Tourism to religious sites, case studies from Hungary and England: exploring paradoxical views on tourism, commodification and cost–benefits

The application of systems theory to tourism development has a pedigree that has largely been derived from econometrics and macro–economic theory (Baggio et al., 2010; Franch et al., 2010; Choi and Sirakaya, 2006; Schianetz and Kavanagh, 2007, 2008; Dwyer et al., 2010). This paper identifies opportunities and some barriers to developing sites of religious worship for tourism to maximise income and engage appropriate resources allocation strategies. The authors have investigated tourism development that is sympathetic to sacred purposes at these sites over several years. Religious sites are now acknowledging that homogeneous supply responses may no longer be appropriate. Each special site demands a heterogeneous response of site guardians to changeable demand and careful evaluation of how to maximise income generated from very limited resources. This necessitates improved skills in guardians to build appropriate point of sale products and services that fit with consumption expectations and are congruent with sacred purpose

Worship & sightseeing: building a partnership approach to a ministry of welcome

This paper explores diverse opportunities for partnerships between the sacred and secular at religious sites. It identifies ways in which tourism suppliers can work collaboratively with sacred sites to enable sites to meet the demands of contemporary secular and sacred stakeholders. In the review of contemporary literature we consider supply and demand issues, site management, key components of partnership, ecumenical co-creation resources, cost-benefit and marketing needs. The paper is predicated on the provision of information and interpretation services for guidance, and development of all of these services. Methodologically, a participant observation approach was employed to confirm that tourism fits the strategic intent of religious leaders. We consider that partnership at a national, diocesan and parish level is an important part in effective tourism development. Elements of community involvement; capacity building and in-community development through engaging stakeholders are discussed. The balance achieved between stakeholders is important, and in our context the balance between local government and the tourism industry, and between active partners and the passive policy community, reflects the aims of the sacred and the private sector key partners, and the wider social capacity building aspects of community development agendas and government

Introducing Power, Meaning and Authenticity

This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Allan Jepson, and Alan Clarke, eds., Power, Construction, and Meaning in Festivals, on November 2017, available online at: https://www.routledge.com/Power-Construction-and-Meaning-in-Festivals/Jepson-Clarke/p/book/9781138063228. Under embargo until 10 May 2019.Our book contains contributions from 20 researchers, all of which are intrigued by the prospect of what events can achieve positively for their stakeholders’, and the ways in which power, meaning and authenticity are central concepts to achieving potential positive outcomes in the creation of events.Final Accepted Versio

Loosing it: Knowledge Management in Tourism Development Projects

Knowledge management and the development of the destination’s capacity of the intellectual skills needed to use tourism as an effective tool in the search for regeneration and development are central themes explored within this paper. The authors have lived and worked with the problems inherent in short term funding of special projects designed to achieve or facilitate tourism development. We have witnessed with growing sadness the results – and the lack of them – as funding cycles end and staff with experience move away. Development processes require multi-stakeholder involvement at all levels, bringing together governments, NGOs, residents, industry and professionals in a partnership that determines the amount and kind of tourism that a community wants (Sirakaya et al., 2001). Planners need to provide knowledge sharing mechanisms to residents, visitors, industry and other stakeholders in order to raise public and political awareness. We note an absence of literature relating to the capacity of communities to learn from short-term funded projects that inherently are destined to provide a strategic blueprint for destination development and in most cases regeneration through community-based tourism action.Knowledge management, sharing and embedding, community tourism

Modelling the effects of space weather at the Earth’s surface : a UK geoelectric field model

Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GIC), which can flow in technological systems such as power transmission grids, are a consequence of the geoelectric field induced at the surface of the Earth during geomagnetic storms. This poster describes the development of a new 3D 'Thin-Sheet' geoelectric field model which covers the whole of the UK and includes the influence of the surrounding shelf seas. The model can be used to compute the response of the geoelectric field to geomagnetic storms. In conjunction with a power grid model this enables us to estimate GIC flow in power networks. As an example, we consider the major geomagnetic storm of October 2003. It is envisaged that the model will form one component of a near real time GIC warning package which is currently being developed by the British Geological Survey (BGS) in conjunction with Scottish Power Plc. The magnetic field associated with the induced geoelectric field is easily calculated. Thus, the electric field model may also be of interest to those studying the effect of internal (induced) geomagnetic field signals on the total measured geomagnetic field

Fish Habitat Utilization Patterns and Evaluation of the Efficacy of Marine Protected Areas in Hawaii: Integration of NOAA Digital Benthic Habitat Mapping and Coral Reef Ecological Studies

Over the past four decades, the state of Hawaii has developed a system of eleven Marine Life Conservation Districts (MLCDs) to conserve and replenish marine resources around the state. Initially established to provide opportunities for public interaction with the marine environment, these MLCDs vary in size, habitat quality, and management regimes, providing an excellent opportunity to test hypotheses concerning marine protected area (MPA) design and function using multiple discreet sampling units. NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment’s Biogeography Team developed digital benthic habitat maps for all MLCD and adjacent habitats. These maps were used to evaluate the efficacy of existing MLCDs for biodiversity conservation and fisheries replenishment, using a spatially explicit stratified random sampling design. Coupling the distribution of habitats and species habitat affinities using GIS technology elucidates species habitat utilization patterns at scales that are commensurate with ecosystem processes and is useful in defining essential fish habitat and biologically relevant boundaries for MPAs. Analysis of benthic cover validated the a priori classification of habitat types and provided justification for using these habitat strata to conduct stratified random sampling and analyses of fish habitat utilization patterns. Results showed that the abundance and distribution of species and assemblages exhibited strong correlations with habitat types. Fish assemblages in the colonized and uncolonized hardbottom habitats were found to be most similar among all of the habitat types. Much of the macroalgae habitat sampled was macroalgae growing on hard substrate, and as a result showed similarities with the other hardbottom assemblages. The fish assemblages in the sand habitats were highly variable but distinct from the other habitat types. Management regime also played an important role in the abundance and distribution of fish assemblages. MLCDs had higher values for most fish assemblage characteristics (e.g. biomass, size, diversity) compared with adjacent fished areas and Fisheries Management Areas (FMAs) across all habitat types. In addition, apex predators and other targeted resources species were more abundant and larger in the MLCDs, illustrating the effectiveness of these closures in conserving fish populations. Habitat complexity, quality, size and level of protection from fishing were important determinates of MLCD effectiveness with respect to their associated fish assemblages. (PDF contains 217 pages