Responsible Tourism - addressing seasonality · • Sustainable development through tourism • The...

Responsible Tourism -addressing seasonality

Harold Goodwin Professor of Responsible Tourism

Manchester Metropolitan University

www.haroldgoodwin.info 1

RTD12 JyväskyläJAMK University of Applied Sciences

Seasonality

• Climate related – 4/6 seasons or none

• Institutional persistence of the agricultural calendar

• Temporal peaks and troughs – Year (holidays) – Week (weekends)– Day (rush hours)


A key note?

• Seasonality is not my research area.• Provoke a discussion about seasonality.• How might we address the issue of seasonality

from a Responsible Tourism perspective?• Whose responsibility is seasonality?• Whose problem is it?• Who pays the cost?


What is Responsible Tourism?

Responsible Tourism

“is about making better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit.”

In that order

International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations (2002) The Cape Town Declaration, Cape Townhttp://responsibletourismpartnership.org/cape-town-declaration-on-responsible-tourism/


“Better Tourism”• Objective: to use tourism to achieve sustainable

development • Sustainable development through tourism• The aspiration of Responsible Tourism is to use

tourism rather than to be used by it.• Responsible Tourism is about taking

responsibility for achieving sustainable development through tourism.

• Contribution to the local community –economic, social and environmental impacts



EllA SALMELA

RiittaHalttunen

Availability Conflict Sustainability

Foraging & commercialisation

Local Economic Development

• Extent of linkages to the local economy – the more the better?

• Who benefits? • Community, local elite, national elite, source

market businesses

• Tourism as an additional livelihood strategy?• Dangers of dependency?


What is the problem with sustainability?

It is a vague aspiration • optimal use of

environmental resources• Respect the socio-cultural

authenticity• providing socio-economic

benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed

• strong political leadershiphttp://sdt.unwto.org/content/about-us-5

Who decides?

8

It defies technical definition

http://sdt.unwto.org/content/about-us-5

Responsible Travel takes a variety of forms, it is characterised by travel and tourism which

1. minimises negative environmental, social andcultural impacts;

2. generates greater economic benefits for localpeople and enhances the wellbeing of hostcommunities, by improving working conditionsand access to the industry;

3. involves local people in decisions that affect theirlives and life chances.

Cape Town Declaration 2002

4. makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage and to the maintenance of the world’s diversity;

5. provides more enjoyable experiences for tourists through more meaningful connections with local people, and a greater understanding of local cultural and environmental issues;

6. provides access for people with disabilities and socially disadvantaged people; and

7. is culturally sensitive and engenders respect between tourists and hosts.

Sustainable development means different things to different people

• Sustainability still too abstract, too general – we can’t define it.

• People engage with issues – with particular issues• Relevant local issues – culture and context are

critical.• Particular solutions …… • It means making changes and it requires

engagement in political processes

There are only particular solutions… • Responsible Tourism focuses on making better

places to live in, on how a community maximises the benefits and minimises the negative impacts…

• But who strikes the balance? • Individual businesses may have objectives which

conflict with community objectives and be expensive

• And of course communities will not all see seasonality – or tourism - in the same way.


Kaarina Tervo-Kankare, University of Oulu


Seasonality an increasing problem

• More extreme weather • Less reliable – more difficult to plan & offer

alternative experiences• Water – floods and drought • Declining incomes • Food prices• Civil strife, labour disputes and forced

migration


Individual and Collective Responsescosts and benefits

The Business• Extending season by

offering different experiences

• Showing/telling about the other seasons off season or monsoonclosed season or storm watching

• Providing activities –murder weekends or spa breaks

The Destination • Showing/telling about the

other seasonsBut will the “destination” be open?

• Attracting big events with incentives.

• Whose responsibility is it to fill the hotels?

• “World’s biggest industry” often demands government assistance to market it.


Terhi Hook, VisitFinland


Visit Scotland Sustainable Tourism Strategy 2010-2015


1. seriously reduces the viability of enterprises and their ability to offer year round employment

2. place severe pressure on communities, the environment and natural resources-particularly at ‘hotspots’ -at peak times while leaving surplus capacity at others.

3. places strains on local services such as waste disposal, water provision and the transport system;

4. can undermine the quality of experience for the visitor.5. makes it difficult to plan and manage the provision of tourism facilities

efficiently.

Traditional solutions

• Seasonal marketing campaigns to increase the use of visitor facilities during the shoulder seasons.

• Extending the operating seasons & diversifying attractions

• Winter White 2008/9 Capture an Autumn Moment 2009.

• Seasonal calendars Scotland – a different adventure every month

• Pricing, ‘specials’ to attract “shoulder season” guests.• Conferences and events to fill the hotels


Less traditional solutions

• Provision for people with disabilities, the disadvantaged.

• Marketing autumnal landscapes and winter storms to summer visitors.

• Banish talk of the off-season, talk positively about the experience of quiet and tranquillity, move the season to the seasons.

• Social media – seasonal newsletters.


Competing perspectives

• What is meant by success – arrivals, bed nights, yield?

• Residents, local tax payers.• Politicians, economic development agencies

and DMOs.• Industry employees • Casual and seasonal employees vs full-time

staff.


• Dingle is full – tourist accommodation is limited, Airbnb has ensured that practically every spare room now is let to tourists, such is the demand.

• Summer in Dingle has a long tradition of seasonal workers. Some are students, some are foreign nationals coming to work and to play.

• Accommodation for staff is nowhere to be found, while shopfronts and cafés are littered with small signs saying: “Staff wanted”.

• Chris White (25), from Tralee, and a student at Carlow IT, is working two jobs for the summer in Dingle. “There is plenty of seasonal work – everyone is at least on the minimum wage, the pay is fine in Dingle and there’s plenty of hours,” he says. “The problem is nowhere to stay.”

• He has been searching since March and has ended up staying with an aunt.


Irish Times06/06/2016

Cornwall 500,000 people

• Numbers Peak 2.5m

• Revenues

• Revenues peak in the summer months

• Taking this into account, could Cornwall be better served to actually place MORE focus on the summer months, when the profitability of tourism is highest?

www.haroldgoodwin.info 22University of Exeter

But it is not really like that, is it?

• Profitability is not all it is about; seasonal employment is the bigger issue. It may be a good lifestyle choice to close for half the year and take a holiday, but that only works for those earning above the national minimum wage and most employees in tourism don’t.

• If the owners and well paid in tourism leave for the Caribbean for 6 months of the year the tourism leakages are exacerbated.

• For local residents the leisure and other services which are available in the season are not available for the rest of the year.


Yorkshire Farmhouse B&B


A lifestyle choice


Benefits of Seasonality

• Tourism as an additional, supplementary income.

• Up time and down time (recuperation and maintenance) – environmental and social recovery

• Some destinations may prefer strong seasonality.


Business

Problems1. Seasonal revenues2. Return on investment +

difficulty of attracting investors

3. Cash flow and budget 4. Covering annual fixed costs5. Underutilised resources 6. Capacity shortages at peak

season

Benefits • Maintenance • Leave


Employment

Problems1. Seasonal employment2. Service quality, staff

retention and training costs3. Less meaningful seasonal

work 4. Lack of career

opportunities5. Non-local labour reduces

authenticity

Benefits• Students • Additional part-time work

for local people


So how do the characteristics of Responsible Tourism apply?

1. minimises negative impacts;2. generates greater economic benefits for local people 3. involves local people in decision making 4. contribution to the conservation of natural and

cultural heritage5. more enjoyable experiences for tourists, meaningful

connections with local people6. provides access for disadvantaged & people with

disabilities 7. culturally sensitive and engenders respect between

tourists and hosts


Role of Government

Sector Friendly • Subsidies • Marketing • Investment incentives • Infrastructure investment

Sector “hostile”• Tax on aviation fuel • Increased taxation on fossil

fuels• Managed retreat in the

coastal zone


Responsible tourism and climate change:

• Is it possible to continue with “old” responsible habits under changing climate?

• Can the challenges presented by climate change also offer possibilities?

• Spatial context!• Emphasis on the need of all stakeholders to take

responsibility for their roles and actions in tourism (+ to identify the key stakeholders)

• Planning, management, legislation (=control) in central role, rather than the consumer or the businesses?

• Transformation of social values and lifestyles in general, that are reflected to political, economic, and technological systems, and the adoption of responsible consumption

Tervo-Kankare 9.6.2016

Taking Responsibility for Tourism by Goodwin ISBN 978-1-906884-39-0© 2011 Goodfellow Publishers

Taking Responsibility for Tourism by Harold Goodwin

www.takingresponsibilityfortourism.info

www.haroldgoodwin.info

http://www.takingresponsibilityfortourism.info/

http://www.haroldgoodwin.info/

Date post:	29-May-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	6 times
Download:	0 times

Responsible Tourism - addressing seasonality · • Sustainable development through tourism • The...

Documents