MS in Sustainable Tourism – Comprehensive Exam
Candidate: Michaelina Antahades
Exam Committee: Dr. Joseph D. Fridgen,
Dr. Derek Alderman, & Dr. Carol Kline
June 23, 2011
1. Review and provide a summary of two of your
projects that you have completed either in a class
or on research and graduate assistantships. As an
example we know you have worked on projects
focused on such topics as image and race within
travel promotion, volunteerism, food systems
and tourism, prepared food taxes, general
tourism policies, etc. One or more of these or
other projects would be appropriate.
Project #1 – Fall 2010
• Class group project for
SUTO 6000, The
Sustainable Food Systems
of North Carolina
• Worth 200 points
• Grade received = A
• Poster presented at NET &
Eastern Region’s Mini
Summit
Project #2 – Fall 2010
• Class final project for
GEOG 6300, Images of
Race and Gender in State
Travel Guides from the
Carolinas
• Worth 30% of grade in class
• Grade received = A
• Poster presented at NET &
Eastern Region’s Mini
Summit
• Food and beverage is an important part the tourism destination,
offering visitors an opportunity to learn about food in relation to:
– local/regional cuisine
– artisan preparation
– growth/production
• The Eastern NC region can appeal to tourists through authenticity,
education, personal connection, and tasty homegrown
foods. Linking sustainable food systems to tourism helps:
- create and strengthen culture
- generates revenue
- aids in environmental conservation
• Review and summarize the current popular and practitioner information on
sustainable food, food systems, and tourism. Discuss the economic, sociocultural, and environmental impacts of food systems on communities.
• Outline the breadth of issues in sustainable food production. If applicable,
state how each has an effect on the tourism industry.
• Outline the breadth of programs happening in North Carolina and the
organizations behind them.
• Inventory the sustainable food system in Eastern North Carolina.
Include all stages of the supply chain.
• Suggest major initiatives that would begin to address the issues. Be
creative and realistic.
• Summarize the above information in a report. All sources/citations must be
in APA format.
• Design a large poster to capture the above information. If possible, map
the region’s food system elements (bonus project points). The poster
will be printed and displayed at the Center for Sustainable Tourism.
EFFECT ON FOOD CHAIN
ISSUE
Each stage along the food systems
affects the triple bottom line:
Environment
Economics
Production
Culture
Growth/Production, Transportation,
Retail/Restaurant, Consumer,
Marketing
Growth/Production,
Harvest/Slaughter, Processing,
Transport, Distribution
Consumer WTP
Food System
Energy Use
Multiplier Effects
Waste/
Recycling
NC Organizations (25+)
Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture
Project
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association
Center for Environmental Farming
Consumption
Systems
Organic Growers School
NC Choices
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle (IFFS)
Eastern Carolina Organics (ECO)
Access
South Eastern Food Alliance
TABLE
Transport
Production Costs
Sustainable
Food Systems
Processing
Distribution
NAME
All Areas
Growth/Production, Retail,
Restaurant, Consumer, Marketing,
Waste
Sustainable Food/Tourism
Initiatives for ENC
Connect small farms with low-income
families
Establish composting at higher education
campuses
Promote crop mob to empower local
communities
Promote eco-fast food establishments in Pitt
County
Start a chapter of Buy Fresh, Buy Local
Develop culinary trails & packages
COUNTY
STAGE IN SUPPLY CHAIN
Tidal Creek Co-op
Chef and the Farmer
New Hanover
Lenoir
McCaskey Farms, Inc
Hertford
Rainbow Meadow Farm
Greene
Co-op/Grocery Story
Restaurant
Farm,/Harvest-You Pick/Roadside
Stand/Farmers Market
Farm/Agricultural Practices
Darden Blueberry Nursery
Duplin
Wholesale
(Multiple)
Grocery Store
Harris Teeter
GEOG 6300 - Seminar in Cultural Geography
- 4-6 weekly readings on specific topics within the
discipline of cultural geography were discussed/broken
down/analyzed
- Final project was choice between research paper,
chapter of thesis, article to be submitted for possible
publication, funding proposal
• Research Paper Option
- 15-20 pages dealing with a certain aspect of
cultural geography as applied to an empirical
case study
- Performed a visual content analysis
identifying images of race and gender in the
2010 state travel guides from North and South
Carolina
- Gave 15 minute in class presentation on
methodology, findings, conclusions, &
directions for future research
- Extension and replication of study has turned
into an independent study
RESET Initiative
tourismreset.org
Images of Race and Gender in State Travel Guides from the Carolinas
Race and Responsible Marketing
• When photographs in marketing fail to
show African Americans, they run the
risk of perpetuating social inequity in
tourism, thus making it unsustainable
socially and culturally.
• Feelings of racial acceptance directly
affect the tourism choices of African
Americans.
• The frequency of African Americans
being pictured in natural and outdoor
leisure settings possibly impacts the
cross-racial resonance of eco-tourism
and environmental sustainability issues.
Visibility of African Americans in 2010 State Travel Guides
NC
456
Total People Featured in Photographs
22
Total African Americans Featured in Photographs
5%
Percent of African Americans Featured in Photographs
SC
342
9
3%
Total Photographs in Natural/Outdoor Setting
Total African Americans Featured in a Natural/Outdoor
Setting
Percent of African Americans Featured in a
Natural/Outdoor Setting
140
241
5
5
4%
2%
Total Pages in State Travel Guide
Total Photographs in State Travel Guide
190
288
165
344
Gender Representations in 2010 State Travel Guides
North Carolina
South Carolina
Results: Results: Results: Results:
Level Description
Men
Women
Men
Women
One
I
Dimensional
0
1
0
7
II
Traditional
37
11
23
2
III
Non-Traditional
4
12
0
1
IV
Individual
5
9
8
5
V
Family
4
4
10
13
VI
Group
12
13
14
10
Adapted from Martin (2004),
“Apartheid in the Great Outdoors:
American Advertising and the
Reproduction of a Racialized
Outdoor Leisure Identity.”
Adapted from Pritchard (2001),
“Tourism and Representation: A
Scale for Measuring Gendered
Portrayals.”
• The three pillars of sustainability are discussed and presented
in various ways by authors and scholars of various disciplines.
Please offer a graphic presentation of the triple bottom line and
discuss its meaning and implications for the study of
sustainable tourism. This can be a graphic that you develop or
select one from another author. Be prepared to discuss, define
and defend the graphic. Start your discussion with a definition
of sustainable tourism and relate the definition to the graphic
presented.
Sustainability:
Tourism :
• "Sustainable development is
development that meets the needs
of the present without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own
needs".
– Brundtland Report
• “Sustainability is best defined by
the word “usufruct” which means
to enjoy and live off of the
fruits/profits of something”
- Dr. Marcucci
• “The practice of travelling”
- Mirriam Webster
• “The industry and practice of
travel”
- Dr. Kline
• “Tourism has become one of the
major players in international
commerce, and represents one of
the main income sources for many
developing countries.”
- World Tourism Organization
Sustainable Tourism Defined:
“Tourism attempting to make a low impact on the
environment and local culture, while helping to
generate future employment for local people. The
aim of sustainable tourism is to ensure that
development brings a positive experience for local
people, tourism companies and the tourists
themselves.”
- Wikipedia
“Sustainable tourism involves the
minimization of negative impacts and
maximization of positive impacts”
- David Weaver
“Responsible travel where travelers and
travel providers protect the
environmental, socio-cultural, and
economic values of the places they visit
and the planet at large”
- Sustainable Travel International
“The maintenance of a balance where tourism
runs at a profit but not at the expense of the
natural, cultural, or ecological resources.”
- International Federation of Tour Operators
"Sustainable tourism development requires the informed participation of all relevant stakeholders, as well as
strong political leadership to ensure wide participation and consensus building. Achieving sustainable tourism is a
continuous process and it requires constant monitoring of impacts, introducing the necessary preventive and/or
corrective measures whenever necessary. Sustainable tourism should also maintain a high level of tourist
satisfaction and ensure a meaningful experience to the tourists, raising their awareness about sustainability issues
and promoting sustainable tourism practices amongst them. "
- United Nations World Tourism Organization
Three Pillars
of Sustainability
Environment
Socio-Cultural
Economic
The Triple Bottom Line
Viable Tourism Development
Environment
Economic
Sustainable
Tourism
Equitable Tourism Development
Integrity of People &
Resources is Maintained
Socio-Cultural
• Any field of study is made up of leaders, writers
and scholars that make a difference in the
development and approach to the field. Please
identify two major scholars or persons that have
had a major influence on the development and
current thinking in the area of sustainable
tourism. One of these figures should be a current
or more modern writer, the other can be more of
a historical figure in the field. Define their
contributions and significance to the field.
Historic Contributors
• Goffman
- Front Stage / Back Stage
- The Presentation of Self
- 1959
• MacCannell
- The Tourist: A New Theory of
the Leisure Class
- 1976
Modern Contributors
• Jan Flora & Cornelia Flora
• “Spiraling Up: Mapping
Community Transformation with
Community Capitals Framework”
• Journal of the Community
Development Society
• Vol. 37, No. 1, Spring 2006
• Richard Sharpley
• Tourism Development and the
Environment: Beyond
Sustainability?
• 2009
Erving Goffman – Historic Contributor to the Field
• Established the concept of Front
Stage and Back Stage
• Front Stage
- areas where tourists are
“performed” for
- a certain level of decorum is
expected & sets of standards are
met
• Back Stage
- areas where “props” can be
concealed
- activities that might discredit the
“performance” witnessed in the
front stage are conducted
• Influenced Dean MacCannell
- applied concept specifically to tourism
- Front Stage = spaces manipulated and managed to
accommodate tourists
- Back Stage = places where private, everyday lives of
local residents are given priority
• Tourists seek authenticity
• Took concepts of place & space into account
- “stages” are placed in different spaces
- places are used as “stages” in different spaces at
varying times
Relation to Sustainability:
Sense of Place
- the tourist’s sense of place
while and after visiting &the
resident’s sense of place with
and without tourists
- both must be taken into
account when developing
tourism in a sustainable fashion
Delivery of an Authentic Experience
- achieved through careful balance of
front/back stage
- zoning
- indicators
Use of Stages
- It is possible for the same space to be
used as different types of “stage” at
different times
- flexibility of space contributes to the
ability of a place to sustain itself
Flora’s 7 Capitals
The Spiraling of Capital Assets
Spiraling Up:
•Bridging social capital brings outside
expertise together with internal wisdom
•Involvement of youth supporting
entrepreneurship, capturing 10% of wealth
transfer
•Cultural capital increases
•Philanthropy provides ongoing funding to
support more leadership, new business,
and recruitment of youth
Spiraling Down:
•Loss of jobs
•Decline in population
•Decline in per capital income
•Loss of generational transfer of wealth
• Sharpley’s book is a challenge to the “status quo”
of sustainable tourism development
- sustainable tourism as we know it is at am
impasse, we should look beyond it
- tourism = economic activity in the form of
capitalism
• Destination Capitals = most appropriate
framework for optimizing the economic benefits
of tourism to the destination
Summary: The Big Picture of SUTO
• Sustainable tourism is hard to define & comes in
many forms
• Components of the triple bottom line can be seen
across the board
• Concepts of sustainability & sustainable tourism can
be found in other disciplines & scholarly works
• Even critics uphold some of the basics of sustainable
tourism development
• More work is needed toward consensus building,
planning, and scholarly research