Tourism Commons^™

Best Practices Of Organizational Communication In Group Travel Planning, Natalie N. Gilliam

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

To succeed in the travel industry, professionals must continuously seek new ways to improve their service. In group travel, clients expect their tour director to meet and exceed all expectations. As I prepare to lead a tour group of high school students to Walt Disney World, I will put my knowledge of four organizational communication practices to the test. These best practices will be utilized in planning for challenges that may arise as well as handling any obstacles throughout the tour. Success will be measured through the thoughts of the clients during and after the trip and future recommendations will …

Application Of Heritage Tourism Development Frameworks To Jenkins County, Georgia, Shelby R. Herrin

Honors College Theses

With the decline of traditional agriculture and extraction industries, many small towns in the Southeast US are facing challenges of economic decline and looking for alternative development trajectories. The city of Millen in Jenkins County, Georgia is one of such small towns. With the discovery of a large Civil War heritage resource, Millen’s administration became interested in developing the town’s tourism potential. However, the community possesses neither the resources nor knowledge to develop and promote this potential. In this project, the combination of Gunn’s functioning tourism system model as a conceptual framework and Jamal and Getz’s three-step collaborative community tourism …

Business, Education, And Enjoyment: Stakeholder Interpretations Of The Gettysburg Museum And Visitors Center, Ava M. Muhr

Student Publications

An anthropological study of the Gettysburg Museum and Visitors Center undertaken to understand the ways in which the visitor experience is conditioned by their own personal background, as well as filtered through the carefully constructed historical narrative created by museum historians, National Park Service rangers, and administrators. The Gettysburg Museum and Visitors Center is a site in which multiple stakeholders contend to ensure that their interpretations of the museum’s purpose is being upheld. This paper will examine the ways in which these various stakeholders – primarily NPS rangers, Civil War historians, and history buffs – interpret the catalyst(s) for constructing …

Internal Migration: The Women Behind Bali’S Tourism Industry, Stephanie Skinner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Internal migration in constantly increasing in Indonesia and the island of Bali is a popular destination for many of these immigrants who wish to try their luck in Bali’s tourism industry. One the most significant trends in internal migration has been the participation of autonomous young women, however, often the migration discourse does not adequately address gender-specific facets. This study explores the expectations and realities of Indonesian women’s internal immigration to Bali and is predominantly, based on qualitative research methods. The study consisted of singular semi-structured interviews with four young women who worked in Bali’s tourism industry in the Badung …

The Lucrative Business Of Children: A Study Of Child Trafficking In Nepalese Orphanages, Mira Saxe-Smith

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research paper is to shed light on and explore the detrimental effects orphanage volunteer tourism has on communities in Nepal, especially the orphans themselves and their families who become subject to different degrees of manipulation, deceit and abuse due to the industry. This study will also delve into the Nepal Civil War’s effect on orphan trafficking in Nepal, the effects of institutionalization, media and campaigns launched against voluntourism, and other related topics. The paper particularly focuses on orphanage voluntourism in the tourist heavy and capital of Nepal, Kathmandu.

The information in this report was attained through …

Meditating On Mountain Bikes, Sam Bowen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For a long time, Nepal has been an exotic destination for adventurers and spiritual wanderers. Geographically, there are no comparisons. “The country is vertical,” said Jagan Biswarka as he pointed across Phewa Lake to the snow-capped mountains. “You can see the 8000 meter from 800 meter. This will be one of the best playgrounds in the world. Nowhere in Nepal. Nowhere in the world.” Mads Mathiasen, a Danish expatriate agrees. “I think very few people realizes how big a contrast there is in Nepal from seventy-one meters above sea level – the lowest place in Nepal – to eight-thousand eight-hundred …

Bringing Flowers Back To The Cité Des Fleurs: A Geographical Study Of The Sôma Beach Development Project In Mahajanga, Elizabeth Isaac-Herzog

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mahajanga, Madagascar is currently watching one of its biggest development efforts unfold. The Sôma Beach project will transform the previously-bustling Village Touristique, degraded over the past decades by the ocean’s waves, into an accessible hotspot for national and international tourists. This study aimed to answer the overarching questions, “How is the Sôma Beach project being carried out?” and “How is it affecting the local population and spatial organization?” Interviews, spatial observation and analysis, and review of relevant documents were used during a month-long period in order to gather information on this topic. The study concluded that space was an influential …

Tipping Point: A Study Of Tourism And Development In Cizhong, Collin Bradley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over the past few decades, development in rural areas of China has been increasing rapidly due in large part to the growth of tourism throughout the country. My project analyzes this phenomenon using Cizhong, a Tibetan Catholic village in northwestern Yunnan, as a case study. Since 2006, the popularity of Cizhong as a tourist destination has grown slowly. However, thanks to recent government policies enacted to increase tourism and development in the area, this village is on the verge of experiencing extremely rapid growth. Over the course of three weeks, extensive participant observation was combined with nearly a dozen informal …

The Curious Case Of Solu Khumbu: A Study Of The Effects Of Tourism In The Town Of Junbesi, Hannah Cho

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Before 1953, the year that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summited Everest, almost all Sherpas were subsistence farmers, traders, and herders. But ever since the 1980’s, Sherpas have taken over the trekking industry in this region. The increase of tourism and the monopolization of this industry have altered the livelihoods of Sherpas in Solu Khumbu. However, most tourism related research on Solu Khumbu has been done primarily on upper Khumbu, which has been affected by tourism drastically differently than Solu. I will be doing a case study of how the changes in tourism have affected Junbesi, a popular agriculture based …

Kentucky Folklife Program - County Files (Fa 748), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Collection FA 748. This collection contains material relating to 29 of Kentucky's 120 counties that was collected by Kentucky Folklife Program director Bob Gates. Collection materials includes items such as tourist brochures, newspaper articles, and county maps.

Ms-175: Kate Burr Whiting Travel Journal, Abby M. Rolland

All Finding Aids

This collection consists one of one 177 page travel journal, with 136 images included. A letter from 1928 is also included with the journal. The photographs document all the places Kate Burr Whiting traveled around the world.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website https://www.gettysburg.edu/special-collections/collections/.

Pronounced Particularity: A Comparison Of Governance Structures On Lord Howe Island And Fernando De Noronha, Arianne Reis, Philip Hayward

Professor Philip Hayward

This paper compares and contrasts the management systems and governance structures of two island sites with national and international World Heritage recognition: Lord Howe Island (off the mid-east coast of Australia) and Fernando de Noronha (off the north-east coast of Brazil). Using historical and contemporary references, the paper explores the manner in which two distinct approaches to governance are implicated in the daily living of community members, and considers their socioeconomic activities. We use the case of tourism and World Heritage management as examples of the complexities involved in the different forms of governance structures adopted by these two small …

Customer Satisfaction And Behavioral Intentions: The Case Of Aruba-- Small Island Nation, Yang Cao, Robin Dipietro, Gerald Kock

Hospitality Review

Tourism studies related to small island destinations have become a research stream amongst many academics in recent years. The current study investigates tourist satisfaction related to a tour operator on the island of Aruba that specializes in jeep and bus tours. As there is an increased expenditure pattern for these types of activities, companies are looking for ways to improve customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Results indicate that tourists are generally satisfied with the tour company; however a difference in satisfaction ratings was obtained for respondents 61 years old or above. Four factors were extracted from tourists’ satisfaction attributes and …

Tequila At Sunrise: Spring Break Travel Motivations And Risk Behaviors Of American Students In Acapulco, Mexico, J. Carlos Monterrubio Ph.D., Bharath M. Josiam Ph.D., Jennifer Duncan

Hospitality Review

Little research has been completed regarding spring break motivations and behaviors of American students in foreign destinations, specifically in Mexico. This paper looks at push and pull motivations in relation to drug and alcohol consumption and findings indicate greater drug and alcohol use among those who selected “party reputation” and “to go wild” as travel motivations. Binge drinking, sexual activity, and drug use among students on spring break in Acapulco, Mexico were also analyzed and compared to past findings within the United States. Results suggest that students are involved in heavy alcohol consumption and significant drug use. Additionally, high rates …

Looking At Residents’ Attitudes Towards Spring Break Tourism In Texas Through The Lens Of Community Attachment, Marianna Strzelecka Ph. D., Bharath M. Josiam Ph.D., Daniel L. Spears Ph.D., J. Carlos Monterrubio Ph.D.

Hospitality Review

The growth of spring break tourism in many destinations has become problematic, predominantly due to the excessive behaviour of college students. This paper examines residents’ attitudes toward spring break tourism in South Padre Island (located in Texas, USA) through the lens of community attachment. By understanding the attitudes of residents of the host communities, tourism planners and policy-makers can create policies to shape the character of tourism according to the residents’ needs. The findings suggest that, at this point in time, community residents perceive that the benefits of spring break tourism benefits exceed its’ costs. Also, the short and intense …

Ms-172: Paxton Family Papers, Molly E. Reynolds

All Finding Aids

This set of papers presents a variety of notes and correspondences between members of the family and friends. The bulk of the letters date 1895 and come from Elizabeth D. Paxton and Margaretta Paxton to their mother, Caroline Sophia Denny Paxton, while touring Europe. There are letters from James Dunlop and Harmar Denny to their mother, as well as condolence letters for Mr. and Mrs. William M. Paxton upon the death of Harmar Denny in 1896. This collection may prove useful for a researcher conducting a study of the Paxton family, or one interested in the travels of Americans in …

Mayan Women’S Organized Weaving Projects In The Guatemalan Highlands: Narratives Of Struggle And Resistance, Maggie Richardson

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

No abstract provided.

Taking A Step Back From The Individual Social Entrepreneur, Ziene Mottiar

Conference papers

An investigation of how a national tourism policy resulted in the emergence of new social entrepreneurs in destinations across Ireland.

Destination Marketing Organizations’ Stakeholders And Best Practices, Bonifacio Lopez Torres, Godwin-Charles Ogbeide

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

As marketing practices continue to advance, the tourism industry is constantly evolving in terms of marketing strategies and in the shifting duties of its stakeholders. Different organizations plan the advancement of their marketing strategies differently, and Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) are no exception. With so many destination options, travelers may find themselves with too many destinations and too much information to easily make the decision on their own. The main role of the DMOs is to sell the destination using different marketing strategies and various incentives to make their destination more appealing, and by working with all of their stakeholders …

Students In Action: A Destination Based Learning Approach To Student Engagement, Ruth Craggs, Catherine Gorman, Kevin A. Griffin, Ziene Mottiar, Bernadette Quinn, Theresa Ryan

Books / Book chapters

No abstract provided.