Assessing stakeholders views in achieving sustainable livelihoods through tourism in Prince Edward County

Many destinations are recognizing the potential contribution of tourism as a strategy for a sustainable livelihood. With a slower pace of life compared to their mainland counterparts, rural island communities traditionally have been supporting themselves with livelihood opportunities such as agriculture, logging, fishing, and mining. However, this paradigm is changing as many destinations, especially those with rural communities, have experienced a decline in these traditional livelihoods and turned to tourism in an effort to diversify the livelihood opportunities (Lockhart, 1997). Prince Edward County, situated in south-eastern Ontario, Canada, is a growing tourist destination. It is also an island as it is located in Lake Ontario and separated by a bridge from the mainland. This small rural county has a rich cultural and natural heritage, and is a home to a population of about 25,500 residents. Its primary livelihood has been traditional agriculture until recently when it saw an increasing number of diversified forms of agriculture and tourism-related activities and businesses being developed. As the County explores tourism as a means to diversify the economic and livelihood opportunities available, the sustainability and challenges of tourism development in the County are rising

Assessing Accommodation Suppliers’ Perceptions of Climate Change Adaptation Actions on Koh Phi Phi Island, Thailand

Koh Phi Phi Don is among the most visited island tourism destinations in Thailand. Due to the island’s topography and development patterns, most accommodation suppliers on the island are likely to be exposed to a range of climate change impacts, particularly sea-level rise, which can pose a severe risk to the local tourism operations. This study aimed to explore perceptions of climate change adaptation actions in response to impacts typically associated with climate change. This study, furthermore, investigated possible obstacles, barriers, and incentives influencing decision-making processes of accommodation owner-managers (the private sector) to adapt to climate change. The investigation builds on 81 surveys and 12 in-depth interviews. The findings provide evidence that most of the sampled businesses already implemented (consciously or not) climate change adaptation measures, such as insurance coverage, water treatment appliances, and staff training on emergency responses. Through a concentration of power on the island, their action is hindered, which creates a barrier to a sustainable and climate risk-informed development pathway

Tourists’ level of awareness and perceptions of the impacts of tourism in Lake Titicaca, Peru

The indigenous communities of Taquile and Amantani in Lake Titicaca, Peru, once sole players in the tourism industry they developed, have lost control of tourism activities to external tour operators. This study sought to understand tourists’ level of awareness of and perception regarding sustainable tourism impacts within Lake Titicaca, Peru, through a quantitative study of 125 respondents. The findings showed that the consumer demands and behaviour of tourists is a contributing factor to the rise in mass day-tourism and the reduced economic benefits to communities in Lake Titicaca. Tourists were also willing to pay more to ensure community development in the region but do not believe that they are responsible for the negative economic impacts in Lake Titicaca

A matter of conscience? The democratic significance of \u27conscience votes\u27 in legislating bioethics in Australia

In Australia, members of a political party are expected to vote as a block on the instructions of their party. Occasionally a ‘conscience vote’ (or ‘free vote’) is allowed, which releases parliamentarians from the obligation to maintain party discipline and permits them to vote according to their ‘conscience.’ In recent years Australia has had a number of conscience votes in federal Parliament, many of which have focused on bioethical issues (e.g., euthanasia, abortion, RU486, and embryonic/stem cell research and cloning). This paper examines the use of conscience votes in six key case studies in these contested areas of policy-making, with particular attention to their implications for promoting democratic values and the significance of women’s Parliamentary participation

Barriers to implementing Sustainable Tourism Policy in Mass Tourism Destinations

The focus of this paper is on identifying the barriers to successful implementation of sustainable tourism policy. The research used exploratory and descriptive approaches to identify barriers from the literature as well as field research to determine perceived barriers from key respondents in two specific locations in the Mediterranean- Malta and Calviá. The research found that although respondents were aware of sustainable tourism, the individual advantage from exploiting shared pooled or shared resources is often perceived as being greater than the potential long-term shared losses that result from the deterioration of such resources, which means that there is little motivation for individual actors (whether governments, elected officials, or individual operators), to invest or engage in protection or conservation for more sustainable tourism

Barriers to implementing Sustainable Tourism Policy in Mass Tourism Destinations

The focus of this paper is on identifying the barriers to successful implementation of sustainable tourism policy. The research used exploratory and descriptive approaches to identify barriers from the literature as well as field research to determine perceived barriers from key respondents in two specific locations in the Mediterranean- Malta and Calviá. The research found that although respondents were aware of sustainable tourism, the individual advantage from exploiting shared pooled or shared resources is often perceived as being greater than the potential long-term shared losses that result from the deterioration of such resources, which means that there is little motivation for individual actors (whether governments, elected officials, or individual operators), to invest or engage in protection or conservation for more sustainable tourism

Restaurants Going Local: Motivations and Challenges for Sourcing Local Food

Visitors to destinations are frequently looking to partake of the local fare when travelling, either away from home or to another country (CRFA, 2016). Couple this with the local food movement and the increasing propensity for sustainable travel (Dodds and Holmes, 2017; Loureiro and Umberger, 2005), it begs the question of why restaurants might look towards sourcing locally and the barriers they face. This paper looks to investigate the greatest motivations for restaurants to implement local food in regard food quality, guest interests and appreciation, and social and environmental justice. As well, looking to gain an understanding of the barriers they face and strategies they use to overcome these barriers. This study also considers the wider sustainability implications of using local food. By focusing on how current restaurants can utilize local food, and mitigate barriers to achieving such outcomes, locations can begin to increase the representation of local food on menus. It is also useful to understand restaurants opinions on offerings such as local food to consumers from a Canadian context. By looking to have restaurants increase their use of local ingredients, destinations can improve regional economic development all the while providing the tourist with greater opportunity to experience what the local terroir has to offer