The Tourism Development Handbook

"The authors begin by offering a concise account of the changing nature of tourism and its impacts, and then proceed to explain aspects of planning and marketing that are designed to get the best out of tourism without destroying the destination. Key elements of the book include: organization and development objectives; aspects of supply and demand; marketing; customer care; and monitoring and evaluation." "Individual planners, marketers and decision-makers in both the public and private sectors will find the book straight-forward, addressing key issues in tourism destination development. It is also a valuable text for students of tourism planning and marketing."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The tourism industry is an industry of people and is directly dependent on the performance of activities, skills, professionalism, quality, and competitiveness. Approaching the perspective of people management stresses the need to humanize companies, making empowerment and commitment easier. These are key to setting “talents” and, more importantly, to encouraging these individuals to put their creative capacities to the service of the companies for which they work. Only by being collaborative internally does business gain competitive capacity in the global marketplace. This aspect is crucial in tourism in the face of strong and growing competition in the sector. Human Capital and People Management in the Tourism Industry is a crucial reference source that reveals groundbreaking human resource policies for tourism destinations, revolutionary human capital managerial business approaches in tourism, innovative tourism training perspectives, and new tourism qualification prospects. Featuring research on topics such as intellectual capital, human resource management, and financial performance, this book is ideally designed for business managers, entrepreneurs, human resource officers, industry professionals, academicians, students, and researchers.

Tourism is widely considered to be an important factor in socio-economic development, particularly in less developed countries. However, despite almost universal recognition of tourism’s development potential, the extent to which economic and social progress is linked to the growth of a country’s tourism sector remains the subject of intense debate. Tourism and Development in the Developing World offers a thorough overview of the tourism-development relationship. Focusing specifically on the less developed world and drawing on contemporary case studies, this updated second edition questions widely-held assumptions on the role of tourism in development and seeks to highlight the challenges faced by destinations seeking to achieve development through tourism. The introductory chapter establishes the foundation for the book, exploring the meaning and objectives of development, reviewing theoretical perspectives on the developmental process, and assessing the reasons why less developed countries are attracted to tourism as a development option. The concept of sustainable development, as the most widely adopted contemporary model of development, is then introduced and its links with tourism critically assessed. Subsequent chapters explore the key issues associated with tourism and development, including the rise of globalization; the tourism planning and development process; the relationship between tourism and communities within which it is developed; the management implications of trends in the demand for and uptake of tourism; and an analysis of the consequences of tourism development for destination environments, economies and societies. A new chapter considers the challenges of climate change, sustainability of resource supply (oil, water and food), global economic instability, political instability and changing demographics. Finally, the issues raised throughout the book are drawn together in a concluding chapter that assesses the tourism and development ‘dilemma’. Combining an overview of essential concepts, theories and knowledge with an analysis of contemporary issues and debates in tourism and development, this new edition will be an invaluable resource for those investigating tourism issues in developing countries. The book will be of interest to students of tourism, development, geography and area studies, international relations and politics, and sociology.

Tourism, one of the world’s leading industries, has propelled countries into recovery from economic recession. As a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral, holistic, and systemic industry, tourism also uniquely placed to address the concerns of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While the relationships between tourism, sustainability, and sustainable development are the subjects of deep study, the direct positive effects of tourism on SDGs remain underdiscussed. The Handbook of Research on the Role of Tourism in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals is a collection of innovative research that explores sustainable practices within the tourism industry. While highlighting a broad range of topics including economic growth, education, and production patterns, this book is ideally designed for engineers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, executives, advocates, researchers, academicians, and students.

This Handbook offers an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of core themes and concepts in community-based tourism management. Providing interdisciplinary insights from leading international scholars, this is the first book to critically examine the current status of community-based tourism. Organised into five parts, the Handbook provides cutting-edge perspectives on issues such as Indigenous communities, tourism and the environment, sustainability, and the impact of digital communities. Part 1 introduces core concepts and methodologies, and distinguishes community products from other tourism and hospitality goods. Part 2 explores communities’ attitudes towards tourism development and their engagement with and ownership of the process. It also delves into the role of community- based tourism, under the influence of governmental policies, in the economic and social development of a region. In Part 3 various management, marketing, and branding initiatives are identified as a means of expanding the tourism business. Part 4 examines the negative impacts of mass tourism and its threats to culture, tradition, identity, the built environment, and natural heritage. In the final and fifth part, future challenges and opportunities for community-based tourism initiatives are considered, and research-based sustainable solutions are proposed. Overall, the book considers engaging local populations in tourism development as a way of building stronger and more resilient communities. This Handbook fills a void in the current research and thus will appeal to scholars, students, and practitioners interested in tourism management, tourism geography, business studies, development policy and practice, regional development, conservation, and sustainability.

This book provides a comprehensive and readable overview of the critical debates and controversies around tourism in Africa, and the major factors that are affecting tourism development now and in the future. Drawing upon research emerging from collaborations between a growing number of African academics and practitioners based in the continent and in the African diaspora as well as international colleagues, the Handbook offers key critical insights into the issues, challenges and trends that Africa and African tourism is facing. Part I covers continent-wide issues such as climate change, ICT, heritage and development. The remaining parts are organised along geographic lines, with each chapter covering the development of tourism, current trends and discussion of critical issues such as community participation, gender, backpacking, urban tourism, wildlife tourism and conservation. Combining an overview of key theories, concepts, contemporary issues and debates, this book will be a valuable resource for students, academics and practitioners investigating the role of tourism in Africa.

This book considers cultural heritage and the sustainable development of tourism from an African perspective, with Botswana as the main point of reference. Within the African context, Botswana is renowned for its abundance of cultural heritage and appeal to tourists. The collection reconciles the growing demand to commodify cultural heritages, the quest for cultural heritage preservation and management, and the focus on sustainable tourism development in Botswana. As such, the book is an appraisal of, and meditation on, the business-side of cultural heritage management and the value that cultural heritage resources have at a personal, local and national level. It is an exploration of the nature of Botswana’s cultural heritage, the politics and policies that underpin that heritage, the development of cultural heritage tourism as a sustainable business, the country’s cultural heritage experiences and products, and a confrontation of the hard questions about cultural heritage and the future. As an introductory text, the book gives tourists, tourism students and academics, as well as tourism entrepreneurs, policymakers, and practitioners a basis on which to make decisions.