This book examines comparative performance and best practice in National Tourism Organisations/ Administrations from extensive research carried out in 2003 and 2004. It compares qualitative and quantitative data in order to ascertain best performance. Analysis is contained in detail for eight National Tourism Organisations based in four Continents, comprising: Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, South Africa and Spain. Each country is examined and analysed in the following key areas: Travel and Tourism Performance, Organisation of Tourism, The National Tourism Organisation, structure, Role, Staffing and Offices, Resources and Funding as well as providing case studies of good practice. The book includes methodology of the research and provides discussion and comment of the main roles and success formula in comparable National Tourism Organisations. • Useful, practical guide to government's involvement in tourism over the past decade or more • Brings insight from both the academic and practitioner markets • International Case Studies

The aim of this book are two-fold: (1) to evaluate the current progress of theoretical approaches to tourism marketing and (2) to show the ways to further develop the concept of tourism marketing for application within tourist destinations and individual businesses and evaluate its potential impact on performance improvement. The structure is based upon the inclusion of an introduction and four main parts, namely IT marketing, destination competitiveness, image measurement, and consumer behaviour. There is a brief introduction for each part prior to the discussion of specific chapters just to make the readers familiar with their content. The editors believe that there is a need for information on how to better apply both traditional and contemporary marketing tools in order to be more competitive within the international arena. Metin Kozak serves as an Associate Professor of Marketing in the School of Tourism and Hotel Management, Mugla University, Turkey. Also, he is a visiting fellow in the Department of Marketing, University of Namur, Belgium. Following a successful career within the last five years (since the approval of PhD degree in 2000), Metin has received two awards to mark his achievements. In 2001, his PhD dissertation on benchmarking was nominated, by the EFQM- EU, among the best three PhD studies on TQM. In 2004, by a committee of the Turkish Tourism Investors’ Association, he was awarded the grand prize of the tourism researcher of the year 2003 in Turkey. He has published mainly in tourism journals and authored a book on Destination Benchmarking. His main research interests focus on consumer behavior, benchmarking, competitiveness, cross-cultural research, destination management and marketing, and European tourist markets. Luisa Andreu is Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Department of Marketing, University of Valencia, Spain. She obtained her Master's degree in Tourism from the International Centre for Tourism, Bournemouth University, UK, and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Valencia, Spain. She is a member of the Spanish Association of Scientifics in Tourism. She has published various articles in Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, among others. She has presented papers at several conferences organized by the European Marketing Academy, Academy of Marketing Science, CPTHL, and State of the Art: Tourism. She has also involved in numerous academic and industrial projects. Her research interests include consumer behavior and cross-cultural issues in service marketing.

This book examines comparative performance and best practice in National Tourism Organisations/ Administrations from extensive research carried out in 2003 and 2004. It compares qualitative and quantitative data in order to ascertain best performance. Analysis is contained in detail for eight National Tourism Organisations based in four Continents, comprising: Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, South Africa and Spain. Each country is examined and analysed in the following key areas: Travel and Tourism Performance, Organisation of Tourism, The National Tourism Organisation, structure, Role, Staffing and Offices, Resources and Funding as well as providing case studies of good practice. The book includes methodology of the research and provides discussion and comment of the main roles and success formula in comparable National Tourism Organisations. • Useful, practical guide to government's involvement in tourism over the past decade or more • Brings insight from both the academic and practitioner markets • International Case Studies

Taking a global and multidisciplinary approach, The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Travel and Tourism examines the world travel and tourism industry, which is expected to grow at an annual rate of four percent for the next decade.

Political economy, in its various guises and transfigurations, is a research philosophy that presents both social commentary and theoretical progress and is concerned with a number of different topics: politics, regulation and governance, production systems, social relations, inequality and development amongst many others. As a critical theory, political economy seeks to provide an understanding of societies – and of the structures and social relations that form them – in order to evoke social change toward more equitable conditions. Despite the early influence of critical development studies and political economy on tourism research, political economy has received relatively little attention in tourism research. Political Economy and Tourism the first volume to bring together different theoretical perspectives and discourse in political economy related to tourism. Written by leading scholars, the text is organised into three sequential Parts, linked by the principle that ‘the political’ and ‘the economic’ are intimately connected. Part one presents different approaches to political economy, including Marxist political economy, regulation, comparative political economy, commodity chain research and alternative political economies; Part two links key themes of political economy, such as class, gender, labour, development and consumption, to tourism; and Part three examines the political economy at various geographical scales and focuses on the outcomes and processes of the political act of planning and managing tourism production. This engaging volume provides insights and alternative critical perspectives on political economy theory to expand discussions of tourism development and policy in the future. Political Economy and Tourism is a valuable text for students, researchers and academics interested in Tourism and related disciplines.

With the rapid development of technologies, it becomes increasingly important for us to remain up-to-date on new and emerging technologies. This series, therefore, aims to deliver content on current and future technologies and how the young generation benefits from this.

Tourists frequently rely on social networks to provide information about a product or destination as a decision support tool to make adequate decisions in the process of planning a trip. In this digital environment, tourists share their travel experiences, impressions, emotions, special moments, and opinions about an assortment of tourist services like hotels, restaurants, airlines, and car rental services, all of which contribute to the online reputation of a tourist destination. The Handbook of Research on Social Media Applications for the Tourism and Hospitality Sector is a fundamental reference source that provides vital theoretical frameworks and the latest innovative empirical research findings of online social media in the tourism industry. While highlighting topics such as e-business, mobile marketing, and smart tourism, this publication explores user-generated content and the methods of mobile strategies. This book is ideally designed for tour developers, travel agents, restaurateurs, hotel management, tour directors, entrepreneurs, social media analysts, managers, industry professionals, academicians, researchers, and students.

The SAGE Handbook of Tourism Management is a critical, state-of-the-art and authoritative review of tourism management, written by leading international thinkers and academics in the field. With a strong focus on applications of theories and concepts to tourism, the chapters in this volume are framed as critical synoptic pieces covering key developments, current issues and debates, and emerging trends and future considerations for the field. Part One: Approaching Tourism Part Two: Destination Applications Part Three: Marketing Applications Part Four: Tourism Product Markets Part Five: Technological Applications Part Six: Environmental Applications This handbook offers a fresh, contemporary and definitive look at tourism management, making it an essential resource for academics, researchers and students.

Destination Marketing offers the reader an integrated and comprehensive overview of the key challenges and constraints facing destination marketing organisations (DMOs) and how destination marketing can be planned, implemented and evaluated to achieve successful destination competitiveness. This new second edition has been revised and updated to include: new slimline 15-chapter structure new chapters on Destination Competitiveness and Technology new and updated case studies throughout, including emerging markets new content on social media marketing in destination marketing organisations and sustainable destination marketing additional online resources for lecturers and students including PowerPoint slides, quizzes and discussion questions. It is written in an engaging style and applies theory to a range of tourism destinations at the consumer, business, national and international level by using topical examples.

Tourism Marketing: On Both Sides of the Counter is the fourth successful publication by the team that runs the bi-annual Advances in Tourism Marketing Conference, following its foundation by Prof. Metin Kozak. The current volume contains a selection of the best papers presented at the conference in Maribor, Slovenia, in September 2011. As that year’s conference title indicates, it comprises research important for tourism management, by focusing on tourist behaviour with relevance to managerial strategies and operational practices, as well as on business operations, vision and goals, and their impact on tourist experiences. Contributions are clearly arranged into five parts covering topical consumption issues: image, satisfaction, and social and environmental research results. The last two sections cover timely and managerially relevant contributions on tourism ITC, innovation and competitiveness research. The contributions reflect the vibrancy of ATMC and the high calibre of researchers the conference attracts. The book offers itself as a reader for researchers and students of tourism as well as a compelling update on topical research issues in tourism marketing.