Island tourism: destinations: an editorial introduction to the special issue

Abstract

PurposeThis editorial aims to situate the papers chosen for this special issue within academic literature and identify their contributions to new knowledge.Design/methodology/approachThe editorial first discusses tourism research literature pertinent to the idiosyncrasies of destination management in island contexts. Second, the paper identifies the contributions made to this field by the authors and the implications of their innovative research for island tourism and destination management.FindingsEach paper contributes, in its way, to the field of island tourism, either by integration of explorations of theory, shifting paradigms or revealing new knowledge. This special issue contains two seminal papers by top academic leaders of the fields of islandness and HRM in island destinations. It also presents papers that comment on destination management issues at macro and micro levels.Originality/valueCollectively this collection of papers offers new perspectives concerning the challenges of creating destination image in peripheral locations, the impacts of global mobilities (inward and outward) on destination labor markets, models for sustainable destination development, the welcome extended to visitors and returning locals by island communities, destination positioning strategies and service interactions.

Implications of tourism development on islets: Ilot Bernaches, Mauritius, as a destination management case study

“…This observation concurs with an earlier observation by Cave and Brown (2012), who argue that, away from centres of governance, regulatory mechanisms, and infrastructure planning, tourism operators and tourists do not utilise tourism resources responsibly. Regarding the visiting time, it was found that most visitors spent an average of 4-5 hours on the islet, whereas in a few cases, groups of people stayed overnight for camping purposes.…”

“…The study by Cave and Brown (2012) (Ioannides, 2008), environmental audit (Diamantis& Westlake, 1997) on the Greek island of Mytilini; destination knowledge mapping in Korea (Pyo, 2005); the tourism consumption system (Woodside & Dubelaar, 2002); integrated technical economic modelling (Xu et al, 2003); and systems approaches that encompass multiple social, economic, cultural, and environmental dimensions (Carlsen, 1999;Northcote & Macbeth, 2006). These models are obviously underpinned by an awareness that tourism deals with finite-rather than infinitely renewable-markets and resources, leading to the need for sustainable approaches in the management of island destinations (Dodds, 2007).…”

“…This point is also shared by Barros and Alves (2004), who contend that areas that are richly endowed with tourism attractions display a comparative advantage over others that do not. A further study conducted by Cave and Brown (2012) on 36 islands shows that, as island destinations approach maturity, the cultural or natural asset resources upon which the product is based can be destroyed in the process of expanding, rebuilding, or repositioning the product. Islets are therefore more vulnerable compared to islands (Andriotis, 2004;Gowreesunkar & Rycha, 2014), and they are more prone to sustainability threats due to their size, topography, and carrying capacity (Carlsen, 1999;Sharpley, 2001).…”

Yujiale fishing tourism and island development in Changshan Archipelago, Changdao, China

“…Moreover, islands, in part because of their insularity, often house fragile environments and rare wildlife, as well as unique cultural features (Baum, 1997;González-Morales et al, 2016). The biophysical attributes and institutional specificities of insularity are often associated with distinctive natural and cultural features, creating an 'island allure' that may be appealing to those from the mainland (Baldacchino, 2004;Cave & Brown, 2012;Grydehøj, 2017;Petridis et al, 2017). Islandness, as an expression of the complex identity or sense of place of islands (Stratford, 2008), encompasses a state of tension between "openness and closure" (Baldacchino, 2004, p. 274), and may open up novel political, socioeconomic, and ecological possibilities, which may have development potential (Petridis et al, 2017).…”

Island studies and tourism: Diversifying perspectives

“…And yet, there is still a lot to be learnt about these insular spaces. Some argue that by comprehending island environments one can understand larger and more complex systems (Bergstrom et al, 2009) and that changes experienced on islands can anticipate phenomena that will eventually occur elsewhere (Cave and Brown, 2012;Essex et al, 2004). Baldacchino (2007) suggests that oceanic islands in particular 'are useful systems for understanding human-land interactions .…”