Community development
The sustainability of tourism in Iceland has been on the agenda for over a decade, resulting in the adoption of several certification schemes and policies from national through to regional stakeholders. Hitherto no scheme has been introduced to manage nature-based destinations in Iceland with special emphasis on the maintenance of the physical integrity of the destination.
On May 26th, Associate Director John Hull facilitated a forum which brought together 35 residents living adjacent to the UNESCO World Heritage Site at L´anse aux Meadows, Northern Newfoundland on Canada´s east coast. The site is recognized as the only authenticated Norse settlement in North America. Working with the Parks Canada Agency, the forum was divided into four sessions. The overall goal of the forum was to establish a five year vision for tourism in the region.
From the 10th - 13th May 2009 postgraduates from nine different countries presented work related to water, energy, climate change, and society in Noosa, Australia. I presented on my masters thesis that focuses on the collaboration of key-stakeholders involved in the Aquaculture and Seafood Trail. I received very good feedback and it was nice to discuss my research with some fresh minds!
In terms of the project 'Exploring the role of innovation in promoting sustainable tourism development in peripheral communities: cases from New Zealand and Iceland' John Hull and Ari Páll Pálsson just published an article in the annual publication of the Food Development Cluster Programme MANUSKELE in Finland.
Before the Easter week-end we set up a visitor survey in the Golden Bay/Nelson/Marlborough Region focusing on regional seafood and aquaculture products: www.seafoodtrail.co.nz.
This online survey will run for 1year and is part of the 'Top of the South Aquaculture and Seafood Trail'-project. The results will foster the basis for further developments of the trail.