Implementing sustainable tourism: a multi-stakeholder involvement management framework

Within the extensive body of literature on sustainable tourism (ST), its successful implementation is an emerging and important theme. The lack of or ineffective stakeholder participation is a major obstacle to ST realisation and there is little clarity as to how best to resolve this problem. This paper presents the findings of a purposive UK-based case study that evaluated stakeholder involvement in the implementation of ST. Using over fifty stakeholders’ accounts drawn from eight primary stakeholder groups, a ‘multi-stakeholder involvement management’ (MSIM) framework was developed. The MSIM framework consists of three strategic levels: attraction, integration and management of stakeholder involvement. Six stages are embedded within the three levels: scene-setting, recognition of stakeholder involvement capacity, stakeholder relationship management, pursuit of achievable objectives, influencing implementation capacity and monitoring stakeholder involvement. These are supported by the overarching notion of ‘hand-holding’ and key actions [e.g. managing stakeholder adaptability] that enhance stakeholder involvement in ST. Key words: Implementation, Sustainable Tourism, Stakeholder Involvement, Stakeholder framewor

Establishing IUCN Red List Criteria for Threatened Ecosystems

The potential for conservation of individual species has been greatly advanced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature\u27s (IUCN) development of objective, repeatable, and transparent criteria for assessing extinction risk that explicitly separate risk assessment from priority setting. At the IV World Conservation Congress in 2008, the process began to develop and implement comparable global standards for ecosystems. A working group established by the IUCN has begun formulating a system of quantitative categories and criteria, analogous to those used for species, for assigning levels of threat to ecosystems at local, regional, and global levels. A final system will require definitions of ecosystems; quantification of ecosystem status; identification of the stages of degradation and loss of ecosystems; proxy measures of risk (criteria); classification thresholds for these criteria; and standardized methods for performing assessments. The system will need to reflect the degree and rate of change in an ecosystem\u27s extent, composition, structure, and function, and have its conceptual roots in ecological theory and empirical research. On the basis of these requirements and the hypothesis that ecosystem risk is a function of the risk of its component species, we propose a set of four criteria: recent declines in distribution or ecological function, historical total loss in distribution or ecological function, small distribution combined with decline, or very small distribution. Most work has focused on terrestrial ecosystems, but comparable thresholds and criteria for freshwater and marine ecosystems are also needed. These are the first steps in an international consultation process that will lead to a unified proposal to be presented at the next World Conservation Congress in 2012

State of the world’s tourism statistics and what to do about it

Analogous to national economic statistics, national tourism statistics communicate the sizes of various tourism activities for individual countries. The World Tourism Organization annually compiles the national tourism statistics for most countries of the world. An analysis of the completeness of country reports discloses how extensive the Systems of Tourism Statistics (STS) are for 209 countries. Reporting countries are grouped into five tiers according to the extent of their STS. The study finds only 11% of countries fall in the most comprehensive STS tier, while 57% fall in the least extensive STS tiers. Logistic regression is employed to identify factors predicting tier membership and 2 among 12 are found to be significant predictor variables: Global Competitiveness and Political Freedom-Civil Liberties. This suggests which countries in higher tiers might assist tiers 4-5 countries in extending their STS. Additional recommendations for improving the extent of the world\u27s tourism statistics are presented