Tourism and Hospitality Research

Small tourism firms (STFs) in both industrialised and developing countries, are a rapidly expanding and dynamic sector of regional tourism industries. Small firm development is being touted as the path for enhancing local economies and delivering more appropriate development to marginal and/or peripheral social, cultural and physical environments. Small firms have been also linked to creative product development and innovative entrepreneurship. Ironically, the small scale of operation, the essence of its vibrancy, also acts as a severe and debilitating constraint to development with potential negative implications for the quality and consistency of the wider regional product. Attempts to improve performance and managerial expertise within the STF sector have often proved misguided and misdirected largely due to poor understanding of the issues affecting owner/managers. This paper examines the range of influences in the external institutional environment that affect the development of small tourism firms. These include government agency roles, policy infrastructure, managerial support, and relationships with the financial sector. The discussion draws on a study of the Centre Stage macro region of New Zealand to contribute to a more integrated conceptualisation through which effective policies that enhance rather than constrain the activities of STFs can be conceived and implemented.

Mature mass tourism destinations are usually subject to a high degree of control by tour operators. When used as a marketing tool, the internet provides an alternative distribution channel able to cut out the middleman. This paper analyses the use of the internet among tourism principals in the Balearic Islands, and the attitudes towards the internet shown by them. For the purposes of this analysis, initial research studies of hotel chains, individual hotels and airlines were carried out to find out how much use they make of the internet and their attitudes to it. The results reflect very different degrees of internet use and the existence of six different group attitudes to the internet as a marketing tool for tourism.

This study investigates how visitors evaluated a historical district that includes both authentic and manipulated elements. Using 13 bipolar scales, 323 visitors to the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter were canvassed regarding their evaluations of the Quarter. The survey results suggest that perceptions of authenticity are a crucial factor affecting the overall evaluations of historical districts. Differences were observed, however, in the evaluative dimensions by which authenticity was assessed between visitors whose overall evaluations were favourable and those whose overall evaluations were unfavourable. It was also found that a sense of the maintenance of historical districts negatively affected the overall evaluations of visitors whose overall evaluations are unfavourable and that the duration of visitors' trips might be a significant determinant of overall favourability.

Travel and tourism have historically faced environmental challenges ranging from the impact of aircraft noise, largely at major departure airports, through provision of infrastructure at destinations, to interaction with communities and wildlife. The emerging challenge for air transport is the contribution of gases emitted by aircraft engines to the greenhouse effect and climate change. This is a relatively recent area for public attention and, while progress may seem slow to some observers, a number of options are under active study. Aviation will remain an essential part of the world's communication and transportation network but growth will increasingly be linked to solutions to these environmental challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the modern charter airlines and highlight some recent significant changes. A discussion of vertical integration between tour operators and charter carriers sets the foundation for the study focus. Key features of charter airlines are examined in comparison with full-service and no-frills scheduled airlines. In response to the competitive challenge posed by the latter, charter airlines have adopted a variety of strategies further to enhance seat-only sales. The implications arising are also discussed.

Despite the first signs of a recovery in passenger traffic, significant challenges remain for the airline industry if it is to produce the returns that will make it attractive to the providers of capital at an acceptable cost. Although there appears to be a better balance between demand and supply, the industry remains in a situation of effective disequilibrium and needs to further reduce its cost base against the background of continuing real excess capacity. With the recovery in traffic the ability of management to continue to make change will become more difficult. The change in the competitive environment in Europe provides both challenge and opportunity. The risk is that the industry will become even less attractive to the providers of capital.