CLASIFICACIÓN DE LAS ACTIVIDADES ARTESANALES

As the second research objective of the thesis is to test a newly developed framework on the dive tourism system in Luganville, this section discusses tourism from a systems perspective. It provides a definition of tourism, an overview of tourism on a global scale and a brief discussion on the possible positive and negative influences of tourism. This is followed by a discussion on why a systems approach is appropriate for the study reported in this thesis.

Tourism is defined by many academics (Smith, 2010). Definitions have developed through time from very simple meanings, such as that of Mathieson and Wall in 1982viii (Gunn, 1994), to more detailed designations. These later definitions acknowledge the complexity of tourism from a systems approach, such as McIntosh et al.’s (1995) definitionix that incorporates new elements that had been neglected in earlier definitions of tourism (Ritchie, 2009), or Jafari’s (2000) definitionx, which indicates that the individual parts of tourism relate to each other (Gunn, 1994). This thesis applies the UNWTO’s (n.d.) definition of tourism: “Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes” (n.p.). Furthermore, the UNWTO definition of a visitor is also applied, as follows:

“A visitor is a traveller taking a trip to a main destination outside his/her usual environment, for less than a year, for any main purpose (business, leisure or other personal purpose) other than to be employed by a resident entity in the country or place visited. A visitor (domestic, inbound or outbound) is classified as a tourist (or overnight visitor), if his/her trip includes an overnight stay, or as a same-day visitor (or excursionist) otherwise” (UNWTO, n.d., n.p.).

I have used these UNWTO definitions as they are the official definitions provided by the UNWTO that are accepted by most national statistical offices (Smith, 2010).

viii _{“…the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and}

residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater for these needs” (Mathieson & Wall, 1982, p. 1).

ix _{“…the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the interaction of tourist, business}

suppliers, host governments, and communities in the process of attracting and hosting these tourists and other visitors” [italics in original source] (McIntosh et al., 1995, p. 10).

x _{“…the study of man (the tourist) away from his[/her] usual habitat, of the touristic apparatus and}

networks responding to his[/her] various needs, and of the ordinary (where the tourist is coming from) and nonordinary (where the tourist goes to) worlds and their dialectic relationships” (Jafari, 2000, p. 585).

21 Furthermore, the tourism definition indicates the complexity of tourism by recognising the social, cultural, economic and environmental aspects of tourism. Smith (2010) presents the complexity of tourism in another way by stating, “It [i.e. tourism] is a form of human behaviour; a social phenomenon; an economic sector; a policy field; and a source of social, environmental, and economic change” (p. 1).

Globally, the tourism sector is now one of the largest economic sectors (Douglas, Douglas & Derrett, 2001; Weaver & Oppermann, 2000). In 1950, 25 million international visitor arrivals globally were accounted for, whereas in 2009, these arrivals had grown to 880 million and the industry accounted for US$852 billion in tourism receipts globally (UNWTO, 2010). Tourism accounts for an overall export income of approximately US$3 billion per day (UNWTO, 2008). The tourism sector has since seen a further growth and in 2010, the global international tourism sector saw 935 million international arrivals (UNWTO, 2011). On a global scale, the sheer size of the tourism sector means it has immense potential to provide significant social, economic and environmental benefits to local communities and countries through sustainable development (WTTC, UNWTO & Earth Council, 1995).

Tourism can bring about a range of positive and negative influences on the environment, people and the economy. On the one hand, the positive impacts of tourism may include but are not limited to, cross-cultural understanding, direct revenue, employment, improved infrastructure, sense of place, economic multiplier effects, contribution to conservation and protection, poverty eradication, peace, sense of pride, health and well-being and a promotion of cultural values (Douglas et al., 2001; Hang, 2008; McIntosh et al, 1995; Pedersen, 2002; Weaver & Oppermann, 2000). On the other hand, it has long been acknowledged that tourism can also bring about costs in the form of direct and indirect impacts. The costs of tourism can include crowding, congestion, increased crime rates, loss of access to resources, loss of place, pollution, environmental degradation, economic leakages, generation of waste, cultural commodification and seasonality (Briguglio et al., 1996; Douglas et al., 2001; Hang, 2008; McIntosh et al., 1995; Pedersen, 2002; Weaver & Oppermann, 2000).

There are a number of theoretical frameworks presented in the tourism literature to explain the complexity of tourism. “Tourism frameworks can apply to whole systems or sub-systems, and to various spatial scales: site/project; locality; region; national; or

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international” (Getz, 1986, p. 23). For example, Gunn (1994) presented a descriptive framework of tourism, which defined tourism as the balance of two sub-systems (i.e. demand and supply) that sit within a greater context. McIntosh et al. (1995), however, looked at tourism from a purely supply aspect showing the links between tourist suppliers and activities; and Butler (1980) looked at the evolution of tourism on a spatial scale covering the tourism destination. Getz (1986) reviewed 150 tourism frameworks, of which only four applied a whole systems approach (Farrell & Twining- Ward, 2004). Due to the complexity of tourism, a whole of systems approach is deemed more appropriate for this study. It is through this systems lens that the previous climate change adaptation tourism studies have been addressed (e.g. Jopp, DeLacy & Mair, 2010, Moreno & Becken, 2009).

Systems theory is not a new concept. It was developed in the 1930s with the aim of reducing complexity by breaking the whole system into smaller elements while highlighting the connection between these various elements (Jafari, 2000). Boulding (1956) argued that there were nine levels of the theoretical discourse of systems: 1) static frameworks (e.g. Copernican Revolution); 2) clock works (e.g. solar system); 3) control mechanism, or otherwise named thermostat, (e.g. the homeostasis framework); 4) open system, or otherwise called a cell (e.g. a river); 5) genetic-societal level (e.g. plants); 6) animal level; 7) human-level; 8) social organisations; and 9) transcendental systems. As the above discourse levels show, a system can be looked at from micro to macro scales, but the system is viewed as a unified whole (McIntosh et al., 1995). Hence, “a system can be defined as a group of interrelated, interdependent and interacting elements that together form a single functional structure” (Weaver & Oppermann, 2000, p. 23). Since its development, systems theory has been applied to a range of fields of knowledge (Boulding, 1956).

Systems theory was not applied to tourism until the latter period of the twentieth century. Tourism has often been described as an open system (Jafari, 2000), as its core elements are affected by a range of external factors, including natural resources, government policies, community and cultural resources, to name a few (Gunn, 1994). In other words, the tourism system is embedded in external systems, such as economic, political, socio-cultural and physical systems (Ritchie, 2009; Weaver & Oppermann, 2000). This is a notion that in vulnerability science is termed the “coupled human– environment system” (Turner et al., 2003). Getz (1986) provides an overview of some

23 of the first holistic tourism frameworks that were reported in the literature in the 1960s through to the 1980s. Included in this short list of whole systems frameworks was Neil Leiper’s “basic whole tourism system”, which is considered one of the most renowned tourism system frameworks (Weaver & Oppermann, 2000).

In order to test the established key elements of a V/R assessment in the context of Vanuatu’s dive tourism system (the second research objective of this thesis), an understanding of the elements of a tourism system is required. The following describes and discusses the various elements based on the current literature.

The ‘basic whole tourism system’ is an open system that incorporates five key elements. The five basic elements of Leiper’s (2004) tourism system framework include: (1) tourists; (2) tourist-generating regions (TGR); (3) tourist destination regions (TDR); (4) transit route (TR); and (5) tourism industries. These elements do not exist in a vacuum; they are embedded within a wider socio-political, economic, and environmental context. This context shapes every aspect of the system from the tourists’ desires and expectations through to legal parameters of travel (visa requirements, airline emission standards, and flight curfews), tourism planning and policy structures and processes, as well as economic revenue flows that run through the economic goods and services value chain. Tourism activity does centre on the destination, but the impact and consequences of shocks and more slow-onset stressors, such as global warming and sea-level rise, on one part of the system reverberate throughout the entire system (Calgaro & Lloyd, 2008). This echo of effects highlights the close integration of “the world’s economies, transport systems and media and communication networks” (Hall, 2010, p. 401). Figure 2-2 provides an overview of the functioning tourism system and the external factors that may influence the system.

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FIGURE 2-2: EXTERNAL INFLUENCES ON THE FUNCTIONING TOURISM SYSTEM

There is a number of industry sectors involved in the tourism system. Each has a different role to play and the level of involvement can range from negligible through to major. For example, some have an important role to play in the TGR but are negligible in the TDR, whereas others play a major role in the TDR but are negligible in the TGR. Weaver and Oppermann (2000) developed an overview of the varying roles of the different industry sectors across the TGR, TR and TDR—an adapted version is shown in Table 2-4.

TABLE 2-4: LEVEL OF INVOLVEMENT OF INDUSTRY SECTORS WITHIN THE TOURISM SYSTEM

Categories Tourist Generating Region (TGR)

Transit Route (TR)

Tourist Destination Region (TDR)

Travel agencies Major Negligible Negligible

Transportation Minor Major Major

Accommodation Negligible Major Major

Food & beverages Negligible Major Major

Tour operators Minor Minor Major

Attractions Negligible Negligible Major

Merchandisers Minor Minor Major

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