Resources

RESOURCES


RESOURCES: PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS

Author : Timothy Tyrrell & Robert Johnston
School/Work Place : Arizona State University, USA (Timothy Tyrrell), University of Connecticut, USA (Robert Johnston)
Contact : timt@asu.edu
Year : 2007

"Operational definitions of tourism sustainability require details regarding what is to be sustained, for whom it is to be sustained, and the level at which it is to be sustained." This is the introductory sentence to "A Dynamic Model of Sustainable Tourism" (Tyrrell and Johnston, 2005). In it we develop a dynamic model illustrating the interrelated behavior of tourism-related economic and environmental conditions over time. We are proud that this work was awarded the Charles Goeldner, Outstanding Journal Article of 2005 by the Travel and Tourism Research Association. Subsequent writings have suggested practical situations and observable phenomena that validate the model (Johnston and Tyrrell, 2007). However, to date, we have never presented the model at a professional meeting, nor presented simplified implications of the model for tourism tradeoffs and management.

In its published form, the model is mathematically formal and somewhat complex. However, the fundamental implications of the model are straightforward, with intuitive implications for tourism management. We propose to present the model in a  “math-lite,” user-friendly version, and describe findings derived by integral calculus using common language. That is, we will present the formal aspects of the model in a simple, user-friendly form useful for those less familiar with complex mathematical models. We do this with no disrespect to the professional expertise of the audience. Rather, the goal is to expose the model and ourselves to new realms of professional conversation, engaging in dialog regarding practical implications for tourism.

The underlying optimization model is designed to assist tourism planners in conceptualizing choices and tradeoffs implicit in various options for environmentally sustainable tourism, at a general level. For simplicity, we will focus the presentation on two stylized groups—industry and residents—although the presented models may be easily adapted to accommodate greater numbers of stakeholder groups. The formal mathematical structure of the proposed model is analogous to that used in certain applications of optimal control theory to biological resources. However, as noted above we will eschew complex mathematical presentations in favor of a more widely-accessible format.

The model is presented as a template—an alternative mechanism that may be added to the toolbox available to those assessing tradeoffs in sustainable tourism. It formally conceptualizes tradeoffs implicit in the search for sustainable tourism outcomes provides greater clarity to that which is necessarily implied—and not implied—by environmentally sustainable tourism. As such, the model is meant to provide a preliminary step towards greater structure and precision in the discussion of tourism sustainability—a concept that has been subject to considerable ambiguity in prior writings and discourse.

The presentation, based on the underlying dynamic model, will characterize fundamental notions of sustainable tourism. We will present key model findings relevant to the search for sustainable outcomes, and characterize the potential conflicts, hazards, and tradeoffs implicit in the choice among different sustainable futures. Implications of the model will be discussed with regard to a patterns of tourism found in a specific destination—the Okavango Delta of northwestern Botswana. Evidence from this high-value tourist destination illustrates the major findings of the theoretical model as well as divergences between visions of sustainable tourism among different stakeholder groups.


List of Articles
No. Subject Viewssort Date
82 Think Tank V Managing Risk and Crisis for Sustainable Tourism: Rese... file 5908 Dec 14, 2013

Many tourism professionals are afraid to speak about terms such as tourism security and tourism safety. There is a common feeling among tourism and travel professionals that these terms will frighten customers and that the less said the bett...

Author: Peter E. Tarlow 

Year: 2005 

OPA: Keynote Speech 

81 Think Tank XII Opportunities and Obstacles for Sustainable Tourism Mo... file 5922 Nov 06, 2013

Cross border destination management is characterized by some extra challenges: national, district or county interests, different administrative structures, a high impact of politics and policies, inequality of tourism infrastructures, power ...

Author: Tatjana Thimm 

Year: 2012 

80 Think Tank XIII Striving for Environmental Sustainability through Soci... file 6024 Nov 06, 2013

The question how native societies cope with the increasing pressure of global values, such as sustainability, westernization and democratic institutions has been asked in the last decades (Smith, 1989; Honey, 1999; Nash, 2001; Honey, 2008). ...

Author: Peter Varga 

Year: 2013 

79 Think Tank VII Volunteer Tourism: Sustainable Innovation in Tourism, ... file 6074 Oct 13, 2013

This is a study of the relationships between two volunteer tourism host communities and the volunteer tourists who visit them. One is a declining rural community located in the Appalachian mountains of the United States. The other is in a ra...

Author: Nancy McGehee 

Year: 2007 

78 Think Tank XII Creating Tourism Transport Flow Maps with GIS: A Pract... file 6113 Nov 06, 2013

This paper explores various options to visualize tourism transport flows with spatial analysis tools and show them on maps. To facilitate implementation of these options, procedures for data preparation and map creation are explained through...

Author: Martin Landré & Paul Peeters 

Year: 2012 

77 Think Tank XV A vacation from capitalism; what happens when the ‘mas... file 6243 Jul 27, 2015

Philosophical and theoretical debates in tourism must be situated not just within economic and cultural contexts, but also political and social ones (Ataljevic, Pritchard & Morgan, 2007). Tourism is more than an ‘industry,’ Freya Higgins...

Author: Amy Savener 

Year: 2015 

76 Think Tank X Innovation of and in Informal Actor Network file 6256 Oct 13, 2013

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 ...

Author: Maya Damayanti 

Year: 2010 

75 Think Tank XIII Measuring Tourism: Developing a Regional Level Framewo... file 6310 Nov 06, 2013

In the field of tourism impacts research it is often assumed that certain characteristics of tourism are related to the nature and extent of tourism impacts on the destination’s community well-being. However, a standard set of measures for t...

Author: Elena Konovalov, Laurie Murphy & Gianna Moscardo 

Year: 2013 

74 Think Tank XIV The Roles of the Public, Private and Voluntary Sector ... file 6351 Jun 26, 2014

Social tourism refers to initiatives that aim to include groups into tourism that would otherwise be excluded from it. The earliest definition of social tourism by Hunzicker (1951) described social tourism as ‘‘the relationships and phenomen...

Author: Lynn Minnaert 

Year: 2014 

73 Think Tank XIII Understanding Sense of Place in Tourism Development: T... file 6424 Nov 06, 2013

This paper introduces the rationale for a study which explores the relationship between sense of place and sustainability at Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park (TARP), Sabah. Sense of place encompasses an understanding of the meaning bestowed ...

Author: Paulin Wong Poh Lin & Balvinder Kaur Kler 

Year: 2013 

72 Think Tank XIV The Development of a National Tourism Research Agenda ... file 6543 Jun 26, 2014

A national research agenda identifies the research priorities that need to be addressed to “inform future policy and service delivery” by government and “for use by academics and practitioners to stimulate research, partnerships and collabor...

Author: Leo Jago & Margaret Deery 

Year: 2014 

71 Think Tank XIII Exploring the Relationship between Cultural Capital in... file 6578 Nov 06, 2013

There is substantial literature on the impacts of tourism on culture, both positive and negative, however, there are relatively few articles that explore the relationship between cultural capital and sustainable tourism. This paper will repo...

Author: Laurie Murphy & Andrea Schurmann 

Year: 2013 

70 Think Tank XII A Global Tourism Geography - The Role of Transport file 6652 Nov 06, 2013

After decades of tourism research definitions and statistics of global tourism, flows are still not uniformly defined. A problem is that scholars, sector stakeholders and policy makers tend to have a biased image of the global tourism system...

Author: Paul Peeters & Martin Landré 

Year: 2012 

69 Think Tank V Political Instability and its Effects on Tourism file 6687 Oct 13, 2013

Tourism today is second only to oil as the world’s leading export commodity, accounting for global earnings of more than $300 billion, or nearly 25 per cent of total world GNP (Poirier 2000, p30, cited in Dieke, 2000). Over the last two deca...

Author: Sarah JR Ryu 

Year: 2005 

68 Think Tank XIII Assessing the Impact of Rural Tourism Development on t... file 6696 Nov 06, 2013

Past literature has posited that tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors and has been signified as an attractive investment proposition. Rural tourism sector has been actively promoted by the Malaysian government and currently, it is c...

Author: May-Chiun Lo, Vikneswaran Nair, Peter Songan & Helen Lee HuiHui 

Year: 2013 

67 Think Tank XII Employee Work Attitudes, Mobility and Promotional Oppo... file 6767 Nov 06, 2013

The issue of employee mobility is brought into sharp focus in times of economic and social uncertainty. Previous studies into the causes of employee mobility have investigated, among other determinants, the link between the promotional oppor...

Author: Margaret Deery, Leo Jago & Michael Stewart 

Year: 2012 

66 Think Tank VII The Practical Application of Sustainable Tourism Devel... file 6810 Oct 13, 2013

The internationally acclaimed Blackstone Valley Tourism Council continues to create a sustainable visitor destination using whole place-making techniques. Under its auspices, the Sustainable Tourism Planning and Development Laboratory share...

Author: Robert Billington, Natalie Carter & Lilly Kayamba 

Year: 2007 

65 Think Tank VIII Destination Competitiveness and Policy Making for Pove... file 6830 Oct 13, 2013

This paper has five aims. First, to discuss the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) and the method of its construction. If the TTCI is to have policy significance it is essential that its components be identified and analysed as ...

Author: Larry Dwyer 

Year: 2008 

64 Think Tank XII Are We Moving Towards Education for Sustainability? A ... file 6833 Nov 06, 2013

It is nearing the end of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) (United Nations, 2011), an awareness raising campaign which “seeks to mobilize the educational resources of the world to help create a mo...

Author: Erica Wilson, Tania von der Heidt, Geoffrey Lamberton & Dayle Morrison 

Year: 2012 

63 Think Tank VI Sustainable tourist accommodation management: The role... file 6844 Oct 13, 2013

The integration of sustainability within the domain of tourism has recently made considerable progress. For instance, in the UK and the Netherlands, the most important federations of tour operators, the FTO and the ANVR, have introduced obli...

Author: Menno Houtstra 

Year: 2006 

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