort settings. The aim of the research project is to identify innovative strategies that will assist destinations in adopting appropriate governance responses to both endogenous and exogenous pressures. From a theoretical perspective, the application of an evolutionary network approach in the context of tourism destinations will introduce new theoretical interpretations.

Climate change and its impacts on nations, regions and populations as well as its anthropogenic causes have become one of the prevailing issues of global society and, hence, subject to ongoing debates among e.g. the natural, political and social sciences. Due to both considerable contributions in accelerating global warming and the severe impacts (to be) faced with, the tourism industry has increasingly been paid attention to. Accordingly, studies focusing upon the implementation for adaption strategies to mitigate effects upon destinations and possible causes for barriers encountered during the process have been carried out to a greater extend. Likewise, this study will examine impediments for resilience to adaption taking the tourism industry of the small island state Tuvalu as an example. Tuvalu has been frequently described as highly susceptible to any changes in climate, not only due to its low-lying islets and fragile natural environment, but also due to overall small-scale and fragmented developments within the private sector. So has pro-activeness for adaptive measures yet been limited within Tuvalu’s tourism, although the industry is recognized to drive future economic growth.

Despite the advent of improved electronic communications technology, face-to-face communication and networking remain the most effective means of enhancing business performance and innovation, particularly for more complex products. During the recent global financial crisis, there has been substantial pressure to reduce the cost of doing business, which has resulted in many companies cutting their business travel and business meetings budgets. Concern has now been raised as to the consequence for long term business development of these changes.

This paper, which is based upon a study that was done for Australia’s Business Events Council of Australia (BECA), examines the role of face-to-face communication and the networking that occurs, especially through participation in business events in underpinning business development and innovation. In recent times, a number of surveys of business managers have been undertaken to assess attitudes towards the role of communication and networking in underpinning business development and this paper incorporates the key findings from these studies.

A traditional and widely held view is that a sustainable approach to destination planning and management ideally requires that marketing and product development are undertaken in an integrated manner. However, if we take just two activities to demonstrate our point, “destination marketing” and “product development” are often conducted by very different organizations located within and outside the tourism destination, at different times, and by different stakeholders with different agendas, values and ideas. This co-ordination problem has been recognized by several authors, referring specifically to the gap between destination marketing activities and tourism planning (i.e. the “marketing-planning gap”). Jamal and Jamrozy (2006), among others, have argued that this gap would need to be bridged in any effort to achieve an integrated and sustainable tourism destination. The messy world of policy, driven largely by critical and social constructionist analyses of policy-making (Provan & Kenis, 2008) and the realization that politics cannot be separated from policy (Bell, 2004), have inspired research that has sought more nuanced understandings of the relational characteristics of stakeholders (Healey, 2006) and governance structures and capacities (de Leon & Varda, 2009). The emergence of network analysis in addition to stakeholder collaboration research offer new avenues for examining this “gap”. Undertaking this challenge in our paper also enables us to explore the under-studied relationship between networks and collaborations in sustainable destination management.

There have been increasing calls to move away from the traditional disciplinary structures and research, teaching and learning approaches that have tended to ‘tunnel’ student learning and reinforce particular worldviews towards new forms of post-disciplinary social science (e.g. Tribe 1997; Gretzel, Jamal, Stronza & Nepal 2008). These calls have been underpinned by a need to adopt more creative and flexible approaches to investigating problems, and a more tolerant approach to the forms of knowledge that different groups can contribute to problem solving. Tourism, as a multi-sectoral and transdisciplinary phenomenon, has struggled to carve out its scholarly territory and produce a coherent body of work that might achieve disciplinary status (Etchner & Jamal, 1997; Tribe, 1997; 2004). Indeed, Coles, Hall and Duval (2006) argue that the search for disciplinary status should not be the focus of discussions but that tourism, as part of a much larger social, economic, environmental and political system, requires deeper transdisciplinary understandings; i.e. disciplinary status is not as important. An important contribution of these debates is to highlight the challenges to teachers and students of tourism who seek to unpack sustainability issues that transcend disciplinary and sectoral boundaries, and to fashion a curriculum that delivers such rich learning opportunities.

This paper narrates processes associated with the development of microtourism enterprises as one part of a broader organically determined sustainable development agenda in a north eastern coastal village in Bali. The paper’s narrative is constructed from a grounded theory interpretation of various “lived experiences” (van Manen, 1990) of two Australians, and their related “autoethnographies” (Schwandt, 2001; Cloke, Crang & Goodwin, 1999; Pratt, 1992), who over time have shifted from being tourists to residents in the village. Hence forth, they will be referred to as the lived experience-ers/authethnographers. Lived

The DIT-ACHIEV Model is a model of sustainable tourism indicators developed in a previous research project undertaken by the School of Hospitality Management and Tourism, Dublin Institute of Technology. The indicators represent six fields of interest – Administration, Community, Heritage, Infrastructure, Enterprise and Visitor (Flanagan et al, 2007). This current research addresses the implementation of the DIT- ACHIEV model in an Irish tourism destination, with the objective to assess whether it can be implemented by the local community in any tourism destination.

The methodology used to implement the model is based on recommendations by Goodey (1995) and Denman (2006). Goodey suggests that a local network of interested parties is required to achieve sustainable tourism (1995). Denman proposes that a multi-interest working group should be created and wide public consultation is necessary for sustainable tourism. The model is being piloted in Killarney and Carlingford, Ireland; the two destinations were selected via a competitive tender process. This paper will discuss the challenges encountered following the methodology in Killarney.

In the tourism management literature, several authors (Nordin, Beritelli et al, Pechlaner) have promoted the concept of destination governance, to define a coalition of disparate parties with common interests, as a productive approach to tourism promotion at the destination level. In 2005 WTO forecasted that public – private partnerships in tourism promotion will become more and more prevalent during 2006 – 2010 particularly in the more developed countries with a federal political system or a strong degree of decentralization. Although the theoretical concepts in this nascent literature are appealing, little evidence exists as to the operational reality of governance (Beritelli et al, 2007). The open questions include “how governance is produced, who governs, what roles have the actors and the institutions in the process” (Pechlaner, 2009).

The state of Uttarakhand (in the Himalayas) in which the two case studies were conducted is trying to expand its already existing strength in the tourism sector as well. Tourism is estimated to make up for about 20% of GDP in Uttarakhand in comparison to 5,83% for India and the ITOPC (Indian Tour Operators Promotion Council) gives a figure of 16,7 million domestic visitors for 2006 in a state with approx. 8,5 million inhabitants (ITOPC calculations are based on numbers provided by the state government).

In general, the Himalayas (which make up a big portion of the state of Uttarakhand) have been considered one of the emerging markets in Asia with the highest potential for growth, alongside Sri Lanka, Laos and Vietnam (Shackley, 2006: 66). In Uttarakhand the mountains themselves are the biggest attraction, providing the backdrop for Adventure Tourism (mainly trekking and rafting) and of course pilgrimage (e.g. Haridwar and Chard Dham or the four holy shrines) and Yoga (including Rishikesh the “Yoga capital of the world”).

The Climate Change Collaboratory1 aims to strengthen the relations between Austrian scientists, policy makers, educators, environmental NGOs, news media and corporations - stakeholders who recognize the need for adaptation and mitigation, but differ in worldviews, goals and agendas. The collaboratory will manage expert knowledge and provide a platform for effective communication and collaboration. It aims to assist networking with leading international organizations, bridge the science-policy gap and promote rich, self-sustaining community interaction to translate knowledge into coordinated action. Innovative survey instruments in the tradition of “games with a purpose” (Rafelsberger & Scharl, 2009) will create shared meaning and leverage networking platforms to capture indicators of environmental attitudes, lifestyles and behaviors.

Indigenous communities from around the planet are defining common values in their tourism programs that attract visitors seeking authentic, transformational experiences. The Maori of New Zealand, Aborigines of Australia, Maasai of Kenya, American Indians of the United States, and First Nations People of Canada communicate a set of ancient beliefs in the intricate connection between humans and the natural world. These beliefs carry a deep and powerful message that can capture the hearts and lift the souls of people who have long forgotten the teachings of their forebears.

Luther Standing Bear of the Lakota Nation expressed the beliefs of his people as follows: “From Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, there came a great unifying life force that flowed in and through all things — the flowers of the plains, blowing winds, rocks, trees, birds, animals — and was the same force that had been breathed into the first man. Thus all things were kindred, and were brought together by the same Great Mystery.”

This paper discusses the contemporary meeting of three large-scale systems or processes - Agenda 21, the Internet and globalization - and what this historical conjunction means for networking sustainable tourism development. It is important to understand this issue as there is now an unparalleled opportunity for local actors to do global business, and these three interacting forces shape the way that business will be done. For tourism stakeholders, a wide range of competitive advantages and constraints are becoming evident across the supply chain as they engage in each one of these processes. Those stakeholders who actively participate in the mosaic creation of a global green knowledge-based economy will ultimately benefit from their sustainable development-driven actions. But the learning curve to get on board this high-speed development engine is steep. Stakeholders require improved guidance and governance that emphasizes a change to Agenda 21 value systems and the development of environmentally and socially responsible administrative control systems of supply chain activity and destination management. This paper argues that there is a need for an overall (global to local) networked sustainable tourism guidance and governance system if stakeholders are to benefit from current opportunities, and if the sector is to play a positive role in socio-economic transformation towards a global green economy.

This study examines the existing pattern of stakeholder relationships representing major partners of sustainable tourism development. By utilizing a network analysis lens the study also helps us understand the impact of inter relationships of destination stakeholders on sustainable tourism development. It is found that local DMOs are the stakeholders with a high centrality position in destination networks. The positional characteristic of DMOs emphasizes that local tourism organizations have important decisional roles not only for destination marketing but also sustainable tourism development.

Meaning is one of the most elusive and ubiquitous properties of tourism spaces. This paper analyses the ambiguity of meaning in the materiality of tourism sustainability. Sustainable development and its three interrelated principles of holism, equity and futurity have now seriously entered the lexicon of the tourism academe whilst also securing a strong footing in many tourism spaces, the tourism industry, marketing and promotion. Concerned with the materialization of sustainability (how it is brought into material being, its visual and tangible realization) this paper focuses on how the discourse of sustainability has been translated into the use (and misuse) of certain materials.

Altenkirchen is situated in Westerwald/Raiffeisen region of Germany (between the cities of Bonn, Cologne, Mainz and Wiesbaden) and in addition to the 7,000 city inhabitants includes 42 municipalities with a further 24,000 people. It is a city torn between the local and global economies, between living space and non-places of movement and between its small historical centers and the open countryside (Sieverts, 2003).

The city has only a limited chance to present itself on the national market as there are no particular visible highlights; neither in production, nor tourism potential. It is undisputed that cities are currently competing (both intra and internationally) to increase economic power, produce creative milieus, protect soil and reduce socio economic differences to keep and attract young and well educated residents.

In order to counterbalance Altenkirchens main disadvantages a search for a model oriented solution was initiated. The municipality of Altenkirchen approached us in this connection to create a concept for strengthening economic and cultural issues.