A framework for analyzing innovation in the context of holiday package industry

This paper has the starting point in the acknowledgement that a closer examination of the operational elements related to holiday packages may reveal advanced opportunities for advanced innovation. The investigation confirms that such opportunities exist in the intangible aspects of tourism products and production. Summarizing these findings, the paper proposes a framework that enables better insights into the nature of tourism innovation

The Role of Technology in Sustainable Tourism Governance

Tourism has a dualistic nature characterised on the one hand by a high resilience and constant growth and on the other hand by a short-term greed of “consuming” its own life support systems: nature, culture and communities (Snepenger, Snepenger, Dalbey, & Wessol, 2007). Both aspects are constantly spurred by the rapid changes in demand and the diversity of supply, and the intrinsic importance that tourism has gained in individual lifestyles and in national economies. In addition, the strong influence of globalization on the institutional, organizational and policy formulation (Hall, 2005), determines three major aspects of tourism: the expansion of demand, the concentration of supply and increased similarities in demand. (Cornelissen, 2005) Consequently, the fragile balance required by a sustainable tourism development (European Commission, 2003a), (UNEP / UNWTO / WMO, 2008) is often at risk from conflicting goals of conservation versus development plans for tourism. Mixed approaches that combine top-down governance models with bottom-up collaborative strategies and policy networks are considered able to provide resilient decision making systems able to cope with unexpected challenges or conflict situations. These are characterized by shared rule-making and agreements between interdependent actors with divergent opinions and goals (Elzen, Geels, & Ken, 2004). Ultimately, a significant progress towards sustainability can be achieved by fostering changes of meaning and concepts, infrastructures and user-learning processes (Ehrenfeld, 2001)

Exploring organizational antecedents for sustainable product development for international tour operating businesses

The development of sustainable products or services is defined by Maxwell as the process of making products or services in a more sustainable way (production) throughout their entire life cycle, from conception to the end-of-life (Maxwell & van der Vorst, 2003). Essentially, sustainable products or services are alternatives to existing ones, but of a superior quality, providing the same function to the customer, being more cost-effective, while also generating less harm on the surrounding environments or societies. The emphasis is on securing the efficiency of inputs and outputs is all actions along the life cycle of the product or service, from raw materials to discharged waste, so that unnecessary consumption of resources and generation of wastes are avoided. More advanced concepts such as product-service systems and needs-oriented-service systems aim to reduce impacts from the production and the use phase, or even at the end-of-life phase of a product (Mont, 2002; Roy, 2000). New and under development, the area of product-service systems is increasingly gaining acceptance from companies (Manzini & Jégou, 2003)

Sustainabilities in the cultural economy

Abstract not Available

A literature review

The rhetoric of a ‘win-win-win’ situation – which represents simultaneous achievement of economic growth, environmental protection and social development – is central to the emergence of community-based wildlife protection efforts that involve new partnerships between actors such as local communities, businesses and government agencies. The win-win rhetoric furthers the logic that the more partners, the more wins – yet the current knowledge base lacks clear criteria for evaluating partnerships. This working paper uses political ecology as a conceptual lens to propose such criteria. We suggest examining partnerships not only based on their complexity, but also how they are formed and gain legitimacy in different contexts and how various partnership configurations engender particular kinds of ecological and socio-economic outcomes. Based on a review of the literature about partnerships and their impacts, and drawing on insights from Tanzania’s wildlife sector, we establish three groups of literature that emphasize the benefits of partnerships: one focusing on landscape conservation, another on governance reforms and the last on tourism related businesses. In these three groups of literature, partnerships are claimed to improve the effectiveness of biodiversity governance by securing land, facilitating local developments and by creating business links. Building on critiques from political ecology we conclude by questioning this win-win-win rhetoric arguing that partnerships only lead to wins for specific actors thereby indirectly aggravating local power struggles. They do so by supporting rent seeking and the rise of local elites while simultaneously concealing the marginalization of other actors and thereby effectively contributing to the continued loss of local land rights

Identification of Salt Stress Biomarkers in Romanian Carpathian Populations of Picea abies (L.) Karst

The Norway spruce (Picea abies), the most important tree species in European forests, is relatively sensitive to salt and does not grow in natural saline environments. Yet many trees are actually exposed to salt stress due to the common practice of de-icing of mountain roads in winter, using large amounts of NaCl. To help develop strategies for an appropriate use of reproductive seed material on reforestation sites, ensuring better chances of seedling survival in salt-affected areas, we have studied the responses of young spruce seedlings to salt treatments. The specific aim of the work was to identify the optimal salt stress biomarkers in Picea abies, using as experimental material seedlings obtained by germination of seeds with origin in seven populations from the Romanian Carpathian Mountains. These responses included general, conserved reactions such as the accumulation of ions and different osmolytes in the seedlings needles, reduction in photosynthetic pigments levels, or activation of antioxidant systems. Although changes in the contents of different compounds involved in these reactions can be associated to the degree of stress affecting the plants, we propose that the (decreasing) levels of total phenolics or total carotenoids and the (increasing) levels of Na+ or K+ ions in Picea abies needles, should be considered as the most reliable and useful biomarkers for salt stress in this species. They all show very high correlation with the intensity of salt stress, independently of the genetic background of the seeds parental population, and relatively easy, quantitative assays are available to determine their concentrations, requiring simple equipment and little amount of plant material.Funding: Sorin Schiop is a PhD student at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca. This paper was published under the frame of European Social Found, Human Resources Development Operational Programme 2007-2013, project no. POSDRU/159/1.5/S/132765. Mohamad Al Hassan is a recipient of an Erasmus Mundus pre-doctoral scholarship financed by the European Commission (Welcome Consortium).Schiop, ST.; Al Hassan, M.; Sestras, AF.; Boscaiu Neagu, MT.; Sestras, RE.; Vicente Meana, Ó. (2015). Identification of Salt Stress Biomarkers in Romanian Carpathian Populations of Picea abies (L.) Karst. PLoS ONE. 10(8). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0135419Se013541910