The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets a series of sustainable development goals (SDGs) "to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all" by 2030. The Agenda influences ...tourism policy even though the Agenda resolution only mentions tourism three times. A "heterogeneous constructionism" approach is adopted to examine the managerial ecology of tourism and the SDGs. Managerial ecology involves the instrumental application of science and economic utilitarian approaches and in the service of resource utilisation and economic development. A managerial ecological approach is integral to UNWTO work on the SDGs, as well as other actors, and is reflected in policy recommendations for achievement of the SDGs even though tourism is less sustainable than ever with respect to resource use. This situation substantially affects capacities to do "other," and create alternative development and policy trajectories. It is concluded that a more reflexive understanding of knowledge and management is required to better understand the implications of knowledge circulation and legitimisation and action for sustainable tourism. More fundamentally, there is a need to rethink human-environment relations given the mistaken belief that the exertion of more effort and greater efficiency will alone solve problems of sustainable tourism.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is challenging the world. With no vaccine and limited medical capacity to treat the disease, nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPI) are the main strategy to contain ...the pandemic. Unprecedented global travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders are causing the most severe disruption of the global economy since World War II. With international travel bans affecting over 90% of the world population and wide-spread restrictions on public gatherings and community mobility, tourism largely ceased in March 2020. Early evidence on impacts on air travel, cruises, and accommodations have been devastating. While highly uncertain, early projections from UNWTO for 2020 suggest international arrivals could decline by 20 to 30% relative to 2019. Tourism is especially susceptible to measures to counteract pandemics because of restricted mobility and social distancing. The paper compares the impacts of COVID-19 to previous epidemic/pandemics and other types of global crises and explores how the pandemic may change society, the economy, and tourism. It discusses why COVID-19 is an analogue to the ongoing climate crisis, and why there is a need to question the volume growth tourism model advocated by UNWTO, ICAO, CLIA, WTTC and other tourism organizations.
Great hopes have been placed in the sharing economy to provide a new business model based on peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges of underutilized assets. As a model, the sharing economy has been expected to ...make significant contributions to sustainability, providing new opportunities for entrepreneurship, more sustainable use of resources, and consumer co-operation in tight economic networks. However, in recent years, digital platforms have turned into the most important actors in the global sharing economy, turning global corporations, such as AirBnB, Booking, or TripAdvisor into intermediaries controlling and profiting from most transactions. Focused on accommodation, this paper conceptualizes the sharing economy in comparison to the wider collaborative economy, and discusses its social, economic, environmental, and political impacts in comparison to the sustainable development goals. It concludes that the sharing economy has great potential to make very significant contributions to sustainability, though the model is increasingly being replaced by the collaborative economy, which performs as an extension and acceleration of neoliberal economic practices.
•Hedonic motivation has not previously been used to assess VR subjective well-being.•This study uses the hedonic adoption model to examine consumer use of VR tourism.•The effect of enjoyment on flow ...state is highly related to subjective well-being.•Flow state and subjective well-being significantly influence continued use of VR.•Visitor/non-visitor moderates the relationship between usefulness and flow state.
Virtual reality (VR) tourism provides consumers with the opportunity to experience a destination in VR and can play a significant role in encouraging visitation and engaging in particular travel activities and behaviors. Hedonic motivation adoption frameworks with flow state and subjective well-being have been shown to have significant roles in continued use of information technology. However, research on a theoretically integrated hedonic motivation system adoption model (HMSAM) specifically with enjoyment, flow state, subjective well-being, and continued use has not previously been conducted with respect to VR tourism. To address this gap, this study develops and investigates a conceptually comprehensive model on the effect of consumers’ hedonic behaviors on continued use, with the moderating role of visitor or non-visitor at the destination portrayed in VR tourism. Results identified the highly significant effect of consumers’ perceived enjoyment on flow state and of flow state on subjective well-being. Continued use was greatly influenced by flow state and subjective well-being. Importantly for destinations association between usefulness and flow state had a significant moderating effect depending on whether a visitor or non-visitor. The findings offer new knowledge to researchers and industry in the VR tourism fields.
Governance is a key concept in politics and public policy that is increasingly utilised in tourism. Using the notion of "policy as theory", a typology of governance suitable for tourism is ...systematically developed. Categorical variables are developed from the relationship between state intervention and self-regulation and the relationships between policy actors and steering modes. The resultant matrix identifies four governance types: hierarchies, markets, networks and communities. A 12-point framework of governance identifies core elements, including classifying characteristics, policy themes, policy standpoints, democratic models, primary focus, views of non-central actors, distinctions between policymaking and implementation, success criteria, implementation gaps, the reasons and solutions for those gaps and the primary policy instruments used. An example of the application is provided using an analysis of state party's implementation of the 1993 Convention on Biological Diversity. It is concluded that clear categorical variables contribute to improved formulation and evaluation of explanatory claims, help clarify key concepts and assist in the comparative analysis of governance and tourism policy between jurisdictions and over time.
A long-standing belief is that sign language interferes with spoken language development in deaf children, despite a chronic lack of evidence supporting this belief. This deserves discussion as poor ...life outcomes continue to be seen in the deaf population. This commentary synthesizes research outcomes with signing and non-signing children and highlights fully accessible language as a protective factor for healthy development. Brain changes associated with language deprivation may be misrepresented as sign language interfering with spoken language outcomes of cochlear implants. This may lead to professionals and organizations advocating for preventing sign language exposure before implantation and spreading misinformation. The existence of one—time-sensitive—language acquisition window means a strong possibility of permanent brain changes when spoken language is not fully accessible to the deaf child and sign language exposure is delayed, as is often standard practice. There is no empirical evidence for the harm of sign language exposure but there is some evidence for its benefits, and there is growing evidence that lack of language access has negative implications. This includes cognitive delays, mental health difficulties, lower quality of life, higher trauma, and limited health literacy. Claims of cochlear implant- and spoken language-only approaches being more effective than sign language-inclusive approaches are not empirically supported. Cochlear implants are an unreliable standalone first-language intervention for deaf children. Priorities of deaf child development should focus on healthy growth of all developmental domains through a fully-accessible first language foundation such as sign language, rather than auditory deprivation and speech skills.
Climate change will have far-reaching consequence for the future of tourism. A Climate Change Vulnerability Index for Tourism (CVIT) comprised of 27 indicators provides a transparent and systematic ...first analysis of the differential vulnerability of the tourism sector in 181 countries. Countries with the lowest vulnerability are found in western and northern Europe, central Asia, Canada and New Zealand. High sector vulnerability is found in Africa, Middle East, South Asia and Small Island Developing States. Vulnerability is highest in many countries where tourism represents the largest proportion of GDP and regions where tourism growth is expected to be the strongest over the coming decades. Climate change will pose an increasing barrier to tourism contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals.
•Lowest climate change vulnerability for tourism is found in higher-latitude OECD countries•Highest climate change vulnerability often coincides with highest sector GDP contribution•Highest vulnerability exists in regions where tourism growth is expected to be the strongest•Climate change will pose an increasing barrier to tourism contributions to UN SDGs•Consideration of climate change should be strengthened in tourism development plans
In an effort to contain the advancement of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many states have introduced unprecedented peacetime measures ranging from border closures and travel bans to the ...suspension of visa exemptions, as well as internal mobility restrictions, including full lockdowns and quarantine for incoming passengers. Nevertheless, coercive measures such as sanctions continue to be applied during the COVID-19 outbreak and have largely undermined sanctioned countries' capacity to respond to the pandemic. The latter has prompted renewed discussion of the humanitarian costs of this frequently deployed foreign policy tool against the civilian populations in the target countries. The inconsistent application of border controls and travel restrictions by states also raise questions as to the politics of pandemics and how they fulfill the International Health Regulations. Framed from a geopolitical perspective, this study aims to discuss the power of sanctions regime in relation to state responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper also discusses the degree of selectivity of border restrictions by major global tourism destinations. While the COVID-19 pandemic is first and foremost a health crisis, its implications are economically and geo-politically far-reaching with corresponding implications for the framing of travel and tourism within humanitarian and political contexts.
Purpose of Review
Articular chondrocytes are exclusively responsible for the turnover of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of hyaline cartilage. However, chondrocytes are phenotypically unstable and, if ...they de-differentiate into hypertrophic or fibroblastic forms, will produce a defective and weak matrix. Chondrocyte volume and morphology exert a strong influence over phenotype and a full appreciation of the factors controlling chondrocyte phenotype stability is central to understanding (a) the mechanisms underlying the cartilage failure in osteoarthritis (OA), (b) the rationale for hyaline cartilage repair, and (c) the strategies for improving the engineering of resilient cartilage. The focus of this review is on the factors involved in, and the importance of regulating, chondrocyte morphology and volume as key controllers of chondrocyte phenotype.
Recent Findings
The visualisation of fluorescently-labelled in situ chondrocytes within non-degenerate and mildly degenerate cartilage, by confocal scanning laser microscopy (CLSM) and imaging software, has identified the marked heterogeneity of chondrocyte volume and morphology. The presence of chondrocytes with cytoplasmic processes, increased volume, and clustering suggests important early changes to their phenotype. Results from experiments more closely aligned to the normal physico-chemical environment of in situ chondrocytes are emphasising the importance of understanding the factors controlling chondrocyte morphology and volume that ultimately affect phenotype.
Summary
An appreciation of the importance of chondrocyte volume and morphology for controlling the chondrocyte phenotype is advancing at a rapid pace and holds particular promise for developing strategies for protecting the chondrocytes against deleterious changes and thereby maintaining healthy and resilient cartilage.
Disease outbreaks and pandemics have long played a role in societal and economic change. However, the nature of such change is selective, meaning that it is sometimes minimal and, at other times, and ...change or transformation may be unexpected, potentially even reinforcing contemporary paradigms. A comprehensive overview of pandemics and their effects is provided. This is used to help contextualise the COVID-19 pandemic, its impact on tourism and government, industry and consumer response. Drawing on the available literature, factors that will affect tourism and destination recovery are then identified. Some measures will continue or even expand present growth orientations in tourism while others may contribute to sustainability. It is concluded that that the selective nature of the effects of COVID-19 and the measures to contain it may lead to reorientation of tourism in some cases, but in others will contribute to policies reflecting the selfish nationalism of some countries. However, the response to planetary limits and sustainable tourism requires a global approach. Despite clear evidence of this necessity, the possibility for a comprehensive transformation of the tourism system remains extremely limited without a fundamental transformation of the entire planet.
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