This chapter explores how networked technology is made ordinary at an Internet café and how backpackers use the Internet as 'non-places' in the form of Internet cafés, and how this use may be impacting the experience of being an independent traveller. It is argued that Internet cafés as hypermobile places are not aimed at encouraging digital inclusion and at enhancing social contacts between locals and travellers or any sense of community. Rather, cafés are used by travellers as part of their hypermobile lifestyle, and many cafés are embedded within enclaves and hostels and are not fully embedded in place. It is indicated that Internet cafés created to serve travellers have changed those same travellers, transforming expectation and altering the very rhythm of their travel days, the use of travel time, perhaps undermining the systems in place that provided expertise, the middlemen/women and locals.
This article argues that airlines should be viewed through the lens of complexity theory, a complex systems-oriented aviation industry defined by interactions among subsystems that include airports, passengers, airlines and (mobility) policy -the regulations, guidance, design and planning mechanisms that are increasingly part of aviation internalities. Together with air traffic controllers, cabin/ground crew, airport managers, the formation of multiple assemblages of aeromobility have generated the conditions for the industry's survival and expansion; helping to make Europe and its air-space one of the busiest in the world with 150,000 air routes, 150 airlines and 9.5 million annual flights. Within the European Union, the system draws support and governance from the political system since the system sustains and promotes mobilities in contemporary European life -a cornerstone of the modern European Union without borders. From supporting new aircraft innovation through loan guarantees; creating the framework for new powerful institutions such as the European Aviation Safety Agency; and designing new policy directives such as the Single European Sky, aeromobility has entered into the fabric of European life. During April 2010, an Icelandic volcanic eruption created turbulence in the Europe aviation industry, causing disrupted mobilities across the globe. Just as the 2008 financial crisis shook the global economy, exposing the fragility of the foundations of global banking and finance, the eruption exposed the weaknesses of European institutions and the governance framework that regulates the free flow of people, labor and cargo by air. This article reflects on the Eyjafjallajökull event to expose the fragility of the system and argues that decisions made during and after the eruption mask the system's continual vulnerability to exogenous forces. Simplification by experts and other actors such as politicians from outside the system's ecological landscape may thus have long lasting consequences.
Collectively termed the "Sharing Economy", collaborative platforms are said to be challenging and redesigning traditional business models and ridding the tourism industry of monopolies and resource inefficiencies as they efficiently allocate assets and human resources. This paper explores the global "disruptive" brand Airbnb by utilizing the concept of cultural capitalism to ask questions as to how disruptive and innovative this platform is. We conclude that research about Airbnb and the sharing economy needs to overcome ahistorical, static, and narrow perspectives to integrate critical theories using diverse intellectual approaches to more fully explore platform's that seek enclosure and control so as to allow market capitalism to function more expediently.
Wine festival research has primarily focused on tourism potential and economic impact in Western wine destinations, with few studies seeking to understand what motivates those to attend a festival in a "nontraditional" wine destination. An onsite survey study (N = 366) was conducted at the 2012 Dalian International Wine and Dine Festival, China. Factor analysis suggests a unique motivational factor structure with four motivational components identified among festival attendees. They were: wine festival—where the festival event itself is a primary motive, recover equilibrium at a novel event, family and known group togetherness, and cultural exploration through interaction/socialization. An independent t test and one-way ANOVA tests found statistically significant motivational variances between attendees based on gender, age, education, income level, and employment status. These findings offer important implications for festival and event organizations that have an interest in developing and organizing wine festivals in China, and attracting Chinese mainland tourists to overseas wine festivals.
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