Regional Sustainable Development

This study aims to determine the potential of cultural tourism in the municipalities that comprise region 6 of the State of Jalisco, territorially delimited in the South of Jalisco. These municipalities are tested first to identify the demand for cultural tourism to determine the profile of the cultural tourist under the assumptions that tourists especially motivated by culture tend to travel longer distances than most tourists. It discusses the motivations and satisfactions of cultural tourists in order to establish the potential market in accordance with the characteristics of the target market in the southern region of Jalisco. Any operation of cultural tourism companies should make the strategic diagnosis, which explains the use of SWOT analysis as a tool for strategic planning of cultural tourism enterprises. Finally, we propose some development strategies of cultural tourism in this region of Southern Jalisco.

Sustainable Development and Restructuring Romanian Tourism Product in Accordance With European Tourists Segments

Sustainable tourism development will be achieved through some major changes taking place in the tourism industry in Romania, in the following period. These changes should cover both aspects of structure in tourism and processes and interactions in tourist activities. First of all, the tourism in Romania shall also adopt a diversification strategy, focusing on the integration of new activity fields, as new services, along with the improvement of the existent ones, new tourist facilities, by the construction of centers/units, in compliance with the standards requested by the current tourism, but in the first place of some new products and tourist programmes provided by the current tourist centers. By studying consumer behavior of European tourists visiting Romania, and trends in their preferences regarding requested touristic product the authors propose a pattern for tourism product diversification and expansion of several existing forms of tourism.

Sustainable Rural Tourism of Lower Danube Region in Serbia

Sustainable tourism implies preserved space, prevents ecological and socio-cultural devastation, but at the same time encourages tourism development. Their application and adequate implementation increases the chance of a tourist destination that will be able to develop sustainable tourism, so the aim of this paper is to separate characteristics and principles of sustainability on certain areas and to show their advantages and limitations. In this paper are introspected factors of tourism development, both in a positive and in a negative context. It was hypothesized that sustainable rural tourism in the Lower Danube region has a comparative advantage, but it is also a major challenge for the community. Methodological setting is qualitative, based on the contextual dimension of the data, empirical observations, exploratory research and observations. Obtained results show that the tourist offer of sustainable rural tourism in the Lower Danube region has its own unique values, which should continue to explore.

Advancing the Global Perspective of Tourism by Examining Core and Peripheral Destinations

Core and peripheral destinations are very significant to island tourism because of core and peripheral islands. Peripheral locations may be disadvantaged as they are isolated from the core or economic centers and from the main population. This chapter reviews literature on the complexity of core and peripheral destinations, their development, planning, marketing and management together with local resident's perceptions of tourists and the tourist's expectations. The South Pacific is defined and it's Colonial past discussed together with tourist motivations. It is becoming increasingly difficult for all stakeholders to agree on programs and tourism practices and that various South Pacific countries have different ways of collecting statistical data resulting in few generic standards to adhere to.

From Earning Profits to Sustainability

In India the potential of tourism sector is considerable in terms of earning foreign exchange. That is why the government has initiated many programmes and schemes to attract foreign tourists. It has also given a rise to the allied industries to earn profits and diversify may it be hotel industry or aviation sector. As the means of communication are developing and the countries are becoming more open and globalised the tourism industry has got new impetus and dimensions. The spread of education and the development of internet have widened the scope of this industry. This new trend has made the tourism industry a very potential industry in many terms for a developing nation like India. But on the same hand it has posed a great threat to the natural resources also and the stakeholders involved in this sector has started responding to such initiatives through CSR measures. For measuring such initiatives no specific parameters have been defined and they are subjective to a great extent. Therefore a need arises to analyse such initiatives and their growing need for creating sustainability.

Protected Natural Areas and Sustainable Development

The process of tourism development has come to include, step by step, the expansion potential of areas where it could be practiced in less accessible natural spaces, which are more problematic from the point of view of tourist penetration and the organization of tourism activities. In this context, making tourism under the umbrella of this concept of expansion, has led, on the one hand, to the expansion of protected natural areas, to their advertising and implicitly to the increase of demand for this type of tourism, and, on the other hand, to the amplification of danger posed to the integrity of the ecosystems included in the tourism circuit. The paper, starting from the actual context of sustainable development, highlights the fact that the tourism potential of protected natural areas constitute an important factor for sustainable development only, if is doing in condition of responsibility and respect for environmental conservation and regeneration of environmental resources

Barriers to Responsible Tourist Behaviour

Responsible tourism is an increasingly observed phenomenon. This study offers new insights into the factors that prevent tourists from travelling responsibly. In particular, a sample of 837 Italian travelers was profiled based on the main impediments toward responsible tourism. Findings of the study suggested that impediments toward responsible tourism are related to five main categories: ‘lack of accessibility', ‘unwillingness', ‘lack of trustworthiness', ‘stress', and ‘price'. Cluster analysis revealed the existence of four tourist segments: the ‘existential pessimists', the ‘distrustful and accessibility seekers', the ‘mindless', and the ‘accessibility and time-saving seekers'. Furthermore, a series of distribution tests (χ2) showed that significant differences exist between the segments only based on the level of education, whereas no differences were found related to gender, age, marital status, employment status, monthly household income, or association membership. Finally, managerial implications of the study are discussed, along with recommendations for future research.

Eco-Cultural Tourism for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development of Remote Ecosystems in the Third World

Most of the remote areas such as mountains and islands are characterized by the features such as remoteness, fragility, endemism, and upland/lowland or island/mainland linkages, besides richer biodiversity and indigenous knowledge, thus attracting a large number of quality conscious tourists. However, conventional “top-down”, reactive and ad-hoc approaches and ill-conceived “development” activities such as infrastructure for mass tourism will destroy the very natural and cultural resource base on which the tourism thrives in these areas. These trends have led to the paradigm shifts towards community-based, participatory, and pro-active management strategies. Appropriate strategies for integrating biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods by regenerating nature and culture for facilitating sustainable development of remote ecosystems in the third world are discussed in this chapter.

Policies and Skills for Creative Tourism in Emerging Destinations of the Adriatic

In a sector area with high transformation capacity, the tourist experience assumes a central position in the choice of a destination and planning of the holiday. To meet the changing expectations of tourists, specific skills have to be acquired in order to make the relationship between tourist demand and offer more transparent. This is the challenge that must accept each destination that intends to be remembered in a positive way. This research analyzes three destinations of the Adriatic sea, in the Mediterranean, Istria in Croatia, Apulia in Italy and Albania; on the basis of experiences in the field, they identify policies, actions, and propose investments that should be made in the field of human resources suggesting the respective training methods to design and make available a more suitable service to the tourist's expectations, focusing on conveying good practices and on the not always pleasing experience of the so-called “classic” destinations of the international tourism.

Evaluating the Possibilities of Improving the Quality of Tourism Services of the “Eco- Guesthouses” From Mărginimea Sibiului

This paper provides an overview of the possibilities of improving the quality of tourism services of the “eco-guesthouses” from Mărginimea Sibiului in the context where the international studies indicate that lately tourists have become more experienced and expect good quality products in chosen holiday destinations. Currently, the international market of ecotourism has developed with 10-12% annually, having the fastest growth in the world tourism sector and tending to become an independent market segment, under the influence of factors such as: travelers prefer to choose educational holidays, their desire to escape to nature and spend quality time with friends or family, etc. In these circumstances, the quality is important for both tourists and eco-guesthouses, as it can contribute to making better products at lower costs, ensuring continuous customer orientation and thus controlling and shaping their preferences and expectations.