CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS

Border Tourism and Community Development Conference
Xishuangbanna, China - 6 to 9 July 2005

Keynote Speakers:

• Trevor Sofield, University of Tasmania, Australia - Border Tourism and Community
• Dallen Timothy, Arizona State University, USA - Tourism and Political Boundaries in an Age of Globalization
• Geoff Wall, University of Waterloo, Canada - Insights on Tourism from a Chinese Research Agenda

Tourism, Development and Cultural Preservation in Sipsongpanna: the “Pattra-Leaf Culture” Project

Roger Casas
Peking University (Beijing Daxue), Beijing, P.R. China

This paper offers a critical approach to the relationship between tourist industry and traditional ethnic cultures, and particularly to the contradictions informing some of the cultural preservation projects currently being promoted by the Chinese state, culture researchers, and tourist industry. The study focuses on the region of Sipsongpanna (officially known in Chinese as Xishuangbanna Daizu Zizhizhou, or Sipsongpanna Tai Autonomous Prefecture), located in Southern Yunnan Province, People´s Republic of China (PRC).

At present, Sipsongpanna is widely known as one of the major tourist destinations in the PRC; actually, the region did not become a target for tourist exploitation until the middle 1980s because of government´s worries concerning security issues in border areas. Neevrtheless, the potential of the region for tourist exploitation was confirmed soon after its opening: since the late 1980s until the middle 1990s, tourist arrivals grew at an average annual rate of 20%, and prefectural economy became increasingly dependant on tourist trade. Thanks to an all-year-round mild climate and a reasonable amount of tropical rainforest areas, “beautiful Sipsongpanna” (meilide Xishuangbanna) has gained a reputation especially among Han tourists, who make the bulk of the visitors. Finally, tourism as been officially selected as one of the leading industries for the overall economic development of the region, and therefore tourist industry is actively supported by administration policies.

Tourist industry in Sipsongpanna adopts the form of “ethnic tourism”, that is, a “variety of «site-seeing» tourism that targets groups that do not fully belong, culturally, socially, or politically, to the majority (national) population of the state within whose boundaries they live and that are touristically «marked», owing to their alleged ecological boundedness or cultural distinctiveness, uniqueness or «otherness»” (Erik Cohen). Apart from its relatively abundant natural resources, Sipsongpanna is home to a wide variety of ethnic groups: 14 out of 25 official minority groups in Yunnan inhabit the prefecture´s area. This ethnic diversity has thus become a fundamental part on the appeal that Sipsongpanna holds for tourists.The Tai Lue are numerically the most important of Sipsongpanna´s ethnic groups, adding up to around 35% of the total population of the prefecture. The role of Lue culture in the marketing of the region as a major tourist destination is thus a particularly crucial one: this is so also because the Lue are popularly considered to have a “developed” culture (including a script of their own), and make thus for the perfect combination of an “exotic” yet familiar and non-threatening minority people. Consequently, tourist industry in Sipsongpanna has been built mainly on the cultural features of the Lue, which can now be experienced within any of the several “ethnic” or “culture parks” established all around the prefecture.

Following the current boom of ethnic tourism all over the PRC, several academic works have began to pay attention to the dynamics of the relation between tourist industry and ethnic minorities´ traditional cultures. While some authors offer a sometimes harshly critical view of the “marketing” of ethnic traditions for the sake of economic benefit, others have emphasized the reciprocal aspect of this relation, stressing the essential role played by tourism in the recovery and promotion of partially or completely lost traditions. It is argued that commercial manipulation (one of the aspects of the so-called “commodification” of culture) of ethnicity also leaves room for the continuity of traditions which are meaningful to minority groups. The study of the current situation in Sipsongpanna can undoubtedly throw some light on these issues: recently, a relative decline of tourist visits in the region has led the local government to develop a project for “Building the Prefecture on the Culture”, which is basically aimed at using ethnic culture to promote Sipsongpanna as a major destination for ethnic tourism, following the model of Lijiang, where the so-called “Dongba culture” of the Naxi people has been succesfully transformed into a commodity and become a major attraction for national and foreign visitors.

Lue culture, and specifically the sacred scriptures transmitted from generation to generation of Theravada Buddhist monks, is one of the main points in this design: the “Pattra-leaf Culture” project has as its main goals the publication of the whole corpus of scriptures preserved in Sipsongpanna temples, and obtaining a World Memory Heritage status from UNESCO; it is expected that, as it happened with Lijiang Old Town and its inclusion in the World Heritage List in 1997, this status will foster interest on Sipsongpanna as a tourist destination. Reactivating tourist industry in the region has thus arguably become the main force behind official plans for preservation of traditional Lue culture.

This article deals with the goals, determining ideological factors, and potential effects for minority culture, of these plans; after a brief introduction, which includes a discussion on the tourist-oriented “culture parks” currently operating in Sipsongpanna and their role in cultural preservation, the paper focuses on the “Pattra-leaf Culture” project and its relation to conceptions of culture “authenticity”: while Buddhism and pattra-leaf scriptures conform undoubtedly an important part of Tai Lue cultural tradition, the author argues that the state project for publication expands its influence well beyond mere “cultural” terrains, it is essentially linked to state policies currently being carried out in minority regions, and aimed at attaining economic development, broad cultural and academic prestige, and nation-building goals, through the commodification of Lue culture.

Keywords: Tai/ Dai Minority – Minorities – Minority Cultures – Ethnic Tourism – China Southwest

The Role of Spectator Sports in the Redevelopment and Reimaging of Downtown Detroit

Deborah Che
Western Michigan University, Department of Geography, Kalamazoo, MI, USA

Rooney and Macdonald (1982) write that sport provides a glue that bonds people to places. Spectator sports in particular have been used to promote particular civic identities and images across and beyond geographically decentered metropolitan areas (Burd 2003). Places can gain fame as the homes of winning sports teams and as the hosts of North American-based sports events/spectacles such as the Super Bowl or international ones such as the Olympics. Frequently cities view allocating taxpayer dollars to build new spectator sports stadia and to host major spectator sports events as worthy investments that will garner media exposure and spur future economic development.

This paper focuses on the role of spectator sports in the revitalization and reimaging of Detroit. Spectator sports serve as a glue across the Metro Detroit region which is fractured by racial and economic divides. It is the most segregated major metropolitan area in the country, where the population of two of every three communities is more than 90 percent non-Hispanic white and where one in three is more than 95 percent white. In contrast, Detroit is 81 percent black (Detroit secures top spot as nation’s most segregated city 2001). Within Metro Detroit, economic schisms exist between Detroit and its suburbs, which have more than three times Detroit's population, 85 percent of the region's retail establishments and 87 percent of its jobs (James 2004). In this decentered region, professional spectator sports teams such as the Detroit Tigers (baseball), Pistons (basketball), Lions (football) and Red Wings (ice hockey) still connect populations on both sides of 8 Mile Road, the border between Detroit and its suburbs. In addition to being a glue for this region, these teams and new stadium development may also be engines for redeveloping downtown Detroit and attracting suburban residents there. Along with casinos, the new Comerica Park and Ford Field for the Detroit Tigers and Lions respectively have helped to transform the northern part of downtown into an entertainment district (New field symbolizes downtown’s potential 2002). For instance, Comerica Park has spurred consumption-oriented development such as new restaurants, bars, and residential and office lofts as well as renovations of theaters and the private Detroit Athletic Club (Green and Nichols 2000). In addition to attracting suburban residents back downtown, officials from the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau see the new multiuse Ford Field strengthening Detroit’s profile as a destination city (Niyo 2002). Such downtown development can revitalize the urban core, increase attractions, and enhance the destination experience of visitors.

The new stadium development also has enabled Detroit to secure the rights to host baseball’s 2005 All-Star Game and the 2006 Super Bowl, and to thus reimage and reintroduce Detroit to the world. Given thousands of visitors and the media spotlight, these premier sports events taking place in the new stadia, along with the 2004 Ryder Cup, the 2008 Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA) Championship and the 2009 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Basketball Final Four taking place elsewhere in the region, are viewed as opportunities to change Detroit’s Rust Belt image and other negative perceptions. These sporting events are also seen as a way to rebrand Detroit as a tourist destination. Roger Penske, Super Bowl XL Host Committee chairman former professional auto racer, and head of a $11 billion transportation empire, sees the Super Bowl as a way for a city and region struggling with its identity to promote downtown Campus Martius as the region’s defining anchor (Provenzano 2005). According to Penske, the ultimate goal is to get Super Bowl visitors to make downtown Detroit a regular destination, not a place visited just once (Gallagher 2005). Sporting events can thus be a way to reinvent the city.

While spectator sports focus media attention on Detroit, potential risks exist with this strategy. Media attention, which can focus on downtown renovation and Detroit’s reputation as a sports town, may instead highlight dinosaur buildings and revisit past sports incidents associated with social disorder.

Keywords: spectator sports, urban renewal, destination branding, urban tourism, Detroit

Beyond Authenticity: Exploring Intimacy in the Touristic Encounter

Mary Conran
Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA

Recent theories in tourism studies have questioned the authenticity of experience by advancing notions of the commodification of culture. However, in actuality, the trends that scholars identified have not resulted in the de-authentication of individual experience, as some models suggested. Instead the commodification of culture has defined the limits of personal experience. This paper explores the various ways that individuals participating in what is commonly referred to as a hill tribe trekking excursion, in northern Thailand locate a multiplicity of authentic experiences and meanings within Karen culture by seeking out experiences that they perceive to exist beyond the limits of mass tourism. Furthermore, this paper will explore the perspectives and attitudes maintained by the host Karen population, participating in hill tribe trekking tourism. By exploring the various ways tourists articulate their expectations and motivations for participating in a hill tribe trekking excursion in northern Thailand, it is possible to better understand the dynamics of this fleeting host/guest relationship. This paper is based on three months of independent ethnographic fieldwork that was conducted in summer 2004. For this research, I interviewed seventeen people from two Karen villages, five trekking guides, an owner of a trekking company and twenty-six tourists.

This paper looks at the touristic experience through ethnographic accounts from both the toured Karen people and Western tourists. It can be suggested that this form of alternative tourism attracts a certain type of tourist who seeks more than just an ‘authentic’ experience. I argue that in this specific form of tourism, the desired ‘authentic’ experience is highly dependent on the ability of the tourist to procure an intimate encounter with the toured Karen people. There is an intense equivocation of the motivations between those involved in hill tribe trekking tourism. The ambiguity for the Karen people as to why they appeal to tourists is an important part of this equivocation. When asked why they believe tourists come to see them, many people explained that the tourists wanted to see ‘poor people’ or ‘children with no shoes’, while others said that they thought the tourists wanted to see people that worked hard, since they don’t have to work hard in their countries. Furthermore, many people from the Karen villages where I interviewed were even more mystified by the photographs that the tourists took of them.

This lack of communication between the trekking operators, guides, hosts and guests, has led the Karen people to question their involvement in the tourism economy. While many people are contented with the extra money that tourism brings, there is a deep ambivalence about the tourist’s motivations. By examining the ambivalence felt by the Karen people, it is possible to gain a deeper understanding about how hill tribe trekking tourism can affect the identity and perspectives of the host population when proper communication is not effectively facilitated. By exploring motivations for tourist participation in hill tribe trekking tourism in northern Thailand through ethnography, this paper shows the multiplicity of ways ‘authenticity’ is interpreted in the touristic encounter. It also shows how the host Karen population interprets the tourists’ motivations for participating in hill tribe trekking tourism. In conclusion, this paper will suggest new avenues for promoting communication, in order to reduce the ambivalence between the various supporting actors in hill tribe trekking tourism.

Keywords: Alternative Tourism; Authenticity; Commodification; Ethnic Minority Tourism; Host/Guest Relations; Intimacy; Trekking

Half Is Not Enough

Keith Dewar
Faculty of Business, University of New Brunswick-Saint John, Canada
and
Wenmei Li
Faculty of Business, University of New Brunswick-Saint John

In the early summer of 1604 Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons, and his party of 78 Frenchmen dropped anchor off a small island in the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of a river. They selected the island as a good defensive position not for protection from the peaceful Passamaquaddy First Nations peoples that surrounded them but from “Les Anglais”, whose King was also busy granting patents and exploitation rights to English entrepreneurs who also saw this area of the New World as a source of riches. The French colonists dubbed the island St. Croix Island and gave the river in which the island lay the same name. Their colony was a failure with over half the men dying the first winter. The remaining colonists moved east to Port Royal, which prospered and became a seminal point for the spread of the proud Acadian Culture that is still enriching much of the Canadian Maritime region as well as providing cultural echoes in the Bayous of Louisiana.

Following wars and treaties, the French culture faded and was overlaid by and increasing English presents as the exploitation of the region continued. The American Revolution brought a new division of the area. The border remained in dispute until 1857 when the upstart colony and Her Majesty’s government finally decide on where the line was to be drawn. The border, interestingly, was decided using French records and maps compiled by one of M. Dugua officers, Samuel de Champlain one of the great explorers of North America. The border might have been established but it did not seem to concern the border people who continued to move freely across the line, intermarrying and enjoying a cultural and social friendship that remains to this day. As late as the mid 1930’s a sign at the Canadian Border crossing simply read: “Please report to the customs house if you have anything to declare” no border patrol, no guns, just a courteous sign, which according to local seniors was just as courteously ignored. Nor did many use the official border crossing since roads were poor and the water links to the small coastal communities and resort throughout the region were more easily accessed by water. Private boats and ferries plied throughout the region delivering everything from people to mail.

The small US border town grew and was called Calais (Callus), and its fraternal twin across the St. Croix River was St. Stephen. Acadian cultural is still vibrant in Canada where French is still an official language doubly protected by both Federal and New Brunswick Provincial statutes. The Acadian Flag is proudly flown from houses and historic building throughout the area surrounding St. Stephen. On the US side of the border the “Frenchness” is more muted but a look through the local telephone directory shows many French names and the local Heritage Centre reminds locals and visitors alike of the French roots of the community.

It was into this historic fabric that tourism was introduced following the American Civil War. The beauty of the region attracted newly rich American’s and Canadian travellers to the region. Salmon fishing, hunting, and a little later resorts supported by the frenetic building of railways on both sides of the border made the area an attractive summer destination for thousands. Among them was the Roosevelt family who purchased property on Campobello Island in the Province of New Brunswick close to the border crossing in 1884. In 1909, Sara Roosevelt purchased a large summer home near the original property. The new cottage was the focus of the summer for Franklin Delano Roosevelt until 1921 when polio and increasing political involvement meant his time on the island was short. His wife and children continued to visit each summer for many years. In 1964 by international agreement, the home and surrounding land became Roosevelt Campobello International Park.

A few kilometres down the coast the world famous Algonquin Hotel in St. Andrews-by-the-Sea was in full operation one of the many resort hotels in the area that catered to the rich of Boston, New York, Montreal, and Ottawa. The Algonquin remains the pre-eminent resort in the area. St. Stephen, Calais, St. Andrews, and other local communities as well as regional organizations have long worked together to ensure that tourists came and spent their money. Like many islands, this coastal area was far removed from the centres of power on both sides of the border and learned to be self-sufficient.

This study explores this long and successful relationship and how the local people have adapted to the constantly changing conditions along the border and how their co-operation and persistence has and continues to produce positive results. The research is presented in the form of a case study. The data is both qualitative and quantitative although the majority of the material is synthesised from interviews with local officials and residence and based on the simple question, “How do you do it?”

Preliminary results show the long social and cultural interplay across the border has meant that issues and problems are solved in a “family way”. Although both countries are fiercely proud of whom they are, they are also very proud of their cross border relationships and traditions. The local people adhere to those rules and regulation of their respective governments with a degree of sensible practicality, interpreting edicts with a certain “flexibility” which reflects the local realities of the area and its people. Associations, agencies, and volunteer groups are central to the success and much is accomplished with only minimum input from larger government. Tourism is driven by the local communities. The larger government segments act as a supplement rather than a controlling agent in much of the destination planning in the area.

Issues such as the increased security since 9/11 has provided new challenges that are being taken in stride. The border crossing is one of the busiest with 1.2 million crossings each year. Both towns struggle with long lines waiting to cross the border. Streets are clogged with transport trucks and disgruntled visitors waiting for their turn with the customs agents. Associations that are more formal are evolving to provide for better strategic management of issues arising from the increased security and its related problems. There are also problems and issues that continue to be of concern but are being approached in a relaxed and “can do” attitude of community cooperation. The interplay of agencies and businesses is complex and subtle but the system functions well and makes the border-crossing region of Calais and St. Stephen an example of how small communities can turn big issues into manageable problems, resolved to the mutual benefit of the local communities and the tourist alike. The tourism branding slogan, “Half is Not Enough” express the thinking and values of the region.

Keywords: Tourism, border tourism, destination management

Kanak Tourism Development in New Caledonia

Anne-Marie d’Hauteserre
Department of Geography, Tourism and Environmental Planning, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

Tourism development is an after-thought in the history of the economic betterment (which itself had not received much attention prior to the uprisings of the early 1980s) of the Kanak in New Caledonia, the Indigenous ethnic group of that territory. It is today strongly encouraged by the French government to support and diversify their economy (Laventure 1997) especially since relying on nickel mining is at best illusory. Tourism should bring jobs which are rare in mechanised mining. New Caledonia represents but a small part of the French national territory making the Kanak a tiny minority but well-anchored on their own land … at least that which they have wrested back from the French state and the white settlers. One of the main issues faced by tourism development in New Caledonia (ethnic tourism development there is partly dependent on general development of tourism in the territory) is the integration of the Kanak together with their customs so that they will really benefit from the growth of tourism. There is a true, living and practised Kanak culture in New Caledonia but its preservation has been the result of colonialism and its enforced segregation and discrimination, not of benevolent actions. Their participation, then, must be more than an ‘exotic’ add-on to white New Caledonia projects.

The Kanak have finally won the right to be at the centre of social and political statutes: they are the majority inhabitants of the Northern and Loyalty Island Provinces where they govern their local affairs. Another important issue faced by the development of ethnic (Kanak) tourism in New Caledonia is its sustainable indigenisation so the Kanak can dynamically recreate their identity on their own land: for J.M. Tjibaou, one of their foremost leaders, ‘being Kanak does not exclude modernity’ (1996). Investment and development should be in the hands of Kanak entrepreneurial ‘hosts’. This would in turn support continued customary practices by those who would wish to: it is exceptionally legally permissible within the French Constitution, for this group. One obstacle to this sustainable participation is the continued resistance by some male Kanak community leaders to land ownership (and thus often to economic initiatives) by Kanak women since it had been prohibited in pre-colonial ‘custom’. Modern custom may need to review historic practices in the light of changing realities without having to abandon most of their substantive beliefs, especially since their representation to tourists will also need to be negotiated to avoid providing ‘theme parks’. Development projects and legislation already exist in the territory, which encourage sustainable economic growth and betterment of this ethnic group. Some could be used as palimpsests of best practice elsewhere for ethnic tourism development.

Keywords: Kanak, indigenisation, ethnic tourism, economic development, French state, New Caledonia

Borders as tourism development agents – attractions or hindrances

Thor Flognfeldt jr
Lillehammer University College, Norway

Borders have always fascinated this author. He is born in Sweden as a refugee from Norway – close after Word War II. In a letter from Statistics Sweden he is registered as “a non-baptised male boy” and the name of mother and father. A few weeks after his birth he came to his just liberated native country. His fathers family has migrated across the border between Norway and Sweden for a couple of centuries, mostly as rural tailors and later established their business in Oslo. This means that his interest in border issues have been there permanently through his life. In this paper the focus is the different roles borders might have in creating tourism products and how changes in: politics, within the borders themselves, in local economies at both sides of a border or in access for crossing borders, will affect tourism. Also the vulnerability of border dependent products will be examined. As indicated in the paper title may be regarded both as positive and negative developing agents in tourism.

Some key words to work on
1. The open borders – Scandinavia has for close to a half century had open access. The only stopping is for customs declaration. Differences in prices on goods like alcoholic beverages, meat, sugar and tobacco have encouraged cross-border trips very mach both by car and by ferries – see also “cross-border-trade”.
2. The closed, or non-returnable borders – Berlin, Palestine and Korea have been in that situation. Viewing across the border has been developed as visitor attractions in this area – sometime on both sides, but most often only from one side.
3. Changing borders – prior to the ending of the Iron Curtain phase, the town of Kirkenes at the Norwegian-Soviet border in the far North, did focus on their future as an Iron Curtain Border Town, just with a very limited access to cross into Soviet just for having been there. After the opening of the border the role of Kirkenes has changed to be a northern gateway to arctic Russia.
4. Cross-border trade – is an important part of tourism development many places
5. Natural boundaries as “borders” – sea, fjords and lakes and mountain ranges have separated areas for centuries and created different cultures even within countries. Those differences are often important today for creating travelling products.
6. Cross-border attractions – like “skiing across and along a border”. Some very special and often creative products are developed due to the existence of borders.
7. Dreaming about “the other side” – in literature the Norwegian Nobel Laureate Bjørnson have a poem “undrer meg på hva jeg får å se – over de høye fjelle” (I am wandering what to see on the other side of the mountains) – travel as an escape across the border.
The paper will both go through principles and descriptive cases

The Potential For Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty In China – A Case Study Of Lugu Lake, Yunnan

Cynthia Fung (July 8 or 9)
Independent Consultant, Hong Kong
and
Andy McNab
Director of Sustainable DevelopmentScott Wilson Kirkpatrick and Co. Ltd., UK

Lugu Lake is a remote mountain lake situated on the borders of Yunnan and Sichuan. It is scenically spectacular, ecologically rich and ethnically diverse. Improved road access from Lijiang in Yunnan and from Yanyuan in Sichuan has facilitated some recent tourism development. However, to date, the beneficial economic impacts of tourism have been highly localised and the area remains predominantly poor with many villages having very limited cash income and problems of food security. The paper describes an action research study of Luoshui Administrative Village in Yunnan which was designed to identify the potential for sustainable tourism development which would reduce poverty. The study was carried out as part of a large Sino-UK Technical Cooperation Project – the Yunnan Environment Development Programme.

The paper describes:
• The socio-economic conditions in Luoshui, the livelihoods of the villagers and the extent of poverty
• The development of tourism in the village and the social, economic and environmental impacts of its development
• The planning response
• A survey of visitors, villagers and tour operators to determine the scope for ST-EP
• The obstacles to realising this potential

Participatory rural appraisal was undertaken in Luoshui to identify livelihood practices, problems and alternatives. In the initial surveys it was evident that tourism was not seen as a livelihood alternative by most poor villagers who were preoccupied with immediate issues such as water supply, irrigation and food security. Similarly local officials could not conceive of tourism as offering potential for the poor. Notwithstanding the attitudes of poor villagers and officials, it is evident that two villages have moved rapidly into providing tourism facilities with considerable success. It is also apparent that the success is confined to just one of the ethnic groups – the Mosuo – who are well known for their distinctive matriarchal society. It is also evident that tourism, although modest, is creating environmental problems particularly in terms of unplanned lakeside development, pollution of the lake by wastewater and inadequate solid waste disposal.

Considerable planning effort has been exerted to develop tourism sustainably. There is an entrance charge to the area, but it is evident that very little of this income is used to conserve the environment. The area has been designated as a Provincial level nature reserve and a ban on logging has led to a greening of the hillsides. However, this has exacerbated the problems of the local communities by increasing the distance travelled to collect fuelwood. Sewers and a wastewater treatment plant have been built in the largest settlement but there have been problems in financing the operation of the plant. The World Tourism Organisation sponsored a Yunnan Provincial Tourism Masterplan which takes Lugu Lake as one of its case studies. There are proposals for a major new tourism resort away from the Lake proper.

A questionnaire survey was conducted amongst the key stakeholders: visitors, villagers, government officials and tour operators to discuss the potential for sustainable tourism which might address poverty. This focused survey revealed that tourism is seen as offering a potential source of income, that villagers and officials do have development ideas and that tour operators are eager to identify new tourism products to allow then to extend their tours to Lugu Lake. Nevertheless, there remained concerns about finance, organisation and management of the identified projects.

The paper concludes by summarising the scope for and obstacles to sustainable tourism which addresses poverty. Positively the study revealed that:
• There is a clear demand for small-scale, village-based tourism, not only from international visitors but also from younger Chinese visitors
• Tour operators are eager to identify new tourism products which would allow them to extend their tours from 1-2 days to 2-3 days
• Villagers and Government Officials became enthusiastic about the prospects but only after a significant explanation and discussion
• Tourism offers the most feasible and attractive source of cash incomes in a remote area like Lugu Lake

However, formidable obstacles remain:
• There is a strong commitment (from WTO, the Government of China and international development agencies) to large-scale tourism development in rural areas – small scale tourism is not seen as a priority
• Chinese Government Officials have traditionally seen rural development as an evolutionary process involving improving people by making them good farmers, then introducing cash incomes and so on. Officials are often incredulous that anyone would want to visit a poor village or that poor villagers could provide anything that visitors want.
• Developing sustainable tourism which seeks to reduce poverty requires intensive assistance for comparatively small returns and this tends to deter government and development agencies from investment.
• Poor communities lack the capital and the time to involve themselves in tourism unless the risks are minimal.

Border Tourism in Israel – A Profile of Fear and Hope

Alon Gelbman
Department of Tourism and Hotel Studies, Jordan Valley College, Israel

Israel is an important tourist-destination that arouses the curiosity of the world. The Western world considers Israel as the cradle of its history and culture. And yet, in-coming tourism to Israel has experienced many ups and downs, mostly the result of geopolitical developments in the region (Mansfeld, 1996). Tourism is profoundly affected by security problems, and as Tucker and Sundberg (1988) mentioned, tourism is one of the activities that are "particularly sensitive to political frontiers and their associated formalities and problems". Israel’s tourist potentials have been dormant for many years as people have felt reluctant to traveling to a country ridden by insecurity and instability. When these threats are finally removed, Israel can expect a constant rise in the rate of in-coming tourism. The issue of the borders between Israel and its neighbouring countries might be the most complicated geopolitical subject, but since the 1980's border agreements have been respectively established between Israel and Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. They have not become “normal” free crossing borders for tourists, but still, they hold that potential. On the other hand, the Syrian border and the Palestine Authority are two complex issues yet to be solved.

Local tourism – Israelis traveling across the land of Israel – is another aspect of the issue of tourism. The enmity and tension that have existed between Israel and its neighbouring countries for so many years have created boundaries that tend to be strongly marked, heavily fortified and a significant impediment to tourism (border in the full sense as barriers according to Matznetter definition, 1979). This study evolves around a unique characteristic of border tourism in Israel. This type of border tourism has taken the shape of going very near some of the heavily fortified boundaries, taking a standpoint as an observation point and overlooking the significant sites across the border in the other’s land. This study – in accordance with Matznetter (1979) typology of spatial relationships between boundaries and tourism – examines the special zone of tourism that has formed in various places adjacent to the boundary on one side - the Israeli side of the border. These places have grown into unique tourist-attractions and they illustrate the debate and conflict between Israel and its neighbours. Visiting these sites is mainly characterized by the activity of observation, and holds special meaning to the tourists, either because they can feel the danger and fear of the battles that had taken place around the border, or because they have a close and clear look at the land of the neighbouring country. On the other hand, these sites are also places of hope for a better future of peace and co-operation with the neighbours on the other side. In many cases the observation point has grown to signify the core of the conflict on one hand and the prayer for peace on the other - the special mixture of fear and hope at the same time. This study offers a description and an analysis of this phenomenon of border tourism in the unique case study of the Israeli border.

Keywords: Border tourism, Boundaries, Israel, Frontiers, tourist attraction

Homestay Development and Community Participation on Dachangshan Dao, Northeast China

Gu Ming
and
Wong Poh Poh
Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore

In China, tourism development is evolving towards a more open-economy approach. Coastal tourism is essential to China’s tourism industry as coastal cities are the most important areas in receiving inbound tourists and earning foreign currency. Dachangshan Dao is an island of the Changshan archipelago, off the coast of Dalian Municipality in Liaoning Province, northeast China. The Changshan archipelago stretches from latitude 38°55m48s to 39°34m37s N and longitude 122°17m38s to 123°17m16s E, and it has a long history with archeological artifacts that date back 6000 years ago. As the Changshan archipelago is near the frontiers with Korea and Japan, international tourists are not allowed on the islands. However, about 150,000 domestic Chinese tourists from nearby cities visit it annually. Some backpackers also began to visit Dachangshan Dao from 1985 onwards after China made the transition from political revolution to economic reforms. The increase in tourists also means that local houses have been converted into inexpensive homestays which appeal to the budget-conscious tourists. This paper investigated the homestays on Yangjia Beach on Dachangshan Dao, where tourism development is undergoing the transition from a centrally-directed structure to one that is more open-market. It provided an opportunity to assess one form of island tourism under development. As homestays constitute a very significant and visible form of local community participations in tourism on the island, this paper presented our findings on these local involvement.

The first section of this paper discussed the evolution of homestays and the occupational transformation of the local fishers to homestay operators. This was followed by an assessment of the present and future capacities of the accommodation and facilities to cope with increasing tourists. The correlation between social democracies of tourists and tourists’ choice for homestays, as well as tourists’ feedback were taken into account. Using different economic, social and physical environment perspectives, the attitudes of the local homestay operators towards tourism impacts on local environments were analyzed and the correlation between the social demographic characteristics of locals and their feedback to tourists’ impacts was established. The key finding from this research showed some degree of conflicting interests among the homestay operators, private developers, and government agencies. The conflicting interests prompted a more thorough examination and analysis into the power relations and structures that have caused these conflicts among the various stakeholders. Yangjia Beach was chosen as case study because it is a popular costal tourism destination. A participant-as-observer role was adopted (Wall and Long, 1996) when the authors first visited the island and the beach in February 2003. A second trip was made in July 2004 and the first week was arranged to evaluate the coastal environments and to observe homestay operation. This was subsequently followed by an intensive one month in a homestay on Yangjia Beach to conduct both in-depth interview and questionnaire surveys.

On both visits, some officers from the local governments (village, town and county) were formally interviewed. The questions asked were concerned with the tourism planning of Yangjia Beach, the management approach of homestays and the future of homestays. In addition, locals in Yangjia Village were informally interviewed about how locals participate in tourism, social relations among governments, non-local developers and homestay operators. In addition, two questionnaires were conducted on Yangjia Beach. One was a 35-item questionnaire about the features of homestays and homestay operators’ feedback about the impacts of tourism on the local physical, economic and social environments. The respondents were 23 operators of licensed homestays and one operator of several unlicensed homestays. Among these respondents, 29.2% were male (mean age=48.6, Standard Deviation/ S.D.= 12.87) and 70.8% were female (mean age = 44.7, S. D. = 11.31). The survey collected data on social demographics of homestay operators, accommodation capacity, facility capacity, impacts of tourism (including homestays) on locals and the extent to which locals participated in tourism management.

Another questionnaire was distributed to 210 tourists on Yangjia Beach to obtain information about respondents’ motivation to stay in homestay and their feedback to homestays. Totally 202 questionnaires were valid. The respondents comprised 54% males (mean age=33, S.D.=11.50) and 46% females (mean age=31.5, S.D.=10.35); the age group of 31-35 (23.8%) and 25-30 (23.3%) were majority, followed by the <25 age group (17.3%) and the 36-40 age group (14.9%). 27 (13.4%) tourists were from Dalian town, while 175 (86.6%) tourists were from other domestic cities and no tourists were from other countries. The respondents were required to answer which facilities (restaurant, hotel, homestays) they had used and to rate the features of homestays by 5 point scale (1=strongly disagree; 2=disagree; 3=neutral; 4=agree; 5= strongly agree).
By using the statistics analysis tool, SPSS, the data from two questionnaires was quantitatively analyzed. One way ANOVAs approach was used to compare the means of tourists’ attitudes towards homestays. It was found that 42.1% tourists chosed homestays for accommodation and we found that some social democracies, such as occupation, education background, travel type, and origin, influence tourists’ choice for homestays. On the other hand, education levels, monthly income, frequency, sex, and age do not influence tourists’ choice of accommodation. In addition, the tourists with different education level, age, occupation have different attitudes towards facility and service quality of homestays.

The SPSS was also used to evaluate the attitudes of homestay operators (locals) towards the influence of tourism (including homestay operation) on local environments. By applying orthogonal rotated factor analysis, all kinds of impacts on local environments were reduced and interpreted by seven factors (factor 1: economic improvement; factor 2: interaction between tourism and other different sectors; factor 3: general life quality improvement; factor 4: physical environment deterioration; factor 5: beach degradation; factor 6: seawater quality; factor 7: social impact). At the same time, cluster analysis was used to classify 24 respondents into four groups according to their sex, age and education level. Finally, the correlation between seven factors about tourism’s impacts and local respondents’ social demographic characteristics was found by comparing the factor scores of each group. The result showed that group 1 (dominant group, 31-40 years old respondents with average 7 year education background) believed that the most obvious impact of tourism was a general improvement in life quality; group 2 (41-50 years old respondents without education background) was more concerned about economic impacts, such as household income, life cost; group 3 (46-55 year old, most female with average 7 year education) paid attention to tourism’s impacts on physical environment deterioration and beach degradation; group 4 (61-65 years old respondents with average 6 year education) was more concerned about tourism’s impacts on beach degradation and sea water quality.
Furthermore, one section of the questionnaire, combined with an in-depth interview of government officers and the informal interview of locals investigated the extent to which local community (e.g. homestay operators) could access to coastal resources and participate in tourism management. The result showed that the local community on Dachangshan Dao seldom participates in tourism planning, decision making, marketing, and coastal resource management because of no power empowerment. The local community has strong conflicts with non-local developers which have come to the island in recent years and are empowered by local governments to be in charge of resource management. The nature of these conflicts stems from unequal power relations and distribution among stakeholders and these, in turn, have severely restricted community participation in tourism management.

Keywords: coastal tourism; community participation; homestay; Dachangshan Dao

Managing Host - Guest Relations: The Politics Of Health Tourism In Kerala, India

Kevin Hannam
School of Arts, Design, Media and Culture,University of Sunderland, UK

Increasing numbers of western people are taking the opportunity to engage with both western and non-western forms of health care treatment in developing countries with new forms of host-guest relations ensuing. This paper analyses the development of health tourism in India. The paper begins by analysing the scale and extent of the present engagement by western tourists with both western and non-western forms of medicine in India. For those who seek western medicine health care is the primary motive and tourism secondary. For those that seek non-western health care tourism is the primary motive and health care the secondary. This highlights the ambivalence of western people towards indigenous forms of health provision as an ‘alternative’ form of medicine. A case study of ‘alternative’ health tourism in Kerala is presented based upon exploratory qualitative fieldwork (interviews with both providers of health tourism and tourists themselves) which focuses upon the engagement of tourists with ‘ayurvedic’ forms of medicine. This is then contextualised against the background of India’s relatively low levels of primary health care. The ethics and politics of health tourism in developing countries such as India are problematised in two ways. Firstly, in terms of western tourists economic exploitation of the relatively low costs for western health care treatments in destinations such as India and, secondly, in terms of western tourists cultural exploitation of non-western forms of health care treatments in destinations such as India.

Keywords: Host-guest relations, health tourism, economic and cultural exploitation, Kerala, India

Understanding the travel perspectives of a border tourism region: A cluster analysis of potential travellers in Shandong, China

Robert Inbakaran
Mervyn Jackson
Hai Quing Gao
and
Jiaying Zhang
RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Border tourism is an important phenomenon in many parts of the world benefiting host and guest communities alike and China is no exception to this worldwide phenomenon. This article is an explorative study to understand the positive impacts of border tourism in a strategically located, rapidly urbanized, industrially leapfrogging traditional societies of China. To understand the influence of the effects of border tourism in an ancient culture, China’s Shandong province is selected as a case study. A cluster analysis is performed on a well stratified purposive sample of 295 Chinese people hailing from different walks of life and lifestyles resulted in a 5 cluster solution segregating the sample on the basis of gender, age, lifecycle, income previous overseas travel experience and personal interest visit a western destination such as Australia. Cluster characteristics are analyzed for profiling purposes and each cluster christened taking into account of the dominant characters of each cluster to distinguish one from the other. Further, an ANOVA is performed on the personal perception and travel preferences of the potential travellers to identify the discernable differences between the clusters in order to identify the possible reasons.

Key words: border tourism, culture, tourist influence, cluster analysis, ANOVA, Shandong, China

Transboundary Collaboration in Tourism in an Open Border Setting: A Case Study of the Swedish-Finnish Border

Dimitri Ioannides
Tourism Planning and Development, Missouri State University
and Center for Regional and Tourism Research, Bornholm, Denmark
and
Peter Billing
Center for Regional and Tourism Research, Bornholm, Denmark

Tourism’s relationship to political boundaries has only recently caught the attention of researchers despite the fact that on a more general level the academic study of borders attracts considerable interest. Dallen Timothy, one of a handful of authors who have written prolifically on border-related tourism, has noted the dearth of research focused on developing theoretical frameworks examining the interconnections of tourism to political boundaries. One issue, in particular, that has only superficially been explored concerns the tensions arising in instances where the respective national instances of the two neighboring countries, which share a common border, do not necessarily appear to coincide with the mutual benefits that can be derived at the regional level through close transfrontier collaboration. Thus, a key question emerging is: what forces dominate within the region straddling the common border between two countries; those dictated by the respective national interests of each country, or those benefiting the transboundary region itself? Moreover, to what extent does tourism act as an instrument for promoting mutual benefits for both sides of the border? What are some of the key obstacles inhibiting the development of tourism in a crossborder setting?

This paper begins with an overview of tourism’s overall interconnections to borderlands, briefly discussing why these areas, which are often regarded as barriers to travel, function as attractions in their own right. Attention is paid to the advantages that tourist activities can derive from cross-border collaborative planning efforts. To illustrate the various forms of such transboundary collaboration and cooperation in the development and management of tourism resources we focus briefly on various illustrative examples from around the world. Our attention then shifts to an in-depth investigation of the Bothnian Arc Project, a broad cross-border collaborative initiative between Finland and Sweden that began in 1998 and which has been funded in part by the European Union Regional Development Fund. Among its aims this project includes strategies with major implications for the promotion and management of tourism

The paper traces the history of cooperation between a number of stakeholders on both sides of this border, including local and regional governments as well as industry representatives. A detailed investigation of the planning process that has very recently been put into effect for developing the tourist product is provided. Among the issues discussed are the attempts on the part of all stakeholders to establish a unifying identity for the region, which will set it aside from other destinations in northern Scandinavia (e.g., Lapland). Attention will focus on some of the most important challenges that lie ahead in terms of developing and marketing this cross-border region as a single destination. Additionally, the investigation shows that even if the border in this region has effectively disappeared mutual regional benefits have not always coincided with national interests in Sweden and Finland respectively.

Keywords: Bothnian Arc, Transfrontier collaboration, national political interests, regional economic growth

Linking Tourism And Community Development: Lessons From Rural Costa Rica

Edward L. Jackiewicz
Department of Geography, California State University, Northridge, CA, USA

The small countries of Central America have been particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of globalization because of their limited economic base often centered on agriculture, especially the exportation of non-traditional crops, low- wage assembly factories (i.e. sweatshops), and more recently tourism. Often times, however, there is no coordinated strategy that works to help small communities or much of the region’s marginalized population. For example, agriculture often is under the control of large local or international companies that focus on export crops. This form of agriculture does little to sustain much of the local population either economically or nutritionally. Similarly, factories located in small Latin American countries are often times linked with large multinational firms and locate there to take advantage of cheap labor. This economic transformation has made these countries increasingly vulnerable to global economic shifts and the benefits of this to society-at-large are highly limited. Tourism is the most recent addition to the limited mix of development strategies to boost ailing Latin American economies. Tourism is a fickle industry often dependent on the whims of travelers and political and economic circumstances in foreign lands. The precipitous decline of tourism immediately following the events of 9/11 is recent evidence of this. Nonetheless, Costa Rica is one country that has made a conscientious effort to make tourism a focal point of their economy and they are among the best in the world at luring in tourists and have set an ecotourism standard that other countries are trying to imitate, for better or worse (see Place 2001).The appeal of ecotourism has spread to areas that are seemingly off the beaten tourist track such as Quebrada Grande. This author, along with eleven student volunteers, had the opportunity to work in this community that is in the early stages of promoting ecotourism as a complement its economic base of agriculture. As such, it provides a lens into how a small community can utilize ecotourism to improve local living conditions without surrendering its economic and cultural sovereignty.

E.F. Schumacher (1973) and Manfred Max-Neef (1991; 1992) are two authors who have put forth convincing arguments in favor of small communities taking control of their own well-being. This idea gained greater currency when, as Sachs (1997) argues, the “two founding assumptions of development lost their validity: that development could be universalized in space and that it would be durable in time” (pp. 292-3). Among those who have been most influential in envisioning an alternative form of development is Manfred Max-Neef’s (1992; 1991) work on Human Scale Development. In Max-Neef’s conceptualization he was critical of economic obsessions with large scale development, quantification and measurement, oversimplification of the critical conditions of the development process, the failure to recognize the conflict between existing socioeconomic systems and underlying ecosystems, among several other standard features of the development process. Rather he suggested that community development should be of a human scale and be sensitive to cultural factors and appreciative of the social complexity, such as the role of women and subsistence activities, and the balance between human activities and natural limits (see Veltmeyer 2001, pp. 7-8). Additionally, he added that wealth and poverty were not solely economic measures but based on whether a number of human needs were met or not or what he refers to as “satisfiers” (Max-Neef 1991). These satisfiers include such things as: friendships, cooperation, peace of mind, sense of belonging, relaxation, self-esteem, autonomy, equal rights, awareness, spaces for expression, skills, imagination, physical and mental health, et al. The integration of this type of small-scale community (i.e. not solely economic) development is instructive when examining the role of tourism in the town of Quebrada Grande, Costa Rica.
Recently, Quebrada Grande, in collaboration with three other nearby communities in the north central region of the country, has broadened its economic base beyond agriculture to incorporate small-scale volunteer tourism, and is demonstrating how a small community can build regional, national, and international linkages to provide economic alternatives that benefit the community at-large. Quite wisely they have joined forces with other nearby communities in the form of a cooperative (ASCOMAFOR) to broaden their visibility and leverage to access greater resources. They have also tied their efforts into eco-tourism, which has been central to Costa Rica’s national development strategy for some time, but had not yet spread to this small town situated off of the typical tourist trail.

In Quebrada Grande, there is an area that was in danger of being logged, but that was also an important nesting area for the threatened Green Macaw. Because this small, forested area is a popular nesting site for the Green Macaw they were easily able to integrate environmental conservation and ecotourism into their community development strategy and thereby receive greater national and international attention and resources. This reserve area has also become an important source of community pride. The Reserve (or bosque) is a lush tropical area complete with a waterfall, howler monkeys, a multitude of insects and reptiles, and birds. Green Macaw sightings have been infrequent, but the community (with the occasional help of volunteer tourists) is actively planting almendro (almond) trees to lure more of these birds to the area. The money for these trees comes from the funds provided by an OAS (Organization of American States) grant. Now this is a protected area that is also luring tourists to walk their trails, but also volunteer tourists to help improve the conditions for visitors. It is unlikely that Quebrada Grande will ever be on the “beaten track” of international tourists because of its remote location, but nonetheless it is establishing itself (at least regionally) as the “community with the reserve” and has begun to draw more visitors from the nearby areas. The community also hopes to draw more volunteer tourists who will stay with the local families and work on various projects. This type of tourism is necessarily small scale, but nonetheless can provide a small stream of revenue and free labor, at least for short periods.

Because tourism in Quebrada Grande is not the focal point of the economy, the community is less susceptible to the potential negative impacts of tourism such as seasonality, cultural compromises, and the vulnerability of relying on one ‘export’ commodity. Rather, it utilizes tourism and tourists to bring in a small amount of supplemental revenue as well as a temporary labor force to assist with projects that might not otherwise get done such as: building trails, planting trees, painting, construction work, etc. The community would benefit by luring a steady stream of tourists into the area, but it is essential that the focus remain on volunteer tourists who are there to assist with local projects and continue to have tourism work for them and limit the potential pitfalls of larger scale tourism.

References
Max-Neef, M. (1992). From the Outside Looking In: Experiences in Barefoot Economics. New Jersey: Zed Books, Ltd.
Max-Neef, M. (1991). Human Scale Development Conception Application and Further Reflections. New York: Apex Press.
Place, S. (2001). Ecotourism and the Political Ecology of “Sustainable Development” in Costa Rica. In S. Place (ed) Tropical Rainforests: Latin American Nature and Society in Transition. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources.
Sachs, W. (1997). The Need for the Home Perspective. In M. Rahnema and V. Bawtree (eds). The Post-Development Reader. New Jersey: Zed Books, pp. 290-301.
Schumacher, E.F. (1973). Small is Beautiful. London: Blond and Briggs.
Veltemyer, H. (2001). The Quest for Another Development. In H. Veltmeyer and A. O’Malley (eds) Transcending Neoliberalism: Community Based Development in Latin America. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press. Pp. 1-34.

A hidden influence of border tourism: A psychographic segmentation study of potential outbound tourists

Mervyn S. Jackson
Department of Psychology and Disability Studies, RMIT University
P O Box 71, Bundoora Victoria 3083

Robert Inbakaran
School of Marketing, Portfolio of Business, RMIT University
Hai Qing Gao
School of Marketing, Faculty of Business, RMIT University
and
Jiaying Zhang
School of Marketing, RMIT University

The continuous rapid growth of tourism in China has differentially impacted on the various geographical regions. Shandong province is a border tourism zone situated on the north east coast and has the second highest visitation rates from travellers residing outside China. This study investigates the social behavioural impact of these visitors. Within an imposed etic methodology, a tourism personality inventory was used to segment potential outbound tourists and these segments were then compared in terms of motivation to travel, importance of certain travel features, interest/knowledge about Australia and knowledge/motivation for specific tourist experiences. The results highlighted an over-representation of the Guided personality type (psychocentric/introvert) but predicted differences between tourist types were generally confirmed. The results confirmed the theoretical underpinnings of the inventory and were discussed in terms of Chinese cultural influences and maturity of the Chinese tourism industry.

“Indian Detours” Imaging The Minority: Travel Writing And Promotional Literature of The Southwest

Christina Beal Kennedy
Department of Geography, Planning, and Recreation
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

Attracting immigrants and tourists to landscapes that were variously referred to as the Great American Desert, Apache Land, and other equally unappealing or frightening appellations presented a considerable challenge to supporters of the American Southwest in the latter decades of the 19th century and early years of the 20th. To do that depended to a large extent on changing outsiders’ images of the landscape and peoples so that the Southwest appeared not as harsh and unforgiving desert, harboring dangers and dangerous people, but as a pleasant, attractive, productive and interesting place to both visit and settle. This paper takes an historical look at images of the Arizona Territory and then of Arizona and New Mexico in the latter decades of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. A transactional framework is used to examine possible relationships between promotional literature, travel writing and novels and outsiders’ image of the Southwest. Special focus is placed on images of the Native American, Indian, minority and associated tourism.

As both railroad towns and destinations, Flagstaff, Winslowe, Holbrooke and the Grand Canyon Arizona owe much of their development and community to tourism. The probable relationship between tourism and development as well as specific promotional literature provided by the territory, state, towns, and railroad are explored. A key attraction in Northern Arizona and New Mexico was and is the presence of tribal reservations and a large minority population of Native Americans. This paper explores images of different Indian tribes such as the Hopi, Navajo and Pueblo Indians and also looks at the portrayal of reservations, dwellings, and sacred places. Cultural tourism in “Indian Country” has been exceedingly successful in terms of attracting multitudes of tourists since the early decades of the 20th century. Early images of Native Americans and “culture” tourism are compared to current images. The large number of tourists and their recreational demands as well as frequent cultural insensitivity can lead to social conflicts and concern about the fate of places sacred to local tribes. Defensive strategies put in place by selected tribes are discussed.

Keywords: tourism, images, Native Americans, Southwest

Tourism in the Borderlands of Indian Country

Alan A. Lew
Dept. of Geography and Public Planning
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

American Indian reservations exhibit many of the characteristics of a frontier border. They are interfaces between to different “nations” (a terminology commonly used by tribes), where life and livelihood on one side of the reservation border is different from that on the other side. However, because reservations are sub-territorial boundaries within the U.S., their political boundary only generates secondary interest as a physical entity in and of itself. In the remote and sparsely populated American West, there is often no indication that one is entering or leaving reservation land, except where cultural or physical resources are protected by no trespassing and other regulatory signs. The social and cultural difference that exist on the two sides of this boundary, however, are as diverse as that found on any international border, and probably, in some instances, even greater. These differences engender distinct cultural landscapes on each reservation, which forms the basis for much of their tourism.

Lessons for the study of frontier and boundary tourism on American Indian lands center on the role of cultural differentiation more than political separation. That reservations exist at all is due to the mutual incompatibility of American Indian and Euro-American values. Reservations were an interim attempt to deal with the “Indian problem” by allowing the federal government to concentrate Indians and then systematically assimilate them by destroying their traditional culture. This did not work. The vitality of Native American cultures live on. Despite serious economic hardships and continuing outside pressures, many reservations are able to maintain traditional values while evolving and adjusting to aspects of the contemporary world.

Tourism has become a part of this adjustment as the attraction of traditional Native American values is recognized by increasing numbers of alternative, New Age and eco- tourists. Transition from the world they know into the world of Native Americans is what these tourists seek, and visits to reservations are the best way to experience this. Unfortunately, increased tourism does not relieve the American Indian from the burden of 500 years of stereotyping. When external pressures to fit a stereotype are strong, it becomes especially difficult to define one’s own identity. More than lack of entrepreneurial experience and the constraints the special legal status of reservations place on reservation businesses, this stereotyping may be the single greatest problem of tourism on Native American lands today. Because it is a predominantly one-way process, tourism both continues the acculturation of traditional Indian society (making it more like the dominant society), and stifles the development of Indian culture and self identity (through ethnic stereotyping). It is no wonder that many American Indians are ambivalent towards tourists and tourism.

Keywords: cultural tourism, American Indans, American Southwest, national soveriengty

Impediments to a cross-border collaborative model of destination management in the Catlins, New Zealand.

Brent Lovelock
Department of Tourism, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

The Catlins is a developing tourist destination located in the far south of the South Island of New Zealand. The area is blessed with beautiful unspoilt beaches, magnificent rainforest, and outstanding wildlife. The missing ingredient, however, is integrated, collaborative management of the area and its attractions as a tourism destination. This paper examines the challenges to developing management partnerships within an embryonic and peripheral destination in which there are a number of cross-border issues. Because of historic antecedents, the Catlins area falls across the border between the jurisdictions of two local authorities – Otago in the north and Southland in the south. Likewise, there are two local tourism promotions groups, two branches of the conservation management agency, two regional governments, two “gateways” and two “hearts” to the Catlins. Up until recently, this situation has not necessarily posed a problem - but only largely because the area has just recently been “discovered” by tourists. However, the current situation, characterised by high growth in visitor numbers, pressure on tourism infrastructure and superstructure, along with impacts on key attractions (particularly wildlife) has highlighted the need for cross-border collaboration.

Visitor numbers to the region are estimated to be in the vicinity of 200,000 per annum, with a growth rate of up to 10%. This number is high, considering the fragile nature of the tourism resources – both natural and social. Key attractions in the area are nature based, with marine wildlife being the single most important attraction. The Catlins is one of the few accessible parts of New Zealand where tourists can observe seals, sea lions, dolphins and penguins at close quarters. All of the above species are either threatened or vulnerable - however some critical wildlife habitats receive up to 100,000 largely unmanaged visitors per annum. Likewise, the communities of the area are small and isolated, traditionally associated with agriculture. The total population of the region is only about 5,000, and to many residents, tourism is seen as a threat to the maintenance of their traditional lifestyle. Tourism is also seen as a posing more pressure on an already stretched infrastructure, which exhibits particular problems in the areas of communication and transport.

Rising visitor numbers accompanied by increasingly obvious impacts from tourism have served as a catalyst for the communities of the Catlins to co-operate for the future of the region and for the future of tourism. In 2003, for the first time, cross-border collaboration occurred in the Catlins tourism sector, with the two promotional groups and two local authorities coming together to commission a strategy for sustainable tourism in the region. This paper reports on the process of developing that tourism strategy, with particular focus on cross-border issues. It highlights the issues that arise when cross-border divisions occur at a number of levels, namely the regional and local, governmental and non-governmental levels, as well as considering the intrinsic division between communities in the north and south of the region, operating at community and personal levels.

The paper is based upon firsthand experience in the region as a consultant employed to develop a strategy for “community-driven” sustainable tourism. Supporting data is sourced from a number of different research projects undertaken in the Catlins, as part of the Catlins Tourism Strategy process. These include a survey of residents, analysis of community workshops, and interviews with key stakeholders throughout the development of the Strategy. The community survey revealed a number of concerns over how tourism was to be managed in the Catlins, with particular concern over the lack of cross-border co-operation. Problematic was the issue of which organisations should play a role in tourism planning and management. While some organisations were identified as being critical, either their mandates, structures or resourcing levels precluded their meaningful input into a collaborative cross-border management arrangement. Conversely, other stakeholders, for example indigenous people (Maori), were not considered important by the community, despite their considerable land ownership in the area, and existing legislation which mandates that they have a role in resource management.

Analysis of community workshops and interaction with personnel from key stakeholder organisations confirmed that that while partnerships are a critical element in a community-based tourism approach, there are very real obstacles to their establishment and development. Key obstacles in the Catlins include the large size of the region and the associated cross-border issues between stakeholders. In this destination, efforts towards collaboration are exacerbated by a small and relatively poor community. Coupled with this there are ongoing resource and legislative complications which hinder the establishment of a fully collaborative model of destination management. While the establishment of a new destination management organisation has been seen as critical to sustainable tourism development in the region, this has been hamstrung by the various obstacles outlined above. And of course, such collaboration is not assisted by the ongoing division in the community over the appropriateness of tourism, and by community perceptions of who are or are not legitimate stakeholders to participate in such an organisation.

This paper puts forward a framework for examining the obstacles and opportunities for cross-border collaboration in the Catlins, adopting a macro-meso-micro approach. At the macro level central government policies of retreat and devolution are important in the Catlins, and have influenced the way that government agencies have engaged with the tourism-specific demands of a growing destination. This is seen as both a policy and resourcing issue. At the meso level, regional and local government, largely through resourcing and legislative impediments are reluctant to commit to a fully collaborative cross-border planning and management model. While at the micro-level, historic perceptions over what constitutes “the Catlins”, of which attractions “belong” to which community, and of who should be involved – with racial divisions being the most obvious here, also act as obstacles to be overcome in the quest for a collaborative model of sustainable tourism development. The extent to which the northern and southern authorities and communities feel that they have “ownership” of the Catlins (in terms of individual attractions and as a destination) has posed challenges; to the way that the destination is marketed, to how the attractions are managed, to the level and direction of tourism investment by government, and to the way that tourism’s impacts are either addressed or ignored.

Keywords: Community, tourism, cross-border, collaboration, Catlins, New Zealand

Community Tourism Planning Based On The Concept Of Tourism Corridor

Kaoruko Miyakuni
Department of Community Agriculture, Recreation and Resources, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI, USA

Community Tourism Development is instrumental in sustainable development of communities. In order for tourism development to be sustainable, the community must be involved in the planning of tourism resources. Community tourism development emphasizes the importance of identification of natural, historical and cultural resources by the locals, inclusions of all the stakeholders in the planning of tourism development and linkage among tourist destinations based on the collaboration of tourism providers. Tourism succeeds when there exist clusters of attraction. “For tourism development to succeed, it is critical for the community to understand the value of providing experience and attraction clusters; tourists’ need for relevant, easy-to access, integrated information; cost efficiencies of joint promotion and information centers; and the importance of linkages among tourist attractions and experiences” (Vander Stoep). In relation to concentration of activities, one can suggest an establishment of tourism corridor. “In tourism, linkage of the tourist destinations is important. The linkage fortified with a story plays a pivotal role in today’s tourism development.” (Vander Stoep).

The case study of tourism corridor is a community of “Shuri” in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Okinawa prefecture is Japan’s southernmost islands and consists of 169 islands known as the Ryukyu Islands. It is an island chain over 1,000 kilometers long. Okinawa is located in the sub-tropical climate, surrounded with ocean of azure and turquoise blue, it is known as the Great Barrier Reef of Japan. Six million domestic tourists visit this area every year, including 223,000 foreign tourists. Eighty percent of foreign tourists are from Taiwan and Korea. Tourists come to Okinawa to enjoy the spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and the East China Sea, beaches, warm weather in the winter, rich cultural and historical heritage, and the hospitality of its people. The district of Shuri is one of the main sightseeing destinations boasting the Castle of Ryukyu Kingdom. The recent agenda of the district’s town planning is an integration of tourism resources, emphasizing community involvement. The town has rich natural, historical and cultural resources: the recently renovated 15th century castle, “Ishidatami” the roads (trails) of the king”, “Ryutan Pond (where the king entertained Chinese dignitaries)”, the hilly landscape overlooking sea, a variety of small-scale manufacturing industries based on local specialty products, The Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts, annual culture festivals, and historical recollection of its thriving city as a kingdom.

Okinawa prefectural government started to link all the tourism attractions such as “Trails of Ryukyu kingdom”, “Prefectural History Museum”, “Ryusen (traditional cloth museum)” “Awamori (Local alcohol beverage) tasting facility”. Tourism corridor will lead tourists from one destination to another. In the creation of the tourism corridor, the district of Shuri set up a committee that conducts the planning and implementation of basic elements of tourism corridor. The committee has designed and constructed the objects of milestones on the trails. The committee has been creating corridors and parks connecting various sightseeing points in the district. The next phase in the making of tourism corridor includes creating maps describing the corridor, building interpretation centers, and education and training of interpreters. The local community of Shuri has been greatly involved in the process.

Reference: Vander Stoep A. Gail. (1998) “Continuing the Heritage Tourism Discussion” Interpretation Partners Involved in Community-based Tourism

Keywords : Community based tourism planning, Tourism corridor, Sustainable tourism, Cultural Heritage, Concentration of activities

Regional Cooperation among Border States: The Gulf Of Mexico States Accord (Gomsa)

Lori Pennington-Gray, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor)
Jung Eun Kim (Doctoral Student)
Center for Tourism Research and Development Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management, University of Florida, FL, USA

In recent years, countries have looked to tourism as a potential to offset negative trade balances. As a result, tourism has become a viable component of international trade. According to Prideaux and Kim (1998) “governments facing a sustained deficit in international tourism receipts may be tempted to seek to regain a positive balance through a number of measures ranging from straight-out prohibition on outbound travel, to implementing measures to stimulate inbound tourism” (p. 523). With respect to the goal of increasing international tourism, some countries have started to create trans-jurisdictional partnerships (Greer, 2001). To date, trans-jurisdictional partnerships are usually among countries of close proximity and typically focus on economic development and community participation. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate a border partnership which has been successful in planning and implementing on-going tourism projects. This case study will outline the history of the partnership as well as the two major projects related to tourism. Overall, the goal is to provide the good, the bad and the ugly related to border tourism partnerships.

In North America, a unique partnership exists between the six Mexican states and five US states located on the Gulf of Mexico (i.e., Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas of the United States of America and Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo). The partnership is called the Gulf of Mexico States Accord (GOMSA). In 1995, representatives from both the USA and Mexican governments as well as private sector organizations, who were concerned about the social and economic development of their communities, as well as the growth of infrastructure and cultural and scientific enrichment, decided to establish the Gulf of Mexico States Accord. The goal of the Accord was to promote cooperation in a variety of areas of importance to the Gulf region and to work toward the “implementation of the articles of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).” The objectives of the accord are: (1) to work jointly to develop a common border – the Gulf of Mexico, (2) to maximize the advantages of the Gulf’s enormous potential for increased trade and tourism, stronger educational and cultural bonds, and (3) to strengthen regional cooperation among its 62 million citizens.
The Accord is organized as a trade partnership rather than a tourism only partnership. This trade partnership spans seven functional areas: (1) Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, (2) Tourism, (3) Education and Culture, (4) Finance, Investment and Trade, (5) Health, Ecology and Environment, (6) Transportation, Infrastructure and Communication, (7) Legal Affairs. Tourism is one of the main overlapping cognate areas for the Accord and has been productive in addressing GOMSA’s goals and objectives.

Under the leadership of the Working Groups on Tourism and on Transportation, Communications & Infrastructure, the creation of a "Gulf of Mexico Tourism Corridor" was been created in 2000. The Working Group developed a "master plan" for a Tourism Corridor. The Corridor has a designation of a "Gulf of Mexico Scenic Highway" on the USA side and will traverse the entire Gulf from Key West to Chetumal. As far as practical application, the Accord is currently engaged in designation of signage, preparing a Web-based tourist “guide” to the Corridor, and working with state officials for designation of the Scenic Highway. In addition, design and construction of a "nautical staircase" in the Gulf of Mexico, linking the US inter-coastal waterway system to a series of public and private marina construction projects, with corresponding tourism, marine service and economic development initiatives, along the Mexican Gulf Coast has been planned. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of border partnerships will be discussed as they relate to tourism planning and development.

Key Words: Regional cooperation in border areas, planning managing tourism, bilateral agreements

Community-Based Tourism Development in a Small Rural Town? The Case Of High Springs, Florida

Jung Eun Kim (Doctoral Student)
Lori Pennington-Gray, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor)
Brijesh Thapa, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor)
Center for Tourism Research and Development Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management, University of Florida, FL, USA

Community-based tourism development is the prerequisite to sustainable development because it enables host communities to break away from the hegemonic grasp of stakeholders and the oligopoly of wealthy groups at the national or international level (Ryan & Montgomery, 1994; Simmons, 1994; Woodley, 1993; Sharpley & Telfer, 2002). Community-based tourism development originated from the recognition of negative impacts of tourism development such as destroying the environment and excessive outflows of economic benefits (Li, 2004). Community tourism is about grassroots empowerment as it seeks to develop the industry in harmony with the “needs and aspirations of host communities in a way that is acceptable to them, sustains their economics, rather than the their day-to-day convenience” (Fittion, 1996, p.173). Therefore, the ultimate goal of community-based tourism development is to empower the destination community at the economic, social, cultural, and political levels so as to a sustainable development (Scheyvens, 1999; Li, 2004).

Previous research has argued there are critical factors to be successful in community-based tourism. These factors might include: (a) the involvement of community organizations in the tourism process; (b) resident support for tourism development investment of local resources; (c) the involvement of residents in the decision process (Murphy, 1985; Inskeep, 1991; Geen & Haine, 2002; Li, 2004). Thus, community-based tourism development has to include joining in the process of self-governance, responding to authoritative decisions that impact on individuals’ life and working cooperatively with together on issues of mutual concern (Til, 1984). There is, however, little research on how community-based tourism is developed in a small community. In fact, the majority of tourism development research deals with mass tourism or in a large community such as city or country (Li, 2004).

This study presents a case study of a rural community, where tourism development is recognized as part of the master plan for the community. The town of High Springs in the state of Florida, will be profiled in order to explore the applicability of community-based tourism. This study focused on three questions: a) How has community-based tourism been developed in a small community? b) What are the main barriers to accomplishing community-based tourism in a small community? and c) What are the preconditions necessary to implement community-based tourism? Using case study methodology, a discussion guide was developed and tourism stakeholders, politicians and other stakeholders in High Springs, Florida were interviewed. The presentation will illustrate how tourism can be initiated locally, what the barriers to successful tourism development are in a small community and demonstrate specific preconditions necessary for tourism development. The results of this study will provide meaningful information and serve as a guideline for policy makers in small communities around the world. Specific programs and policies will be presented. Finally, a roadmap for community-based rural tourism will be presented.

Key Words: community based tourism, rural, stakeholders, plan

Host and Guest Perceptions: A Case Study of Resort/Border Tourism in Rosarito Beach, Mexico

Linda Quiquivix
California State University, Northridge, CA , USA

Given tourism’s expected success and its important role as a source of foreign exchange, developing countries across the globe have gravitated toward it as tool to enhance their economies, each area attempting to find its most profitable niche. Border tourism, in particular, allows the industry to capitalize from the legalistic and monetary differences among neighboring nations. Yet, while tourism’s successes and failures are generally measured in economic terms, the social and cultural exchanges between host and guest often go ignored. This interaction between hosts and guests, and their perceptions of each other, form an interesting dynamic, underpinning successful tourist operations. This force is paramount in regard to resort tourism vis-à-vis other types of tourism. With heritage tourism, for example, the tourist’s interaction with locals is intertwined with her appreciation of the historical attraction at its center. With resort tourism, on the other hand, the tourists’ overall satisfaction with their experiences hinges significantly on their dealings with the locals they encounter in the service sector. Border tourism, and in particular resort/border tourism, permits high levels of this type of human interaction as the close proximity between tourist and host renders accessibility levels high.

This research examines both host and guest perceptions from a small, Mexican resort community popular with Southern Californians. Located only 18 miles south of the U.S./Mexico border, Rosarito Beach, Mexico has been encouraging tourism development since its inception. While Mexican government efforts have mainly focused on promoting large-scale tourism in seaside resorts such as Cancún, Acapulco and Los Cabos, Rosarito has encouraged its own tourism without federal or international economic assistance. Rosarito’s tourists are invited to fish, ride horses on the beach, eat lobster at Puerto Nuevo, and visit the 20th Century Fox production studio where the 1997 movie Titanic was filmed. While closer to the border stands the significantly larger Mexican city of Tijuana (a tourist destination also popular with Americans), Rosarito Beach offers some of Tijuana’s same benefits but is perceived as a cleaner, less crowded, much less dangerous alternative. While Americans from all stripes visit Rosarito Beach to consume the region’s less expensive food, crafts, and prescription drugs, Mexico’s less-stringent drinking laws appeal to Southern California’s college-aged tourists. The latter has been so successful, in the past couple of decades Rosarito Beach has seen its transformation from a family-oriented destination to a college-aged “party town”. Some local residents who fondly remember the highly profitable days of Rosarito’s family tourism describe the current economy as “dollar tourism”—not because American dollars flow through the region, but because young tourists seem to “want everything to cost only one dollar,” thus creating a race to the bottom by competing businesses.

In this research, further perceptions of Rosarito’s tourism are examined via interviews with the region’s residents, its business owners, and its tourists, measuring their takes on the benefits and drawbacks a tourist-dependent economic policy can present. The interviews, conducted over an off-peak October weekend by a team of seven researchers, consisted of 235 persons totaling 69 residents, 85 tourists, and 81 of the region’s business owners. Surveys focused on the perspectives surrounding tourism’s effects on Rosarito Beach’s economy, safety, and environment. Additionally, all respondents were given an opportunity to voice their concerns and give recommendations on how tourism could work better for them. These included the desired need for police reform, the tourists’ call for environmental cleanup, the business sector’s request for business regulation, and that greater attention is paid to local women’s safety.

Keywords: host perceptions; guest perceptions; tourism perceptions; resort tourism; Rosarito Beach; Mexico; developing world; U.S./Mexico border, border tourism

Tourism Industry and Regional Economic Development in Xinjiang

Xiaoping Shen
Department of Geography, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, USA

Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is a place with a small population but unique ethnic minority culture and landscape. During the past fifty years, especially after the economic reforms in 1978, Xinjiang’s tertiary sector has grown rapidly and the growth rate has been significantly higher than the national average. The tertiary sector has contributed more to Xinjiang’s GDP than the manufacturing sector and has almost reached level of the secondary sector since 1986. Tourism and related industries have made significant contributions to the growth. The shift of the economic sectoral structure reflects the regional advantages and also affects regional economic development enormously. Using shift share analysis, this paper investigates the structural changes of economic sectors in Xinjiang and identifies regional competitive advantage sectors. The effects of government policies, market forces and regional advantages on tourism development are surveyed in order to identify the driving forces.

Keywords: Tourism industry, economic structure change, shift share analysis, Xinjiang, China

Border Tourism and Community

Trevor H.B. Sofield
Professorial Research Fellow, University of Queensland, Australia

All good science starts with definitions and the issues of border tourism and community are no exception. One of the first questions to ask is ‘Just what are we talking about?’ What are borders or boundaries? Are we looking at different forms of visitation to borders, or through border regions or across borders? Are we investigating communities on the border or within a border region or along a corridor that takes travellers across or through borders? Who are these communities that are labelled ‘border communities’?

For our answers we need to turn to political science, military and strategic studies, geography, economics, sociology, anthropology, history and cultural studies among relevant disciplines. Combined, they can help us to discuss the topic of border or boundary definition, community and tourism. This paper therefore takes a multidisciplinary approach to the subject, drawing in particular upon political science theory to define geo-political borders or boundaries at three common levels – (i) local boundaries within a province; (ii) provincial jurisdictions exercised within part of the territory of a nation state; and (iii) the external boundaries which define the territorial limits of a nation state.

To examine border communities, cultural studies are combined with anthropological theory and sociological theory, drawing in particular upon the social construction of space (and place) as expounded by Lefebvre (1972) and the concept of interstitiality advanced by Homi Bhabha (1994) and his ‘halfway populations’ occupying ‘third space’. Peripheral marginalised ethnic minority communities are often a feature of many border regions. This route also takes us into the realm of socio-cultural boundaries where “limits and boundaries are essential elements in life, both as real and as virtual phenomena, for both the biotic and a-biotic world, humans as well as animals. One may even consider them an archetype of our existence” (Leimgruber 2003). Viewed from this perspective, “borders and boundaries constitute a mental device for distinguishing between ”them” and ” us”, for exclusion and inclusion. They draw the lines of ‘difference’ and are thus a crucial ingredient in any imagined community and its collective identity” (Hageman et al 2004), and geo-political boundaries will often be used to reinforce the boundaries of ethnicity.

With theoretical foundations thus outlined we turn to examine tourism-specific elements such as principles of human mobilities (of which tourism flows are one component), development, poverty alleviation and sustainability, in the context of the particular characteristics of border tourism. Both cross-border tourist flows and border region tourism development will be examined with reference to the countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) – Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. A range of different aspects will be discussed, including the need for different types of visitor information centres located in different border milieus because of the pivotal role such centres can provide – possibly one of the least understood (certainly one of the least appreciated) aspects of cross border tourism facilities. Argument will be also advanced concerning a perception that pro-poor tourism initiatives in border areas need to extend beyond assistance for marginalized, peripheral communities to explore ways in which poverty alleviation can be ‘mainstreamed’ by tapping into the mass tourism of major gateways at borders. At present there is very little focus in the tourism literature on the capabilities of mass tourism to impact upon poverty; but logic suggests that critical mass exists where there are major tourism flows which, if harnessed, could make a superior contribution to poverty alleviation. It is emphasized that an approach which examines mass tourism in the context of poverty alleviation is not a replacement for the current focus on the rural poor, but seeks an expansion of effort in a direction that is currently under-considered.

The Production of Heritage Landscapes for Tourism: A Case Study of Lijiang, PR China

Su Xiao-bo
and
Peggy Teo
Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Heritage is not simply about the preservation of the past. Where tourism is concerned, there are many instances whereby heritage has been commodified for tourism benefit. This study outlines the (re)production of heritage in Lijiang as many interest groups such as tourists, host community, government and enterprise intersect each other. We argue that landscape outcomes in this World Heritage site is a reflection of power relations wherein the diverse articulations of Lijiang’s heritage represent attempts by each interest group to forward their specific agendas. The politics involved in the representation of the symbolic, vernacular, imagined and historic landscapes of Lijiang will be explored.

The conceptual framework for this paper is based on an analysis of the structure-agency dialectic to understand how government and social institutions such as state agencies, enterprise and community act as stakeholders attempting to organize or influence tourism development in Lijiang. It is obvious that as China inserts itself into the global economy, capital accumulation is an important priority which has also emplaced itself in Lijiang. According to Chouinard (1996), the structure-agency debate focuses on how social structures and institutions enable or constrain people’s capacities to effect change and how people’s practices in turn help to reinforce or challenge prevailing social structures. The framework elucidates the dialectic as “part of larger process of cultural transformation, especially production and consumption” (Squire 1994:5). Hence, using in-depth interviews conducted with local indigenous people, domestic and international tourists, officials, activists, businessmen and enterprisers, this paper will examine their priorities for and reactions to heritage conservation in Lijiang. The meanings and representations invested in heritage by these various groups and their ability to influence the trajectory of tourism development (or halt it) will elucidate the power of inclusion and exclusion.

Keywords: social construction of landscapes, heritage landscapes, tourism, (re)production

References
Chouinard, V. (1996) Structure and Agency: Contested Concepts in Human Geography. In C. Earle, K. Mathewson and M.S. Kenzer (eds.) Concepts in Human Geography, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp283-410.
Squire, S.J. (1994) Accounting for Cultural Meaning: The Interface between Geography and Tourism Studies Re-examined. Progress in Human Geography, 18(1):1-16.

Tourism and Political Boundaries in an Age of Globalization

Dallen J. Timothy
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona

Political boundaries have traditionally functioned as barriers to human interaction in both physical and psychological terms. Government policies and borders, which mark the limits of national control, have tended to filter the flow of goods, people, information, and services between nations. During the past decade, however, the world has undergone remarkable geopolitical changes, wherein the customary role of political frontiers has become one of integration rather than simply obstacles to interaction. Liberalization of trade policies, the easing of travel restrictions by many countries, and international cooperation in economic development have been at the forefront of these shifts in political ideologies. This has led to increasing levels of cross-border cooperation in matters of trade, environmental management, and tourism.

The modern-day process of globalization has changed the role of political boundaries. By definition, globalization refers to the process by which the world becomes a smaller place. While nation-states still desire to have control of their national territory, they have through globalization in essence lost a degree of sovereignty and are now required to meet international standards that are sometimes beyond their control. Supranational allianes (e.g. EU, ASEAN, and NAFTA) are good examples. Also indicative of this trend is the collapse of political barriers that have been erected in the past which allows the freer flow of people between countries.

In this presentation, the barrier role of international boundaries for tourism will be examined from the perspective of globalization processes. The notions related to cross-border cooperation, decreasing barriers, and increased international travel will be addressed using empirical examples from Taiwan-PR China, Cyprus, and the European Union.

Insights on Tourism from a Chinese Research Agenda

Geoff Wall
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada

For the past approximately 10 years, the author has been directing projects in Hainan, P.R. China. Initially the focus was on coastal zone management with the overall objective of enhancing the capabilities of the provincial government in Hainan to manage the growing pressures on its coast. Currently, the emphasis is on enhancing the capacity to undertake environmental planning and management in Hainan as well as elsewhere in China. Both projects have been funded by the Canadian International Agency and are large multi-year initiatives with a variety of partners from universities, government and the private sector, both in Canada and China. Both have a broad environmental focus and environment is viewed as encompassing economic and socio-cultural as well as ecological dimensions.

Hainan is a tropical island and is one of the most important tourism destinations in China, albeit that most of the visitors are domestic travelers. The island has rich tourism resources of the sea-sun-sand-sex variety as well as a substantial, but marginalized, minority population whose cultural expressions are used in publicity but who are not major beneficiaries of tourism in its present form. Inevitably, tourism has received significant attention in the two major projects introduced above. However, the purpose of this presentation is not to provide an overview of the current status, problems of and prospects for tourism in Hainan, although some incidental insights will be provided into these topics. Rather, Hainan is viewed as being a laboratory for tourism research. Thus, the paper will illustrate the heterogeneity of tourism research drawing upon projects that have been undertaken, and are currently in progress, in Hainan. The majority of this research has been carried out by Chinese and Canadian graduate students.

Themes that will be addressed include resort morphology, land use and economic impacts; ecotourism potential and the implications of protected area designation for local people; authentication of cultural tourism experiences; the displacement of minority people by tourism development; tourism employment, education and training; the role of tour guides in promoting sustainable development; and the adoption of environmental management practices by attractions and accommodation facilities.

It will be concluded that while there are significant needs and opportunities to undertake many kinds of tourism research, it is difficult to acquire funding to undertake research on tourism per se. However, tourism does not exist in isolation and it can be rewarding both academically and practically to place tourism in a broader context, exploring its role in coastal zone management, environmental planning, cultural change, sustainable development and a host of other broad contexts.

A Neopragmatic Existentialist Perspective on Planning and Managing Border Tourism

Ping Wang
Sunbridge Foreign Language Institute, Guangzhou, PR China
and School of MIS, Edith Cowan University, Churchlands, WA, Australia
and
Mark C. Williams
School of Management Information Systems, Faculty of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia

Planning and managing border tourism needs to take account of the competition by countries offering their destinations as unique and authentic cultural experiences. An important part of this competition is the way that language is used by tourism personnel in relating to each other and stakeholders, handling inquiries, creating brochures and websites, strategic and tactical management and planning, and generally carrying out operational duties. In this paper we focus on the challenge of understanding how language can be effectively used in planning and managing border tourism from a neopragmatic existential perspective. We will be employing the recent writings of Don Cupitt, author of over 40 philosophically respected books. In particular, we will focus on how a departmental manager involved in a border tourist project can use the language of spoken and written words, phrases, images, cultural roles, and body language to enhance the project.

KEY WORDS: Planning and managing border tourism, Language, Neopragmatic existentialist perspective

The Polish Transborder Cooperation in Tourism: The Example of the Euroregions of Nysa and Glacensis

Jerzy Wyrzykowski
Geography, University of Wroclaw, Poland

The end of the nineteen eighties brought about a significant revival of cooperation among countries in Central and Eastern Europe due to the countries’ system transformations which were triggered by political changes in Poland. The re-gaining of political independence, the democratisation of the state as well as the construction of the society of citizens in connection with the development of local self-governments and the sense of regionalism – all these factors gave rise to the development of transborder cooperation and creation of euroregions. Tourism constitutes an important part of transborder cooperation.

At present Polish towns and communes are associated in 15 euroregions. This paper presents the experiences of tourist cooperation in euroregions on the example of two such entities: Nysa and Glacensis. The Nysa Euroregion (Neisse-Nisa), created in 1991, encompasses three border territories of Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany with the total area of 10,6 thousand km2. It is dominated by mountainous landscapes of the Polish and Czech Sudety Mountains (the ranges of Karkonosze, Izerskie and Kaczawskie Mountains and Rudawy Janowickie Mountains) and the German Zytawskie Mountains. The Karkonosze range is on both Polish and Czech sides protected by the status of a national park. The Glacensis Euroregion was founded in 1996 and extends over border territories of Poland and the Czech Republic with the area of 4,9 thousand km2. It is composed of mountain ranges of the middle and eastern Sudety Mountains with their foothills. The spa character of this euroregion should be emphasized. It also includes the National Park of the Stolowe Mountains.

The activity of the Nysa Euroregion concentrates mainly on working out mutual plans of area development and the protection of the environment. Tourist cooperation mainly concerns the construction of roads and border crossings, the development of biking trail networks, the modernisation of tourist hiking trails, the extension of tourist information networks and the construction of tourist and recreation centres. A Polish – German culture reserve “Muzakowki Park” has also been created. It has been added to the list of world heritage objects of UNESCO. Mutual tourist publications have been prepared: 12 excursions on the borderland, a catalogue of accommodation, a catalogue of tourist attractions, churches and objects of sacred art and the general concept of tourist traffic in the euroregion. The financial resources used when working on the mutual projects came from the programmes of Phare Cross Border Co-operation and from Organizacja Polsko-Niemieckiej Wspólpracy Mlodziezy (Deutsch – Polnisches Jugendwerk). Total capacity of tourist accommodation base amounts to 83,2 thousand beds.

The main aims of co-operation in the Glacensis Euroregion are: unobstructed border crossing, good road and railway connections, the reconstruction of old communication systems on the borderland, the creation of possibilities for the development of joint businesses, the foundation of the Polish – Czech Society for Business Support, teaching of the neighbour’s language, common holiday camps for Polish and Czech youth, the foundation of a Polish – Czech college, common regional planning, the creation of maps of the borderland, the creation of new protected areas, the appointment of new special economic zones and free trade territories, the levelling out of economic potentials, the decrease in unemployment levels, the opening of the Sudety Biking Trail, the activation of the computer tourist information and accommodation booking system, and finally, the opening of the Border Cooperation Information Centre network.

Common projects include among others: canoeing trips on the rivers of the Klodzko region, races and marathons, galas, dog cart races, chess tournaments, Christian Culture days, youth meetings, the celebrations of City Partner Days, borderland fairs, music festivals, mountain films festivals, sightseeing attractions marking, the creation of biking trail and skiing pistas networks, nature trails, the construction of border crossing terminals, tourist publications concerning the euroregion. So far the network of 33 border crossings have been created including seven road crossings, three railway crossings, seven small traffic crossings and sixteen tourist crossings. The tasks have been realised thanks to financial resources from the programmes of Phare Credo and CBS and at present INTERREG III.

The transborder cooperation of Poland in the scope of euroregions has been lasting a few (f.ex. The Glacensis Euroregion) years or more than a dozen years (The Nysa Euroregion). Poland makes use of the earlier experiences of Western Europe where euroregions have been in operation since nineteen fifties. In 1994 The European Community constituted the Committee of Regions which represents the interests of regions in the European Community Council and the European Committee. Poland and the Czech Republic have been the members of the European Community since 2003.

Econometric Analysis of the Korean Tourist Demand to China

Suk-Hong Yoon
Department of Economics, Korea Aviation Univ.
Hwa-jon Dong, Go-yang City, Gyong-gi Do, Korea (411-791)

When the transport phenomenon is economic substantially, conventional models to forecast airlift passenger demands developed by the transport engineers are not sufficient in view of econometrics which has been developing her ways of investigating economic phenomenon since 1970s. This research applies economerical method to build demand models of Korean tourists visiting to China. The objective period is 14 years between 1990 and 2003. In consideration of time, the statistical observation usually takes as one year, because it is essential that the economic data are available on an annual basis. Independent variables are the real final consumption expenditures per capita of Korea and current IATA published economy one way fare between Seoul and Beijing. Air fare is announced every year by IATA and travel agencies announce new tour programs applying new air fares considering market environments.

Econometric model is built as

Tt = ß0 dtß1 ftß2 ut

Income elasticity of demand, ed = (?Tt/?dt )? (dt / Tt) = ß1
Price elasticity of demand, ef = (?Tt/?ft )? (f / Tt) = ß2

u ~ N ( 0, s2 I )

Above coefficients are estimated by Least Square Method in natural logarithm as follows.

lnTt = 9.623 ln dt – 8.0808 ln ft

R2 = 0.9508 R2 = 0.9418

(Tt : Korean tourism traveles to China , dt : real final consumption expenditure per capita of Korea, ft : current IATA published one way economy fare between Seoul and Beijing)

This model implies four points. Firstly, fare elasticity of demand (-8.0808) is more elastic than the conventional models which have been analyzed to be - 1.4. The reason is that, though China is neighbor country to Korea, diplomatic relations between two countries have been restored since 1990 and there are large amount of potential travel demands Secondly, personal expenditure elasticity of demand (9.623) is more elastic than the conventional models of 1.23. For the last 50 years between 1945 and 1995, there were some hostilities between two countries including even hot war during the period of Korea War. Therefore, Koreans guess that present travel to China is not critical.

Upon these conclusions, policy implications are drawn as follows. Firstly,Korean authorities establish access to the Chinese societies to introduce their cultures, history, and sceneries in depth to the Korean tourists. Secondly, to promote Korean tourists to visit China, concerned Chinese tour organizations focus their public relations activities on the tour organizers in Korea rather than solicit individual travelers and extend their tour guidances directly in China.

Key Words: Airlift Demand Forecast, Korean, China

Understanding Community Attitudes toward Tourism and Host-Guest Interaction in Urban-Rural Border Regions

Jiaying Zhang
School of Marketing, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Literature on community tourism has revealed a large number of factors having impacts on community’s attitudes toward tourism. However, there has been very little research investigating ethnicity and personality’s effects on community’s attitudes toward tourism. On the other hand, while there are considerable literatures focusing on either urban or rural communities, research into urban-rural bordering fringes is rarely seen. Moreover, a review of host-guest relationship literature shows that there is a lack of theoretical foundation in modelling host-guest interaction. Particularly, there seems to be no published literature trying to model one important form of this interaction, i.e. hosts’ behaviour to guests. Based on the literature review, this conceptual paper attempts to look into these research gaps and discusses methods adopted in an ongoing research project which purposes to address the research gaps and is being conducted in urban-rural fringe of Melbourne, Australia.

Keywords: community attitude, urban-rural fringe, host-guest interaction, personality, ethnicity, hosting behaviour, Five Factor Model, the TRA, TPB and TIB

The incoming Chinese tourists and border tourism development in Europe

Josephine Yu Zhou-Brock, Lecturer
and
Monica Echtermeyer, Professor
International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef-Bonn, Germany

Despite SARS-Crisis, terrorism threats, bomb attacks and natural hazards, tourism continues to be one of the fastest growing industry sectors worldwide. Within this fast-growing sector China has been the country with the highest growth rates in inbound and outbound tourism in the last decade. According to World Tourism Organization (WTO), in 2020 China will be the number one destination in international tourism, and the number four outbound tourism generating country with up to 100 million Chinese travelling abroad –a six fold rise of the 2002 figure of 16.6 million.

With the signing of the Travel Understanding Memorandum in 2004 for private travels between China and the European Union, the last hindrance for the development of Chinese incoming tourism to Europe was eliminated. The few countries, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy, which already disposed of an Authorized Destination Agreement, received new competitors. At present, there are 28 countries in Europe regarded as destinations for Chinese tourists.

The development of the Chinese incoming market to Europe has lead to a gold rush amongst European tourism managers who all want to grab a piece of the yellow cake. This market, which is getting bigger every year, brings new challenges as well as high economic benefits to the communities visited. Currently, Chinese tourists do not consider specific destination in a country such as the Black Forest in Germany. Their destination is Europe as a whole due to lack of international travel experience and the pre-planned tour packages offered in China.

European destinations have just started to realise the importance of adapting their offers and marketing towards the new customers from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou — tourists generating cities in China. By crossing over the open European borders, Chinese tourists not only enter a different political entity but also encounter a new culture. The desire by the Chinese to understand more about European cultures needs to be understood by European destination organizers. The differences in terms of interests, motives and requirements among this market also need to be taken into consideration in order to reflect them in a more specialized and tailor-made programs for Chinese tourists. There is a need to explore this topic more closely. This paper seeks to investigate the importance of co-operation between the most visited European countries by Chinese tourists and their destination organizers.

This paper concludes that with the great potential of Chinese tourists participating in international tourism, the higher sophistication and level of experience and knowledge of Chinese going abroad, there is a necessity for a better public relation network, joint market research and closer cross border cooperation between European destinations and Chinese tour operators. A wonderful European trip experience among Chinese tourists will stimulate the tourism development in Europe in the near future.

Keywords: China outbound tourism, European destinations, cross-border tourism and co-operation.

Border Tourism and Community Development Conference
Xishuangbanna, China - 6 to 9 July 2005