Introduction to the special focus Cultural tourism and sustainable urban development

In a world where more than half of the population already lives in cities and more than 90 percent of urban growth is occurring in the developing world (Licciardi and Amirtahmasebi, 2012), cities have the potential to serve as incubators of innovation and technology. However, there are also many challenges for cities that can be classified into economic, environmental, and social threats. Cities, for instance, consume 75 per cent of worldwide energy production and generate 80 per cent of CO2 emissions (Lazaroiua and Rosciab, 2012). The 'smart city' paradigm, which has been adopted by many cities worldwide, represents an environment where innovation and technology supplement activities and services of a city in order to provide benefits to the residents and visitors. In Europe, initiatives for sustainable development of cities have been characterised and defined by a number of factors including environmental sustainability, economic development and a high quality of life

Introduction to the special focus Cultural tourism and sustainable urban development

In a world where more than half of the population already lives in cities and more than 90 percent of urban growth is occurring in the developing world (Licciardi and Amirtahmasebi, 2012), cities have the potential to serve as incubators of innovation and technology. However, there are also many challenges for cities that can be classified into economic, environmental, and social threats. Cities, for instance, consume 75 per cent of worldwide energy production and generate 80 per cent of CO2 emissions (Lazaroiua and Rosciab, 2012). The 'smart city' paradigm, which has been adopted by many cities worldwide, represents an environment where innovation and technology supplement activities and services of a city in order to provide benefits to the residents and visitors. In Europe, initiatives for sustainable development of cities have been characterised and defined by a number of factors including environmental sustainability, economic development and a high quality of life

Deconstructing destination perceptions, experiences, stories and internet search: text analysis in tourism research

This chapter provides an overview of developments which have resulted in an increased availability of text data, thereby creating greater interest in analysing text in the context of tourism. The first section of the chapter discusses different approaches to text analysis. Specifically, the chapter compares and contrasts qualitative and quantitative text analysis. Next, the chapter describes computer-assisted approaches and presents various representational techniques. The second section introduces four case studies to illustrate the depth and breadth of applications of text analysis in tourism research. The first case study employs a causal mapping technique to assess the changing market structure as perceived by managers in incentive travel. The second case study uses a hermeneutic approach to interpret consumers’ perceptions of memorable experiences at a Midwest destination in the USA. The third case study applies quantitative analytical techniques to compare the language people use to describe their dining experiences at different types of restaurants. The fourth and final case study uses search keywords to identify the nature of competition between European cities. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the growing significance of text analysis in tourism as well as several important research challenges yet to overcome