Richard Voase offers an interesting number of case studies regarding Eu travel development. The case studies are well organized in three thematic areas based on political, economic and socio-cultural contexts. The number of stories conveys changes in travel development and practices and shows how travel development searches for for new ways of travel thinking. Voase concludes that travel experiences, on the part of travelers, show signs of active تور بانکوک decision making with passive consumption. This point prompts the reader to reflect that tourists choose “canned” experiences that are wonderfully constructed, however accessed through extensive information search and decision-making.
The case studies are written by a variety of authors with strong local ties to the place they write about which enables extraordinary insight into issues the travel industry faces in Europe and United states (although United states is not the focus of this book). This book can be used in a travel development course to help students identify current issues in travel (e. gary., environmental challenges, sustainability, conservation approaches) and build upon updates and theoretical models in travel.
In his introduction, Voase conveys that the analysis or handling of the cases is based on political, economic, socio-cultural and technological environments. The analysis captures the multidimensionality of the travel product and the cultural and social factors that relate to current ideologies, which affect how travel evolves. Such ideologies are relating to prevalent postmodernism approaches that manage to affect those consumer behaviors, which capture experiential consumption rather than production processes of goods.
The book consists of eleven chapters. The first four chapters are acknowledged under the upgraded lenses of a political context analysis. The first chapter, by Meethan, presents the role of travel marketing and public policy in the counties of Devon and Cornwall, The united kingdomt. Meethan concludes that for these two counties “marketing was one aspect of a larger integrated policy which aims to include travel more fully into the regional economy” and these programs would not have been possible without the funding from the european union (EU). “The cases of Devon and Cornwall also demonstrate how new organizational forms emerge as a a reaction to larger structural changes”.
Chapter 2, by Morpeth, focuses on the role of leisure and travel as political instruments in The uk during the 1980s. Central and local governments used leisure and recreation policies as an proxy of urban policy to balance the side effects of having been fired and structural problems evident in The united kingdomt in the 1980s. Morpeth discusses the case of the city of Middlesbrough and the role of Thatcherism policies on the city, which focused on the generation of inner cities and the use of travel as a tool for regeneration.
Chapter 3, by Voase, discusses the influence of political, economic and social change in a mature tourist destination; the Department of Thanet in southeast The united kingdomt. Voase concludes that the process of policy, planning and development of travel in a mature destination is not always straightforward. The antagonistic governmental policies among the stakeholders involved in travel development led to inconsistencies about the development of the destination. Chapter 4, by Robledo and Batle, focuses on Mallorca as a research study for replanting travel development for a mature destination using Butler’s (1980) product life cycle concept. As a mature destination, Mallorca needs a sustainable development strategy to survive in the future. This acknowledgement led the Travel Ministry of the Balearics Island Government to ascertain a travel supply-side regulation to protect the earth. This course of action however, as Robledo and Bade identified, is an interesting case of struggle between different groups (i. e., government, environmentally friendly groups, councils, hoteliers, construction industry) counselling their interests in travel development. Voase identifies these first four chapters having three common factors: the role and interplay of local divisions of government in the ingredients and setup of policy, the role of governmental policies as a vehicle for the promotion and management of economic interests, and the powerful influence of socio-cultural factors. While these common factors are not directly evident in the presented case studies, Voase fills that distance together with articles. These common factors can stimulate further discussion as to what is the role of governmental policies in travel and how policy make a difference researchers and practitioners in the field.
The second area of the book focuses on the economic context of travel and its use as a regeneration and wealth creation tool. Chapter 5, by Lewis, focuses on two agri-environmental schemes, Tir Cymen and Tir Gofal, and how they affected recreational access in farm Wales. This chapter presents how these schemes caused many changes in the lawn practices in Wales. These changes positively impacted recreation opportunities in Wale’s lawn landscape and changed relationships between “rural and urban and new demands for farm access, all of which now reflect the interdependence of environmental health, local social and economic needs, and access to land for recreation”.
Chapter 6, by Lindroth and Soisalon-Soinimen, discusses how a historic tourist product was created in Loviisa, Finland. With regards to the travel development was to create an image of Loviisa as a historic tourist destination and to create new products in conjunction with the historic theme. Lindroth and Soisalon-Soinimen identified that without the support of the tourist office, as well as the National Board of Antiquities, development would not have elevated significantly. Also, the european union funding helped with training and expert help. The pros and project leaders mixed up in process designed the project through their enthusiastic actions described in depth in the case study.
Chapter 7, by Bohn and Elbe, describes the story of one man and how his vision for the municipality of Alvdalen, Sweden transformed metropolis into tourist destination. The most important take into account this story is that this man created a destination without being an expert in the field of travel development. He used the current notion of relationship marketing to achieve successful development without knowing its full value as a marketing tool. This chapter underlines also the value of cooperation among stakeholders involved in travel. Voase identifies factors that these three cases share: the role of the individual entrepreneur in developing the product, the consumption of natural resources, and travel focusing on past heritage.
The third area of the book focuses on the socio-cultural context of travel in four case studies. Chapter 8, by Finn, discusses the change of Eu football from being a fan’s sport to being a spectator’s sport. Finn identifies current sport marketing approaches, which construct a product, or experience where fans’ identity doesn’t fit with current “civilized” consumption processes, and instead, spectators’ identity fits with those images and procedures promoted by sport marketers inside and outside football stadiums.
Chapter 9, by Baron-Yelles, focuses on travel and the governmental policies of nature-based travel and how the ‘Grand Site National at La Point du Raz” had changes in travel provision services and facilities to accommodate tourists’ demands. In this chapter, the reader can observe trade offs between natural resources and the provision of travel experiences. This research study also shows how a destination responded to stakeholders’ opinions about coastal conservation, public access and allowed visitation levels.
Chapter 10, by Lohmann and Mundt, focuses on getting older markets for cultural travel in Germany. The chapter discusses how travel shapes culture through the exchange of experiences between travelers and residents in a destination. Travel and travel are discussed as constituents of culture. Lohmann and Mundt conclude travel has become an important part of people’s lives and in turn are exposed to other cultures, which can affect their own.
Chapter 11, by East and Luger, focuses on youth culture and travel development in the Austrian piles. East and Luger share interesting skills on youths’ reactions and behaviour adjustments toward tourists. They report that youth who are involved in travel through family businesses will be more well intentioned of tourists. Youth in farm mountain areas were found to be interested in urban experiences.
Voase concludes these four final cases have three underlying themes. The first theme is that the consumption experience is staged or produced. This theme brings to mind MacCannell’s (1976) notion of front and back stage concrete realities. Front stage is the presentation of a destination to visitors, whereas back stage is the real or truer nature of a destination. The second theme is that commercialization and commodification are not synonymous terms. The third theme is environments are often inflated to influence people. Voase explains how sport environments have changed and caused race fans to also change.
Overall, this book pays to to practitioners and academics because it provides case studies offered by people with close connections to the travel industry, thus providing an insider’s viewpoint. Voase, as both a practitioner in resort travel marketing and an school, effectively brings together case studies which focus on Eu travel and conveys concepts which shift ‘old’ travel principles to ‘new’. His introductions of each number of cases (i. e., economic, political and socio-cultural) are insightful new. Voase, however, does not discuss the introduction of Euro currency in Jan 2002. This is an important change to the economic structure of all countries-members of the EU and their socio-cultural development. The interconnection of the EU countries through the common currency might create a feeling of a larger community, which potentially affects travel through cultural, social, political and economic of EU member-countries.