Tourism mobilities: still a current issue in tourism?

publication-status: Publishedtypes: Article"This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Current Issues in Tourism on 08 Aug 2014, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13683500.2014.937325.”It is over a decade since the mobilities agenda first emerged in substantive form. Cohen and Cohen’s (2014) paper provides a timely opportunity to reflect on the achievements of mobilities thinking as it relates to travel and tourism, in other words ‘tourism mobilities’. Viewed in multiple historical contexts, the emergence of a mobilities approach to understanding tourism is entirely justified. However, it is an important backdrop for any state-ofthe-art or cutting-edge analysis of tourism mobilities. Three enduring but fundamental issues regarding the study of tourism mobilities are raised, including whether the tourism mobilities agenda travels well. International comparative work of this nature on emerging world regions is clearly welcome and offers significant insights. However, viewed against its historical backdrop, it raises questions about the level of interest and penetration of the tourism mobilities agenda generally, and beyond Europe, North America and Australasia specifically. In the process, it raises the spectre that interest in tourism mobilities is perhaps not what it once was and the tourism academy may have moved on to the next grand challenge

Energy practices among small- and medium-sized tourism enterprises: a case of misdirected effort?

notes: Published online 18/09/2014publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticleNOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Cleaner Production. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Cleaner Production. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.09.028Discussion of sustainable tourism has become dominated by the issue of climate change. As a major source of emissions, the tourism sector has a vital role to play in efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. Within the current body of knowledge and among major policy discourses, the prevailing paradigm has been to encourage action: reduced emissions will follow innovations in managerial practices and the uptake of the latest, most resource-efficient technologies. This paper examines energy practices among small- and medium-sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs), reporting empirical research conducted as part of a five-year programme. Although energy was a significant cost of production, it did not feature prominently in the business administration of most SMTEs. A major knowledge gap was exposed regarding how energy was consumed and administered by individual businesses. The paper argues for a major shift in thinking away from the number of actions as the key success criterion. Action alone is no guarantee of emissions reductions in a sector where growth is the dominant imperative. Instead, a crucial reorientation towards stimulating higher levels of energy literacy among SMTEs is necessary in parallel to rebalancing of attention towards energy generation

Corporate social responsibility: issues for future development in the low-fares airlines sector

Research reportFor reasons beyond our control, access to this report will resume on 1 December 2012 - please direct any queries to [email protected] practitioner-focused review of the research that emphasises the issues and opportunities managers might face should they decide to develop their CSR further. Main findings from the research are that sustainable development, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and aviation policies have only limited linkages, especially on the UK regional level. Within the sector, low-fares airlines do have socially-responsible initiatives, mostly centred on environmentally-sensitive technological investment and charitable/community support. However, low-fares airlines do not communicate their activities as widely as other sectors and full-service carriers.Research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of its Business Engagement Scheme under the title Social Responsibility among Low-fares Airlines: Current Practices and FutureTrends (RES 185-3-0046)

Sustainable development, corporate social responsibility and aviation in the UK: connecting policy perspectives

Research reportFor reasons beyond our control, access to this report will resume on 1 December 2012 - please direct any queries to [email protected] overview of the most recent EU, UK and UK regions’ policiesResearch funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of its Business Engagement Scheme under the title Social Responsibility among Low-fares Airlines: Current Practices and FutureTrends (RES 185-3-0046)

Corporate social responsibility reporting among European low-fares airlines: challenges for the examination and development of sustainable mobilities

publication-status: Publishedtypes: Article"This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Sustainable Tourism on 3 March 2013, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/ 10.1080/09669582.2013.790391”This paper examines corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices among the growing Low-Fares Airlines (LFAs) flying between mainland Europe and the UK. A mixed methods approach was employed combining a content analysis of 22 airlines’ documentation with key-informant interviews with 11 airlines including three of the four market leading LFAs. The research discovered evidence that LFAs were aware of the need to act more responsibly but how far intentions resulted in action was difficult to establish. To date the examination of LFAs has relied heavily on secondary sources and perspectives external to the firm. The firms’ own CSR-related texts do not represent a reliable basis for examining responsibility among LFAs; they have a high degree of fragmentation and variable quality. In-depth interviews showed that while there is more CSR activity than is made public, incomplete knowledge was a more significant problem than bias or spin. Very few LFAs had conducted a systemic audit of CSR-related activity. Integrative approaches are required to overcome the limitations of single methods, to contribute towards a fuller understanding of responsibility among LFAs, and to inform debate on whether it is necessary to regulate in order to encourage sustainable development in this high growth sector.Economic and Social Research Counci

Carbon villains? Climate change responses among accommodation providers in historic premises

Copyright © 2016 Taylor & Francis This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Heritage Tourism on 25 September 2015 available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/1743873X.2015.1082569Building stock is a major anthropogenic source of emissions contributing to global warming. Older buildings are conventionally portrayed as performing worse environmentally than more recent buildings. For a sector like tourism, which relies heavily on historic building stock, this raises questions about its ability to contribute to emissions reductions moving forward. This paper explores the relationship between the age and environmental performance of historic premises for small accommodation businesses in South West England, first by correlation analysis and then three extensive case-studies. It argues that the failure to integrate heritage buildings in tourism scholarship on climate change is a major lacuna. Empirically, no statistically significant relationship is found between environmental performance and the date when the original premises were first built. Far from being carbon villains, several ccommodation providers in older premises perform very well against environmental benchmarking schemes. Three types of heritage accommodation providers are identified on the basis of their perceived and actual levels of environmental performance. The paper concludes that heritage building stock of itself is no impediment to action on climate change. Guidance to tourism businesses in such properties should make them aware of this, and provide tailored advice to help them realise potential opportunities.Economic and Social Research CouncilEuropean Regional Development Fund (2007-13

Corporate social responsibility among low-fares airlines: current practices and future trends

Research reportFor reasons beyond our control, access to this report will resume on 1 December 2012 - please direct any queries to [email protected] in-depth analysis of low-fares airlines’ annual reports, websites and press releases, as well as findings and analysis of interviews with key airline managers.Research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of its Business Engagement Scheme under the title Social Responsibility among Low-fares Airlines: Current Practices and FutureTrends (RES 185-3-0046)

Charitable partnerships among travel and tourism businesses: perspectives from low fares airlines.

This is the accepted version of the following article:Fenclova, E. and Coles, T. (2011), Charitable Partnerships among Travel and Tourism Businesses: Perspectives from Low-Fares Airlines. Int. J. Tourism Res., 13: 337–354., which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jtr.854/abstract.Responsibility has been advocated as a key concept for the future management and governance of the tourism sector yet it has not been the subject of extensive empirical research among businesses and organisations. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by examining corporate philanthropy practises among low-fares airlines as a new and key sub-sector in travel and tourism. An analytical framework is developed and applied. Corporate philanthropy is practised more widely than may have been anticipated by the low-fares business model. For studies of tourism, the paper points to the need for greater theoretical and conceptual urgency in research on CSR and corporate philanthropy if future action is to match current advocacy

May we live in less interesting times? Changing public sector support for tourism in England during the Sovereign Debt Crisis

publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticleNOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Destination Marketing and Management. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, vol. 1,1-2:4-7 doi:10.1016/j.jdmm.2012.05.004This Regional Spotlight focuses on recent changes in public sector support for tourism in England since the Coalition Government was elected in 2010. It focuses on some of the early consequences of stripping away the long-established regional layer of tourism administration and its replacement with more flexible sub-regional arrangements of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and Destination Management Organisations (DMOs). Policy extols the importance of reaping the rewards of the 2012 Olympics, but the recent changes in tourism administration challenge this by creating great uncertainty and by putting responsibility for delivery in the hands of multiple quasi-independent, non-government bodies

Responsibilities, recession and the tourism sector: perspectives on CSR among low-fares airlines during the economic downturn in the United Kingdom

publication-status: Publishedtypes: Article"This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Current Issues in Tourism on 22 Jan 2011, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/ 10.1080/13683500.2010.544719”Responsibility has featured prominently in recent discussions about tourism governance. Nevertheless, research into corporate social responsibility (CSR) among travel and tourism businesses is at a relatively early stage. This paper reports on external stakeholders’ perceptions of CSR among low-fares airlines (LFAs) in peripheral regions of the United Kingdom in late 2008; that is, during the current global economic downturn. LFAs, their business plans and their ability to contribute towards sustainable development has been the source of much public discourse and media scrutiny in the last decade. This paper does not set out to reopen that debate per se. Rather it contributes to a deeper understanding of CSR in the tourism sector by arguing for a more nuanced approach to external stakeholders, one which is also informed by primary empirical research from qualitative sources, and which is conceptually informed by the latest thinking from other sectors of economic activity. Important inter-regional variations exist in external stakeholders’ perceptions and valorisations of CSR, they are context-specific, and they are not static as their responses to the recent downturn reveal.Economic and Social Research Counci