Editorial

Citation

Teare, R., Clayton, A.H., Pinnock, F.H. and Ajagunna, I. (2014), "Editorial", Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, Vol. 6 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-01-2014-0008

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, Volume 6, Issue 2

This theme issue investigates the implications of evolving patterns of travel and tourism for developing nations. The changes that are occurring (social, economic, technological and environmental) raise important questions as to how small, relatively vulnerable nations can respond, especially when they have little or no control over most of the relevant variables. Specifically, what are implications for emerging economies and for tourism-dependent developing economies? Read on and find out!

I should like to thank Anthony Clayton, Ibrahim Ajagunna and Fritz Pinnock and their team for providing a rigorous and forward-looking analysis of these challenges.

Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) aims to make a practical and theoretical contribution to hospitality and tourism development and we seek to do this by using a key question to focus attention on an industry issue. If you would like to contribute to our work by serving as a WHATT theme editor, do please contact me.

Tourism in a transforming world economy and the impacts of the brave new world: how might developing nations achieve long-term sustainable development?

A number of small, developing nations are now heavily dependent on the tourism industry. In many Caribbean countries for example, travel and tourism underpins much of the economy (both directly and indirectly) and most of the employment. Given this scenario, anything that makes people more or less likely to travel, or to choose one destination over another, or that affects the rate of growth in the industry, tends to have immediate and relatively widespread consequences. It is therefore surprising that relatively little attention has been given to the implications of current global economic trends as reflected in the patterns of travel and tourism movement. The aim then is to consider the question: How might developing nations achieve long-term sustainable development? The analysis draws mainly on the Caribbean region but also from an array of studies and reports that document different aspects of the changes that are occurring.

The opening article provides a conceptual overview and concludes that integrated planning could assist developing nations to solve a number of impediments and at the same time, increase their resilience. Next, Ibrahim Ajagunna outlines why the actions of major operators in the international tourism industry may reduce consumer choice and accelerate a tourism shift from old tourism-dependent developing nations to newly industrialized countries. The third paper by Kwame Emmanuel, concludes that tourism demand from major markets such as Europe and North America is likely to decline sharply as tourists travel to destinations which are closer to home and have a more favourable climate.

The fourth article by Fritz Pinnock explains why Caribbean nations need to develop a better strategy in response to rapid expansion in the cruise tourism sector. He advocates an approach based on inter-island collaboration rather than island against island competition. Andrew Coggins also examines trends in the leisure cruise sector and reveals why cruising has evolved from a source of supplemental income into the fastest growing segment of the hospitality and tourism industry. This is reflected in the confluence of innovative ship designs, improved distribution channels, market awareness and harbour facilities – all of which are facilitating rapid, sustained expansion.

In his article: "Tourism and technology in the global economy: challenges for small island states", Andrew Spencer outlines how technology diffusion and adoption is affecting inbound travel, especially in world regions with high technology penetration. Spencer concludes that the application of new technologies to the travel package is likely to be key to the prospects for inbound tourism in developing nations.

An African country perspective on human resource challenges is provided by Kobina Armoo and Kate Neequaye in their investigation of the factors influencing students’ choice of career options. They conclude with a discussion of some of the implications for hospitality and tourism operators in a developing country context. Customer service and visitor-host interaction is the subject of Ibrahim Ajagunna and Anne Crick’s paper in which they outline the impact of tourism on host communities in developing countries and the reasons why visitor-host interactions need to be better understood if they are to yield positive experiences for both tourists and local communities.

The concluding article re-visits the theme issue question and draws on all the papers to consider ways in which tourism-dependent economies might achieve long-term sustainable development in a rapidly changing world.

Richard Teare
Managing Editor

Anthony Clayton, Ibrahim Ajagunna and Fritz Pinnock
WHATT Theme Editors

About the Theme Editors

Anthony Clayton is the Alcan Professor of Caribbean Sustainable Development at the University of the West Indies; Visiting Professor at the Centre for Environmental Strategy, School of Engineering, University of Surrey; Visiting Professor, Institute for Studies of Science, Technology and Innovation, School of Social and Political Studies at the University of Edinburgh; Adjunct Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Business and Management, University of Technology, Jamaica; International Associate, Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research, University of St Andrews; Fellow of the Caribbean Academy of Science; Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences and Distinguished Fellow of the Caribbean Association of Eastern European Trained Professionals. He has been honoured with a number of awards and medals for research excellence.

Ibrahim Ajagunna is the Director of Academic Studies at the Caribbean Maritime Institute, Jamaica and the President of the Council of Heads of Caribbean Hospitality Schools. He is also a member of the Board of Studies for Tourism and Hospitality Studies, University Council of Jamaica. Dr Ajagunna is a member of the task force on education and training for the logistics hub development in Jamaica. His research interests are in strategic planning using the blue ocean strategy; maritime transportation and sustainability; integration of logistics and supply chains; security and national development; health tourism using alternative medicines and sustainable tourism development.

Fritz Pinnock is the Executive Director at the Caribbean Maritime Institute, Jamaica. His experience in the shipping and transportation industry spans more than two decades. Dr Pinnock’s consultancy services in strategic management using the blue ocean strategy have been deployed in many Caribbean Islands including Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua and Guyana. Dr Pinnock is the convenor of the task force on education and training for the logistics hub development in Jamaica. His research interests are in developing and integrating operational and strategic plans; re-engineering, cost cutting control, and managerial systems development.