Resources

RESOURCES


RESOURCES: PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS

Author : Cynthia Messer, Ingrid Schneider & Okechukwu Ukaga
School/Work Place : University of Minnesota, USA
Contact : cmesser@umn.edu
Year : 2007

Communities have a variety of interest levels in tourism overall, including sustainable tourism (WTO, 2002). While we have witnessed increased awareness and discussions about sustainability and sustainable tourism, there is often a lack of shared definitions of means and ends among stakeholders, ambiguities in what is meant by sustainable tourism, and constant debate over specific policy and practice options for achieving it (McCool et al, 2001).

Thus, to enhance understanding and application of sustainable tourism principles and practices, a program based on best practices across the U.S. was developed. The program enhances and facilitates progress in sustainable tourism by addressing environmental, economic or social issues as identified by the community. A case study of program application and evaluation is presented for discussion and replication.

The Tourism Resource Team (TRT) program provides technical assistance to community tourism organizations that have encountered an obstacle to realize their sustainable tourism goals. The University based TRT program is grounded in three principles: 1) active citizenship of local citizens in designing and implementing projects, 2) addressing issues according to sustainable development principles; and 3) a vibrant relationship between citizens and their University. The program’s process includes an invitation to communities to submit a proposal, objective evaluation of the proposal, and, if/when selected, ongoing interaction for more than one year related to the sustainable tourism obstacle.

Upon selection, the community creates a broad reaching community tourism team, provides a packet of information to the TRT and prepares for a 2-3 day visit. Based on the community’s needs, an expert TRT team participates in 2-3 days of site visits and meetings, and prepares a presentation with recommendations to discuss with the community. A final report is crafted within
one month of the visit and presented to the community. Program evaluations are conducted immediately, as well as 6 and 12 months following the visit. These immediate, short and long-term evaluations provide various feedback mechanisms and insight for the program and community.

To date, three iterations of the program have ensued leaving a list of lessons learned and successes from which to build. Issues of concern to the communities are similar to those encountered elsewhere (Nickerson and Kerr, 2000) and include: gateway community tensions with federal and state land owners, seasonality, and integrated community relations. Lessons learned and affirmed from the cases include the necessity for full community participation, need to educate about sustainable tourism, and the delicacy of community relations.

All program implementations met with success and measurable outcomes. Along with an immediate increased understanding of sustainable tourism, community leaders and citizens expressed recognition of the consequences of mass tourism development and development that occurs without public involvement. Longer-term community benefits identified include opportunities for organization, a sense of collaboration, and increased understanding of sustainable tourism. Lessons learned include insight on team formations, community culture, and resource allocation.

The TRT program has proven a valuable tool to address community-driven sustainable tourism issues. The program expands local understanding of sustainable tourism, encourages community participation in using sustainable practices to address local issues, and generates outcomes and long-term impacts for communities. The model can easily be replicated.


List of Articles
No. Subject Viewssort Date
182 Think Tank XV The operational challenges of community-based tourism ... file 15800 Jul 27, 2015

Community-based tourism is increasingly being developed and promoted as a means of reducing poverty in developing countries assisting local communities to meet their needs through the offering of a tourism product. The Swaziland Tourism Auth...

Author: S. E. Lukhele & K. F. Mearns 

Year: 2015 

181 Think Tank XII Origins, Evolution and Potential Future of the Coastal... file 15336 Nov 06, 2013

Coastal caravan parks in Australia are in decline due to the conversion of beachfront land to higher yielding forms of commercial enterprise (Prideaux and McClymont, 2006; Tourism Research Australia, 2007). The resulting reduction in accommo...

Author: Rod Caldicott & Pascal Scherrer 

Year: 2012 

180 Think Tank XIV Bird-watching Routes as Collaborative Stakeholderships... file 15167 Jun 27, 2014

Although there are numerous birding trails with varying levels of success, prior to this study, little research existed as to how birding trails are designed, implemented and managed. Thus, the study posed and answered the following research...

Author: Krisztian Vas 

Year: 2014 

179 Think Tank XI What Do Tourism Students Know About Sustainability and... file 15154 Oct 14, 2013

The topic of sustainable tourism education has only recently started to emerge in the tourism literature. A few tourism scholars have raised concerns about the need to prepare future tourism professionals for real life planning and manageme...

Author: Blanca A. Camargo & Ulrike Gretzel 

Year: 2011 

178 Think Tank V Knowledge Management for Tourism Crises and Disasters file 15104 Oct 13, 2013

Tourism is especially vulnerable to disasters and, being fragmented, often its response is difficult to initiate and coordinate. It is also information intensive and when in chaos its information needs are exacerbated. The paper aims to deve...

Author: Nina Mistilis & Pauline Sheldon 

Year: 2005 

177 Think Tank XIII Using Tourism to Build Social Capital in Communities: ... file 14851 Nov 06, 2013

Despite considerable discussion about how tourism could or should contribute to sustainable destination development, there is little evidence that the practice of tourism planning or development has altered in any significant way in the last...

Author: Gianna Moscardo, Andrea Schurmann, Elena Konovalov & Nancy G. McGehee 

Year: 2013 

176 Think Tank VI Testing Clarkson’s Typical Corporate and Stakeholder I... file 14631 Oct 13, 2013

In today’s world of growing concern over the social and environmental effect of tourism, the responsibility for the future of our society is moving from simply relying on our political leaders and interest groups towards the concept that cor...

Author: Catrina Papaleo & Sue Beeton 

Year: 2006 

» Think Tank VII Tourism Resource Teams: Innovation with and for touris... file 14349 Oct 13, 2013

Communities have a variety of interest levels in tourism overall, including sustainable tourism (WTO, 2002). While we have witnessed increased awareness and discussions about sustainability and sustainable tourism, there is often a lack of s...

Author: Cynthia Messer, Ingrid Schneider & Okechukwu Ukaga 

Year: 2007 

174 Think Tank XVIII Visitor management in protected areas file 14251 Jan 07, 2019

Key words: tourism management, tourism planning, visitor management, protected areas, New Zealand

Author: Julia Nina Albrecht 

Year: 2018 

173 Think Tank V Reflecting or Directing Perceptions? Fox Media’s Respo... file 14135 Oct 13, 2013

Disasters at tourism destinations often receive extensive reporting in the news media, particularly when one or more of their own nationals are affected. From terrorism to natural disasters, the stories of tourists and, more recently, their ...

Author: Sue Beeton 

Year: 2005 

172 Think Tank VII There's No Such Thing as Sustainable Tourism: Innovati... file 13523 Oct 13, 2013

Innovation can come in many forms but all of these share three common elements - creativity, a problem solving approach and a new way of thinking. This paper proposes that current approaches to tourism and sustainable regional development h...

Author: Gianna Moscardo 

Year: 2007 

171 Think Tank XIV Sustainable tourism, market failures and the challenge... file 13469 Jul 07, 2014

David's presentation outlines the major market failures in tourism production and consumption and questions the changing role of (public sector) governments in market regulation and ‘economic’ development. The presentation focuses specifical...

Author: David G. Simmons 

Year: 2014 

170 Think Tank X Is Ecotourism a Strategy for Regional Economic Develop... file 13042 Oct 13, 2013

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...

Author: Harald Pechlaner & Christopher Reuter 

Year: 2010 

169 Think Tank IX Sustainable Tourism Development Plan for the Old City ... file 12996 Oct 13, 2013

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. I...

Author: Donruetai Kovathanakul 

Year: 2009 

168 Think Tank VII Learning as Prerequisite for Innovations in Tourism - ... file 12618 Oct 13, 2013

This article reports on an ongoing project that focuses on learning and innovation as prerequisites for sustainable tourism in a transnational environment defined by the European North Sea Region. According to Buhalis (2000: 113) providing i...

Author: Janne Liburd & Anja Hergesell 

Year: 2007 

167 Think Tank IX The Role of Values in Sustainable Tourism Education file 12612 Oct 13, 2013

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 Sustai...

Author: Christian Schott 

Year: 2009 

166 Think Tank XIV Values in Tourism Higher Education: the Case of Europe... file 12496 Jun 26, 2014

The primary rationale for embedding values-based learning in tourism higher education is to engage students’ learning-to-learn and learning-to-be, rather than simply learning about a topic, such as tourism management or sustainability (Libur...

Author: Tanja Mihalič, Janne J. Liburd & Jaume Guia 

Year: 2014 

165 OPA award A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Sustainab... file 12456 Jun 26, 2014

Emerging tourist destinations can challenge ecological, economic, social, and quality of life barriers. These issues draw attention towards the consequences of increasing complexity that are often found as a tourist marketing system grows an...

Author: Sarah Duffy & Larry Dwyer 

Year: 2014 

OPA: 2014 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

164 Think Tank X The Impact of Climate Change on Alpine Leisure Tourism... file 12285 Oct 13, 2013

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 ...

Author: Alexander Dingeldey & Anja Soboll 

Year: 2010 

163 Think Tank VII Practical Interpretations of a Dynamic Model of Sustai... file 12154 Oct 13, 2013

"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 Sus...

Author: Timothy Tyrrell & Robert Johnston 

Year: 2007 

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