Dominique Vanneste

Bio: Dominique Vanneste is an academic researcher from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The author has contributed to research in topics: Tourism & Tourism geography. The author has an hindex of 16, co-authored 66 publications receiving 837 citations. Previous affiliations of Dominique Vanneste include Catholic University of Leuven.

International Perspectives on Fieldcourses

Abstract: Fieldwork is a distinctive feature of geography in higher education and is therefore a subject that is likely to be scrutinised by an emerging international network. Originating from an Internet discussion, the paper considers the context of internationalism for the enhancement of fieldwork practices. These broadly comprise opportunities to debate and discuss pedagogic issues about fieldwork in an international forum and to facilitate more effective international fieldwork opportunities and exchange. In examining specific issues affecting internationalisation, attention is drawn to the frequently implicit assumptions about the value of fieldwork and the need to foster research on the delivery of fieldwork objectives.

An integrative geotourism approach: bridging conflicts in tourism landscape research

Abstract: Landscapes have a central position in many rural tourism destinations. They provide both assets and bounds for tourism development, and they indirectly provide the framework in which tourism is often envisaged as a regional development tool. However, the complexity of the interactions between landscapes and tourism has resulted in multiple and sometimes contrasting interpretations and research focuses dealing with landscape–tourism interactions. These contrasts have impeded constructive discussion, dynamism and progress in tourism landscape research in general. To manoeuvre in this complex and ‘chaotic’ field, we argue that a reinterpretation of the concept of geotourism provides a structured way forward. A focus on geotourism, although highly contested as a scientific concept, creates opportunities to bridge the gap between tourism-centred and landscape-centred strands that dominate and hence divide current tourism landscape research. The adapted geotourism framework presented here, in which geotourism i...

Tourism and cross-border regional development: insights in European contexts

Abstract: This paper aims to structurally analyse the role of tourism in regional development processes in European cross-border regions with different historical development paths. Departing from an institutional perspective, the research is based on comparison of the position of tourism in region-building processes in the newly developing German–Czech cross-border region and the more ‘mature’ German–Belgian borderlands. Results indicate that the development of local cross-border tourism projects is no guarantee for positive destination-wide regional development impacts. In some cases, these projects may even reinforce asymmetrical socio-economic development directions of neighbouring borderlands. Rather, the socio-spatially equitable distribution of tourism benefits in cross-border contexts depends on several process-based aspects. These include the presence of ‘thick’ (cross-border) institutional arrangements, multi-scalar representation of tourism stakeholders in decision-making processes and a transver...

Distribution of tourists within urban heritage destinations: a hot spot/cold spot analysis of TripAdvisor data as support for destination management

Abstract: The emergence of social media and Web 2.0 has a notable impact upon the tasks of destination managers as these platforms have developed into influential mechanisms affecting tourist behaviour. This...

Governance in global value chains

Abstract: This book opens a fresh chapter in the debate on local enterprise clusters and their strategies for upgrading in the global economy. The authors employ a novel conceptual framework in their research on industrial clusters in Europe, Latin America and Asia and provide new perspectives and insights for researchers and policymakers alike.

Understanding and Measuring Social Capital: A Multidisciplinary Tool for Practitioners

Abstract: The importance of social capital for sustainable development, is by now well recognized. Anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, and economists have in their own ways, demonstrated the critical role of institutions, networks, and their supporting norms and values, for the success of development interventions. This success often hinges on accurate assessments of social capital in target communities. But the nature, and impact of social capital - the institutions, relationships, attitudes, and values that govern interactions among people - are not easily quantified. "Understanding and Measuring Social Capital" provides a conceptual review, and measurement tools, in a form readily available for development practitioners. The book discusses the respective value of quantitative, and qualitative approaches to the analysis of social capital, illustrating the discussion with examples, and case studies from many countries. It also presents the Social Capital Assessment Tool, which combines quantitative, and qualitative instruments to measure social capital at the level of household, community, and organization, drawing on multidisciplinary, empirical experiences, an application which can provide project managers with valuable baseline, and monitoring information about social capital in its different dimensions.

Destination marketing organizations and destination marketing : a narrative analysis of the literature

Abstract: This article presents the first narrative analysis of the areas of research that have developed within the destination marketing field since its commencement in 1973. Given the broad extent of the field, and the absence of any previous reviews in four decades, a key challenge is in providing a focus for such a disparate body of knowledge. The review is structured around one principal question: ‘To what extent is the Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) responsible for the competitiveness of the destination’? In pursuit of this underlying question, we address a number of themes including nomenclature and the DMO, the evolution of the destination marketing literature, competitiveness as the DMO reason d’etre, and DMO effectiveness including issues of branding and positioning, and future research themes in the field.

Knowledge management and tourism

Abstract: Abstract The study and practice of knowledge management has grown rapidly since the 90s, driven by social, economic, and technological trends. Tourism has been slow in adopting this approach due to not only a lack of gearing between researchers and tourism, but also to a “hostile” knowledge adoption environment. Its acquisition would close the gap and also provide both insights and potential applications for tourism. Research in Australia supports the assertion that this field is a late adopter of knowledge management. In response, this paper provides a model for tourism.