Studying World Heritage visitors: The case of the remote Riversleigh Fossil Site

World Heritage listing aims to provide protection for the planet's most precious natural and cultural sites. Listing can also increase awareness and visitation, particularly as presentation is a tenet of the World Heritage Convention. Visitor management, based on empirical research, is therefore required to ensure an appropriate balance between these, often conflicting, obligations of protection and presentation. Many World Heritage visitor studies have considered iconic, accessible, international tourism destinations that are facing issues of visitor congestion and threatened heritage values. To provide a balanced understanding of World Heritage tourism, further research is required, particularly focusing on various site types and different World Heritage visitors. To support this agenda, this research identified a lesser-known World Heritage Area with low visitation levels, developed a self-administered visitor questionnaire appropriate for the site, and studied the visitor characteristics, motivations, and experiences. Findings regarding visitors to the remote Riversleigh World Heritage Site in Australia indicate that these visitors differ from visitors to iconic World Heritage Areas, although motivational aspects are similar. The outcomes of the research have informed the visitor interpretive plan developed by the state government responsible for delivering on the Convention requirements for the Riversleigh World Heritage Site, and provide a visitor questionnaire that can be used, or further developed, for other sites

Hospitality degree programs in Australia: A continuing evolution

Hospitality management degree programs have changed significantly since they were first introduced in Australia over 30 years ago. This article reviews the development of these undergraduate degree programs in hospitality using a combined macro and micro approach. First, at the national level, this study reviews the provision of degrees in hospitality, identifying the macro-level changes that have occurred in the hospitality program landscape since the mid 1970s. Second, at the program level, this study analyses the evolution of one of the longest running hospitality management programs, offered by The University of Queensland. This review identifies the underlying reasons for micro-level hospitality program changes in Australia, and relates these changes to the broader context of higher education evolution, hospitality industry development, and student expectations

Tourism and hospitality internships: Influences on student career aspirations

Research shows that students will often change their career choices relating to the tourism and hospitality industries following work experiences. This qualitative study investigates how participation in one specific type of work experience, an internship, impacts on student participants' career choices and goals. While most respondents did indeed change their career aspirations following the internship, these changes reflected a shift within the industry rather than a shift against entering the industry. Many participants indicated they had switched their goals away from pursuing a career in hospitality in favour for developing a career in tourism, while the reverse was not apparent

Australian hospitality education - A ‘Brilliant Blend’ Of degree programs

Although there is an ongoing debate about the extent to which hotel/hospitality curricula address the current and future needs of the industry and the appropriateness of the various educational programs on offer, there is limited literature on the specific approaches taken to the design and delivery of hotel/hospitality programs. This paper reports on an exploratory study which aimed to develop a conceptual model consolidating hotel/hospitality educational approaches. A comprehensive and critical review of the literature on hotel/hospitality educational perspectives informed the model development. The resultant model reveals a dichotomous relationship within hotel/hospitality educational approaches according to both the general orientation of the hospitality program as a whole and the aspects that influence the actual design, delivery and structure of the curriculum. This information provides a clearer understanding of how hotel/hospitality programs are developed and the pressures that influence their design. The paper further considers the need to test this model on existing hotel/hospitality education providers

The role of employment in the sustainable development paradigm - The local tourism labor market in Small Island Developing States

Due to the numerous developmental constraints faced by many Small Island Developing States, these governments have promoted tourism in policy agendas on the grounds that it will enhance the lives of local people through the creation of employment and subsequent increase in income level. Using the case of the Maldives, this research explored the extent to which local employment is integrated in the sustainable development paradigm. The research indicates that the Maldivian tourism industry will be impacted upon by a myriad of social, human resource, economic, institutional and religious factors which affect the attraction and retention of local people in tourism employment