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Rural destination management organizations (DMOs) are faced with considerable challenges as they attempt to promote economic prosperity through tourism. This study sought to identify rural destination management challenges in Tucker County, West Virginia; identify the roles and activities of the destinations DMOs in addressing these challenges; and develop a perceived destination management framework. DMO challenges include maintaining authenticity and sense of place; economic diversification; seasonality, low wage jobs, and lack of employees; connecting resorts to small businesses and communities; and establishing a common vision, identity, and coordination of activities. While the majority of tourism literature calls for DMOs to play a dual marketing and management role, this paper makes an important contribution by identifying the need for a Convention and Visitors Bureau and a separate organization with a specific mission to sustainably develop and manage tourism and coordinate activities of the stakeholder network.

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Since the attainment of democracy in 1994 one of the major concerns of the South African government has been to address the social and economic injustices that characterised the apartheid regime. With tourism on the rise in South Africa and international arrivals growing at a rate almost triple the global rate, the tourism industry has been identified as one of the important industries to drive the transformation agenda. This study sought to assess the employment situation in Cape Town's lodging sector, identify the existing types of jobs and skills requirements of the sector, determine career aspirations of and skills development needs for lodging sector employees as well as asses the state of transformation. Study findings showed that the lodging sector is labour intensive, requires low academic skill, and offers low paying employment following the findings that about a quarter of the respondents indicated that their jobs didn't require any formal qualification, the average working day was 9.2 h and 52% earned below R3,500 a month. The study showed significant differences in income based on race. White employees earned significantly more than their black and coloured counterparts. However, white employees working as general labour were also significantly more qualified than their black and coloured counterparts. There was a significant positive relationship between income and length of service for white employees, but the same wasn't true for black and coloured employees. There was a significant negative relationship between length of service and academic qualifications for black employees implying that black people's length of service for one employer decreases as they become more academically qualified. Also significant was skills development opportunities based on gender. Significantly more females than males had attended on-the-job training programs.

This study uses social exchange theory and stakeholder theory to investigate governmental officials' and local residents' perceptions of tourism development benefits and costs in the Appalachian Forest Heritage Area (AFHA). Results show that respondents are largely congruent on what their communities possess and generally positive toward tourism development in the region. They are also consistent in their perceptions of tourism's economic benefits. However, attitudes held by tourism-related residents are more positive than nontourism-related residents, supporting the social exchange theory. In addition, interaction effects exist between tourism status or stake (tourism respondents vs. nontourism respondents) and social status or power (officials vs. residents) in a way that tourism-related residents are the most positive. They are more positive than nontourism-related officials, who are more positive than nontourism-related residents. No differences exist between tourism-related officials and nontourism-related officials, holding sociodemographic variables constant. This finding not only indicates individuals' interests or stakes in tourism are more predicable of their attitudes toward tourism than sociodemographic variables, but also contributes to the existing literature on how tourism status or stake interacts with social status or power when attitudes toward tourism are compared between governmental officials and residents. Research limitations and future research needs are discussed.

Core Ideas Undergraduate interviews emphasized specific barriers to young adults and underrepresented groups pursuing natural resources. The difference between barriers and supports perceived by undergraduates emphasizes the need to design recruitment and retention techniques for specific target populations. By carefully designing support systems for young adults and underrepresented groups, natural resource degree programs can help them overcome barriers and enter the natural resource workforce. Natural resource professions in the United States are facing two problems: a paucity of young adults entering the natural resource field and a lack of cultural diversity in the field. In addition, enrollment in post secondary natural resource degree programs has not increased overall in the past three decades, resulting in a small pool of professionals seeking employment. One reason for dismal enrollment numbers may be the lopsided demographics found in these programs, being one of the major groups most heavily skewed toward white males than any others. This study examines the supports and barriers that influenced post secondary natural resource degree choices of 22 culturally diverse undergraduates attending West Virginia University (a land‐grant university) and Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (an 1890/Historically Black University). The supports and barriers were examined through the lens of the Social Cognitive Career Theory using semi‐structured, open‐ended interviews. Results indicated that students from non‐traditional backgrounds experience more barriers, such as discrimination, lack of family support, and financial obstacles. Targeted recruitment and retention techniques are suggested.

Purpose This paper aims to describe the transdisciplinary, multiphase, mixed methods, generative design research, participatory planning and social design activities developed and implemented by the West Virginia University Rural Tourism Design Team and associated outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The multiphase methodology included quantitative and qualitative research in initial stages of the study (key informant interviews, resident attitudes toward tourism survey, visitor preferences survey, economic impact analysis) which informed social design activities at latter stages (asset mapping, landscape design/visualization of opportunities and sites targeted for development and cultural identity design) using generative design tools facilitating co-design with the communities and helping the destination take sequential steps toward achieving their goals and objectives. Findings Opportunities and challenges identified through multiple methods were triangulated and pointed to the same conclusions including the need for long term planning and managed growth; protecting community values; underutilized natural, cultural and historic assets; the opportunity to develop nature-based, cultural and historical attractions; and the need for a common vision and collective identity. Research limitations/implications This study makes a unique contribution to literature on sustainable tourism planning by incorporating social design activities to visualize findings of more traditional planning methods and provide tangible, visible outcomes of planning activities which can guide local stakeholders in rural destinations more directly to funding for planning recommendations and project implementation. Practical implications The transdisciplinary and social/generative/participatory approach provided a scaffolding of outputs to the community with citizen control and active involvement throughout the planning and design process. The incorporation of social design provided tangible outcomes including site designs and a cultural identity. Generative design research gives people a language with which they can imagine and express their ideas and dreams for future experiences. Originality/value This paper investigates the role of social design in a transdisciplinary, multiphase project to support sustainable tourism planning.

The issue of skills shortage has been central to the discussions on economic growth and development in South Africa. Education and skills development are listed as one of the seven "Priorities for Intervention" constraints in the 2006 Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa. The objectives of this study were to establish the competency levels of tourism/ hospitality industry employees on a list of nontechnical hospitality skills, assess the skills gap between employer expectations and employee performance on these skills, evaluate the impact of the 2007/2008 SA Host training program in reducing that gap and improving employee skills. The results showed an improvement in employee performance and a reduction in the skills gaps after the training.