Maintaining competitive tourism advantage with reference to the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.

Business literature is replete with examples of industries that failed to adapt to emerging trends and lost competitive advantage (see Levitt, 1975 - historical examples). To maximise opportunities, industries must identify sources of competitive advantage, and adapt. Tourism (including recreation) is particularly vulnerable to a diversity of external forces that threaten competitiveness (climatic variability/change, residents’ attitudes, terrorism/crime). Australia’s main competitive tourism advantages are climate, natural environment, and wildlife. However, the basis of this advantage has been challenged. For example, the Blue Mountains, historically one of Australia’s best-known/popular tourist destinations has experienced a downturn in tourism and risks further decline. We use the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (GBMWHA), Australia to highlight some destination tourism marketing issues

Intitatives for a Smart Economy 2.0

Just like its predecessor, I4SE 2.0 is organized in a manner that focuses on those sectors of the local economy identified by WNYREDC as growth sectors. It identifies initiatives within those sectors where Erie County can make a meaningful contribution. These sectors include: advanced manufacturing, smart growth implementation, workforce development, agriculture, bi-national logistics, energy, and tourism. The report also identifies specific initiatives that Erie County will undertake in other important areas, beyond the WNYREDC growth sectors, that contribute to a thriving and inclusive local economy. These include quality of life initiatives, as well as those focused on the “blue” economy and enhancement of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency (“ECIDA”)

Stakeholder Perspectives on Opportunities and Challenges in Achieving Sustainable Growth of the Blue Economy in a Changing Climate

Coastal marine environments provide livelihoods as billions of people around the world depend greatly on sustainability efforts in the Blue Economy. In this study, we investigated how stakeholders from important Blue Economy sectors along the German North Sea coast perceive the impacts of climate change on their daily work life and the growth of the Blue Economy. In a two-stage approach we first conducted two stakeholder workshops with representatives from the regional sea food sector, science, NGOs and local authorities, in order to identify important issues linked to climate change affecting environment, society, economy and policy. In the second stage, we conducted semi-structured interviews with key knowledge holders from the Blue Economy, to evaluate and validate the most important issues identified during the first stage, and the impacts on the respective sectors. The workshop participants identified perceptible effects of climate change on their marine environment. Early career scientists showed that they possess a clear focus on measures for climate change adaptation, transdisciplinary approaches and knowledge transfer. The interviews revealed that the climate change effects could be perceived as both negative and positive, depending on the sector. Other issues, especially political decisions and developments are perceived to have a greater immediate impact on the Blue Economy than the slow progress of climate change effects. Additionally, increased human activities, in the form of new or intensified uses like marine renewable energy generation, have a greater influence and lead to conflicts between the Blue Economy sectors. Our study showed that economic and societal stakeholders in Germanys North Sea region are aware of climate change and already perceive its effects on their businesses. Synergies and conflicts between the sectors and political decisions might influence sustainable growth of the Blue Economy in highly contested regions, such as the North Sea basin, much stronger than the effects of climate change. This calls for a more flexible and adaptive approach to policymaking, taking into account the changing environmental, social and economic realities

How events can influence in the customer experience at Out of the Blue Hostel: an internship storytelling

The growth of tourism is not an exception to Azores Islands that saw a big increase of tourists after the low cost airlines started flying to the islands in 2015. The whole market is in a process of adaptation and hostels is a new concept to the island and very appreciated to the ones who visit it. Out of the Blue hostel's concept is to turn each stay into a unique experience. So me and the owners of the hostel were brainstorming ideas how to improve the concept and together we decided to create Out Of The Blue Family Dinners, where every evening we prepare homemade dinners and take guests out on night tours, creating moments of sharing cultures, ideas, dreams and time on the island between the guest and the staff of the hostel. In this storytelling I am presenting how I started doing events at the hostel and the process of adaptation to the tourism trends, guest and management needs in order to create a high quality experience. In the end I will present the reviews left by the guests of the hostel on various booking platforms. After 6 months the impact of the events is very visible through the guest reviews and feedbacks, team satisfaction and sales revenue.O turismo em crescimento e não é uma exceção nas Ilhas dos Açores que viu este fenomeno acontecer após as low coast começarem a voar para as ilhas em 2015. Todo o mercado está a adaptar-se e os hostels é um novo conceito na ilha e muito apreciado para o aqueles que as visitam. O conceito Out of the Blue é transformar cada estadia em uma experiência única. Então, juntos começamos a fazer um brainstorm como melhorar o conceito. Juntos, decidimos começar a fazer eventos todas as noites que inclui jantares e passeios nocturos, criando momentos de partilha de cultura, ideias, sonhos e tempo na ilha. Esta storytelling que vos apresento consiste em começar a fazer eventos no hostel e todo o processo de adaptação às tendências de turismo, hospedes e necessidades de gestão para criar uma experiência de alta qualidade. No final, irei apresentar os resultados de inquenritos realizados no hostel. Depois de 6 meses os impactos dos eventos são muito visíveis nas avaliações e comentários dos hospedes, assim como na satisfação da equipe e nos lucros das vendas

The signalling effect of eco-labels in modern coastal tourism

As the demand for environmentally sustainable tourism grows, eco-labels are becoming increasingly popular as a signal of environmental quality. However, the existence of a causal link between awarding a seaside eco-label and the increase in tourism flows is still under discussion in the literature. In this article, we gauge the signalling impact of a specific eco-label, the Blue Flag award, using detailed data on tourism flows to seaside Italian destinations during the period 2008-2012. We adopt a recent econometric modelling strategy - the synthetic control method - in shaping estimation results and testing the sensitivity and robustness of our results. We find that being awarded the Blue Flag increases the flow of domestic tourists for up to three seasons after assignment. However, we find no effect for the flow of international tourists. Investigating the mechanisms driving the results, we find that the award of a Blue Flag only positively affects the flow of domestic tourists when it is used as a driver of organisation, coordination and integrated management of the tourism supply

Resource Guide in Exploring Ethics: A Practical Resource Guide for Tutors and Students

This resource guide will help staff and students who are studying social sciences in hospitality, tourism, entertainment, events, leisure. It outlines the ethical issues that they need to consider when conducting research for their dissertation or for industry-based projects. Social science is a general term used for the study of society, consumers, and employees, the manner in which those people behave and how it affects the world around us. Researching “people in our world” must be completed in a safe, fair and honest way. Whilst ethical policy for empirical research has been with us since the Nuremberg Code 1947, many universities have not yet developed resources in terms of practical ethical examples. This resource guide presents materials and examples for tutors of research methods, and also for undergraduate and masters students engaging in social science research. The Guide also contains background literature, power point presentations and practical examples. All social science research raises many ethical issues. Medical, sport and exercise research dealing with human enhancement, medicine, disease or gene therapy present ethical issues which will NOT be included in this resource guide. Sport and leisure research may include physical or drug-related elements which require students to conform to specific ethical procedures which can be found, in part, in the “Ethics and Sport” resource guide available via the HLST website

Atlas of Ocean Wealth

The Atlas of Ocean Wealth is the largest collection to date of information about the economic, social and cultural values of coastal and marine habitats from all over the world. It is a synthesis of innovative science, led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), with many partners around the world. Through these efforts, they've gathered vast new datasets from both traditional and less likely sources.The work includes more than 35 novel and critically important maps that show how nature's value to people varies widely from place to place. They also illustrate nature's potential. These maps show that one can accurately quantify the value of marine resources. Further, by enumerating such values, one can encourage their protection or enhancement for the benefit of people all around the world. In summary, it clearly articulates not just that we need nature, but how much we need it, and where

The Potential Tourism Impact of Creating the World's Largest Marine Reserve in the Pitcairn Islands

The Pitcairn Islands, by virtue of their small size and isolation, do not have many obvious economic options, but tourism based on their environment and history is an opportunity that could provide employment, income, and increased connection to the outside world. The creation of the world's largest marine reserve in the Pitcairn Islands would greatly enhance the territory's image and provide an opportunity for increased awareness of the islands and their unique tourism offerings. The proposed marine reserve represents a realistic opportunity for building a sustainable economic future for Pitcairn's resident population. Environmentally responsible marine tourism has enormous potential for generating reliable revenues for the Pitcairn islanders and overcoming chronic problems of economic marginalisation caused by the islands' extreme geographic isolation

Human activities accelerated the degradation of saline seepweed red beaches by amplifying top‐down and bottom‐up forces

Salt marshes dominated by saline seepweed (Suaeda heteroptera) provide important ecosystem services such as sequestering carbon (blue carbon), maintaining healthy fisheries, and protecting shorelines. These salt marshes also constitute stunning red beach landscapes, and the resulting tourism significantly contributes to the local economy. However, land use change and degradation have led to a substantial loss of the red beach area. It remains unclear how human activities influence the top‐down and bottom‐up forces that regulate the distribution and succession of these salt marshes and lead to the degradation of the red beaches. We examined how bottom‐up forces influenced the germination, emergence, and colonization of saline seepweed with field measurements and a laboratory experiment. We also examined whether top‐down forces affected the red beach distribution by conducting a field survey for crab burrows and density, laboratory feeding trials, and waterbird investigations. The higher sediment accretion rate induced by human activities limited the establishment of new red beaches. The construction of tourism facilities and the frequent presence of tourists reduced the density of waterbirds, which in turn increased the density of crabs, intensifying the top‐down forces such as predators and herbivores that drive the degradation of the coastal red beaches. Our results show that sediment accretion and plant–herbivory changes induced by human activities were likely the two primary ecological processes leading to the degradation of the red beaches. Human activities significantly shaped the abundance and distribution of the red beaches by altering both top‐down and bottom‐up ecological processes. Our findings can help us better understand the dynamics of salt marshes and have implications for the management and restoration of coastal wetlands