World Tourism Organization Research Articles

Sustainable tourism: Sustaining tourism or something more?

Tourism today has a problem. It is addicted to growth, which is incompatible with sustainability goals. Despite three decades discussing pathways to sustainable tourism, tourism authorities continue to promote tourism growth despite the ecological and social limits of living on a finite planet. This article argues that tourism must be understood and managed with a wider context of sustainability. Additionally, strategic approaches to transitioning to a sufficiency approach to tourism and leisure is essential if sustainability is to be secured. Recommendations include: transforming the United Nations World Tourism Organization into an Office for Sustainable Mobilities, creating a global Tourism Wealth Fund, fostering diverse approaches to tourism strategies for development and regulating and managing tourism for a better balanced accounting for fairness, ecological limits, human benefit and sustainable futures. The growth fetish is resulting in tourism killing tourism. An approach focused on sustaining tourism is not a sustainable form of tourism send proof to Editor as well as author.

Travel behaviour substitution for a white-water canoe race influenced by climate induced stream flow

ABSTRACTThe World Tourism Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization have identified one of the consequences of climate change is an interference of normal precipitation. This research investigates the changes in travel patterns by participants and spectators at an annual canoe race as influenced by variable stream flow. Given that stream flow varies seasonally, one might hypothesize that should a permanent reduction of water flow take place in the future, a decline or shift in water-based recreation might be expected. Using data collected over two years at the Annual Westfield River Wildwater Races, interviews were conducted at the staging area as participants waited in the queue. Observers of the race were also interviewed. The two sampling years represent a low flow season and a normal flow season and yield a sample of 142 parties. During the low flow season, one that is projected to become the norm under climate change models, expert paddlers travelled a greater distance characteristic of destination substitutability while spectators decreased travel distance and this suggests a reduction of interest in observing the race.

Факторы развития «зелёного» туризма

Difficulties states faced in the implementing the sustainable development concept, the new challenges caused by financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009 which are considered by most experts as the systemic one, require serious modernization of the sustainable socio-economic development strategies on all management levels. Search for the ways of the strategies adjustment and new mechanisms of their implementation has resulted in the fundamental change of the economic model, the transition from “brown” to “green” economy based on the principles of economic security, the resources efficiency and social justic International organizations such as the United Nations Organization (UN), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the UN Environmental Program (UNEP), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) consider tourism to be one of the ten key sectors of the global economy which green innovative modernization is able to ensure the transition to the new economic model and “green” economic growth. The analysis of the results of the international and national structures’ activity aimed at the greening of the global economy and tourism lets us make the following conclusions. Firstly, there are still some research, theoretical and methodological problems linked with setting aims, objectives, and conditions for green economy transition, with the development of com- mon system of indicators and indexes for the assessment of the achievements of the countries. Secondly, Russia’s active role in the processes will not only ensure the ecological security of its socio-economic development, but will determine competitiveness of the Russian economy and tourism as its sector in the long run. The active role, in its turn, involves the creation of scientifically proven target system, the green strategies for socio-economic development, the arrangement of conditions, techniques and tools for their implementation. The article analyzes the basic factors and conditions for the transition to the green economy and greening of tourism industry in Russia.

A Study on the Effects of Word-of-Mouth on Brand Trust in Tourism Industry

From the statistical data of World Tourism Organization on the number and average growth of travelers and the travel income, Asia-Pacific Region presents the best potential in tourism markets. A lot of visitors would choose to receive information through Word-of-Mouth when planning a tour. The Word-of-Mouth experiences and shared information could induce a visitor’s travel demands. It therefore becomes a primary issue for the marketing in tourism industry to understand the function of Word-of-Mouth on a visitor’s trust and employment of a tourism business brand. Taking EasyTravel as the research subject, the questionnaire survey is preceded through e-mails. With convenience sampling, total 1000 copies of questionnaires are distributed to the web members of EasyTravel, and 382 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 38%. The research results show the significantly positive correlations between 1.Word-of-Mouth and Brand Reliability in Brand Trust and 2.Word-of-Mouth and Brand Intention in Brand Trust; besides, 3.demographic variables reveal remarkable effects on the correlations between Word-of-Mouth and Brand Trust.

Innovative and sustainable tourism strategies

PurposeAccording to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, sustainable tourism is a form of tourism that meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing the opportunity for the future. It is an industry that aims at having a low impact upon the environment and local culture, generating income and employment, and ensuring the conservation of local ecosystems. The aim of this paper is to examine the ways in which the development and promotion of a new tourism product based on unique rural heritage and traditions contribute to the development of sustainable tourism strategies in Romania.Design/methodology/approachThis paper includes a literature review on the topic of sustainable tourism in post-conflict destinations and provides arguments for the adoption and development of sustainable tourism. Using a case study methodological approach, this paper provides an example of a sustainable tourism destination from the Central development region of Romania (Alba County, Transylvania) to depict specific sustainable tourism practices and their impact on the place, in a post-communist and post-conflict context. The study uses a comprehensive desk-research based on secondary data from key industry and academic sources.FindingsThe research findings show that rural tourism can greatly support the (re)development of post-conflict destinations, and it makes a significant contribution to the sustainable development of the Romanian tourism industry, in general, and rural economies in particular, as shown in the case examined in this paper.Practical implicationsThis paper illustrates that fostering the unique rural heritage and traditions of a post-conflict destination can contribute to the revival and sustainable development of the place. Sustainable tourism practices contribute not only financially to a destination but also to its social infrastructures, jobs, nature conservation, adoption of new working practices and the revitalisation of passive and poor rural areas.Originality/valueThis paper examines and depicts rural tourism development as an innovative and sustainable strategy for Romania, a post-conflict destination that experienced severe political and social turmoil during the communist regime, and ethnic conflicts and violent events in the 1990s. The research findings may be applicable to other geographic regions and post-conflict destinations with similar contexts.

The relationship between core competition and surplus value of listed tourism companies

China currently has more than 80% provincial administrative regions to the tourism industry as a “pillar industry”, the leading role of the tourism industry to other industries is more obvious. According to the World Tourism Organization estimates, directly related to tourism consumption departments have to eat, live, travel, shopping and entertainment and other six categories of departments, departments are indirectly involved in tourism consumption, agriculture, finance, insurance, medical, communications and other printing department. In view of the high investment multiplier effect of tourism industry and the important position in the industrial structure, the domestic scholars have carried out a series of research on the problem of the profitability of listed tourism companies.

Diseño Y Desarrollo Metodológico Del Funcionamiento Del Nicho Ecológico De La Demanda Del Sistema Turístico

This study was designed and developed methodologically based on the operation of the ecological niche of the demand of the tourist system (based on the models of Roberto Boullón, Neil Leiper, and the World Tourism Organization). It was carried out from a systemic-mechanical approach that revolves around the well-being, health, and the decision of the demand when traveling to a tourist destination. This study however stresses that one of the main causes of mortality in the world is stress. As a result, many tourism modalities should be recipes that mitigate and/or regulate the different levels of global tourism demand. In the present essay, it was clearly explained that the faster the rotation of the two rotors of the ecological niche of the demand, the more stress accumulate their bodies. As a result of this, the acceleration will bring about the tastes, preferences, needs, demands, and tendencies of the tourists. Necessary inputs facilitates the operation and development of a destination and/or tourism system. Additionally, it allow the servers of the supply engine to adapt and/or mold to these demand inputs to achieve their satisfaction to the fullest, and also mitigates the stress that haunts them.

LIETUVOS TURIZMO KLASTERIŲ PLĖTROS SPRENDIMAI

Pasaulio turizmo organizacija deklaruoja apie turizmo sektoriaus klasterizaciją, kaip vieną iš svarbesnių sąlygų besivystančių regionų ekonomikos augimui. Straipsnyje aptariami Lietuvos tu-rizmo klasterių veiklos ypatumai ir verslo organizacijų partnerystės klausimai, nagrinėjamas klaste-rizacijos poveikis Europos ir Lietuvos regionams ir faktiniai turizmo klasterių plėtros atvejai. Straipsnyje siekiama pateikti mokslines įžvalgas ir praktines priemones Lietuvos turizmo klasterių veiklai vystyti, kartu paaiškinti jų plėtrą lemiančius veiksnius pabrėžiant praktikoje kylančias pro-blemas. Turizmo sektoriaus klasterizacijos teorinė ir empirinė analizė atskleidė turizmo klasterių veiklos sritis, plėtros sprendimus, kurie įgalina didinti turizmui ir rekreacijai skirtų produktų teiki-mą bei viešosios infrastruktūros vystymą. Sektorinės klasterizacijos vertinimui pasitelkta Lietuvos ir Europos Sąjungos teisinių ir norminių dokumentų, programinių ataskaitų, gerosios patirties atvejų analizė ir vertinimas, atlikta mokslinės ir metodinės literatūros apžvalga Lietuvos turizmo klasteri-zacijos klausimu, pateikta ES paramos 2014–2020 metų veiksmų programos priemonių apžvalga, skirta vertinti finansavimo poveikį ir skatinti Lietuvos turizmo klasterių narius vykdyti konkuren-cingą veiklą, vertės eksportą ir kooperaciją.

Optimization of the development of tourism business in the conditions of information society

Urgency of the research lies in the fact that today, tourism has become an integral part of every country in the world, because it is one of the most dynamic and profitable among all sectors of the world economy, contributes to the strengthening and spread of economic, social and cultural ties. I n the modern world tourism is seen as a socio-economic phenomenon that exerts a direct and indirect influence on the development of information society and of all related infrastructure and members of the population. Modern tourism is based on a high level of transport development, social sphere and services, which, in the final analysis, turns it into a highly profitable branch of the economy. Studies which have been conducted by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) show that the state of the global tourism industry, despite the objective difficulties of recent years, is generally stable and the industry maintains the position of the largest, high-yielding and fast-growing sector of the world economy. Target setting. In the article we try to analyze and conceptualize the investigations on the priority trends of information society development in context of economic, social and cultural rationale of tourism business functioning. The problem of the research is related to the impact of tourism on the man in the spiritual level, and self-realization in the information society and globalization; the risks that may arise from the implementation of tourist service projects are considered. The aim of the research is to present the impact of tourism on a person in the context of globalization and the information society and to determine the directions for the development of tourism in the information society and globalization. Research methods which were used: theoretical analysis, synthesis and generalization . Results: the directions for the development of tourism in the information society and globalization are outlined , so they are : to improve actively tourism legislation, to promote the development of tourist operators activities at the level of state structures, to stimulate the private initiative of local tourist firms, to pay special attention to enhancing the role of tourism safety, to promote the development of the scientific discourse of tourism, to promote greater interaction and diversity of businesses, state and public organizations and associations, to help the strengthening of the social orientation of the tourism accessible to all segments of the population, to study the experience of countries that are actively engaged in tourism business

CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM – A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Sustainable tourism has become a new method of practicing tourism. It has emerged in the last part of the 20th century, from the efforts of academia as a response to the increasing negative effects of mass tourism, noticeable all over the world. At the same time, sustainable tourism is considered by some a utopia, a narrow niche of the tourism market, with limited perspectives. From a theoretical standpoint, it is highly debated with no consensus regarding its definition, features and principles. In recent years, although significant steps have been taken especially by international organizations, like UNEP (The United Nations Environment Programme) and UNWTO (The World Tourism Organization), sustainable tourism still faces numerous challenges. In the present paper, we have collected information from several authors and organizations and have presented some contemporary challenges for sustainable tourism. For our research, we have tried to identify several common challenges for six selected countries in Central and Eastern Europe – The Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, and also go into a more detailed look in the case of Romania. Finally, we consider that if we can identify specific regional challenges, we might find regional solutions and answers. Considering the numerous similarities between the six countries, there might be common solutions for the benefit of the entire region.

Exploring Sustainable Tourism Practices in India: A Critical Review

Sustainable tourism, as defined by the UN Environment Program and UN World Tourism Organization, emphasizes consideration for economic, social, and environmental impacts, catering to the needs of visitors, the industry, and host communities. India, renowned as a global travel destination, has seen its tourism industry become a significant driver of growth within the services sector. With tourism serving as a vital source of foreign exchange, akin to many nations, India recognized the need to integrate sustainability into its tourism sector. In 2017, the Ministry of Tourism formulated a National Strategy for Sustainable Tourism, aimed at fostering resilient, inclusive, carbon-neutral, and resource-efficient tourism while preserving natural and cultural assets. rojections indicating a potential increase to US$ 512 billion by 2028. Notably, India's tourism industry is expected to maintain an annual GDP contribution growth rate of 7-9% between 2017 and 2030.This research paper aims to delve into these facets, utilizing secondary data to elucidate discussions surrounding sustainable tourism's economic, social, and environmental dimensions within the Indian context.

Website accessibility in the tourism industry: an analysis of official national tourism organization websites around the world

Purpose: To analyze the accessibility of official national tourism organization websites of countries around the world, in order to establish possible common patterns and rankings of those with exemplary practice through to those with the highest number of issues. The purpose for undertaking such an analysis is to provide a quasi-indicator of inclusive organizational practice for online accessibility for both destination managers and their accessible tourism consumers – domestic and overseas people with disability visiting the websites.Method: The official tourism websites of 210 countries included in the latest World Tourism Organization report were analyzed. A website accessibility evaluation tool (website accessible test) was used in the analysis, according to AA and AAA levels of conformance to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 requirements.Results: Different patterns compliance to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 were established for the clusters, which were rather similar for both AA and AAA conformance levels. The main issues in the least accessible websites were also identified, mainly focused on the following guidelines: navigable, compatible, adaptability, text alternatives and also referred to other assistive technologies.Conclusions: Once the main issues were established several alternatives are suggested to address them, such as implementing more prescriptive laws and regulations, complying with mandatory benchmark standards and/or having external agencies audit website designs. However, in addition to using benchmark standards, efforts to improve this situation should also be made by programmers, who should also rely on preexistent experiences and develop more dynamic knowledge. This knowledge may include text alternatives for any nontext content; creation of content that can be presented in different ways without losing information; provide ways to help users navigate, find content, determine where they are and navigate websites to maximize compatibility with assistive technologies and user agents.Implications for rehabilitationAccess to information – in this case, online information – is an important factor in the process of rehabilitation for people with disability and those supporting them.Failure to apply homogeneous criteria for website accessibility around the world can hamper access to information by people with disabilities.Travel planning requires access to mainstream tourist distribution networks where online inclusive practice is a precursor to information searching.Documents for destination managers and programmers the main problems of accessibility to websites and examples of models or solutions to follow and not.Establish the main inclusive website design criteria on which to focus on improving the access of people with disabilities to websites (e.g., text alternatives, content presented in different ways, navigating and improving compatibility with assistive technologies etc.).

Tourism industry in the new Europe: trends, policies and challenges

Abstract This paper provides an examination of tourism in the New Member States of the European Union from the date of accession until the last year for which data is available (2014), assessing not only the importance of tourism for the New Member States economy, but also the factors and trends that might affect this industry. Predictions for tourism after joining the EU had been confident and the statistical findings confirmed that the outcomes had been to a great extent encouraging and favourable. Considerable research has been devoted to tourism in the developed countries from Europe, the so-called Old Member States, but rather less attention has been paid to tourism in the Central Eastern Europe, the New Member States region. In this regard, the paper will start with an overview of the current state of the literature on this topic, section that precedes a presentation of European bodies and policies in the travel and tourism field. According to The World Bank Database (World Tourism Organization, 2016), the number of international inbound tourists in the countries Newest Members of EU increased on average three times and in many cases this is partly a consequence of the Community’s accession policy and the market oriented policies in the new Member States (Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General of the European Commission, 2007). Time series will be analysed in order to identify specific trends in the tourism industry, but also in an attempt to characterize the European integration impact on the New Member States’ tourism. Main future challenges and opportunities in the travel and tourism industry will also be sketched, so the paper to better serve not only participants in the academic community and practitioners in the tourism business, but also financial market parties or consultants.

Medical tourism market trends - an exploratory research

Abstract Medical tourism is a modern concept, but not a new tourism practice. Even there is still no international consent on the definitions and measurement of this trend, its importance in the development of a tourism destination started to be taken into consideration. In accordance with tourism segment classification depending on journey reasons recommended by World Tourism Organization, one of the main groups is for “medical treatment/health”. Being part of health tourism, medical tourism is often called medical travel because it includes the act of travelling to different countries for medical reasons. An increasing significant element in medical service trade is patient circulation at cross-border level with a view to obtaining necessary health services; this circulation generated a new phenomenon, namely medical tourism. Studying the scientific literature we find new medical tourism trends in connection with globalization and liberalization. The countries that decided to promote this niche tourism are aware of the huge economic benefits brought by this. Analyzing published data by tourism medical organizations associated to indicators of economic development, we find two aspects: the success of a medical tourism destination is influenced by the economical level of the receiving countries, but, at the same time, it is also a growth factor for developing economies if it is included in their national strategy. We intend to find the answer of several questions: trends in medical tourism development are involving only medical service trade, or a combination of specific activities of many sectors? Is the medical tourism acting in favor of developing economies? This study aims to notice the development trends of the medical tourism based on the published figures and on the experience of major destinations and to highlight the importance of the medical tourism for the developing economies.

Business tourism a means of dynamising the life of local communities

Abstract The touristic expansion happens easier in a balanced climate, with standards that guarantee a constant ecologic balance and avoid the overuse of resources, pollution and any other negative impacts on the environment. MICE – Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition Industry – represents one of the industries with the highest rate of growth in the world, but unfortunately it is poorly developed in Romania. In Romania, the tourism, as a socio–economic phenomenon, integrates in the country’s economy, having the necessary conditions for accentuated growth and the optimisation of the degree of usage of the touristic stock. According to the recommendations of the World Tourism Organisation, Romania should focus on the cultural, ecologic, events and spa tourism. The prognosis of the World Tourism and Travel Council from the United States of America show that by the year 2020, the rhythm of growth of the business and events tourism in Romania will be of about 8% yearly. In this context, our country may occupy an important position in the MICE touristic activities market, if it would use the existing touristic potential and future investments in order to create favourable conditions for this type of tourism. We bring into the debate the existence of equipment which could help the business tourism, the presence of beautiful landscape areas (the Danube Delta, the Black Sea seaside, medieval cities and monasteries, touristic resorts from the Carpathians also.), presentation of the local folk traditions and crafts, the chromatic spectrum of the seasons in Romania and not lastly the folklore and gastronomy. These could be joined by the existence of a rich cultural life – especially in the large cities and touristic resorts-, the presence of museums and memorial houses, and we could not exclude the areas which have preserved their natural potential and rare fauna species. This work aims to emphasize business tourism as a sustainable form of tourism, which can lead to a relaunch in services and economic development of the local communities in a competitive international economy.

Propuesta De Un Modelo Alternativo De Funcionamiento Del Sistema Turístico

The present study shows an alternative proposal of operation of the tourist system from the perspective of mechanics and their coordinated, harmonious, and routine interrelation between its parts. This study was carried out based on the tourism systems proposed by Roberto Boullón, Neil Leiper, and the World Tourism Organization. The problems that affected the development of tourism in a society was analyzed. It established a systemicmechanical model of four parts rector of the tourist system, real and potential demand, geographical space, and offers tourist system which are interrelated to each other. All have the same importance, different objectives, and the same purpose to satisfy fully the needs for transportation, lodging, food and recreation of the actual and potential tourist demand. This is achieved through the coordinated and effective functioning of the servers and/or entrepreneurs of the geographic space and the vehicle that the tourist offers. Subsequently, it would help to improve and streamline their tourism services and products by adapting them to their needs and trends. This is with the aim of returning them to their place of residence. The present article emphasizes the importance of observing the tourist system as the basic unit in the development of the tourist industry. It states that the lack of understanding of its operation is what has not allowed this industry to develop fully around the world.

Tourism expenditures and crisis transmission: A general equilibrium GVAR analysis with network theory

According to the World Tourism Organization, during the last decades, tourism has become one of the largest and most dynamic economic industries in the world. In this work, we employ a Network General Equilibrium GVAR model to analyze the impact of tourism expenditures on GDP and our approach allows for the existence of dominant economies in the system. The model is estimated simultaneously as a system of equations for a large panel of world economies and the results show that the less developed economies are quite vulnerable to changes in the tourism expenditures of the dominant economies. Meanwhile, USA is found to be largely unaffected by shocks in the tourism expenditures of the less developed economies.

Problems & Perspectives of Financing Tourism Industry in West Bengal:An Empirical Study

Tourism encompasses economic activities viz. accommodation, transportation, food and beverage, information dissemination and entertainments etc. This sector generates a large investment and financing opportunities. As per the estimate of the World Tourism Organisation, India is projected to become the world's fifth largest business travel destination. Indian tourism sector is expected to get USD 109.30 billion investment by 2020. The growth of tourism is heavily depended upon the availability and accessibility of financial resources over above the geographic attributes for tourist attractions. West Bengal, a state of India has a great scope to be the destination of tourism due to well developed communication linkss above all its diversified and rich tourism resources such as mountains, sea, jungle, mangrove area, religious sites, heritage, culture, fairs and festivals. Developing tourism and attracting tourists need substantial financing investment. Tourism projects require large initial investment and then tourism business organisations/tourism entrepreneurs need funds for staring entreprises. This paper is an attempt to analyse and understand empirically the financial aspects of the tourism industry of West Bengal. The present study is based on both primary and secondary data. The scope of tourism investment and financing at different nodes of tourism development across West Bengal have been identified on the basis of published reports by the Central Government, the State Government and private institutions. Primary data on financial perspective have been gathered through a survey on selected tourism business organisations/tourism entrepreneurs located in West Bengal to understand their views and opinions regarding tourism in West Bengal. Findings of this paper related to problems and prospects of the financial aspects of tourism shall help to formulate strategy for tourism development in West Bengal at desired level.

A NOVEL TOURISM COMPETITIVENESS RANK

This paper proposes a novel tourism rank to arrange countries in tourism. The proposed rank is based on fifteen factors, the fourteen factors affecting the tourism rank considered in the Travel & Tourism competitiveness reports and the number of tourist arrivals considered in United Nations World Tourism Organization rank. The proposed method gives significant differences compared to the traditional ranks used by the Travel & Tourism competitiveness reports and United Nations World Tourism Organization rank.

Formulation of Flexible Strategy for Pilgrimage Tourism in Himachal Pradesh, India

Pilgrimage is one of the oldest and most basic forms of population mobility known to human society, and its political, social, cultural and economic implications have always been, and continue to be, substantial. The size and economic significance of tourism industry have attracted the attention of many countries in actively promoting tourism as a way to stimulate their economies such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Nepal. The world tourism organization has recognized the potential of tourism sector for the purpose of poverty alleviation by increased job creation; consequently, many developing countries are improving their tourism planning and developments approaches. The objective of this research article is to study and examine the key issues, satisfaction level of tourist and determinants of spiritual tourism and problems faced by tourist in Himachal Pradesh. To understand the problems and challenges related to this Pilgrimage tourism in Himachal Pradesh, we categorized these forces into two categories one in continuous and another in change forces. After categorization of factors we will analyze their importance then divide continuous forces in to vital, desirable and burden category and divide change forces into high, medium and low impact forces. After doing VDB and Impact analysis we will map these force into C-C Matrix (Change and continuity Matrix) to form strategic crystal. This strategic crystal help us to draw strategic landscape where we can understand the current situation in Matrix and from here we can draw “to be” strategy to improve the level of spiritual tourism in this district by keeping tourism arrival as our main focus. Therefore in this paper we will be discuss about the determinants, Challenges and problems faced by Tourism Industry, which led to the change in their strategy time to time but there is a need to form an detailed strategy to work on problems along with exact solution. Hence to frame flexible strategy requires emphasis on the continuity as well as on change forces which will give us a picture of Pilgrimage tourism and help us to frame strategy by aligning the change and continuity forces in strategic landscape.