Assessments and rankings of the contribution and influence of scholars, institutions and journals in tourism are becoming increasingly common. This article extends the existing literature by providing a finer grained understanding of key influences in tourism research. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of the tourism literature by examining papers authored by Australian and New Zealand researchers in Annals of Tourism Research and Tourism Management between 1994 and 2007. A general picture of the field is drawn by examining keywords, the most-cited authors and works, as well as co-citation patterns. The analysis is extended by the use of social network analysis to explore the links between keywords and influential works in the field. The article also addresses the conference theme by identifying emerging themes and influences. Results indicate that tourism research in Australia and New Zealand has been strongly influenced by sociology and anthropology, geography and behavioural psychology. Emerging themes have focused on the health and safety of tourists, risk, wine tourism and segmentation.

Celebrity endorsement for consumer products is widely used in advertising, taking advantage of the public's fascination with celebrities and the belief in a personal connection with them. Tourism Australia and other destination marketing organisations (DMOs) have used celebrities in the past to promote destinations to domestic and international tourists. Through the example of the Australia — A Different Light campaign (2004) this article examines the potential influences of celebrity endorsement on destination image. The application of Gallarza, Gil Saura and Calderón García's (2002) framework of image characteristics suggests that celebrities may affect many aspects of destination image, some of which are under the advertiser's control. A conceptual framework for the analysis of celebrities' potential influence on destination image, and the consequences for destination awareness and choice, was established. Three areas of further research are highlighted that are critical in understanding the role of celebrities: links between celebrity exposure in different media; the fit between destination, celebrity and consumer; and the celebrity's effect on destination awareness and purchase decisions.

The relationship between core self-evaluation (Judge, Locke & Durham 1997) and job satisfaction and organisational commitment is explored. Two workplace environment factors are examined as potential mediators of these relationships; empowerment and organisational climate. The sample for the study consisted of employees from one quick-service restaurant chain well regarded in employee and community relations. The findings of the research support mediation of the core self-evaluation and job satisfaction relationship as well as the core self-evaluation and organisational commitment relationship. A discussion of the relevance of these findings for hospitality practitioners and the hospitality literature alike is provided.

This article examines the concept of a whole-of-life approach to tourism through presenting the case for ‘accessible tourism’. The importance of this approach is that it has been estimated that 30% of a population will have access requirements at any point in time, and most people will have a disability at some stage during their life. This article presents the case for proactively developing a strategic accessible tourism approach by presenting a brief background to the area. First, the article outlines the relationship between access, disability, ageing and tourism. Second, it reviews the development of easy access markets and accessible tourism, and places these in context to universal design. Third, the article overviews pertinent legislation that shapes the accessible tourism environment in Australia. Fourth, accessible environments are placed within context to destination management and accessible destination experiences. The article concludes by presenting four contemporary Australian examples of accessible destination experiences within broader destination management approaches.

Formalised enterprise bargaining has been part of the industrial relations framework in Australia since 1991 while formalised individual bargaining was introduced in 1996. Since their introduction formalised collective and individual bargaining have been adopted enthusiastically in some industry sectors; however, the Australian hospitality sector has been unenthusiastic about formalised bargaining. The sector has continued to rely on awards. This paper analyses this unenthusiastic response and concludes that for many small and medium hospitality employers awards provide flexibility, particularly in relation to numerically flexible work arrangements. Additionally, it appears that award wages are not above market wages; employers believe there are considerable complexities associated with formalised bargaining and also they have been concerned by the degree of employee resistance to these agreements.

Through a study of a set of restaurant reviews, this article examines forms of knowledge constructed within such reviews and considers their potential effects. It examines 200 restaurant reviews published by Cuisine Magazine over a 5-year period from 2003 to 2007. We find that the reviews narrowly focus on food, wine and ambience over other categories such as service, chefs, cost/value, and owner/operator. We note that through such focus and the language used, the reviews demonstrate an extreme level of exclusion, ignoring a vast field of possible criteria for judging an establishment and experience. Furthermore, through focusing on areas that both allows and creates specialist knowledge and mutual elevation (i.e., food, wine and chef/owner worship) we argue that restaurant reviews are engaging in an escalating discourse of class distinction. Potential effects of this discourse noted include the identification that the celebration of distinction and exclusion perpetuated in the restaurant reviews analysed here stands in contrast to understandings of hospitality as inclusive practice. We suggest, and note concern that, in the attempt to create new levels of refinement and distinction, the core idea of hospitality is becoming lost.

Suitable skills and attributes have always been an important part of effective and successful participation in the tourism workplaces. This study aimed to explore tourism managers' perceptions of the skills and attributes required in the tourism industry in Australia. The method involved a content analysis of tourism skill sets and a survey to identify the required skill sets sought by employers. Importance–Performance Analysis revealed differences between graduate attributes and skills and manager's perceptions of their importance and level of performance. These results provided industry-based information about skills and attributes for the improvement of curriculum design. It will enhance the abilities of tourism education to provide job-ready graduates for the future global tourism industry.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the interactive effects of organisational tenure and supervisor support on work–family conflict, family–work conflict, and turnover intentions. Data were gathered from a sample of Arab frontline employees married with or without children in the international five-star chain hotels in Jordan. Results of hierarchical moderated regression analysis show that the interaction of organisational tenure and supervisor support reduces family–work conflict and turnover intentions. On the contrary, this interactive term does not significantly influence work–family conflict. Implications of the aforementioned findings to alleviate family–work conflict and turnover intentions are discussed and directions for future research are offered.

The notion of the student experience has risen in prominence in response to changing student cohorts, reforms to the higher education system and broader societal and technological trends. Indeed, contemporary notions of the student experience extend well beyond the traditional focus on curriculum, assessment and pedagogy to include the extracurricular activities of students and how universities respond to help students manage their external commitments. Yet, while the term is frequently used, definitions remain elusive. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to deconstruct the student experience by considering the various factors that influence the experience of students in the higher education system. Based on a review of the wide-ranging literature in the field, this article presents a conceptual framework of dimensions that impact on the student experience. The identified dimensions include: institutional factors, student factors, sectoral factors and external factors, each encapsulating a variety of dimensions. The objective of the article is to provide educators in tourism, hospitality and related fields with a contemporary understanding of the key debates and themes related to the student experience in the higher education field.

Today's learners live in a digital age and there is much anecdotal evidence to suggest that students in the 21st century would prefer the electronic delivery of learning materials and lecture content using a range of tools that enable them to access information anywhere anytime (see, e.g., Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005). This study is an evaluation of tourism marketing students' expectations and experiences of lecture podcasting. The aim of the study was to quantify students' expectations of podcasting, and compare and contrast this with their actual usage of the new learning technology. The study was designed specifically to answer two questions: is podcasting just a fad or does it enhance student learning, and will it be widely embraced by both domestic and international undergraduate students?

In the knowledge-based digital economy the ability to harness digital technologies to capture and manage information is a critical skill for tourism professionals. This article examines the use of wikis as a teaching and learning tool to help students develop a range of knowledge management skills, including creative collaboration, consensus-building and technical literacy. The purpose of the study is to provide an exploratory analysis of student attitudes toward the use of wikis as a collaborative assessment task. The results indicate that wikis are perceived to be a flexible, convenient and fair pedagogical technique for collaborative learning. Many students readily understood and exploited the collaborative and reflective nature of wikis. However, some students did not spend enough time on the task and did not appear to gain as much from the learning experience. This impacted on the extent and quality of collaboration in some groups. It is suggested that a staged wiki assessment might overcome some of the perceived shortcomings reported by students.

University education is, at times, claimed to be overly theoretical and disconnected from the reality for which it is preparing students. The disconnection of theory from practice might have a negative impact on students' learning experiences if it leads to a view of university education as impractical and abstract, rather than current and applicable to work–life situations. A pedagogical method aimed at bringing examples from workplaces and society in general, to theory lectures, is to use different media sources, such as magazines, music, television or films. These can highlight how theory contextualises, explains and improves practice.The aim of this article is to investigate how the animated TV series, The Simpsons, can be fruitfully used to illuminate tourism practices in a theoretical first-year tourism university unit. The method used in the article is to present an example illustrated by educational constructivism. The major finding is that by analysing The Simpsons as a key to popular culture and how the series is part of the formation of social perceptions of tourism in the public domain, students learn to see why it is important to use theories when managing tourism businesses.

Event management education has emerged in recent decades as an alternative to the related disciplines of tourism, leisure and hospitality. While the number of course offerings in this area continues to expand, questions have been raised regarding the employability of graduates in terms of their degrees equipping them with the requisite skills to work in this industry and the capacity of the sector to employ the ever increasing number of graduates. This article combines two studies to offer a multifaceted perspective on the requisite skills and abilities students perceive to be associated with event management employment and employers' assessments of where students stand in relation to these skills. One perspective has been gleaned from analysis of a survey of students at Victoria University (VU), Melbourne, undertaking a degree qualification in event management. Complementing this perspective, employer insights are gained from previously unreported aggregated appraisal data collected from organisations involved in hosting VU event management students on various work integrated learning placements. The findings of these combined data sources highlight the need for educators to more closely align student perceptions of the importance and subsequent performance in certain skill areas with the standards expected by event management employers.

The aim of this concept article is twofold: (1) to explore the issue of quality gaps in relation to the design, delivery and value of a university-level tourism and hospitality management qualification and (2) to provide examples of how industry/academic partnership initiatives can enhance students' learning experience. Applying a services management framework, strategies for creating meaningful industry partnerships are explored using the School of Hotel, Resort and Tourism Management at Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia as a case study.

What constitutes a quality research student learning experience? Using an interpretive social sciences approach, the tradition of autoethnography and the interpretive processes of reflexivity and constructivist grounded theory, the individual and collective lived research student experiences of three students were constructed/interpreted and (re)constructed/(re)interpreted to provide insights into answers to this question. Each student had completed one research program and, at the time of publication, was currently enrolled in a doctoral program. Based on these three students' autoethnographies, quality research student experiences engender personal, social, supervisor, research profession, learning communities and other life connectivities. These connectivities are generated through conducive conditions for learning, communities of practice and inclusive research cultures wherein research students experience and do research in order to become researchers, and to belong to research communities.