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Permanent URI for this communityhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/7181

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Start date: 2010Subject: search.filters.subject.Sustainable Tourism

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Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    The relationship among environmental performance, economic results and Social media presence A study of voluntary eco-certified hotels in Florida
    (Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2016) Chmura, Nicole J.
    This study sought to investigate whether there was a relationship among environmental performance, economic results and social media presence that contributed to the competitive advantage of Florida Green Lodging Program eco-certified hotels. While eco-certifications were not specifically cultivated for marketing on social media websites, the two-dimensional logos were developed as a meaningful marketing tool that can also be used in an online environment to convey a firm's commitment to environmental standards. Therefore, gaining an understanding of what connects the added marketing benefit of an eco-certification and the utility usage of an environmentally conscious hotel holds the possibility to garner positive economic results for firms that commit to specific eco-certification standards. Built on a literature foundation of sustainable tourism, social media and theories that unite both subject matters, the study adopted a mixed-methods, sequential explanatory research design with an emphasis on the quantitative findings. The investigation was organized in two phases. The initial phase analyzed data from the FGLP to determine if relationships existed. The second phase provided supportive qualitative data to better comprehend the statistical findings discovered in the first phase. The study utilized both primary data collected from web-based surveys and dialogue paired with secondary data garnered from government forms and social media websites. The pragmatic underpinning of the study permitted the collection, analysis and interpretation of the statistical results combined with supportive qualitative findings structured by six hypotheses that addressed the study's aim and objectives. The findings revealed 15 statistically significant relationships. Only four relationships contributed a positive economic result and 11 provided negative economic consequences to the eco-certified hotel. The statistical results were paired with qualitative concerns about the program's commitment to marketing and communication efforts. In addition, the study revealed a management factor may be limiting the relationship among environmental performance, economic results and social media presence, which could be addressed if a more holistic and cross-functional management approach was implemented at an eco-certified property. This work contributes to the growing research between sustainability and marketing, and the use of social media within the hospitality industry, which extended the theoretical foundation of the resource-based theory for future research. The study made an original contribution of knowledge with its use of the resource-based theory to determine the statistical relationships of the physical and fiscal operations of eco-certified hotels in relation to their social media presence. It also extended the definition of marketing 'resources' to include seven social media web sites. Future research could continue the investigation among environmental performance, economic results and social media presence to include larger samples, different regions, non-certified hotels and even a contextual review of social media participation. Such findings hold the potential to understand if complementary relationships exist and if hotels could employ the findings to increase its return on investment in both environmental and marketing initiatives.
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    An enquiry into the potential of a Co-operative approach to sustainable Rural tourism development in India. A stakeholder perspective
    (Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2015) Gladwell, Cecilia
    Sustainable tourism and rural development are much examined research areas. Within these, the importance of community-centric approaches is becoming more and more recognised; however, specific research upon which community-centric development strategies could be built seems to be lacking. This thesis addresses this research gap with the aim to explore the nature of co-operative tourism and its potential towards sustainable rural tourism development in India from a stakeholder perspective. A literature review demonstrated the benefits of co-operatives as a sustainable business model, particularly for poor communities of developing countries; however, a clear gap emerged with regard to investigating tourism and co-operatives in the same context. This research contributes to filling this gap in knowledge and outlines the clear theoretical benefits of adopting a co-operative business model as a community-centric approach to tourism in the context of rural India, while also pointing out considerable challenges in its practical implementation, such as possible limitations to the ability for self-help. Fifty qualitative semi-structured interviews were carried out with stakeholders of a co-operative tourism project in two states of India: Uttarakhand and West Bengal. Twenty-six of these were conducted with farmers who are members of the tourism co-operatives presented in this study, ten with members of the wider community in which the project took place and fourteen with tourism professional and academics local to the areas. Focus was put on in-depth exploration of participants' experiences, implying qualitative methods and a phenomenological research approach. The findings revealed a clear theoretical advantage of a co-operative approach to tourism development, which has potential to address and alleviate many of the challenges associated with tourism and host communities, and which is intensified in poor peripheral areas. However, there are significant practical challenges, which need to be addressed in order for this comparative advantage to translate into practice. These challenges are manifested in a sense of dormancy in the participants, a lack of skills and significant language difficulties. A limit to the principle of self-help, which is inherent to co-operative activities, was identified as creating effective marketing links and hence, requiring ongoing external support. This research study makes an interdisciplinary contribution to the literature on sustainable tourism, rural development and co-operative studies. In addition, it provides a starting point for further empirical research on the co-operative business model as an approach, which has not yet been sufficiently conceptualised for tourism. Furthermore, it contributes to the wider debate on sustainable rural development through tourism. Future research could usefully investigate how the challenges identified in this study, such as limitations to the principle of self-help, lack of initiative in participants and creating marketing linkages could be addressed.
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    The role of information and communications technology in supporting sustainable tourism: in-trip tourists perspectives
    (Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2013) Scott, Mareba M.
    The aim of this research was to examine the factors influencing in-trip tourists' adoption of information and communications technology (ICT) tools/applications which support sustainable tourism. While ICT is a source of competitive advantage for businesses, there is limited research on how ICT can be used to support sustainable tourism development. At the same time, there has been greater consumer awareness about sustainable tourism but a challenge in translating this knowledge into action. This thesis therefore sought to explore and integrate these complementary elements. The study adopted a sequential mixed methods approach. Phase 1 employed an e-survey among sixty-six (66) eTourism experts, while Phase 2 of the study involved thirty (30) semi-structured face-to-face interviews with leisure tourists in the city of Edinburgh. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyse Phase 1 and thematic analysis for Phase 2. The findings from the survey demonstrated that location based services were identified amongst the main ICT applications to support sustainable tourism. Geo-caching, ambient intelligence and context aware applications were among the new or emerging applications that eTourism experts felt were likely to change the way tourists experience a destination in the future. The interviews demonstrated that social connectedness motivated the use of in-trip ICT with social media being the primary platform. Mobile value elements, personal innovativeness and perceived enjoyment were postulated as influencing use behaviour. The results also illustrated the need for destinations to mix new media with some traditional strategies based on the destination's info-structure, tourists' source markets, tourists' profiles and sources of in-trip information. This thesis has made an original contribution to knowledge by examining the actual use of in-trip ICTs by tourists in relation to sustainable tourism. Future research needs to explore and measure how perceived enjoyment, personal innovativeness and mobile value elements influence technology use behaviour.