Below you will find research publications, theses, papers and reports from TDM staff and students. They will give you a good insight into the scope of the master programme in Tourism Destination Management as well as provide you with a interesting resource of quality tourism research papers.

Feel free to browse around, many of the publicatios can be downloaded for free!

Here you can find a selection of thesis publications from TDM graduates.

Destination Stakeholder’s Perspectives in Tourism – the Case of Palawan, The Philippines

Field research conducted within the framework of the Master Course in Tourism Destination Management, 2007

This document presents the summarized results of Master students’ research implemented in the island of Palawan in the period between April 8th and May 4th, 2007. It reflects the student’s views on recent tourism developments and issues taking place at Palawan from three stakeholder perspectives:

• Other Tourism Organisations – by students (chapter 2)
• Small and Medium Enterprises – by students (chapter 3)
• Large Tourism Companies – by students (chapter 4)
• Conclusions and reflections – by lecturers (chapter 5)

In each chapter, a group of students present and discuss their findings and try to find solutions for the issues at stake. In general, the staff members who were involved in the Puerto Princesa field research felt that the quality of the students’ work is indeed worth publicizing. In the concluding chapter, NHTV staff members who visited Palawan during the field research period and have supervised the student groups, will reflect upon methodological issues as well as tourism development issues taking place at the island of Palawan. It is important to mention that all recommendations in this report are party interpretations of students and staff, based on the information gathered during a relative short time of 4 weeks. An academic research has not been conducted. All of us are very aware of the fact that we were, and are, still outsiders, and not insiders, at this beautiful destination.

When citing this report, please take in consideration the short research period and (educational) context the research was executed in. In this research, learning and discovering went hand in hand. All references used by students and graphs related to primary researches are included in the annexes to this publication.

This research paper is available for free download:

Domestic and International Tourism in a Globalized World

Research in Progress Paper presented at the International Conference “Ever the twain shall meet – relating international and domestic tourism” of Research Committee RC50 International Tourism, International Sociological Association Jaipur, Rajasthan, India November, 24 – 26, 2008 (Eke Eijgelaar, Paul Peeters, and Pieter Piket)

Abstract
The tourism sector and tourism research community focus mainly on international in- and outbound tourism volumes and expenditures. But international tourism is only one part and certainly in number of arrivals, domestic tourism is several times larger than international. However, consistent data on world-wide domestic tourism are not so readily available. This paper therefore first focuses the development of domestic visitor numbers over time per country. These numbers will be compared to the international inbound and outbound visitor numbers per country. An international comparison will be included as well. The next step will be the recognition of the economic importance of domestic compared to international tourism. The respective environmental impacts with a specific focus on GHG emissions of domestic compared to international tourism will be subject of our research as well. To conclude, we recommend an alternative, more accurate metric than border crossings to distinguish between domestic and international tourism.

This research paper is available for free download:

Understanding Cultural Complexity: Culture, power and identity in Tourism: An analysis of tensions mong collective social identities

Case Study in Lanzarote by Fernando Barrios Martin (August 2008)

For the article with the full summary please click here. But this graduation thesis is also available for free download:

Nautical Tourism Potential in the Dalmatia Dubrovnik Region – An opportunity lost?

Dissertation by TDM student Bente Derksen (2007)

One of the most attractive forms of tourism in Croatia is nautical tourism. Dalmatia is often seen as the most beautiful coastal region, with the most potential for nautical tourism. Dalmatia is divided in four regions. The most southern of them, the Dalmatia Dubrovnik Region however, is the only one which does not have nautical tourism listed as priority issue. This policy decision is based on in the strategy report ‘Croatian Tourism Development by 2010’, by order of the Ministry of Tourism in 2003. This dissertation analyses the impacts of this decision and the potential for the Dubrovnik Region, what developments are taking place and what the future plans are. In addition, the reasons and motivations behind this ministerial decision are investigated.

This thesis is available for free download:

The changing tides of Venice – Future scenarios of the world’s touristed city

Dissertation by TDM student Fabio Tat (2007)

Venice experiences an invasion of 15 million visitors a year and most of these converge in the historic centre. Current tourism arrivals are resulting in many problems such as: environmental degradation, heritage management problems, conservation issues and major impacts on, and implications for, the host community. This results in the fact that Venice is heading towards a day when it may become the first major city on the planet that is transformed from a once vibrant mercantile city into a historical theme park or a tourist resort. Not a built theme park or resort like Disneyland or Club Med, concocted on a drafting table, but one that emerges because it no longer has within its buildings and piazzas a living, viable host community and yet remains a major international tourist attraction. Where many think this is a worse case scenario, for the state of the city itself but also for her tourism appeal, there are others that do not see this as a problem. This is where the discussion about the future of Venice starts. A discussion which is mainly about the importance of having a host community in a (tourism) destination.

This thesis is available for free download:

Using GIS tourism research in combating poverty in developing countries: the case of Phuket, Thailand

Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Transport publication (2006) by Martin Landré and Jos van der Sterren – TDM lecturers

In this paper a description is given of a first pilot project in which NHTV students have gathered GPS land use data. These were analyzed for a specific tourism destination, in this case Phuket, Thailand, before and in the aftermath of the Tsunami disaster.

This paper is available for free download: