Special Issue Call for Papers

Island Tourism Destinations:
Lifecycles, System Decline and Resilience

Guest Editors:
Michelle McLeod, The University of the West Indies, Nassau, The Bahamas
Rachel Dodds, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
Richard Butler, Strathclyde University, Scotland, United Kingdom

Introduction

​Tourism to islands is a special form of tourism that often requires specific consideration as there are distinctive characteristics of islands such as fragile environments and historical and socio-cultural aspects that can result in unique challenges to developing a successful tourism destination.  This Special Issue in Tourism Geographies will provide an avenue to progress research to advance knowledge and improve the outcomes of island tourism development, and seeks to address emerging issues in relation to developing and managing tourism in island environments including financial leakages and inclusive growth, environmental quality and waste management, inter-island transportation, tourism migration and diaspora issues in island tourism. The regionalism of tourism activity based on the nature of island formations and the proximity of islands to tourist generating markets are key ingredients for successful tourism development.  
 
This Special Issue will include islands at various stages of their tourism development, particularly small islands and archipelagos with unique historical and cultural contexts and will build on emerging research in the subject (see Baldachinno, 2015; Graci and Dodds, 2010; Hamzah and Hampton, 2013; Lim and Cooper, 2008; McLeod and Croes, 2018; Weaver, 2017). Growth and development models for tourism (Butler, 1980; Weaver, 2000) are applicable to island tourism and require closer examination to facilitate resilient tourism destinations that are undergoing threats from changing geographical, political and socio-economic circumstances, and Alberts and Baldacchino (2017) utilise the idea of tourism as an agent of resilience to assist island economies to diversify.

An opportunity to build resilience within tourism development frameworks cannot be underestimated as it is resilient tourism destinations that are most adaptable to global shocks (Cheer, 2017) and in particular, environmental change (Lew and Cheer, 2017). Tourism destination adaptability and the ever changing dynamics of a tourism system have brought attention to tourism system decline. With sustainable development being an overarching agenda of global advancement, the challenges that bring about tourism system decline and the mechanisms to revert such a decline in an island context have been considered using various approaches (Carlsen, and Butler, 2011; Dodds, 2012; McLeod and Scott, 2018). Nonetheless, new approaches that considers the resource constrained and dependent island environments that are dominantly tourism destinations are needed. 
Submissions  
 
The scope is broad based to address island tourism issues including: 
  • Island colonization, geographies and tourism 
  • Island tourism development stages, lifecycles and decline 
  • Island travel and transportation, inter-island transportation, and cruise shipping within island environments 
  • Tourist motivation and demand for islands 
  • Tourism marketing of islands, including new competition and changing feeder markets 
  • Island hospitality, services and businesses, micro and small businesses, craft markets Island tourism economics, financial leakages, inclusive growth and backward linkages 
  • Island culture and heritage, festivals and event management, cuisine and gastronomy 
  • Island tourism migration/diaspora issues 
  • Island tourism environments and environmental quality, including climate change issues 
  • Island tourism infrastructure development, sustainability and resilience 
  • Island tourism networks, suppliers, enterprises, inter-mediaries and organisations 
  • Policy-making for tourism development in islands and island tourism governance 
  • Tourism management issues including human resources and operation management Tourism education and training in islands, vocational training and curriculum development 
 
Timeline  
 
  • Abstract Submissions: August 31st, 2018 
  • Abstract Decisions:    September 30th, 2018 
  • Full Paper Submissions: December 31st, 2019 
  • Revisions and Decisions:  February 28th, 2019 
  • Publication: April 30th, 2019 
  
Abstracts, not exceeding 500 words, are to be submitted to the corresponding editor,  Dr. Michelle McLeod, using the email address <tourhosp@hotmail.com>.
References 
  • Alberts, A. and Baldacchino, G. (2017). Resilience and tourism in islands: Insights from the Caribbean. In Butler (Ed.) Tourism and Resilience. UK: CABI, pp. 150-162. 
  • Baldachinno,G. (2015).  Archipelago Tourism Policies and Practices.  Farnham: Ashgate. 
  • Butler, R. (1980). The concept of a tourist area cycle of evolution: implications for management of resources. The Canadian Geographer, 24(1), 5-12. 
  • Carlsen, J. and Butler R.W. (2011). Island Tourism: Sustainable Perspectives. Wallingford: CABI. 
  • Cheer, J.M. (2017). Tourism, Resilience and Sustainability: Adapting to Social, Political and Economic Change. UK: Routledge. 
  • Dodds, R. (2012). Sustainable tourism: a hope or a necessity? The case of Tofino, British Columbia, Canada, Journal of Sustainable Development, 5(5), 54-64. 
  • Graci, S.R. & Dodds, R. (2010). Sustainable Tourism in Islands. London: Earthscan Press.  
  • Hamzah, A. and Hampton, M.P. (2013). Resilience and non-linear change in island tourism. Tourism Geographies, 15(1), 43-67.  
  • Lew, A.A. and Cheer, J.M. (2017). Tourism resilience and adaptation to environmental change: definitions and frameworks. UK: Routledge. 
  • Lim, C.C. and Cooper, C. (2008). Beyond sustainability: optimising island tourism development. International Journal of Tourism Research, 11(1), 89-103. 
  • McLeod, M. and Croes, R. (2018) (Eds.).  Tourism Management in Warm-water Island Destinations. UK: CABI (in press).  
  • McLeod, M. and Scott, N. (2018). Destination management: a network perspective, In McLeod and Croes (Eds.), Tourism Management in Warm-water Island Destinations. UK: CABI (in press). 
  • Weaver, D.B. (2000). A broad context model of destination development scenarios. Tourism Management, 21(3), 217-224. 
  • Weaver, D. (2017). Core–periphery relationships and the sustainability paradox of small island tourism. Tourism Recreation Research, 42(1), 11-21. ​