A global review of elasmobranch tourism activities, management and risk

Bentz, J., Dearden, P., Calado, H., 2013. Strategies for marine wildlife tourism in small islands – the case of the AzoresSmall islands typically exhibit characteristics like isolation, smallness, limited natural and human resources, which limit their capacity to embrace development. Marine wildlife tourism (MWT) can combine the apparently conflicting goals of development and conservation. It has a potential to provide significant benefits to local communities and ecosystems, when it is carefully managed. The Azorean islands have a great potential for MWT, given highly diverse marine ecosystems and various types of resident and migrating cetaceans. Several MWT activities are taking place though lacking effective management. Whale watching and other MWT activities such as scuba diving have an increasingly important role within the tourism sector, as the Azores offer good conditions for watching oceanic species close to the shoreline. Recently shark-watching demonstrated potential for a new MWT activity. Managing these new emerging activities is required. There is no island or regional-wide strategy for MWT in the Azores, assessing its potentials and impacts and making recommendations on how it can be developed in a sustainable manner. The goal of this project is to contribute to the sustainable development of small island economies through developing guidelines that will ensure MWT as a mechanism to conserve nature while supplementing local livelihoods. A specific objective is to develop a conceptual model of MWT for small islands that can be integrated in regional planning instruments and apply the model to a specific case study, in order to recommend the optimal development strategies and necessary management interventions for MWT development in the Azores. As a first approach, experts and stakeholders of the whale watching industry were interviewed in order to develop an understanding about their interests and perceived problems of the activity in the Azores. The results showed various management gaps. The opinions of the interviewees differed especially upon the management of the activity and its current sustainability. It proved the necessity for further research to assess the effectiveness of management policies using an integrated approach that incorporates both social and biological aspects of this and other MWT industries. The authors suggest multidisciplinary, participatory approach for effective co-management, providing a holistic view of the problem and forming the basis for adaptive management and thus the long-term sustainability for the activity.

Marine wildlife tourism can provide a range of education and conservation benefits for visitors. These benefits derive from close personal encounters with marine wildlife and visitor learning about marine species and ocean environments. There has been limited assessment of marine wildlife tourism experiences and educational programs to identify whether these increase tourists’ knowledge, promoting attitudinal shifts and also lifestyle changes that aid marine conservation and help to conserve marine wildlife. Similarly, there has been little evaluation of on-site and longer term conservation intentions, or behaviors, of visitors that benefit marine wildlife and environments. This article reviews the education and conservation benefits of marine wildlife experiences in Australia using Orams’ framework of indicators to manage marine tourism. The key indicator for tourists assessed in this article is behavior/lifestyle change that benefits marine species, along with three indicators of conservation outcomes for marine environments. Information is drawn from selected case studies of research on guided tourist encounters with whales, dolphins, and marine turtles from 1996 to 2007, mainly in Australia. This analysis found tourist learning during mediated encounters with marine wildlife contributes to proenvironmental attitudes and improved on-site behavior changes, with some longer term intentions to engage in conservation actions that benefit marine species.

Marine wildlife tourism can provide a range of education and conservation benefits for visitors. These benefits derive from close personal encounters with marine wildlife and visitor learning about marine species and ocean environments. There has been limited assessment of marine wildlife tourism experiences and educational programs to identify whether these increase tourists' knowledge, promoting attitudinal shifts and also lifestyle changes that aid marine conservation and help to conserve marine wildlife. Similarly, there has been little evaluation of on-site and longer term conservation intentions, or behaviors, of visitors that benefit marine wildlife and environments. This article reviews the education and conservation benefits of marine wildlife experiences in Australia using Orams' framework of indicators to manage marine tourism. The key indicator for tourists assessed in this article is behavior/lifestyle change that benefits marine species, along with three indicators of conservation outcomes for marine environments. Information is drawn from selected case studies of research on guided tourist encounters with whales, dolphins, and marine turtles from 1996 to 2007, mainly in Australia. This analysis found tourist learning during mediated encounters with marine wildlife contributes to proenvironmental attitudes and improved on-site behavior changes, with some longer term intentions to engage in conservation actions that benefit marine species.

Global evaluation of shark sanctuaries

Innovation processes in services remain under-researched, but recently large-scale surveys have been conducted which allow for a more systematic appraisal of the level and scope of innovation in services. To date, much of the literature on innovation in services focuses on the adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Innovation in services, and services innovation, should, however, be understood in broader terms, and this understanding should extend to non-technological innovation. This paper presents evidence from a recent large-scale survey of innovation amongst German commercial service firms. It shows that services are much more active with respect to innovation than is widely thought. They are innovative in terms of being producers of service and process innovations. From our broader perspective, we examine the pattern of innovation as it relates to the standardisation-particularisation of service products, across a range of service sectors and across firms of various sizes. The production of bespoke or customised services shaped by client inputs has long been considered a defining characteristic of many services, and one that has affected their innovation potential. The present analysis reveals a pattern of diversity in behaviour, which reflects the diversity amongst service firms, and demonstrates the need for more subtle and differentiated analyses of services and services innovation.

This study focuses on and gauges the dimensions of both management and strategic control. It also defines the variables that affect the management accounting practices which will consequently affect the firm performance through management and strategic control. This study uses cross-sectional data that is derived from the FAME database in UK. Regression analysis is used to explain the relationship and the effect of management and strategic controls, industry type and firm size on firm performance. The results of this study indicate that management control and industry type have an effect on return on assets and profit margin while strategic control has an effect on competitive position as a measure of firm performance. Furthermore, this study proved that there is a significant difference in using management and strategic controls between large firms and SMEs while there is no difference between product-based and service firms in using management and strategic controls.

How much is too much? A carrying capacity study of white shark cage diving in Guadalupe Island, Mexico

This paper explores through a case study on a broader and more specific basis, the historic and more recent development of sustainable management and natural resource practices of a prominent coastal tourism region in Australia, and a representative example of an accredited marine ecotourism operator within that region who has been applying policies and management practices in sustainable marine wildlife tourism. The paper includes the growth and development of marine wildlife tourism with an emphasis on the region as well as further development of marine wildlife-based sustainable management practices. This also involves a detailed discussion of the practices aboard the enterprise Imagine Cruises, and the visitor experience in attempting to provide best environmental practices and in turn offer positive wildlife and environmental management tactics in contributing in the short term to the sustainability of the dolphin and whale watch industry which operates within the bay and the coastal and marine areas of Port Stephens. The historical development of marine-based and land-based sustainable management policies and practices in Port Stephens are examined in the paper, in a region which has rapidly become a major tourism destination based on abundance of cetacean wildlife, natural attributes and proximity to Sydney, Australia. Through the case review of the historical development of the Port Stephens environment, wildlife conservation and the focus on preservation of the rich natural resources of the region coupled with the advancement and implementation of sustainable policies and practices in nature-based wildlife tourism and especially the cetacean tourism industry, these can be conveyed as factors of importance in the further development of sustainable marine wildlife practices regionally, nationally and potentially influencing decision making on an international level.

Analyzing factors and resource policymaking options for sustainable resource management and carbon neutrality in mining industry: Empirical study in China

Special volume of the Journal of Cleaner Production on “Integrating corporate sustainability performance measurement, management control and reporting”

To most accountants, a management information and control system based on accounting and other quantitative data is an article of faith. This paper is not designed to discredit that faith. Rather its purpose is to outline some of the competitive conditions under which sophisticated management controls are more extensively utilized and those under which they are less extensively utilized. One result of this study could be a more discriminating application of management controls. Generally speaking, competition is likely to accentuate the use of controls. The greater the competition, the greater the need to control costs, and to evaluate whether production, marketing, finance, etc. are operating according to expectations. This paper empirically confirms this argument. But it goes beyond this to try and show that different types of competition -in this paper, price, marketing or distributive, and product competition -may have very different impacts on the use of controls in manufacturing organizations. It is not easy to measure how extensively a particular control is used in a firm. Two firms may both claim to use internal audits or activity budgeting. But one may be using it occasionally, or with respect to only a small part of its operations, while the other may have a full-fledged system of internal audit and activity or flexible budgeting. Thus, a dichotomous, yes-no measure is not very useful. Nor is a management control a physical thing that can be measured cardinally. We are therefore forced to use ordinal measures, such as rating scales, particularly in preliminary stages of research.

SUMMARYThroughout the world tourism is a tool for economic growth, conservation and improved quality of life for local residents, yet negative environmental impacts and economic leakages are common. Since the impacts of tourism are variable, it is important to understand which businesses are providing conservation and community benefits. Commercial success is often cited as an important determinant of sustainable behaviour, however, little research examines relationships between commercial success and provision of conservation and community benefits. Tour operators (businesses that organize and run tours) and agencies (businesses that sell tours operated by others) offering nature-based tours and travel services in Costa Rica were surveyed to answer the following questions: is commercial success in tourism ventures associated with conservation behaviour and the provision of benefits to local communities? If so, what factors are most associated with commercial success? Commercially successful entrepreneurs provided environmental education to visitors, supported conservation groups or initiatives, reduced, reused and/or recycled waste, used environmentally friendly equipment, and built formal partnerships with community members. Typically, these entrepreneurs had larger businesses, greater perceived success (relative to other similar businesses), and more growth (both in terms of visitors and employees). However, the extent to which entrepreneurs educated and employed local people, purchased supplies locally, and patronized local hotels and lodges was not related to commercial success. Overall, a relationship existed between an entrepreneur's level of commercial success and the provision of conservation benefits, but there was little evidence supporting a relationship between commercial success and community benefits. Nevertheless, most tourism businesses reported that they do provide benefits to local communities regardless of their level of commercial success. Therefore, in a country like Costa Rica, with a long history of using tourism as a conservation and community development tool, this study showed that tourism can benefit the environment and local people.

Introduction to Human Resource Management in Tourism and Hospitality Industry is written for the reference of students taking courses related to human resource management in tourism and hospitality industry. This book contains some information of tourism and hospitality industry in Malaysia. Included in this book is information regarding industrial relations in Malaysia which applies Malaysian laws as some of the international laws are not applicable in Malaysia.This book applies new theories and information from a new source of reference to help students gain a new perspective on human resource management in the tourism and hospitality industry. The scope of the content is comprised of the overview of human resource management in tourism and hospitality industry, recruitment and selection, motivation, training and development, performance appraisal, reward, organization communication, employee relations and labour relations, leadership, international HRM, and the future of HRM in the tourism and hospitality industry.

Effects of non-consumptive wildlife-oriented tourism on marine species and prospects for their sustainable management

Growth in the marine wildlife tourism industry has been accompanied by concerns regarding its sustainability. This paper develops and tests a generic framework for assessing the sustainability of such ventures. The framework aims to guide the collection and collation of existing information and then use this information to identify current sustainability issues and information gaps. Development relied on a literature review and expert opinion. Testing was undertaken on whale shark tourism at Ningaloo Marine Park in north-western Australia. Evaluation of the framework suggests it has applicability (i.e. it is simple to use) and is useful, where usefulness refers to the ability to contribute to sustainable tourism management. Its reproducibility (i.e. providing consistent responses irrespective of the context) could only be determined through application to multiple case studies, a recommendation flowing from this study. The framework has at least three applications: improving existing marine wildlife tourism operations through reviewing their sustainability; developing an auditing mechanism as part of the licensing provisions for such tourism; and helping to determine the likely sustainability of proposed ventures. Overall, this framework provides an important opportunity to further develop the professionalism of the wildlife tourism sector through enhancing good practice.