Swimming with captive dolphins: current debates and post-experience dissonance

Dolphins have widespread contemporary appeal and anthropomorphic social representations of dolphins have fuelled a growing desire in tourist populations to seek interaction with them. This paper is concerned with the staged performance of swim-with-dolphin interaction programmes in aquaria. Qualitative interviews with tourists who have swum with captive dolphins identified their immediate recollections and stressed the grace, size and power of dolphins, but also a belief that the experience was too staged, too short and too expensive. Post-purchase dissonance focused on concerns with the size of enclosures and about captivity, too many tricks, limited interpretation and unfulfilled expectations of a quality interaction

Reports /

Mode of access: Internet

Growth and Impacts of All-Inclusive Holiday Packages: Echoes from the Industry

All-inclusive (AI) holiday packages have become a popular travel choice, particularly in the sun-soaked destinations of the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Despite the benefits the AI is assumed to offer to key stakeholders, caution has been urged over the increase in AI offerings due to the negative impacts they impair on destinations. This paper aims to investigate supply-side perceptions of the growth and impacts of the AI on Cyprus’ tourism development. Drawing from semi-structured interviews with industry stakeholders, findings reveal that the AI is determined by an interplay of demand and supply conditions while its growth is moderated by contextual factors pertaining to coastal destinations’ development stage. With a range of negative impacts being identified as detrimental to the tourism development of Mediterranean destinations, the study proposes a conceptual framework outlining the determinants, influencers and outcomes of the AI trend