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The purpose of this paper is to reveal those attributes of owners and managers that influence knowledge flows between owners and managers in a tourism destination network. The research question relates to whether homogeneity and/or heterogeneity attributes of the owners and managers are associated with the flow of information within a knowledge network.

Owners and managers of tourism and hospitality businesses in the Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch conurbation were surveyed regarding their receipt of information from each other. Social network analysis (SNA) was applied to understand how job position, type of business, gender and education attributes influence the information flows within a knowledge network.

It was revealed that the ties or flows of information were influenced through the heterogeneity of the type of education attribute of a business owner or manager. Other attributes such as type of business, job position or gender were not associated with the receipt of information.

The contribution of the paper relates to increasing the understanding of an underlying attribute that influences information flows between owners and managers of tourism and hospitality businesses within a tourism destination.

The paper contributes to the understanding of a heterogeneous attribute that influences the flow of information within a tourism destination network.

This paper aims to critically review the contribution made by this theme issue in responding to the strategic question: “How can Caribbean tourism investment, business and operations align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals?”

A critical content analysis of the papers selected for the theme issue was undertaken to learn about the best practices and experiences from countries in the Caribbean. The rationale for the issue was explored using a set of questions to determine the selected material.

This summary paper highlights the most significant outcomes from the theme issue in terms of the contributions to knowledge and/or professional practice and also the implications for management action and applied research arising from the outcomes and best practices in some of the countries in the Caribbean. Case studies discussed include relevant experiences derived from application of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Aruba, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize Grenada, Cuba, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago.

This paper outlines the challenges and new approaches that are needed to manage tourism investment, business and operations in line with the UN’s SDGs that are now well established in other countries and regions.

The paper explores the extent to which the lessons and innovative approaches discussed in this theme issue could be replicated and applied in small island developing states that are trying to comply with the UN SDG 2030 target.

This viewpoint article aims to explore yachting tourism in the Caribbean to understand its contribution to the economic and social well-being of stakeholders. In terms of the overall marine tourism offering, several Caribbean countries have designated a yachting tourism industry as being part and parcel of tourism development, while other countries have focused on cruise tourism. This viewpoint article argues for supporting the development of the yachting tourism industry in small islands since yachting tourism has a potentially positive impact on the tourism industry overall.

Descriptive case studies were conducted in Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to compare the contributions of the yachting tourism industry. Secondary data sources were utilized to derive the information by analyzing relevant newspaper articles, tourism statistics, books and journal articles.

The Caribbean continues to benefit from a yachting tourism industry with prominent yachting destinations in the Northern Caribbean of the archipelago of islands. The yachting tourism industry has proven to be resilient, and yachting visitors may also integrate within local communities and support several economic activities.

One potential practical implication is the adoption of policies that support the growth of the yachting tourism industry. Another practical implication is overcoming the challenges of the yachting tourism industry by adopting certain management solutions.

The value of the viewpoint article is to derive a greater contribution from marine tourism activities in the Caribbean. Tourism policies and plans should consider the growth of the yachting industry as an integral part of tourism development and somewhat shift focus from the dominant cruise tourism sector.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the information flows, in terms of content and process, underpinning the sharing of knowledge by managers and owners. Such an examination reveals similarities and differences that will influence the generation and dissemination of knowledge used in tourism business operations and contribute to innovation.

This paper examines information flows within the theoretical and methodological framework of social network analysis. The findings were derived from a quantitative study of tourism managers and owners of a tourism hub in South-West England.

The main finding was that network structure characteristics determine the flow of information within owners’ and managers’ social networks. The owners of smaller businesses received information from several sources and, therefore, had fewer structural constraints and reported larger structural holes. In comparison, the managers had more brokerage opportunities to disseminate the information within their social networks.

This paper highlights knowledge sharing between tourism business managers and owners in an open network structure. First, an open network structure builds innovation through the provision of nonredundant information. This is determined through the effective size of structural holes and the dissemination of information through brokerage roles. Second, the knowledge capability of a destination is built up through the social networking of managers and owners. The generation and dissemination of knowledge in a tourism destination are facilitated by the social networking activities of managers and owners.

Managers and owners of tourism businesses require knowledge through information to assist with innovative business practices. The practical implication of this is that the social networks of managers and owners have different network characteristics, and that these differences result in consequences for the innovation of business practices. Another practical implication relates to the importance of managers in knowledge dissemination based on having several brokerage roles in the tourism destination.

These findings are important because an understanding of social networks and the flow of information is one of the keys to determining the influences on knowledge sharing within tourism destination knowledge networks of owners or managers and their potential contributions to innovation.

The purpose of this chapter is an exploration of the potential benefits derived from a country destination being geographically co-located to tourist destinations that have experienced considerable tourism growth. Those high-performing tourism destinations are often in close proximity to main tourist-generating markets adjacent to the Caribbean region.

An exploratory descriptive research study that utilised secondary data sources to explore the potential benefits of Haiti being co-located in the Greater Caribbean Antilles and The Bahamas.

Given Haiti's present socio-economic and political crises, tourism growth challenges are evident. Nonetheless, based on Haiti's interactions with countries in the Greater Antilles, which obtained visitor arrivals of over one (1) million, including Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, and The Bahamas that is further north of the zone, opportunities and constraints for Haiti's tourism growth are identified. Opportunities exist for human resource sharing, transport integration, cultural exchanges, education and knowledge exchanges, investment and diplomatic relations to support tourism development in Haiti.

Given consideration to approaches utilised to develop tourism in the Caribbean basin, the argument is that tourism development can occur by being geographically co-located, and networking with other tourism destinations as this co-location may propel tourism growth in a country destination.

The purpose of this chapter is to report on the effects of a natural disaster on the tourism sector of Grand Bahama Island (GBI). This chapter explores the process of tourism destination recovery. Tourism destination recovery has become an important area of study in Small Island Developing States (SIDs). SIDs have been subject to increasing external shocks based on the state of the natural environment including climate change. GBI is the northernmost populated island in The Bahamas and the island has been impacted by several hurricanes within recent times including Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Dorian in 2019. A review of the tourism literature revealed that tourism destination recovery is an underresearched area in the Caribbean. Data were collected from stakeholder interviews to determine the process of tourism destination recovery. Findings revealed the importance to focus on product development, marketing, and coordination aspects of a tourism destination in recovery. This chapter offers a path towards tourism destination recovery by highlighting some of the challenges of the process, with consideration of a recovery framework for tourism destinations.

This chapter explores the data exchange relationships between stakeholders in a tourism domain as a means of assessing the potential application of open data initiatives. Social network analysis is utilized to analyze network relationships and explain the pattern and consequences of these relationships. Based on centrality and other network attributes, the analysis highlights the key influencers in the tourism data ecosystem examined, and suggests that initial steps towards implementing a tourism open data policy should focus on opening up tourism asset data, and relaxing current restrictive data exchange practices. The agency with responsibility for collecting and disseminating tourism asset data, is well positioned to become the data broker in an emergent tourism open data ecosystem.