Tourism Commons^™

Gettysburg: A Town Built On Tourism, Kevin P. Lavery

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

In my most recent blog posts, I’ve adopted a rather unforgiving stance on the rampant consumerism that pervades the town of Gettysburg. Essentially, I have argued that the borough’s tacky gift shops sell odious little trinkets to gullible tourists and profiteer from the public’s morbid obsession with war and death. But while I firmly believe that this zealous consumerism is a persistent threat to healthy historical engagement, there is another side to the issue that demands to be recognized: Gettysburg kitsch is part of what has made Gettysburg into a town brimming with opportunities to broaden the public’s historical consciousness. …

Lost: Sesquicentennial Sanity. If Found, Please Contact Borough Of Gettysburg., Kevin P. Lavery

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

If you were in Gettysburg during the summer of 2013, you surely encountered the ubiquitous 150th Gettysburg logo branded on everything from promotional materials to souvenirs. The latter – tacky at best and irreverent at worst – filled the town to the point of excess, making some of us wonder how many people completely missed the point of the sesquicentennial. Anniversaries exert a powerful force on the American historical psyche, but it is dubious whether Gettysburg’s celebration exerted an appropriate one. The sesquicentennial was a wonderful opportunity to refocus on the events of July 1863, but sadly many businesses in …

Gettysburg’S Faustian Bargain, Kevin P. Lavery

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

A question to the reader: have you ever visited Gettysburg? Presumably most of the Gettysburg Compiler’s audience will answer in the affirmative. A follow-up question: have you ever purchased a souvenir from one of the town’s abundant gift shops? Perhaps it was a kepi or a cork gun for your child? Or maybe a bottle of “Rebel Red” wine? Or some tacky trinket or faux antique?

Let’s face it: we live in a consumer society in which there is nothing too sacred to profit from. And, sadly, the Battle of Gettysburg is no exception. [excerpt]

Destroying The Ethnosphere? How Tourism Has Impacted The Sherpas Of Nepal, Joshua H. Ginder

Student Publications

Tourism is perhaps the most salient and impactful process of globalization today. As we are increasingly more mobile, traveling with endless comfort and ease, we explore the far reaches of the planet as ambassadors of our own culture and as agents of change. In this process we potentially threaten the cultural diversity of the planet. So how can we reduce the impact of tourism on the cultures of the world? In order to answer this question I examine the implications of cultural and adventure tourism, especially as they relate to the Sherpas of Nepal. Sherpas have been involved with both …

Tourism And Hospitality Small And Medium Enterprises And Environmental Sustainability, Abel Alonso, Alfred Ogle

Alfred Ogle

While environmental sustainability is increasingly gaining relevance, it appears to have been ignored in certain areas, such as in research on water usage of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the hospitality and tourism industries. The purpose of this paper is to examine this dimension from the perspective of the operators. Semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews were conducted with ten managers/operators in the Swan Valley region of Western Australia. Strong manager/operator awareness of the impact of their actions on the environment was demonstrated. Also salient was the factors impinging on implementation of environmental initiatives. Business demands or added costs also …

Olives, Hospitality And Tourism: A Western Australian Perspective, Abel Alonso

Abel D Alonso

The purpose of this paper is to examine the links between olive growing, hospitality and tourism in an emerging olive growing region, as well as challenges olive grove operators face. A qualitative approach is taken in the form of face-to-face and telephone interviews among 23 olive grove operators in Western Australia from a sample of 33 operations identified. Almost half of the respondents indicated being open to the public in some form, including ellar door sales and hospitality facilities, such as a cafe´. Other respondents are currently in the process of developing hospitality facilities or plan to be associated to …

Wine Tourism In The Canary Islands: An Exploratory Study, Abel Alonso, Lynnaire Sheridan, Pascal Scherrer

Abel D Alonso

Wine tourism is experiencing significant development in both new and old European wine regions. In the case of the Canary Islands, wine has been produced and traded for centuries; however, little is known about the current state or potential for wine tourism development in this archipelago, despite the fact that millions of tourists, including many potential wine tourists, visit the islands each year. In this exploratory study, the perspectives of winery owners and managers on wine tourism are examined. In-depth face-to-face interviews among 23 small winery operators reveal that the scope for exploiting wine tourism on the islands has been …

Tourism And Hospitality Small And Medium Enterprises And Environmental Sustainability, Abel Alonso, Alfred Ogle

Abel D Alonso

While environmental sustainability is increasingly gaining relevance, it appears to have been ignored in certain areas, such as in research on water usage of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the hospitality and tourism industries. The purpose of this paper is to examine this dimension from the perspective of the operators. Semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews were conducted with ten managers/operators in the Swan Valley region of Western Australia. Strong manager/operator awareness of the impact of their actions on the environment was demonstrated. Also salient was the factors impinging on implementation of environmental initiatives. Business demands or added costs also …

Importance Of Tasting Rooms For Canary Islands' Wineries, Abel Alonso, Lynnaire Sheridan, Pascal Scherrer

Abel D Alonso

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of the tasting room for wineries from a re-developing Spanish wine region, and identify the challenges winery owners currently face in their pursuit to market their wines through the tasting room. Design/methodology/approach – Between May and June of 2007 a total of 23 winery owners, managers and wine makers located in the Canary Islands were interviewed from a sample of 61 wineries identified in Tenerife and La Palma islands. Findings – The findings confirm the vital importance of the tasting room as a marketing, branding, and educative vehicle …

Narratives From The Former Soviet Union To The United States, Kimberly Maas

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This paper examines the impact of the transition of the Soviet Union on the experiences of citizens from the republics of the former Soviet Union and American tourists. It is an ongoing project that will, upon completion in fall 2008, include data collected from at least eight semi-structured interviews. So far, five semi-structured interviews have been conducted with individuals who are from the United States and who have traveled to the former USSR; or were natives of the former Soviet Union. The interviews have been transcribed and analyzed inductively with the goal of understanding (a) differences in life experiences across …

Tourism Research To Tourism Practice: The Need For Adaptive Institutions In Western Australia's Ningaloo Region, Kelly Chapman, Pierre Horwitz, Pascal Scherrer, Jeremy Northcote

Kelly Chapman

The Ningaloo Collaboration Cluster (NCC) conducts research to develop research-backed management options that sustain the ecological integrity of the area. Such options success depends on adaptive capacity of the institutions responsible for governing tourism activities in the Ningaloo area.

When In The Maghreb: The Western Tourist’S Quest For Meaningful Experiences In Post-Colonial Morocco, Erin Willahan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The goal of this paper is to shed light on why Western tourists come to Morocco and to analyze how cultural tourism developed here as an institution. In doing so, the research hopes to explore the implications of cultural tourism in Morocco with respect to modernization and imagined geographies inherited from a colonial past. Through analysis of official tourism strategies, trip packages, online reviews, interviews, and personal experiences the research will examine tourists through a sociological lens and attempt to characterize the relationship between tourist and attraction. It will find that the tourists observed tend to place a great deal …

Introducing The International Journal Of Religious Tourism And Pilgrimage

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Welcome and Introduction to the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The Ties That Bind: Connecting Families, Communities And Places Through The Gathering, Theresa Ryan, Ziene Mottiar, Bernadette Quinn

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Sex Tourism In St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands: An Exploratory Study, Elizabeth Estes

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands, is similar to other tourism dependent Caribbean nations where the tourism industry is dependent upon the `4 S's'- sun, sand, sea, and sex. This researcher posited that the phenomenon of sex tourism exists in St. Thomas as it does in other tourist destinations in the Caribbean like Jamaica, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Barbados (Bailey and Ricketts, 2003; de Albuquerque, 1998; Munshi, 2006; Ryan and Kinder, 1996). The lacuna of any U.S. Virgin Islands sex tourism literature prompted this researcher to conduct an exploratory case study in St. Thomas to learn whether or …