Cross-border Shopping: Tourism in the Canada-United States Borderlands

This research note examines the phenomenon of cross-border shopping between the United States and Canada as a form of borderlands tourism. This activity has always existed in the region and has traditionally been characterized by high but consistent numbers of Canada-to-US flows and lower but consistent numbers of US-to-Canada flows. However, in 1997, owing to an increase in value of the Canadian dollar and other economic variables, the number of Canadian shopping trips to the United States increased dramatically until 1992, when the value of the Canadian dollar began to fall. This in tum has led to the rapid increase in levels of American travel to Canada, including shopping trips, in the mid- and late-1990s. Characteristics of cross-border shopping are examined together with some of the economic and social impacts of the rise and. decline of this phenomenon in American and Canadian border communities

Tourism and International Borders: Themes and Issues

Political boundaries are invisible, vertical planes that transect land and airspace, and they mark the limits up to which a political entity may exercise its sovereign authority. Most international boundaries have been marked on the ground in various ways as tangible lines separating societies and political systems from their neighbors. International borders have traditionally been viewed as barriers to various forms of human interaction. In fact, one of their primary purposes typically has been to hinder the flow of goods, people, and ideas between nations for ideological and economic reasons (2, 13). Geographers have a long tradition of interest in the formation process of political boundaries and their functions in social, political, and economic terms. Likewise, interest in tourism as a topic of research is increasing at an extraordinary rate among social scientists, and to a lesser extent among physical scientists, from many disciplines. Most researchers seek to understand the sociocultural, economic, political, and physical environmental impacts of tourism, as well as patterns of international tourist flows. Tourism by definition entails crossing borders in one form or another, yet with few exceptions (7, 21, 22, 23), researchers have all but overlooked the relationships between political frontiers and tourism. The purpose of this special issue of Visions in Leisure and Business, therefore, is to address this dearth in the academic literature by examining the relationships between tourism and international boundaries. This theme issue brings together the expertise of prominent scholars in the area of political borders. All of the contributors have conducted extensive research in various parts of the world on a diverse range of border-related subjects. Here they merge their political, cultural, and economic interests with the study of tourism

Eyes on Casino Gaming in China: Residents\u27 attitudes Toward Casino Gaming Development in Sanya City, A Pre-Casino Establishment Analysis

While Macau offers world class casinos, casino gaming is not legalized in Mainland China. Current media reports, however, indicate a growing interest by the Chinese government in establishing casinos in the Hainan Province. This study assesses the perceptions of residents about potential gaming development in their community. Resident attitude surveys have been used by planners and policymakers in order to gain local support for tourism projects and initiatives. A series of hypotheses were tested. In particular, the study evaluates the difference in perception between tourism workers and non-tourism workers, residents who live in the city center where the casino development project is planned and those who live outside the city center, and short-term residents and long-term residents. In addition, discriminant analysis was used to find out which of the perceptions variables discriminate the most between the sample groups. Implications for planning and communication are given

Cross-border Shopping in Hungary: Causes and Effects

Shopping tourism in Eastern Europe has grown enormously since the 1970s, and the geopolitical changes that occurred in the late 1980s and early 90s had a major bearing on its development. Within the context of shopping tourism, this paper examines cross-border shopping trends in Hungary, which is one of the most prominent shopping destinations in the former communist bloc. After a description. of the phenomenon and its magnitude in Hungary, spatial patterns in the borderlands are considered and the probable impacts of Hungary\u27s future admission into the European Union are explained

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Religious Travel: Present and Future Trends

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has had dramatic effects on both the health and economic stability of countries around the world. While several scholars and media commentators have suggested that the pandemic would be a good time to reset an unsustainable tourism system, left out of these discussions has been the impacts on religion and religious travel. The purpose of this paper is to review the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on religion and religious travel, including the tensions that have arisen between religious communities, governments and health officials. The paper then discusses potential futures regarding religious travel in a post-COVID-19 and post-secular world

Bhutan’s Low-volume, High-yield Tourism: The Influence of Power and Regionalism

This paper examines the unique tourism policies established by the Royal Government of Bhutan to control tourism in the country. The paper is conceptualized using the power relationship framework developed by Foucault and regionalization theory to analyze Bhutan’s tourism policy. The paper is based on interviews that were carried out with high-level tourism officials, local business owners and managers, international tourists, regional tourists, and domestic tourists (Buddhist pilgrims). The number of tourists to Bhutan has been controlled not by an annual visa quota, but by a daily minimum tariff, required guided tour, certain spatial restrictions, and the general perception of inconvenience associated with the process of getting a visa. The controlled tourism policy, however, is limited only to western tourists, which represent only a quarter of the tourists visiting the country. Although Bhutan has been able to minimize the environmental and cultural impacts of western tourists through its low-volume, high-yield tourism policy, this is more related to power and regional politics than simply a quest for sustainable tourism

Public Awareness and Perceptions of Heritage Buildings in Arizona, USA

This study aims to examine public awareness of heritage properties in Arizona, USA. Data for this study were collected from a random sample of 1238 general public in Arizona using a telephone survey. The study proposes a four-cell matrix based on heritage awareness and visitation to historic buildings. The four cells represent: 1) aware/visited, 2) aware/not visited, 3) unaware/visited, and 4) unaware/not visited. When four types of residents were compared on demographic variables, attitudes toward preservation, preservation criteria, and importance of feature and facilities, most of these variables were significant. The findings of this study provide important information for heritage preservation managers and policy makers. Unlike heritage preservationists’ view, opening heritage sites to the public and tourists can help to create awareness