Doctoral Dissertation Research: Transforming Corporate Mass Tourism: A Case Study of Sandals Resorts International in Jamaica

近几十年来，旅游业一直是世界经济中增长最快的部分之一。2000年，国际游客总数估计接近7亿人，与旅游有关的交易额估计为4760亿美元，约占全球国民生产总值的十分之一。尽管旅游业经常因助长环境危害而受到批评，但越来越多的公司正在寻求采用和调整更具生态和文化责任感的替代旅游政策。这一博士论文研究项目将通过总部设在牙买加的桑达斯度假村国际公司的案例研究，对传统大众旅游公司实施替代旅游政策和做法进行全面分析。Sandals是加勒比海地区最大、最成功的全包式大众旅游公司。1998年，Sandals通过创建模仿替代旅游开发的经济、文化和环境项目来改造其内格里尔工厂。通过这样做，Sandals Negril成为世界上第一家因其环境政策和管理而获得绿色全球21标准认证的全包式酒店。这项研究将调查Sandals Negril的经济、文化和环境项目和实践，以了解传统大众旅游公司在实施可持续发展政策方面面临的困难，以及这种转变背后的企业理由。这项研究将集中在桑达斯度假村转向“大众生态旅游”背后的决策，并将调查该公司如何开发、实施和评估可持续发展计划。凉鞋的其他五个牙买加度假村都保留了大众旅游的特点，将作为比较的基线，岛上的一个替代旅游网站也将如此。大部分研究将包括对凉鞋的组织人种学，调查范围从蒙特哥湾最高级别的公司管理人员到内格里尔工厂的废物管理人员。还将对政府旅游官员和每个度假村附近的居民进行采访。这项研究将是对欠发达国家国际旅游公司的最全面分析。凉鞋是牙买加经济的核心，也是加勒比海旅游业的核心。作为行业领导者，凉鞋是旅游业正在发生变化的潜在先兆。内格里尔凉鞋的转型被广泛认为是行业内较重要的变化之一，对新度假村的进一步发展和行业内竞争具有广泛的影响。如果大众旅游公司开始更广泛地采用另类旅游度假区的特征，将对旅游设施的经济、文化和环境足迹产生普遍影响。此外，大众旅游业的这些转变也将影响世界其他地区另类旅游发展的未来。从方法上讲，这项研究将为有关欠发达国家旅游业发展的文献提供一个急需的企业案例研究。作为一种组织人种学，这项研究也将为类似的公司重组调查提供一个模式。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

During recent decades, tourism has been one of the most rapidly growing segments of the world economy. The total number of international tourists was estimated at nearly 700 million people in 2000, with the estimated $476 billion in tourist-related transactions constituting about a tenth of the global GNP. Although the tourism industry frequently has been criticized for fostering environmental harm, a growing number of firms are seeking to adopt and adapt alternative-tourism policies that are more ecologically and culturally responsible. This doctoral dissertation research project will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the implementation of alternative-tourism policies and practices by conventional mass-tourism corporations through a case study of the Sandals Resorts International corporation, which is headquartered in Jamaica. Sandals is the largest and most successful all-inclusive mass-tourism corporation operating in the Caribbean. In 1998, Sandals transformed its Negril facility by creating economic, cultural, and environmental programs that mimic those of alternative-tourism developments. In so doing, Sandals Negril became the first all-inclusive hotel in the world to be certified to the Green Globe 21 Standard for its environmental policies and management. This study will investigate Sandals Negril's economic, cultural, and environmental programs and practices in order to understand the difficulties a traditional mass-tourism corporation faces in implementing policies of sustainability as well as the corporate rationale lying behind such transformations. The study will focus on the decisions behind Sandals Resorts' move to "mass ecotourism," and it will investigate how the corporation develops, implements, and evaluates programs of sustainability. Sandals' five other Jamaican resorts, all of which have retained their mass-tourism character, will serve as a baseline for comparison, as will one alternative-tourism site located on the island. The bulk of the research will consist of an organizational ethnography of Sandals, with inquiries ranging from the highest levels of corporate management in Montego Bay to waste-management workers in the Negril facility. Interviews also will be conducted with government tourism officials and with people living in proximity to each of the resorts.The study will be the most comprehensive analysis of an international tourism corporation in a less developed country. Sandals is central to Jamaica's economy and to Caribbean tourism more generally. An industry leader, Sandals is a potential harbinger of changes underway in tourism. The transformation of Sandals Negril is widely recognized as one of the more important changes in the industry, with widespread implications for the further development of new resorts and for intra-industry competition. If mass-tourism corporations begin to more widely adopt the characteristics of alternative-tourism resorts, there will be pervasive effects on the economic, cultural, and environmental footprints of tourism facilities. Furthermore, these transformations in the mass-tourism industry will also affect the future of alternative-tourism development in other contexts throughout the world. Methodologically, the research will contribute a much-needed corporate case study to the literature on tourism development in less developed countries. As an organizational ethnography, the research will also offer a model for similar investigations into the restructuring of corporations. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.