Creating Island Resorts

Description

This book studies tropical island resorts, the areas they occupy, the people who live and work there and the tourists who visit them. An island resort is a special place - a pleasure periphery set apart from the mainland and from the mainstream - a community exhibiting many of the key characteristics of postmodernism. This book includes, but goes beyond the more commonly encountered marketing and analyses of resort destinations, by examining social, cultural, mythical, environmental, organizational and political dimensions. The study offers a comparative analysis of two specific destination areas - the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji and the Whitsunday Islands in Queensland, Australia with special reference to the Australian market. The book highlights some of the special challenges facing island resort destinations in developing countries such as Fiji, relative to developed countries such as Australia and the differences and similarities between equivalent domestic and international resort destinations. The case material includes consumer focus groups in the key source markets, a detailed telephone survey of travel agents in the same places, and personal interviews with resort managers and with key stakeholders from the public and private sectors.

King's research deserves the attention of all of the disciplines which have some part to play in the creation of island tourist resorts. Some of [his] answers might be unwelcome; that [only] reveals that King has been diligent in his search for answers to the basic questions about the future and sustainability of island resorts.