ABSTRACT
Small businesses in world heritage sites provide services to visitors and livelihood for residents. Besides the cultural and religious values promoted by these businesses, they also provide socioeconomic support to their owners. The Pashupatinath temple is known as Hindu's major religious and pilgrimage destination in South Asia. Hundreds of businesses around the temple provide services to visitors. This study evaluates the socioeconomic impacts of these small businesses around Pashupatinath temple. Using a survey of 110 businesses, binary logistic regression models find that the owners of larger businesses selling religious supplies in this area are more likely to own houses in Kathmandu and to be more satisfied with their businesses. The study also finds that businesses without permanent stalls faced severe hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study assessed the socioeconomic status of a business owner through house ownership in Kathmandu, and finds that small businesses operating in the premises of the religious heritage site of Pashupatinath temple have a positive relation to the livelihood of the business owners and their families. It concludes that small-scale business in world heritage sites directly contributes to local livelihoods and economies. © 2022 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
The new global context has heightened the need for the sustainable mobility and recovery of the tourism industry. This study analyses how travel bubbles can contribute towards the sustainability and reconstruction of the tourism industry. Several examples have emerged worldwide, manifesting the strong need to create ‘safe' routes to transform tourism. Through a theoretical approach and by drawing from previous research, official reports, and news media, this study analyses the rationale for travel bubbles and examines how they can support short-term responses to the pandemic and enhance long-term planning pertaining to tourism mobility for a sustainable future. It discusses the political, economic, psychological, socioeconomic, environmental, and hygiene impacts of travel bubbles. The study shows that sustainability can be achieved through a cooperative regional approach. It examines the challenges and opportunities of travel bubbles towards redeveloping tourism in neighbouring destinations and offers strategies to support sustainable tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as backyard tourism. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
ABSTRACT
Following a Chinese saying: To be rich, roads first, high-speed rail (HSR) opening and station construction are indispensable for economic developing. Probing the nexus between HSR, as a vital part of modern transportation system, and local tourism development provides a scan for reviving tourism and gaining low-carbon transition after COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on prefecture-level panel data, this study takes difference-in-difference and instrument variable methods to detect the overall and heterogeneous effects of HSR connection on cities' tourism development. The results showed that HSR connection had an overall positive effect on cities' domestic tourist arrivals. The heterogeneity of the effect from HSR to tourism development appears to be that central and western cities, non-resource-based cities, and small cities benefited more from the opening of HSR. From a dynamic perspective, HSR connection promoted local tourism development in the 0 and 1 year of HSR opening but failed to show a positive effect in the long term. Hence, the study proposed some adjustments for evaluating the efficiency of HSR with consideration for the tourism effect, redesigning the system of HSR with consideration for local heterogeneity, and optimizing the HSR environment. These measures can optimize China's HSR management and the design of HSR systems. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
ABSTRACT
Accurately quantifying industry resilience is essential to devising effective recovery strategies. Previous research into industry resilience has either quantified the concept with single metrics aggregated across large geographies (e.g., visitation) or used metrics comparing the relative concentration of an industry within a region to the national average (e.g., location quotients). The former set of metrics prohibits spatially targeted recovery efforts while the latter fails during national crises. We propose the measurement of tourism and outdoor recreation industry resilience to COVID-19 based on growth rates in employment, wages, and establishments using publicly accessible time-series data on all counties in the United States. We use these indicators to characterize the spatio-temporal patterns of industry resilience across the country. The indicators can serve as a useful reference for diagnosing and monitoring industry resilience as well as developing targeted policies, programs, and promotion efforts that facilitate more localized response efforts. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd
ABSTRACT
Farmer households in tourist villages have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the recovery of livelihood is proving difficult. In order to improve farmer households' ability to cope with external shocks, we have applied the theoretical framework of resilience to study farmer households' livelihood in ethnic tourism villages. Based on the survey data of 480 farmer households from 10 ethnic tourism villages in the Wuling Mountain area, this study constructs a livelihood resilience evaluation index system from three of the following dimensions: buffer capacity, adaptive capacity, and transformation capacity. These households are classified into three types: government-led, company-led, and community-led. In addition, the livelihood resilience and its influencing factors of each type is quantitatively assessed. The results show that the livelihood resilience of farmer households administered by the government, companies, and communities is 0.2984, 0.3250, and 0.2442, respectively. Government-led farmer households have the greatest transformation capacity, company-led farmer households have the largest buffer capacity and adaptive capacity, and community-led farmer households have the least capacity across the board. The results indicated that the company-led management of tourism development is currently the most appropriate mode of management for the local area. Four factors, namely, the number of family members engaged in tourism, the training opportunities for the development of professional skills, the education level of core family members, and the type of assistance subsidy available to a family, are the dominant obstacle factors with respect to the livelihood resilience of different types of farmer households. Finally, some recommendations are made to improve the farmer households' livelihood resilience in ethnic tourism villages based on two aspects of organization management and farmer households' behavior. The findings of this study can be used as a theoretical foundation for future research on farmer households' resilience to poverty in underdeveloped ethnic tourism villages. © 2022 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
International tourism will continuously face challenges to fully recover after COVID-19 unless destinations implement universally agreed upon public health protocols that make travellers feel safe. This challenge is even more daunting for least developed countries like Nepal, which relies on rural, nature and adventure tourism. These rural regions, already under stress prior to COVID-19, must now address the pandemic's consequences before availing themselves of opportunities for more sustainable tourism development that experts believe the pandemic confer. We use "mutual gaze” to examine how exchange relationships between rural and urban stakeholders shape collaborative decisions on tourism development. We conceptualise tourism development interactions through the innovative development of unique offerings to attract domestic tourists during the pandemic. Data on Nepal's rural tourism sector reveal that representative local associations enable innovation through the integration of dynamic capabilities and resources in the development of sustainable tourism products. While the study confirms the significant role government plays in facilitating cooperation among stakeholders to legitimise relationships and ascertain sustainability goals, it reveals organic collaboration is essential for inclusive planning and decision making at grassroots' level. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the latest phenomenon emerging from rural towns and villages, where a surge in traditional cafes and restaurants has spurred a new trend in sustainable tourism development. This phenomenon is linked to local efforts to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the series of lockdowns that accompanied it. This paper focuses on two critical lines of inquiry: (1) Where did the idea stem from? and (2) How has it developed to the extent that it now constitutes one of the few primary sources of income for underdeveloped communities? Design/methodology/approach: Exploratory research was conducted in rural and urban areas where tourism is still developing. In depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample consisting of ten owners of rural and traditional cafes who consented to their participation in the study. Findings: Emerging trends such as rural and traditional cafes and restaurants can be a stable source of income for underserved communities in uncertain times. Local entrepreneurs often play a critical role in the development of sustainable rural tourism efforts as they have a better understanding of the needs of their own local community. Furthermore, their projects typically carry higher levels of authenticity and innovation with a greater ability to attract both local and international travelers. Research limitations/implications: Taking into consideration the exploratory nature of this study, a small convenience sample was used. Originality/value: This study highlights the importance of innovation in the tourism industry during precarious times, the most recent example of which was the global COVID-19 pandemic. This paper suggests that the industry can rely on new emerging trends to mitigate the loss of revenue from previous sources of tourism. Furthermore, the study showcases the importance of domestic tourism trends and how it can lead to an expansion in international tourism resources. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
Residents' overall well-being and quality-of-life require a deeper understanding of their perceived social impacts of tourism to determine appropriate management strategies to promote behaviours in support of tourism development. Aligning with the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, this paper proposes a new framework for residents' quality-of-life. Bringing together multi-disciplinary evidence from environmental, social and cognitive psychology, political science and tourism, this study critically examines how residents' perceived social impacts of tourism and their interpersonal trust can make them become more place attached and protect their tourism resources. The framework proposes that residents' perceived social impacts of tourism exerts a direct influence on residents' interpersonal trust. It further posits that residents' perceived social impacts of tourism and their interpersonal trust exert a direct influence on residents' place attachment. The proposed model further considers place attachment to exert a direct influence on residents' pro-social and pro-environmental behavioural intentions. Pro-social behaviour is proposed to influence pro-environmental behaviour. Further pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours are proposed to influence residents' support for tourism development. The framework then considers residents' support for tourism development to exert a direct influence on residents' overall quality-of-life. The theoretical contributions, practical implications for sustainable community tourism and sustainable tourism in general and the limitations of the study are discussed. [ FROM AUTHOR]
ABSTRACT
This paper examines whether the relationship between tourism development and income inequality is sensitive to the media environment. Using panel data from 88 countries for the period 1996 to 2020, we find that countries with uncensored media environments experience lower income inequality as the tourism industry develops. We also find that a favourable media environment enhances tourism development. Further analysis shows that asymmetries in a hostile media environment;namely, media biasedness, media corruption, and harassment of journalists, inhibit tourism development, particularly in emerging countries. This paper calls for strong support for press freedom to develop the tourism industry as countries emerge from the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Voluntourism is a unique tourism pattern which got considerable attention recently, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic and the intense search to promote and revive all the possible tourist patterns in order to support the tourism industry. This paper studied and analyzed voluntourism from a business perspective by developing Business Model Canvas (BMC) to support this tourism pattern. In order to develop Business Model Canvas for Voluntourism (BMC4V), this study relied on a Delphi Technique. A total of 22 experts, academics, stakeholders and officials active in voluntourism were invited to four-round Delphi workshops to identify the main components of the voluntourism industry. The developed BMC4V is structured from nine building blocks: key partners, key activities, key resources, value propositions, customer relationships, customer segments, channels, cost structure and revenue streams. The main contribution of this study is presenting BMC4V and guidelines for the stakeholders in ethically supporting the voluntourism industry. The results revealed that voluntourism has great potential to be a promising tourism pattern if we consider it a business model and not only a leisure tourism activity. Additionally, this study presented a key guideline for the main five actors in the voluntourism industry (voluntourists, sending organizations, servicing organizations, hosting organizations and government) to set this tourism pattern on the right track. Management implications Most of the scientific literature that discussed or analyzed voluntourism indicated that there are many negative impacts of this tourism pattern because of many malpractices. Accordingly, these negative impacts were exacerbated, putting voluntourism activities in the crosshairs and criticisms. This study seeks to present a different perspective on dealing with voluntary tourism, not only as a tourism model, but also by presenting it as a business model. Applying Business Model Canvas for Voluntourism (BMC4V) opens up new strategies and policies for decision-makers to enhance this tourism pattern, reduce crises and the negative effects associated with it and optimise these activities. This leads to a reconsideration of voluntourism as one of the promising tourism patterns that have the potentials to revive the tourism industry, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic and the scrambling for discovering and promoting all available and possible tourism patterns. In this context, this study presented a comprehensive business model that presented a clear and precise picture of all the actors involved in the voluntourism industry, as well as presented suggested key guidelines for the most effective voluntourism actors in order to restructure, develop, and raising the efficiency of this tourism pattern from a business perspective.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: This study aims to explore the role of cultural distance, economic integration, price competitiveness and substitution prices for tourism arrivals between 10 Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries and 22 other origin countries from 2007 to 2019. Design/methodology/approach: A panel-data gravity model is applied to estimate tourism demand in the ASEAN region. An index of cultural distance (time-variant) is introduced to examine the role of cultural differences across bilateral partners. Moreover, relative prices and substitution prices are introduced to the gravity equation to estimate price elasticities. Finally, this study tested whether the ASEAN free trade agreements (FTAs) encourage intraregional tourism arrivals. Two-panel regression approaches are used to test the model. Findings: Cultural distance positively affects tourism inflows, boosting foreign arrivals. Income and price elasticities are important determinants in the demand model for ASEAN. A gain in price competitiveness versus alternative destinations can lead to substitution in destination choice. Meanwhile, geographic distance has a negative impact on arrivals, suggesting that connectivity and transportation are key in boosting tourism inflows in ASEAN. A decline in the disposable incomes of tourists caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may reduce tourism arrivals in the region. However, when currencies in ASEAN weaken, and consumer prices are lower than in other destinations, arrivals in ASEAN will be stimulated. FTAs have facilitated travel intra-ASEAN, which is an advantage over the extra-ASEAN sector. Practical implications: Cultural heritage could be used in tourism promotion as ASEAN can attract tourists seeking novelty and new excitements. ASEAN countries could create complementary destinations and jointly promote cultural heritage to accelerate the region's recovery. The depreciation of currencies in ASEAN and the gain in relative price competitiveness could attract more tourist visits, helping the region reestablish tourism activities in a postpandemic economy. Originality/value: The model accounts for three key variables in the gravity approach: cultural distance in ASEAN tourism inflows, the effects of the ASEAN economic community on intraregional tourism, and relative and alternative price competitiveness. This study enriches the literature about tourism-demand approaches in modeling tourism arrivals. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.