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RESOURCES: PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS

Author : Ivo Martinac
School/Work Place : Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
Contact : im@kth.se
Year : 2007

While it seems to be gradually dawning on humankind that the quality of our lives and (in extremis)survival of our and subsequent generations will depend to a significant extent on our ability and willingness to make urgent and significant corrections to our lifestyles, it is much less commonly understood how such changes should be structured and pursued towards a wholesomely sustainable outcome.

We urgently need to become more innovative about how we can accelerate the processes through which humankind will realize, understand and appropriately deal with complex environmental, economic and social challenges, natural or man-made. This relates to the pursuit and effects of travel and tourism as much as it concerns any other facet of our lives.

A substantial portion of travel and tourism is pursued to satisfy our needs for leisure, excitement and pleasure. In a world of visibly diminishing natural resources, and rapidly increasing environmental, economic and social challenges, any human activity pursued for pleasure and entertainment should be scrutinized with particular concern for how and to what extent it competes with higher-priority needs, as well as whether and how it can be responsibly pursued in the long term.

We urgently need to become more innovative about the ways we transport, accommodate, feed, entertain and cater to multiple other needs of travelers, such as to develop products, build/modify relevant infrastructure, develop business models and practices, and establish behaviors that will not threaten the ability of subsequent generations to pursue travel and tourism as part of their lifestyle.

While by no means a panacea for responsible tourism, the adoption of more efficient technologies and innovative mechanisms for their implementation can significantly contribute to pursuing a sustainable triple-bottom line in the travel and tourism sector. Innovative technologies are discussed that can be applied towards mitigating resource consumption and environmental impacts in travel and tourism, and mechanisms are presented that can accelerate the adoption and implementation of such technologies on a larger scale.

Rethinking and implementing more efficient infrastructure and technical systems is an urgently required component in the complex transformation travel and tourism needs to undergo to continue enhancing our overall quality of life.


List of Articles
No. Subject Views Datesort
162 Think Tank VII Rural Adventure Tourism and Social Entrepreneurship file 4793 Oct 13, 2013

The intent of this research is to provide a comparative analysis of several innovative social entrepreneurial businesses operating within the realm of rural adventure tourism. This qualitative, case-based research explores six companies, wh...

Author: Christina Heyniger & Kristin Lamoureaux 

Year: 2007 

161 Think Tank VII Destination and Enterprise Management for a Tourism Fu... file 7743 Oct 13, 2013

A key element of a successful tourism industry is the ability to recognize and deal with change across a wide range of key factors and the way they interact. Key drivers of global change can be classified as Economic, Social, Political, Tec...

Author: Larry Dwyer, Deborah Edwards, Nina Mistilis, & Carolina Roman 

Year: 2007 

160 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 

159 OPA award Envisioning Sustainable Tourism Futures: An Evaluation... file 41126 Oct 13, 2013

Methods for researching the future have grown both in variety and rigour, offering new opportunities for understanding sustainable tourism. This paper discusses the value of futures research as a tool for envisioning and planning sustainable...

Author: Pierre Benckendorff 

Year: 2007 

OPA: 2007 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

158 Think Tank VII Envisioning Sustainable Tourism Futures: An Evaluation... file 4546 Oct 13, 2013

Methods for researching the future have grown both in variety and rigour, offering new opportunities for understanding sustainable tourism. This paper discusses the value of futures research as a tool for envisioning and planning sustainable...

Author: Pierre Benckendorff 

Year: 2007 

OPA: 2007 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

» Think Tank VII Innovative Technologies in Travel and Tourism - Toward... file 3205 Oct 13, 2013

While it seems to be gradually dawning on humankind that the quality of our lives and (in extremis)survival of our and subsequent generations will depend to a significant extent on our ability and willingness to make urgent and significant ...

Author: Ivo Martinac 

Year: 2007 

156 Think Tank VII The New World of Travel 2.0: Application of Social Sof... file 7749 Oct 13, 2013

"Web 2.0" is a term used to refer to the emerging new wave of innovation on the Internet. Some see it as a second high-tech wave, marking the recovery from the technology and Internet "bust" at the end of the 1990s (O'Reilly 2005). Character...

Author: Alan A. Lew 

Year: 2007 

155 Think Tank VIII Integrating Sustainability into Tourism Education and ... file 4802 Oct 13, 2013

The focus of this paper is to provide an overview of the current sustainability content in Irish tourism programmes and the identification of key trends in this regard. It is based on extensive research of secondary and tertiary education s...

Author: Jane Stacey, Sheila Flanagan, Kevin Griffin & Anna Tottle 

Year: 2008 

154 Think Tank VIII Resident Support for Sustainable Tourism Policies in T... file 5447 Oct 13, 2013

During the last two decades, there has been increased focus on topics related to various aspects of sustainable tourism. Believing that sustainable tourism can be a serious alternative that can remedy some of the negative impacts associated ...

Author: Ercan Sirakaya-Turk, Muzzo S. Uysal & Turgut Var 

Year: 2008 

153 Think Tank VIII Assessing Whose Quality of Life: A Critical Examinatio... file 3182 Oct 13, 2013

Almost all the academic literature on tourism impacts has focussed on the consequences of tourism for the destination and its residents. Very little attention has been paid to the impacts of tourism on tourists. Virtually all cost-benefit an...

Author: Gianna Moscardo 

Year: 2008 

152 Think Tank VIII Tourism Professionals’ Attitudes towards Climate Chang... file 3440 Oct 13, 2013

This paper discusses three aspects of the interrelationship between tourism and climate change: the perception of the problems related to global warming by tourism professionals, their suggestions concerning possible actions that can be tak...

Author: Xavier Matteucci & Dagmar Lund-Durlacher 

Year: 2008 

151 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 

150 OPA award A Framework for Work-Life Balance Practices in the Tou... file 4656 Oct 13, 2013

This paper addresses the key issues surrounding the debate over work-life balance. It provides an overview of current thinking in the general work environment, with specific focus on the issue within the tourism industry. This paper present...

Author: Margaret Deery & Leo Jago 

Year: 2008 

OPA: 2008 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

149 Think Tank VIII A Framework for Work-Life Balance Practices in the Tou... file 3848 Oct 13, 2013

This paper addresses the key issues surrounding the debate over work-life balance. It provides an overview of current thinking in the general work environment, with specific focus on the issue within the tourism industry. This paper present...

Author: Margaret Deery & Leo Jago 

Year: 2008 

OPA: 2008 Outstanding Paper Award Winner 

148 Think Tank VIII Lifestyle Oriented Small Tourism [LOST] Firms in the F... file 5033 Oct 13, 2013

Lifestyle has been oft cited in the literature as the main motivation for those establishing or acquiring tourism related businesses in attractive destinations. However, the term has many different dimensions and connotations, both positive...

Author: Jack Carlsen & Alison Morrison 

Year: 2008 

147 Think Tank VIII Emerging Green Tourists: Their Behaviours and Attitudes file 5029 Oct 13, 2013

The concerns are varied and are not necessarily important to all tourists and the influence they have on sustaining the industry is unknown. For years the tourism industry has used a number of mechanisms in an attempt to green operators. The...

Author: Sue Bergin-Seers & Judith Mair 

Year: 2008 

146 Think Tank VIII Environmental Education and Ecotourism: A Case Study o... file 8694 Oct 13, 2013

In this paper we take the standpoint that environmental education and ecotourism are highly related and depend on each other, and that ecotourism cannot be achieved without proper environmental education. Furthermore, in order to achieve qu...

Author: Mojca Arsenijevic & Marko Bohanec 

Year: 2008 

145 Think Tank IX Courchevel, an outstanding alpine ski resort at a turn... file 8055 Oct 13, 2013

“Courchevel is first and foremost one among the founding elements of the huge touristic complex of les Trois Vallées in France. Linked to the neighbouring Allues and Belleville valleys by a 3,000 acres network area of regularly packed and ma...

Author: Daniel Tixier 

Year: 2009 

144 Think Tank IX Tourism Relationship Model and Intermediary for Sustai... file 5856 Oct 13, 2013

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 ...

Author: Asami Shikida, Mami Yoda, Akiko Kino & Masayuki Morishige 

Year: 2009 

143 Think Tank IX The Role of Values in Sustainable Tourism Education file 4135 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 

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