This paper seeks to highlight underlying issues of the tourism system that have led to tourism extremes of too much or too little tourism. Five phases are recognized that reflect different ways of dealing with too much tourism over time, after which the impact of a sudden lack of tourism is investigated in light of future renewal processes. This discussion highlights the remarkable capacity of the tourism industry to adjust to rapidly changing circumstances and crises, even when these cause anguish to individuals and within societies at large. The paper thus seeks to contextualize the current discussions regarding the transformation of tourism post COVID-19. It highlights the complexity of changing a tourism that multiple stakeholders depend on or have grown accustomed to. To come to a more balanced tourism, it is necessary to not only come up with alternative visions and strategies, but also to engage with the political economy nature of tourism development. A future research agenda should therefore also discuss facets of entangled power, social exclusion, inequalities and class differences to come to new reference points of what actually constitutes a more inclusive tourism success.
MULTIFILE
The current development of tourism is environmentally unsustainable. Specifically, tourism's contribution to climate change is increasing while other sectors are reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. This paper has two goals: reveal the main structural cause for tourism's emission growth and show the consequences thereof for (mitigation) policies. It is reasoned that the main cause for tourism's strong emission growth is the time-space expansion of global tourism behavior. Contemporary tourism theory and geography fail to clearly describe this geographical development, making it difficult to understand this expansion and develop effective policies to mitigate environmental impacts. Therefore, this paper explores some elements of a 'new tourism geography' and shows how this may help to better understand the causes of the environmentally unsustainable development of tourism with respect to climate change and devise mitigation policies.
MULTIFILE
This research analyses the current self-reported level of proficiency of environmental skills, the required future level of proficiency, and the gaps between them. Given the increasingly urgent need for the tourism industry to take action to support environmental management practices, this research provides evidence of key environmental skill gaps. Mixed methods research is applied where the sample includes 1404 respondents to a questionnaire and 264 interviewees from senior management of organisations from five tourism sectors (accommodation establishments, food and beverage outlets, destination management organisations, tour operators and travel agents, visitor attractions) in eight European countries. Analysis of variance, t-tests, correlation and cluster analyses, and Pearson Chi-square tests were employed for data analysis. The findings revealed that the country of registration, the size and the tourism sector type influence significantly the current and future proficiency levels of environmental skills, and the gaps between them. Most respondents did not receive environmental skills training. Theoretical, managerial and policy implications are also discussed.
Duurzame ontwikkeling staat hoog op lokale, nationale en internationale politieke agenda’s. Denk alleen al aan klimaatverandering, biodiversiteit, de stikstofcrisis, de gezondheidscrisis, de teloorgang van stilte en stiltegebieden en de ontwikkeling van de circulaire economie.Duurzame ontwikkeling bestaat nadrukkelijk uit aspecten op het gebied van milieu, mens en economie. Daarbij is het perspectief van de stakeholders in de sector, de bedrijven, overheden, omwonenden, klanten en belanghebbenden van groot belang.De gastvrijheidssector speelt hierin een dubbele rol: enerzijds creëren deze sector veel waarde uit natuurlijke hulpbronnen zoals juist de kwaliteit van natuur, biodiversiteit, landschap, stilte, schone lucht. Anderzijds speelt de sector een rol bij het ontstaan van klimaatverandering, stikstofoxiden, verlies van biodiversiteit en stilte.Het project beoogt voor bovenstaande problematiek een onderzoekagenda op te stellen. De onderzoekagenda geeft een systematisch overzicht van de problematiek, een vertaling naar de potentiële onderzoeksvragen en mogelijke resultaten.Partners: Hogeschool Zeeland (HZ), NHL/Stenden.
Nature areas in North-West Europe (NWE) face an increasing number of visitors (intensified by COVID-19) resulting in an increased pressure on nature, negative environmental impacts, higher management costs, and nuisance for local residents and visitors. The high share of car use exaggerates these impacts, including peak pressures. Furthermore, the almost exclusive access by car excludes disadvantaged people, specifically those without access to a car. At the same time, the urbanised character of NWE, its dense public transport network, well-developed tourism & recreation sector, and presence of shared mobility providers offers ample opportunities for more sustainable tourism. Thus, MONA will stimulate sustainable tourism in and around nature areas in NWE which benefits nature, the environment, visitors, and the local economy. MONA will do so by encouraging a modal shift through facilitating sustainableThe pan-European Innovation Action, funded under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme, aims to promote innovative governance processes ,and help public authorities in shaping their climate mitigation and adaptation policies. To achieve this aim, the GREENGAGE project will leverage citizens’ participation and equip them with innovative digital solutions that will transform citizen’s engagement and cities’ effectiveness in delivering the European Green Deal objectives for carbon neutral cities.Focusing on mobility, air quality and healthy living, citizens will be inspired to observe and co-create their cities by sensing their urban environments. The aim to complement, validate, and enrich information in authoritative data held by the public administrations and public agencies. This will be facilitated by engaging with citizens to co-create green initiatives and to develop Citizen Observatories. In GREENGAGE, Citizen Observatories will be a place where pilot cities will co-examine environmental issues integrating novel bottom-up process with top-down perspectives. This will provide the basis to co-create and co-design innovative solutions to monitor environmental problems at ground level with the help of citizens.With two interrelated project dimensions, the project aims to enhance intelligence applied to city decision-making processes and governance by engaging with citizen observations integrated with Copernicus, GEOSS, in-situ, and socio-economic intelligence, and by delivering innovative governance models based on novel toolboxes of decision-making methodologies and technologies. The envisioned citizens observatory campaigns will be deployed and fully demonstrated in 5 pilot engagements in selected European cities and regions including: Bristol (the United Kingdom), Copenhagen (Denmark), Turano / Gerace (Italy) and the region of Noord Brabant (the Netherlands). These innovation pilots aim to highlight the need for smart city governance by promoting citizen engagement, co-creation, gathering new data which will complement existing datasets and evidence-based decision and policymaking.
Analysis of the economic, social-societal and environmental impacts of river cruise tourism in West-Friesland, for the municipalities of Hoorn, Enkhuizen and Medemblik. BUas responsible for the environmental impact analysis.Societal IssueRiver cruise tourism is generally a growing industry in the Netherlands, where regular arrivals of ships with 150 to 200 passengers bring economic benefits but also possible challenges related to crowding, congestion and environmental impacts, amongst others.Benefit to societyThe research informs local policymakers on the current situation and some expected developments of river cruise tourism, to be able to make more informed policy decisions about its future development in West Friesland.Partners in this project:Ginder (Projectlead)Vrolijks Blue ProgressBuas Centre for Sustainability, Tourism and Transport
