Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Travel Agencies And Tourist Guides Adapting To Crisis: The Portuguese Case, Ilídia C. G. Carvalho

International Journal of Tour Guiding Research

Tourism is constantly changing and new paradigms arise. Most recently, travel agencies and tourist guides have been facing difficulties and have had to quickly adapt themselves to be able to keep a position in the tourism market. COVID-19 brought major changes to travel and experience in destinations and it certainly increased the use of technology, which has totally changed communication systems and relationships in tourism. For this paper, interviews with Portuguese travel agents and tourist guides were carried out and were later analysed allowing the author to gain insights into the current situation regarding these two stakeholders, which were previously …

Smart City Tours As An Innovative Way To (Re)Discover Urban Environments In An Italian Context, Miriam L. Weiß

International Journal of Tour Guiding Research

This article explores the foundations upon which to build innovation and further professionalise the tour guiding sector in an Italian context. It is based on a cooperation initiative started in March 2020 just at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic which proposes smart city tours as innovative, sustainable, and creative ways to (re)discover urban environments with the expected impact to make tour participants think, influence post-tour behaviour towards sustainability, and to provide a differentiated view of a visited place. The study is designed as a formative evaluation prior to introducing measures that allow further exploitation of the potential for smart …

Tour Guides And Access To Trails: Problems In The Baħrija Area Of Malta, David Pace

International Journal of Tour Guiding Research

The Maltese islands barely cover an area of 300 square kilometres and yet, they enjoy a varied landscape characterised by cliffs, ridges, hills and valleys. There are over a hundred valleys on the main island of Malta and many provide important waterways during the rainy season and present some of the most beautiful and varied scenery. The most accessible include the Qlejgħa valley and White Poplar Valley (Wied il-Luq). Both are frequented by thousands of visitors, particularly during the weekends and are also quite popular with tourists during the winter months. Malta’s high population density, the influx of millions of …

Ijtgr Volume 3 Table Of Contents, Kevin A. Griffin, Luis Miguel Brito, Glen Farrugia

International Journal of Tour Guiding Research

No abstract provided.

Climate Change Adaptation And Mitigation In A Small Archipelago: The Role Of Ecotourism In Malta, Karl Agius

International Journal of Islands Research

The aim of this paper is to present the potential of ecotourism to develop into a niche contributing to climate change adaptation strategies whilst making the existing tourism industry more resilient. The paper provides an overview of mitigation measures adopted in Malta by the aviation, tourism and hospitality industry as well as policy makers in the archipelago to respond to major challenges that climate change poses for tourism. These changes are vital to lure ecotourists and to support ecotourism development. Six main themes emerged from the research in the context of the role ecotourism can play as an adaptation to …

A Relational Approach To Networks In A Tourism Destination: Business And Family Networks In San Vito Lo Capo, Sicily, Giovanni Ruggieri, Salvatore Iannolino

International Journal of Islands Research

This article constructs a relational framework using the principles of the Network Approach to examining the business exchange structure of a tourist destination. Network Analysis is the methodology to analyse the metrics of collaboration and cooperation among destination companies. The model was applied in a remote tourist destination named San Vito Lo Capo on the island of Sicily, where tourism has significantly expanded in the last twenty years. The focus is on how groupings of small companies within family relations can govern and be responsible for tourism destination cooperation. As the main result, the existence was identified, of a relational …

The Nexus Between Tourism Demand And Regional Characteristics: The Case Of Japanese Islands, Kantaro Takahashi

International Journal of Islands Research

This paper explores the relationships between tourism demand and regional characteristics of the Japanese islands. A regression model was carried out for 113 islands designated by the Remote Island Development Act, which is one of the laws designed to promote rural areas in Japan. Results show that the transportation situation was related to the demand of arrival tourists, whereas the results were insignificant for the model with the response variable as lodging tourists. Meanwhile, location factors were significant for lodging tourists—that is, open sea areas have more lodging tourism demand than islands in inland sea areas. Furthermore, this study found …

Ijir Title Page And Table Of Contents Vol. 3, Kevin A. Griffin, Giovanni Ruggieri, Patrizia Calò, Razaq Raj

International Journal of Islands Research

No abstract provided.

Social Production And Consumption Of Space: A Lefebvrian Analysis Of The Kumbh Mela, Christine Buzinde, David Manuel-Navarrete, Jyotsna (Josi) M. Kalavar, Neena Kohli

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Kumbh Mela is the world’s largest pilgrimage gathering on the shores of the River Ganges. Drawing on Lefebvre’s (1991) trialectics of space framework, this paper interrogates the spatial dynamics of the Kumbh Mela through the spatial meanings espoused by local and international pilgrims. Accounting for dominant discourses that frame the event as occurring in and around a sacred waterscape, five focus groups with pilgrims were conducted at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India. The findings indicate that local pilgrims were aware of river pollution, but they used discursive strategies to decouple this material fact from their lived spiritual experiences; from …

The Effect Of Covid-19 On Independent African Churches (Iacs) In Johannesburg, South Africa, Constance Nyika, Milena Ivanovic, Kevin A. Griffin

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This paper explores the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the religious tourism activities of the four most prominent Independent Apostolic Churches (IAC) operating in Johannesburg, South Africa. This is an interpretive qualitative research study based on data from 15 telephone-based semi-structured interviews with congregants and church leaders of the Zion Christian Church, Zimbabwe (ZCC Mutendi), The Apostolic Church of Johane Marange, The Apostolic Church of Johane Masowe and Apostolic Faith Church, Mugodhi. Thematic content analysis was used for data analysis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the religious tourism activities of all four IACs in the study as they …