Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE TTC5105

 
TITLE Island Tourism

 
UM LEVEL 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course

 
MQF LEVEL 7

 
ECTS CREDITS 5

 
DEPARTMENT Tourism Management

 
DESCRIPTION Tourism is a key driver of many island economies, including Malta. The industry is based on some fairly specific historical ideas about vacationing, mobility and corporate hospitality. Moreover, island tourism has a special allure, engendering dreams and expectations, but also creating some serious challenges (e.g. conflict over coastal land use; rising price of property; contested use of the sea; etc).

Study-Unit Aims:

This study-unit aims to provide a cross-disciplinary analysis of the nature of island tourism. It will look at contrasts between warm water and cold water island tourism; supply and demand considerations; cyclical and seasonal challenges of the industry; the cultural positionings of hosts and guests; the transformation of land and seascapes; pros and cons of mass versus niche tourism (e.g. Ibiza versus St Barth); environmental downsides (e.g. Playa del Ingles, Canary Islands); and future challenges, including prospects for green/blue 'sustainable development'.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- Critically discuss the modern connection between islandness and the search for paradise;
- Develop a clear, critical understanding of the key role of tourism is island economies;
- Appreciate the differences between cold water and warm water island tourism;
- Explore the dynamics at work in 'host-guest' encounters;
- Examine types of island tourism and their environmental and cultural stressors;
- Value the transformations that tourism obliges to natural and cultural scapes.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- Distinguish between supply and demand, mass and niche market, considerations in island tourism;
- Appreciate the specific character of single and multiple island tourism;
- Monitor and appraise the sustainability claims of tourism initiatives;
- Critically consider the role of island size, topography and geography in tourism product development, management and strategy, both in Malta and in other islands/archipelagos.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main Texts:

- Albury, Paul (ed) (2004) The Paradise Island Story. Oxford: Macmillan Caribbean.
- Baldacchino, Godfrey. (2006). Serving Sustainable Island Tourism: Hot or Cold?
- Baldacchino, Godfrey (2010) 'Re-Placing Materiality: A Western Anthropology of Sand', Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 763-778.
- Baldacchino, Godfrey. (2017). Europe and Island Tourism.
- Boissevain, Jeremy (1996) 'Introduction', in Coping with Tourists: European Reactions to Mass Tourism, New York: Berghahn Books, pp. 1-26.
- Carlsen, J., & Butler, R. (2010). Island tourism : Towards a sustainable perspective (Ecotourism book series 8). CABI.
- Cassinelli, Eleonora (2012) 'Managing land use conflicts through maps: the case of Favignana, Italy', in G. Baldacchino (ed) Extreme Heritage Management: The Practices and Policies of Densely Populated Islands, New York: Berghahn Books, pp. 134-151.
- Clark, Eric and others (2007) 'Gentrification and Space Wars', in G. Baldacchino (ed) A World of Islands: An Island Studies Reader, Malta and Canada, Agenda Academic and Institute of Island Studies, pp. 483-512.
- Connell, John (2003) 'Island Dreaming: the Contemplation of Polynesian Paradise', Journal of Historical Geography, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 554-581.
- Gossling, Stefan and Wall, Geoffrey (2007) 'Island Tourism' in G. Baldacchino (ed) A World of Islands: An Island Studies Reader, Malta and Canada, Agenda Academic and Institute of Island Studies, pp. 429-454.
- McElroy, J.L. (2006) 'Small island tourism economies across the life cycle', in Asia Pacific Viewpoint, Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 61-77.
- Royle, Stephen A. (2001) 'Islands, dreams and realities', in A Geography of Islands: Small Island Insularity, London, Routledge, pp. 1-24.
- Royle, Stephen A. (2001) 'Islands, their formation and nature', in A Geography of Islands: Small Island Insularity, London, Routledge, pp. 25-41.

Supplementary Readings:

- Baldacchino, Godfrey (2012) 'Immigrants, Tourists and Others from Away: Come Visit but don't Overstay': The Welcoming Society of Prince Edward Island', International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 145-153.
- Baldacchino, Anna and Godfrey (eds) (2012) A Taste of Islands: 60 Recipes and Stories from our 'World of Islands', Charlottetown, Canada: Island Studies Press.
- Butler, Richard (2006) 'Epilogue: contrasting cold-water and warm-water island tourism destinations', in G. Baldacchino (ed) Extreme Tourism: Lessons from the World's Cold Water Islands, Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 247-257.
- Khamis, Susie (2010) 'An Image worth Bottling: the branding of King Island Cloud Juice', International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 434-446.
- Lofgren, Orvar (1999) On Holiday: A History of Vacationing. Berkeley CA: University of California Press. (Especially Introduction).
- Loxley, Diana (1990) Problematic Shores: The Literature of Islands. New York: St Martin's Press (especially introduction).
- MacCannell, Dean (1999) The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class, 3rd ed. Berkeley CA: University of California Press, especially pp 98-102.
- Sharpley, Richard (2002) 'Rural tourism and the challenge of tourism diversification: the case of Cyprus', in Tourism Management, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 233-244.
- Wood, Robert E. (2000) 'Caribbean cruise tourism: globalisation at sea', Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 345-370.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Fieldwork, Indep Study, Lecture, Project & Seminar

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Presentation SEM1 Yes 30%
Fieldwork SEM1 No 70%

 
LECTURER/S Karl Agius
Godfrey Baldacchino
Lino Briguglio

 

 
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The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
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It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

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