Post-war Tourism Research Articles

Responding to trends

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a snapshot of the customer focused Environmentally-friendly Sustainable Operations (ESO) of Sri Lankan hotels in response to the global trends and post-war tourism trends in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is written in the context of a strategic question: “how might post-war Sri Lanka develop inbound tourism?” The co-authors opted for an evident-based conceptual approach. The results of an airport survey with 4,500 tourists, conducted by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority in 2012, are analysed. Finding – The key findings in this paper are 13 predicted trends that are likely to have a direct impact on hotels in Sri Lanka. Having analysed ESO, the authors of this paper test the Evolving Tourist Expectation Model (ETEM), developed by two of the authors. The five stages of this model are presented in the conclusion section. Practical implications – This concept should be further tested. Considering that ESO is not a luxury anymore and it is now simply the norm for hotels, hoteliers in Sri Lanka as well as around the world should benefit from this paper. Originality/value – This paper fulfils an identified need to debate concepts that are relevant and important to emerging destinations such as Sri Lanka. An analysis of a European Union funded “Greening Sri Lankan hotels” programme and a case study from John Keells Holdings – the largest hotel company in Sri Lanka – strengthen the paper.

The mediated design of post-war Nordic mobility and tourism: an introduction

Did Nordic countries, linked by linguistic and long-term cultural, historical and commercial ties, develop a specific Nordic mode of mobility and tourism? To introduce and contextualise the articles in this issue that deal with this question, this article claims that this issue can be investigated fruitfully by focusing on the linkages between national and transnational developments, and by focusing on the actions and interactions of national and transnational (institutional) actors who spoke and acted on behalf of consumers and tourists.

Educating Greece in modernity: post-war tourism and western politics

Economic progress in post-war, post-civil-war Greece, kick-started by the Marshall Plan and maintained by the rapid growth of tourism, was deemed a vital pre-condition for the country's modernisation. In 1951, the Government re-launched the National Tourism Organisation to attract foreign visitors and invigorate domestic tourism among the rising middle class. The organisation carried out a building programme for a network of leisure hotspots near archaeological sites, places of natural beauty and along major motoring routes. The state-run Xenia chain, comprising hotels, motels, travel stops, pavilions, organised beaches and holiday camps, spearheaded the Government's policy for the modernisation of leisure infrastructure, setting the standards for all ensuing private initiatives. This paper underlines the intertwining of western-oriented politics, modernist architecture and newly introduced cultures of leisure in the construction of the image of modern Greece. Cold-war politics recognised Greece's prosperity as a barrier against communist expansion. Tourism thus reweaved the country's war-torn social fabric, by spurring economic growth and educating the emerging urban middle-class about modern life. The image of post-war Greece as an ideal tourist destination was promoted by capitalising on the enduring construct of continuity with the past and a newly introduced affiliation with Western modernity and Americanism in particular.

The legacy of war for community-based tourism development: learnings from Cambodia

This paper investigates how resident perceptions affect the successful implementation of community-based tourism (CBT) in a least developed country (LDC) scenario. By realizing how past and present experiences of war affect resident perceptions, including how they view themselves, their community and tourism, we can build an understanding of how to assess the capacity for a community to successfully embrace and sustain CBT for development. This will be achieved by exploring two cases of CBT in Cambodia: the Banteay Chmmar subdistrict and Banlung town. These two cases represent a successful and unsuccessful implementation of CBT in Cambodia as an LDC utilizing tourism for development. Learnings from this situation can be applied to other post-war tourism and development destinations.

A “Civilizing” Industry: Leo Dolan, Canadian Tourism Promotion, and the Celebration of Mass Culture

Scholarship examining public pronouncements on “mass culture” in Canada during the post-World War Two period has focused overwhelmingly on the pessimistic voices of the cultural critics who feared mass culture's deleterious effects upon national identity, democracy, and intellectual freedom. A more accurate understanding of the extent to which mass culture was contested terrain in post-war Canada requires an analysis of the optimistic pronouncements offered by business leaders and government officials. This article examines the rhetoric of Canada's leading post-war tourism promoter, Leo Dolan, and highlights the extent to which he viewed mass culture as a positive force that could achieve many of the same ends that the cultural critics endorsed. While cultural critics saw mass culture as a barrier to progress, Leo Dolan and other tourism promoters in North America championed tourism as an element of mass culture that would facilitate international understanding, strengthen national unity, and contribute to Western civilization.

Post-war tourism and the imaginative geographies of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia

In the early 1990s Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia were spaces of conflict. The media presented much of what occurred during the war years, constructing our imaginative geographies. This study determines the role of discourse for understanding contemporary image (re)constructions concerning post-war countries. Acknowledging the significance of tourism, this economic sector acts as a catalyst to promote and highlight image transitions. To contribute to the growing literature on post-war tourism, a three-fold typology is presented to position these countries as landscape remembrance, fading memory or replacing memory. This work draws from newspaper articles and official tourism websites as modes of discourse positioned to convey information and details that establish imaginative expressions of places to support the proposed typologies. A discourse analysis of both textual and visual content is interpreted to determine how these sources construct the three-fold typology and (re)create meanings and images of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japanese guidebooks

This study investigates the presentations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as postwar tourism destinations in a selection of Japanese-language guidebooks. Comparison is made between commonly voiced criticisms of Japanese attitudes toward the two atom-bombed sites and the tourism activities suggested by the publications themselves. An expected presentation emphasizing Japanese suffering as a result of the atom bombs is not found in the guides, but neither is an openness to discussion of the war. The conclusions reached find Hiroshima standing as emblematic of the rebuilding nation as a whole, while Nagasaki remains largely outside of the social and cultural dynamics of postwar Japan.

Challenges Facing Post-War Tourism Development: The Case of Lebanon. Said M. Ladki and Abdallah Dah. Journal of International Hospitality, Leisure, and Tourism Management, vol. 1, no. 2, 1997, pp. 35-44. Haworth Press, 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580. $32.40 annual subscription

Challenges Facing Post-War Tourism Development: The Case of Lebanon. Said M. Ladki and Abdallah Dah. Journal of International Hospitality, Leisure, and Tourism Management, vol. 1, no. 2, 1997, pp. 35-44. Haworth Press, 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580. $32.40 annual subscription

Challenges Facing Post-War Tourism Development

Abstract This paper explores the issues and challenges that are facing Lebanon as it attempts to reposition itself as a leading tourism destination in the post-war years. A discussion about the Lebanese government reconstruction plan and its role in shaping tourism policies is offered. A discussion about post-war tourism development in Lebanon is offered.