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
82 Think Tank VI Ecotourism and Environmental Education: Opportunities ... file 152160 Oct 13, 2013

Ecotourism, which typically involves nature-based tourism, plays an increasing role in today's environmental management. As environmental conservation has, in many cases, suffered from a limited budget, funding ecotourism is perceived as a w...

Author: Aphirom Promchanya 

Year: 2006 

81 Think Tank XIV Tropical Communities as Resources for Tourism or Touri... file 48598 Jun 26, 2014

The purpose of this paper is to review the barriers to sustainable tourism development faced by rural and developing regions and to explore the notion of tourism and its potential contribution to community well-being, with a focus on Flora’s...

Author: Laurie Murphy, Gianna Moscardo & Anna Blackman 

Year: 2014 

80 Think Tank XIV Implementation and Governance of Hotel Chain's CSR pol... file 33800 Jun 26, 2014

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has gained increasing importance in the tourism industry over the past two decades, making it a central aspect of many business strategies. Many international hotel corporations have integrated CSR polic...

Author: Dagmar Lund-Durlacher & Carolin Brewi 

Year: 2014 

79 Think Tank XIV Tourism Development as Greek Tragedy: Implications for... file 25139 Jun 26, 2014

Although tourism has been used as a development strategy in many parts of the world for several decades, there is little evidence that it is an effective tool for improving the wellbeing of destination communities. It is not uncommon to find...

Author: Gianna Moscardo, Anna Blackman & Laurie Murphy 

Year: 2014 

78 Think Tank XIII Conceptualising a Framework to Analyse the Factors Inf... file 19049 Nov 06, 2013

As the tourism industry continues to grow globally, sustainable tourism development has drawn interests among researchers, practitioners, governments and stakeholders. There are several studies on the local residents’ support for tourism, lo...

Author: Samuel Folorunso Adeyinka-Ojo, Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore & Vikneswaran Nair 

Year: 2013 

77 Think Tank XI Broad Street Regeneration Initiative: Practical Sustai... file 16474 Dec 19, 2013

Professors of tourism management teach principles of sustainable tourism to students in the classroom. Practitioners teach by implementing sustainable tourism principles in community. The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council (Tourism Council) i...

Author: Robert Billington, Natalie Carter, Caitlin Amos & Myles Ellison 

Year: 2011 

76 Think Tank XIII Tourism investment and sustainable development: A comp... file 15277 Nov 06, 2013

Despite the growing importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) for tourism in developing countries and its perceived importance for stimulating sustainable development, few empirical studies have examined its impact. This paper explored t...

Author: Lee Davidson & Mondher Sahli 

Year: 2013 

75 Think Tank XI Sustainable Tourism Course Structure and Associated St... file 14366 Oct 14, 2013

The author has developed and delivered Sustainable Tourism (S.T.) related courses at Institutions of Higher Education in Paris, London, Helsinki, and Parnu, Estonia over the last 10 years. The focus of the presentation would be the S.T. con...

Author: James Holleran 

Year: 2011 

74 Think Tank XIII Using Tourism to Build Social Capital in Communities: ... file 13295 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 

73 Think Tank XI What Do Tourism Students Know About Sustainability and... file 12394 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 

» Think Tank VII Tourism Resource Teams: Innovation with and for touris... file 12110 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 

71 Think Tank VII There's No Such Thing as Sustainable Tourism: Innovati... file 11782 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 

70 Think Tank XIV Assessing Samui Island's Sustainable Tourism Policies ... file 11122 Jun 26, 2014

Since 2009, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) promoted sustainable tourism practices through its – 7 Greens Concept, which is similar to the main global trends towards sustainable tourism. The 7 Greens Concept includes Green Heart, Gre...

Author: Attama Nilnoppakun, Krissada Pornprapa, Nattapong Boonlue & Kreagrit Ampawat 

Year: 2014 

69 Think Tank XIV Bird-watching Routes as Collaborative Stakeholderships... file 11073 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 

68 Think Tank XIV Sustainable tourism, market failures and the challenge... file 10968 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 

67 Think Tank VII Learning as Prerequisite for Innovations in Tourism - ... file 10304 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 

66 Think Tank X How Fragile is Tourism Development in West Africa? The... file 10012 Oct 13, 2013

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...

Author: Lee Davidson & Mondher Sahli 

Year: 2010 

65 OPA award A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Sustainab... file 10007 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 

64 OPA award Using Tourism to Build Social Capital in Communities: ... file 8664 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 

63 Think Tank IV Integration of Theory and Practice in Hospitality Sust... file 8594 Oct 13, 2013

This brief paper describes a new educational model developed at Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne (EHL) to link theory and practice, or more specifically, coordinate learning opportunities between the classroom (Sustainable Tourism) and current pr...

Author: James Holleran 

Year: 2004 

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