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RESOURCES: PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS

Author : Jack Carlsen, Janne J. Liburd & Deborah Edwards
School/Work Place : Curtin Sustainable Tourism Centre, Australia (Jack Carlsen), University of Southern Denmark, Denmark (Janne Liburd), University of Technology Sydney, Australia (Deborah Edwards)
Contact : j.carlsen@curtin.edu.au
Year : 2010

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.

True innovation in tourism businesses is nebulous and often driven by external forces such as changing customer needs, demographics, technology, government policy, environmental conditions, social imperatives or the supplier chain. Innovation in tourism can occur at different operational and sectoral levels and apply in a range of geographic locations. It can take the form of product, process, management or institutional innovations (Hjalager, 1996) and may be a disruptive or an incremental process (Schaper and Volery, 2007).

Innovation “remains fundamentally an application of knowledge” (Schaper and Volery 2007:64), which is best achieved through networks that serve as both repositories and generators of innovative ideas and information. There has since been a proliferation of product, process, managerial and institutional innovations that have embraced sustainability and this paper describes and analyses just a few examples of these. Hjalager (1996) indicates that networks are an integral part of the process of innovation, which often involves ‘redefinitions of interrelationships between actors’ (Hjalager, 1996, p. 202), although these relationships may be cooperative or confrontational, both still stimulate innovation (Tremblay, 2002). Hausman (2005) also finds that ‘ideological innovations, such as new management practices’ involve new partnerships as well as new ideas. Laing et al suggest that partnerships provide a means for the diffusion of innovations (Laing et al, forthcoming). Liburd and Hergesell (2007) recognise the importance of training, education and employee retention and succession to improve learning and innovation for sustainable tourism in the European North Sea Region.

People, as customers or operators, are at the core of innovation in tourism. Hence networks are critical and the social and cultural environment has to be supportive of innovative ideas and opportunities if they are to be realized. To shed light on this conversation cross-case analysis (Patton 1990) was applied to eight case studies to compare and contrast the different types and contexts of innovation and for an integrated overview of the network drivers, processes and barriers for innovation.


List of Articles
No. Subject Viewssort Date
134 Think Tank XV Luxury and Sustainability in Tourism Accommodation – a... file 4863 Jul 27, 2015

This paper examines the relationship between luxury and sustainability in tourism using a case study of the Soneva Group, which has two luxurious eco resorts in Maldives and Thailand. The aim of this paper is to determine whether luxury and ...

Author: Derek Robbins & Justyna Gaczorek 

Year: 2015 

133 Think Tank XII Unsustainable Travel Development: The Case of Aviation... file 4858 Nov 06, 2013

Considering the apparent importance of low-cost aviation, and its dramatic development, there is remarkably little research done about its consequences on European mobility. A few studies have mapped the development of networks (cf. Dobruszk...

Author: Jan Henrik Nilsson 

Year: 2012 

132 Think Tank XIX Designing sustainable tourist experiences – (how) does... file 4827 Oct 23, 2019

Key words: Nature Parks, sustainable tourism, customer journey, sustainable development, behaviour change Page: 188-193 Designing sustainable tourist experiences.pdf Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ tabl...

Author: Birgit Reutz 

Year: 2019 

131 Think Tank XV Conserving biodiversity as tourism (including wildlife... 4825 Jul 27, 2015

Governments throughout Australia and elsewhere recognise that tourism is an important sector of the economy, and are encouraging its growth in a variety of ways, some more environmentally sound than others. This papers presents not the resul...

Author: Ronda J Green 

Year: 2015 

130 Think Tank VII The Uptake of Innovation in Tourism Organisations: Bar... file 4807 Oct 13, 2013

Innovation is fundamental to any industry in its quest to realising its potential. The tourism industry is no different in this pursuit of excellence and innovation but, unlike many other industries, it is largely comprised of small busines...

Author: Leo Jago & Margaret Deery 

Year: 2007 

129 Think Tank IV Environmental Attitudes of Tourism Activity Providers ... file 4801 Oct 13, 2013

This paper looks at the issue of environmental awareness and the related topic of 'ecolabels' in a New Zealand context, adopting a supplier's perspective to gain a greater insight into the attitudes of those managing and providing tourism pr...

Author: Christian Schott 

Year: 2004 

128 Think Tank XIV Welcoming Chinese Visitors and the Easternization of t... file 4776 Jun 26, 2014

Tourism academics, practitioners, governments and agencies around the world are in general agreement about the future of tourism in what commentators have tagged The Asian Century. Assuming demographic and economic conditions persist, the in...

Author: Patricia C. Johnson 

Year: 2014 

127 Think Tank V Communicating with Visitors During and After a Natural... file 4748 Oct 13, 2013

Tourism is often a significant component of a region or country’s economic, social, cultural and environmental well-being and a natural disaster such as a hurricane, tsunami, landslide, flood or bushfire may cause a range of impacts on the d...

Author: E. Kate Armstrong 

Year: 2005 

126 Think Tank VI Corporate Responsibility as Essential to Sustainable T... file 4746 Oct 13, 2013

For tourism development to have sustainable outcomes at the destination level, business operations must be sustainable. Sustainable development for business means adopting strategies and activities that meet the needs of the enterprise and ...

Author: Larry Dwyer, Liz Fredline, Leo Jago & Margaret Deery 

Year: 2006 

125 Think Tank XIII The Politics of Community-Based Tourism Planning in th... file 4729 Nov 06, 2013

The management of protected areas has to deal with a wide range of challenges, amongst these, a growing array of social, political and economic expectations. In this regard, protected areas are increasingly expected to particularly serve as ...

Author: Anna Hübner & Truong Si Hong Chau 

Year: 2013 

124 Think Tank XII Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation of Tourism Flows:... file 4724 Nov 06, 2013

The aim of this working paper is to demonstrate an interactive, real-time, transparent and dynamic approach to modelling tourism mobilities using agent-based simulation models [ABM]. ABM has previously been employed in studying organizationa...

Author: Jack Carlsen & Scott Heckbert 

Year: 2012 

123 Think Tank XVII Sustainable tourism certification in the hotel sector ... file 4631 Aug 17, 2017

This paper presents research commissioned by the African Development Bank (AfDB)’s African Natural Resources Center (ANRC), that aimed to to identify and summarise existing monitoring data being gathered by national tourism authorities and i...

Author: Anna Spenceley 

Year: 2017 

122 Think Tank IX Developing a knowledge platform on value of parks for ... file 4630 Oct 13, 2013

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 manage...

Author: Michael Hughes & Jack Carlsen 

Year: 2009 

121 Think Tank XIV Exploring Youth Perspectives on Quality of Life and To... file 4624 Jun 26, 2014

The concept of Quality of Life (QoL) is implicit in conceptualisations of tourism, especially those used to develop and guide tourism policy and planning. At the individual level it is assumed that travel offers a number of different ways to...

Author: Anna Blackman, Gianna Moscardo, Andrea Schurmann & Laurie Murphy 

Year: 2014 

120 Think Tank VII Social Responsibility and Innovation on Trafficking an... file 4619 Oct 13, 2013

Ethical questions related to globalization, human rights, unfair labor practices and trans-boundary exchanges of capital and work force create ever more complex challenges for the tourism sustainability agenda. In recent years, the tourism i...

Author: Camelia Tepelus 

Year: 2007 

119 Think Tank V An Economic Explanation of the Net Benefits of Tourism... file 4594 Oct 13, 2013

International tourism is increasingly viewed as one of the best opportunities for a sustainable economic and social development of developing countries. There is also an increasing concern from public policy makers as to whether mass tourism...

Author: Mondher Sahli & Jean-Jacques Nowak 

Year: 2005 

118 Think Tank X Indigenous Values Help Shape a Universal Tourism Ethic file 4574 Oct 13, 2013

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, Am...

Author: Ben Sherman 

Year: 2010 

117 Think Tank XV Inclusive tourism business models: A comparative analy... file 4552 Jul 27, 2015

Mitchell and Ashley state that the “bulk of pro-poor tourism literature has not aimed at measuring impact… [and] is indeed recognized as a weakness in the pro-poor tourism literature by its proponents” (2010:5). The research paper aims to qu...

Author: Andrew Rylance 

Year: 2015 

116 Think Tank XV Can we eat it? Exploring the cultural challenges in ma... file 4520 Jul 27, 2015

Can we eat it? How did you stop the waves? Is there water in there? Where is the switch to turn it off? Will it eat me? These are just some of the many questions asked by visitors to uShaka Sea World in Durban, South Africa. While South Afri...

Author: Judy Mann & Roy Ballantyne & Jan Packer 

Year: 2015 

115 Think Tank XII Identifying Issues with Tourist Wayfinding: A Collabor... file 4519 Nov 06, 2013

This paper reports on a study that was conducted in conjunction with Destination NSW, the government tourism authority for the state of New South Wales in Australia. The purpose of the study was to examine tourist wayfinding behaviour in Syd...

Author: Tony Griffin & Deborah Edwards 

Year: 2012 

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