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This article explores the importance and degree of network development within the tourism industry of four regional centers located along one of Australia's well-known river systems, the Murray River. Cluster theory serves as the broad theoretical orientation, with the attitudes towards competitive behavior and the receptiveness to cluster development examined and reported in the article. The results gathered and analyzed imply that those regions which have fully adopted the clustering concept are inclined to be more successful also in terms of tourism expenditure and overnight tourist visitation. Business clustering may be used as a means of stimulating local businesses to contribute to their own development and therefore raising the competitive advantage of a region, providing the correct local leadership and cooperation between sectors constituting the industry exists.

This article continues the exploration of factors determining the tourist gaze in differing circumstances. Without intending to engage in a feminist debate, the article focuses on the preferences of women tourists as factors contributing to the development of domestic tourism in Malaysia. It goes further by using their own “tourist gaze” as a tool to explore these perceptions. This approach delivers outcomes that differ substantially from those of previous studies in comparable Western environments. Here, a case study from the resort town of Setiu serves to illustrate the complex array of social forces—a heady compound of nationality, race, culture, religion, and gender—to distinguish the preferences of local tourists and of Malay Muslim women in particular.

This study examines the use and impact of multimodal, digitally structured conferences within an existing traditional face-to-face conference paradigm. Thirty-five semistructured interviews were conducted with senior Australian convention industry stakeholders. The purpose was to explore the use of digital communication technology (DCT) within hybrid and virtual conferences and their relationship with the traditional conference paradigm of face-to-face conferences. Three main findings resulted from the research. Firstly, face-to-face conferences numerically dominate the industry, while hybrid and virtual conferences represent a miniscule proportion of the conference industry. Secondly, a correlation exists between the interviewee's job role and their level of support for any of the three conference modes. Lastly, the conference industry as a whole has been slow to engage with both hybrid and virtual conferencing and skeptical as far as embracing DCT utilized within the conference delivery mode.

This chapter examines the ways in which teaching and training in tourism, hospitality and events have evolved and adapted to the contemporary demands of academia and industry. It explores the development of education in tourism, hospitality and events, the contemporary factors which influence teaching and learning, and discusses the rise of Massive Open Online Courses with a particular focus on their potential application within tourism, hospitality and events curriculum. The chapter concludes by providing an overview of Open Badges and their importance in education. At the time of writing, the world has been confronted by the Covid-19 global pandemic which has caused great disruption at all levels. The impact of Covid-19 is briefly addressed in this chapter as the enforcement of social distancing measures has led to a significant increase globally in online education.