We believe that cross-fertilizing the tourism and seaport literatures on the specific topic of relationship networks for competitiveness can favour the spreading of practices and can create a collaborative environment to solve problems that cannot be solved by one sector alone. The final aim is to identify and promote common tools for the sustainable development of both tourism destinations and seaports in the city.
Most of the research into sustainable tourism-related transport concerns air transport mainly because that is the primary mode for international tourist mobility. However, you are correct that there are destinations which are primarily or significantly reliant on shipborne transport, especially cruise ship destinations with fewer tourist arrivals by air.
On the other hand, there is a literature on making ports more environmentally friendly such as the "Green Flag" initiatives which entail switching to less-polluting fuels than bunker when within 20nm of a port. However, this literature mostly concerns cargo ships instead of cruise ships.
I have not been able to find literature on greening ports used for mainly cruises and other forms of recreational travel, but it seems to be a topic worthy of coverage you should investigate since it's interesting and under-researched.
http://www.ship-technology.com/features/feature124994/
Interesting question. Thinking about port-systems, there is a parallel with tourism. Goods arrive and are distributed through distribution networks (consisting of a variety of stakeholders). A lot of literature on these supply chains is available. Looking at tourism, also tourists arrive at a point of entry (station, airport, seaport), and from thereon move to other sites and locations in a destination (consisting of a variety of small- and medium sized stakeholders). As travelling and collecting experiences at the hubs in a destination (and also in travelling between hubs) is the core of tourism, this network is perceived as a value chain. Tourists are however not 'goods', they are less easy to distribute and shape the network themselves by using facilities and co-creating experiences (maybe actor-network theory can be a good approach here?). Second, in the port system, all involved stakeholders have a common goal, distribute goods and get paid to do so. A smooth supply chain is beneficial for all involved stakeholders, and therefor an incentive to create a network. In tourism, many of the involved stakeholders do not fully realize they are part of the value chain which makes up the tourist destination and enhances the tourist experience. Many of the SMEs in a destination are only partly involved in tourism, and are therefore less likely to see the common goal of the network.
A good hybrid case could be cruise tourism. It is a typical port-system and an integrated tourism product with a point of entry and connected service providers, making up a value chain (or network). I hope this gives some food for thought.
Dear Marcella,
I would like recommend you some below mentioned links
http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/countr/nigeria/eco.htm
http://www.ihs.nl/fileadmin/ASSETS/ihs/IHS_Publication/IHS_Publications/From_urban_systems_to_sustainable_competitive_metropolitan_regions.pdf
http://www.oecd.org/innovation/inno/smart-specialisation.pdf
http://www.ebrd.com/downloads/news/arab-competitiveness-report.pdf
http://www.espon.eu/export/sites/default/Documents/Projects/AppliedResearch/ESaTDOR/ESaTDOR_InterimReport_Appendices.pdf
Best regards
Barbara
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