Didáctica e investigación en interpretación

Numerous destinations are struggling to achieve sustainability (Sheldon et al. 2005) and to date, there is no agreed approach as to how destinations should develop their tourism in a sustainable fashion. Many destinations continue to be in a vicious circle, in what the tourists come to see is what is actually being destroyed (Poon 1993; Buhalis 1999; Wall and Mathieson 2006). “For every report of success it often seems that there are ten reports of failure or at least further recognition of the negative impacts of tourism” (Hall 2000, p. 1).

The research on sustainable tourism development has not progressed beyond the formulation and discussion of the principles and assumptions of sustainable tourism;

and the alternative forms of tourism provide nothing more than a minimal solution to a larger issue (Liu 2003). Attempts have been made to apply the concept of sustainable tourism by developing indicators, monitoring, eco-labelling, codes of conduct, educating the tourist and other best practices. However, most of these attempts have been identified with “lack of quality, technical content, reliability, maturity, equity and effectiveness” (van der Duim and van Marwijk 2006, p. 449).

Moreover, many researchers have tended to adopt a narrow view of sustainability by only considering the environmental sphere and this has led to the development of models which lack practicality in destination management (Ko 2005; Choi and Sirakaya 2006). In reality there appears to be a widening gap between the principles

of sustainable tourism and what is being actually achieved (Trousdale 1999) and there seem to be no progress being made towards solving the problems of tourism development (Hall 2000).

It is agreed that sustainable tourism is a valuable concept but its implementation has resulted in difficulties (Ahn et al. 2002; Wall and Mathieson 2006). There has been lack of common sense with over-emphasis on strategy formulation and limited emphasis on strategy implementation (Swarbrooke 1999; Page 2005). The most radical solution that can be proposed is to reduce the future growth of tourism by decreasing the amount of travel (air, rail, bus, coach) that occurs. However, this solution is neither feasible nor beneficial to anyone. Tourism is a fact of life and the associated problems need to be corrected as soon as possible (Theobald 2005). The difficulties associated with sustainable tourism should not lead us to be critical and complacent but rather we should develop realistic, practical solutions to progress forward (Bramwell and Lane 1993).

For tourism to be sustainable in the long-run, significant changes are needed (Gössling 2000). Management action is needed before destinations are deteriorated beyond repair (Wall and Mathieson 2006). It is time for new and innovative methods to be introduced for tackling the problems of sustainable tourism development. Re-evaluation of tourism and current sustainable tourism practices are needed and new approaches and management techniques are required (Swarbrooke 1999; Gezici 2005; Saarinen 2006). As quoted from Bramwell and Lane (1993, p. 4), “the time has come to walk the talk”.

Moreover, destination managers are faced on a daily basis with numerous challenges and decisions with respect to the proper planning and developing of their destinations. Many are related to sustainability concerns. They need to be equipped with practical tools and mechanisms to ensure they make the most accurate and reliable decisions with respect to the sustainable tourism development of their destinations. The application of ICT to sustainable tourism development can be the useful mechanism that destination managers require. Likewise, the solution for

sustainable tourism development will not come from advocacy, environmentalists or governments but rather the persons charged with its responsibility and development (Gunn and Var 2002) i.e. destination managers. This research proposes to make sustainable tourism development more achievable through the application of ICT by destination managers.

Mention has been made of the use of ICT for the sustainable development of tourism at destinations (Gilbert et al. 1998; Buhalis 1999; United Nations Environment Programme 2003; Buhalis and Deimezi 2004). However, there has been little academic research on the application of ICT-based tools/applications for destination managers in sustainable tourism development. There is a need to progress the research in eTourism beyond Internet marketing and distribution (Frew 2000).

Evidence exists which demonstrate that ICT can play an invaluable role in an organisation‟s efficiency and productivity (Buhalis 1998) and in dealing with environmental sustainability (Erdmann and Goodman 2004). ICT has also been deemed as essential for the success or failure of the impacts of tourism at the destination (Buhalis and Spada 2000).

This research is therefore adopting a destination focused perspective and proposes to investigate the ICT-based tools/applications that can be used to manage the impacts of tourism at the destination level. New technologies offer considerable promise for dealing with environmental degradation whilst simultaneously promoting economic growth (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2002). The research gap will be addressed by developing assessment procedures for ICT-based tools/applications for destination managers in sustainable tourism development. This research is aimed at creating a new and more efficient way of managing tourism at a destination.

This thesis makes a contribution to knowledge, research, policy and practice. A contribution to knowledge is evident due to limited research in the ICT-sustainable tourism domain. This research therefore is responding to calls by academics, practioners and the industry for a deeper investigation on how ICT can be used for managing sustainable tourism and making this elusive concept a workable reality for

destinations. A contribution to research is made by approaching ICT as an innovative approach to sustainable tourism and examining the usefulness of the Abernathy and Clark (1985) model. This thesis contributes to policy by demonstrating to destination managers the benefits of using ICT-based tools/applications. This widens the range of options which they can use to inform policy on how best to manage the sustainable tourism development of their destinations. Lastly, it impacts on practice by discussing a realistic approach which destination managers can implement to translate the theory of sustainable tourism into practical results for their destinations.

1.5.1 Benefits of Research to Stakeholders

This research is designed to benefit destination managers, however these benefits can be extended to other tourism stakeholders who have an interest in seeing tourism developed sustainably. Specifically the benefits of this research to stakeholders are:

 recognition of the immense potential of the usefulness of ICT-based tools/applications as a new and innovative approach for lessening some of tourism‟s negative impacts

 a wide-ranging collection of ICT-based tools/applications that can be used to manage different aspects of sustainable tourism

 assisting decision makers at the destination level by adding ICT to their list of options available to them in selecting the best management approach as they attempt to alleviate tourism‟s negative impacts

 assessment procedures which assists destination managers in the best selection of ICT-based tools/applications for sustainable tourism development of their destination

 facilitating better decision making with dealing with different aspects of sustainable tourism development

 enhancing the communication between the different tourism stakeholders by bringing together different views and perspectives, all with the aim of making tourism more sustainable.