On the relevance of travel journalism : An introduction

Not many people will be instantly familiar with British woman Dale Sheppard-Floyd, but – at least symbolically – she represents a significant milestone in the development of travel and tourism. In fact, the milestone was so significant that the United Nations World Tourism Organization booked Madrid’s venerable Museo del Prado to announce to the world’s media her visit to Spain on 13 December 2012. For Ms Sheppard-Floyd’s arrival for a three-day trip meant that more than one billion times in that year, someone had crossed a border as a tourist. An astounding number, considering that, in 1950, there had been only 25 million tourist arrivals worldwide, and even only two decades previously – in 1990 – the number had been less than half at 435 million arrivals (World Tourism Organization, 2012a, 2012b). While people have traveled for pleasure for millennia (Towner, 1995), tourism really came into its own with the expansion of the middle classes in the 19th and 20th century, and today it is considered the world’s largest business sector, with unprecedented numbers of people venturing outside of their immediate environments to explore the world around them. In 2012, travel and tourism’s total contribution to the world economy amounted to a staggering $6.6 trillion, or 9 per cent of GDP (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2013). More than 260 million jobs were generated by it worldwide, which equates to one in every 11 jobs across the globe. While there were some hiccups during the Global Financial Crisis, growth in 2012 was stronger than in other industries, such as manufacturing, financial services and retail (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2013)...

Reggae borderzones, reggae graveyards: Bob Marley fandom in Bali

The road from Bali’s international airport to the island’s most renowned tourist area, Kuta Beach, leads past a number of establishments claiming affiliation to reggae music and Rastafarianism in large, appropriately coloured billboards. A sign outside a tee shirt shop bears the words RASTA MANIA within a green, yellow and red border, and a stick figure caricaturing negritude, the logo of this clothing label. In the window display hangs a tee shirt, and upon it Bob Marley’s wizened face. His lips pinch a cone-shaped spliff, and he squints behind a veil of airbrushed smoke. A leanto sign on the sidewalk outside Apache Bar announce REGGAE BANDS NIGHTLY. This barn of coconut wood and thatch nestles behind Wendy’s Ice Cream Parlour and Chi Chi’s Mexican Bar. Its timber walls emulate a rustic, spaghetti Western aesthetic and are adorned with portraits of native Americans. In addition to the reggae bands, nightly, Apache bar unites young Japanese women with local ‘guides’.2

[Dense, subtropical, sustainable] the liveable multi-storey apartment building

This study examined the potential for apartment living to become more socially and environmentally acceptable in Australian society generally, and in subtropical cities particularly. Resolution of incongruities between residents' preferred attributes and other stakeholders' main interests has important implications for reshaping lifestyle expectations and design practice as society moves toward a post-carbon future.

Residents’ experiences of privacy and comfort in multi-storey apartment dwellings in subtropical Brisbane

Dwellings in multi-storey apartment buildings (MSAB) are predicted to increase dramatically as a proportion of housing stock in subtropical cities over coming decades. The problem of designing comfortable and healthy high-density residential environments and minimising energy consumption must be addressed urgently in subtropical cities globally. This paper explores private residents’ experiences of privacy and comfort and their perceptions of how well their apartment dwelling modulated the external environment in subtropical conditions through analysis of 636 survey responses and 24 interviews with residents of MSAB in inner urban neighbourhoods of Brisbane, Australia. The findings show that the availability of natural ventilation and outdoor private living spaces play important roles in resident perceptions of liveability in the subtropics where the climate is conducive to year round “outdoor living”. Residents valued choice with regard to climate control methods in their apartments. They overwhelmingly preferred natural ventilation to manage thermal comfort, and turned to the air-conditioner for limited periods, particularly when external conditions were too noisy. These findings provide a unique evidence base for reducing the environmental impact of MSAB and increasing the acceptability of apartment living, through incorporating residential attributes positioned around climate-responsive architecture.

Positioning as a source of competitive advantage: Benchmarking Rotorua’s position as a domestic short break holiday destination

Travellers are spoilt by holiday choice, and yet will usually only seriously consider a few destinations during the decision process. With thousands of destination marketing organisations (DMOs) competing for attention, places are becoming increasingly substitutable. The study of destination competitiveness is an emerging field, and thesis contributes to an enhanced understanding by addressing three topics that have received relatively little attention in the tourism literature: destination positioning, the context of short break holidays, and domestic travel in New Zealand. A descriptive model of positioning as a source of competitive advantage is developed, and tested through 12 propositions. The destination of interest is Rotorua, which was arguably New Zealand’s first tourist destination. The market of interest is Auckland, which is Rotorua’s largest visitor market. Rotorua’s history is explored to identify factors that may have contributed to the destination’s current image in the Auckland market. A mix of qualitative and quantitative procedures is then utilised to determine Rotorua’s position, relative to a competing set of destinations. Based on an applied research problem, the thesis attempts to bridge the gap between academia and industry by providing useable results and benchmarks for five regional tourism organisations (RTOs). It is proposed that, in New Zealand, the domestic short break market represents a valuable opportunity not explicitly targeted by the competitive set of destinations. Conceptually, the thesis demonstrates the importance of analysing a destination’s competitive position, from the demand perspective, in a travel context; and then the value of comparing this ‘ideal’ position with that projected by the RTO. The thesis concludes Rotorua’s market position in the Auckland short break segment represents a source of comparative advantage, but is not congruent with the current promotional theme, which is being used in all markets. The findings also have implications for destinations beyond the context of the thesis. In particular, a new definition for ‘destination attractiveness’ is proposed, which warrants consideration in the design of future destination positioning analyses.

Identifying the financial barriers to deliberative, affordable apartment development in Australia

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the financial barriers to the supply of affordable apartments in Australia and examine whether demand aggregation and ‘deliberative development’ (self-build) can form a new affordable housing ‘structure of provision’. Design/methodology/approach Market design, an offshoot of game theory, is used to analyse the existing apartment development model, with ‘deliberative development’ proposed as an innovative alternative. Semi-structured interviews with residential development financiers are used to evaluate whether deliberative development could obtain the requisite development finance. Findings Our investigation into the financial barriers of a deliberative development model suggest that while there are hurdles, these can be addressed if key risks in the exchange process can be mitigated. Hence, affordability can be enhanced by ‘deliberative development’ replacing the existing speculative development model. Research implications Market design is a new innovative theoretical approach to understanding the supply of housing, offering practical solutions to affordable apartment supply in Australia. Originality/value This research identifies financial barriers to the supply of affordable apartments; introduces theoretical understandings gained from market design as an innovative solution; provides evidence that a new structure of building provision based on ‘deliberative development’ could become a key means of achieving more affordable and better designed apartments.

Submission to the Senate Economics References Committee Inquiry into affordable housing 20 August 2014: De-risking development of medium density housing to improve housing affordability and boost supply

This submission addresses the problem of housing price inflation, the chronic under-supply of new housing stock, and the resultant decline in housing affordability for low and middle income households. It specifically focusses on the supply of medium density housing (multi-unit development) in Melbourne, although we believe that the observations made about housing in supply in Melbourne are relevant in other urban centres and to other types of housing supply. In terms of medium density housing (MDH) our concern also extends to the poor quality and design. Why the market tends to deliver generic apartments of poor quality and design which are uncompetitive with lower density housing and amenity despite planning objectives, and how this apparently intractable problem can be overcome is the topic of this submission...

Smarten up! Applying market design theory to housing supply

PROBLEM Cost of delivering medium density apartments impedes supply of new and more affordable housing in established suburbs EXISTING FOCUS - Planning controls - Construction costs, esp labour - Regulation eg sustainability

Serendipitous road trips: Enhancing tourists’ experiences through social interaction

Driving can be a lonely activity. While there has been a lot of research and technical inventions concerning car-to-car communication and passenger entertainment, there is still little work concerning connecting drivers. Whereas tourism is very much a social activity, drive tourists have few options to communicate with fellow travellers. The proposed project is placed at the intersection of tourism and driving and aims to enhance the trip experience during driving through social interaction. This thesis explores how a mobile application that allows instant messaging between travellers sharing similar context can add to road trip experiences. To inform the design of such an application, the project adopted the principle of the user-centred design process. User needs were assessed by running an ideation workshop and a field trip. Findings of both studies have shown that tourists have different preferences and diverse attitudes towards contacting new people. Yet all participants stressed the value of social recommendations. Based on those results and a later expert review, three prototype versions of the system were created. A prototyping session with potential end users highlighted the most important features including the possibility to view user profiles, choose between text and audio input and receive up-to-date information. An implemented version of the prototype was evaluated in an exploratory study to identify usability related problems in an actual use case scenario as well as to find implementation bugs. The outcomes of this research are relevant for the design of future mobile tourist guides that leverage from benefits of social recommendations.

The impact of private and shared open space on liveability in subtropical apartment buildings

The study explores the relationship between open space design, factors impacting open space provision, and resident satisfaction with open space in multistorey apartment buildings in the context of the subtropical lifestyle and climate of Brisbane Australia. The purpose of the paper is to identify the specific physical and spatial design characteristics residents perceive to be important in open spaces associated with their private dwellings and with shared open spaces. Firsthand resident evaluations of everyday experiences of residing in inner urban high density environments are explored through a survey of 636 residents and interviews with 24 residents. Private balconies are highly valued, but residents’ satisfaction would be enhanced by spaciousness for diverse activities, privacy and climate responsive design. Communal spaces and facilities are used infrequently by many residents who prefer interactions with community outside of the building. This is related to preferences for a level of anonymity in a setting where privacy is difficult to achieve due to physical proximity of neighbours.

Senior House Operations in Finland

This article analyzes the operations of a sample of rental independent living senior apartments in Tampere, Finland. We compare 10 properties containing 421 units owned by one nonprofit and two for-profit housing providers. We examine costs and revenues across properties using data collected through interviews and a survey of company representatives and property managers. The results indicate that until the recent economic downturn, these senior houses generally experienced fast initial lease-up and low turnover but relatively long vacancies for some units when re-leasing. Performance varies among properties.

Anticipating Chinese Tourists Arrivals in Australia: A Time Series Analysis

Given the growing importance of the Chinese tourist market to Australia, an understanding of Chinese tourists' arrival patterns is essential to accurate forecasting of future arrivals. Drawing on 25 years of records (1991-2015), this study developed a time-series model of monthly arrivals of Chinese tourists in Australia. The model reflects the exponentially increasing trend and strong seasonality of arrivals. Excellent results from validation of the model's forecasts endorsed this time-series model's potential in the policy prescription and management practice of Australian tourism industries.

Achieving medium-high density in low scale development: The Queensland experience in innovative ‘fine-grained’ urbanism

Worldwide population growth and economic agglomeration is driving increasing urban density within larger metropolitan conurbations. Population growth and housing diversity and affordability issues in Queensland have seen an increasing demand for more diverse and higher density development. Under Queensland’s flexible planning regulatory provisions, a level of ‘medium’ to ‘high density’ is being achieved by a focus on fine-grained urban design, low scale development, lot diversity, and delivery of single dwelling products. This for Queensland (and Australia) has been an unprecedented innovation in urban and dwelling design. Dwellings are being delivered on lots with zero regulatory minimum sizes providing for a range of new products including ‘apartments on the ground’. This paper reviews recent and nascent demonstrations of EDQ’s fine-grained urbanism principles, identifiable with historical ‘vernacular suburbanism’. The paper introduces and defines a concept of a ‘natural density’ linking human scale built form with walkability. The paper challenges the notion that (sub)urban development, outside major city centres, needs to be of a higher scale to achieve density and diversity aspirations. ‘Natural density’ provides a means of achieving the increasing demand for more diverse and higher density development.

Reconstituting identity and history in post-war Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina

This paper by Carl Grodach demonstrates the careful unravelling of complexity, diversity, contestation and contradictions involved in the reconstruction of symbolic urban spaces after violent conflict, and the allied processes of cultural reinterpretation, political reconfiguration and material revaluation which accompany it. The paper analyses the reconstruction and redevelopment of the 16th-century historic centre of Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, following the Bosnian Wars of 1992–1995. Reconstruction efforts centre around Stari Most, the 16th-century Ottoman bridge destroyed by Bosnian Croat military in 1993. In Mostar, both international and local organizations are in the process of reinterpreting Bosnia’s legacy of Ottoman city spaces. This research and analysis illuminates how such spaces can be central to contemporary projects to redefine group identities and conceptions of place. It provides insight into the ways various groups are attempting to reshape outside perceptions of the city—and Bosnia’s ethnic conflict—to articulate a new definition of local identity and ethnic relations and to remake a stable tourist economy through Mostar’s urban spaces.

Economics of tourism & growth for small island countries

We theoretically analyze the impact of changes in foreign income from tourism source countries on the growth of tourism dependent small island economies. Using a general theoretical construct, we attempt to answer the question of how price elasticity of demand, income elasticity of tourist and the degree of competition in the service sector influence the economic development of small economies. One of the main results is that politicians may consider applying policies which lead to a competitive environment in the service sector to maximize growth and the consequent labor income share.