Index

• Contact Details of Coordinators

• Rationale

• Main activities

• Links To Other Special Interest Groups

• Links To External Groups

Contact Details of Coordinators

• Robert Maitland
  Director, The Centre for Tourism
  University of Westminster
  35 Marylebone Road
  London NW1 5LS, United Kingdom
  Office +44(0) 207 911 5000 ext 3114
  Fax: + 44(0) 207 911 5171
  Email : r.a.maitland@wmin.ac.uk
  
  
• Dr Brent W. Ritchie
  Director, Centre for Tourism Research
  University of Canberra
  ACT 2601, Australia
  Office: +61 (0) 2 6201 5016
  Fax : +61 (0) 2 6201 2550
  Email: Brent.Ritchie@canberra.edu.au

Rationale

Despite the size and importance of cities as origin and destination points for visitors, little research has been conducted on urban tourism (Page & Hall, 2003). Page (2006) suggests that most of the research that is concerned with urban tourism has not been framed by a global perspective, while Pearce (2001) concurs, suggesting a more macro analysis of urban tourism is required. This lack of attention has the potential to limit our theoretical understanding and ability to contribute practical knowledge related to urban tourism.

Capital cities are vital to the development of urban tourism. According to Hall (2002:235) "capital cities are an important component of the national fabric of almost every country in the world yet, surprisingly, very little has been written about their tourism significance beyond a city by city basis." However, by simple definition, national capitals cities are the seat of the national government and although this role can vary widely, in general "capitals are unique from other cities because they provide a special site for the concentration, administration and representation of political power" (Campbell 2003:3). Therefore despite their heterogeneity, national capitals do share a common function, and often this common function is cited as the root of a number of tourism marketing, planning and development issues.

Capital cities provide an administrative base of government operations creating spin off effects for business travel. Capital cities also provide the setting for the nation's culture, history and democracy and can therefore attract significant numbers of school excursions and help students to understand citizenship, democracy and history. Capital cities also hold major national institutions that are significant for tourism as well as preserving and presenting national heritage and national culture (Therborn, 1996), which often take place in tourist precincts.

Since capitals share a range of tourism issues they could benefit from the exchange of information, ideas, strategies and experiences. For this reason, to enhance and further advance tourism in capital cities it would be highly beneficial to examine issues systematically, with research that goes beyond a case by case basis, addressing tourism marketing, planning and development issues that may apply more broadly.

National capitals provide key tourism resources and are often a unique selling point for place marketing, yet the role of 'capitalness' in the marketing and development of tourism in capital cities is not well understood. Tourism may play an important role in diversifying the public sector economy and help change negative images and stereotypes that capital cities may portray. The extent to which the capital dimension influences the branding and marketing of capital cities is a particular issue, as is the issue of tourism development and planning. In particular, national capitals often operate in a capital region providing the need for cross border co-operation as well as co-operation between local, regional and national government agencies as they often serve local, national and even international interests making them interesting to study. Furthermore, tourism in capital cities may contribute to national identity and citizenship. Currently, some cities are asserting or re-asserting their status as national capitals as ideas of national identity change and political power is devolved (Barcelona increasingly sees itself as the national capital of Catalunya, rather than a provincial capital in Spain, Cardiff as the national capital of Wales, not simply a British city). The role of tourism in this process merits examination.

The special interest group will focus on the marketing, planning and development issues concerned with tourism in capital cities. Potential topics for exploration include:

• Tourism as a place promotion or restructuring tool in national capital cities
• The development and marketing of tourism precincts in capital cities
• Educational and school tourism
• Tourism, national identity and citizenship
• Capital cities as gateway cities
• Branding and positioning capital cities
• Local and visitor perceptions of capital cities and the influence of capital status on visitation
• The role of politicians in marketing capital cities
• The role of the media and reporting on images of capital cities
• Visual representations of national capital cities
• Conferences, exhibitions and special events as marketing, re-imaging or branding tools
• Importance of capital cities to particular visitor segments
• Engaging local residents in marketing national capital cities
• Engaging local residents in marketing national capital cities
• Marketing national cultural institutions
• Tourism in emerging national capitals
• Tourism planning and development issues in capital city tourism including collaboration and cross border marketing and planning issues
• International comparisons in the marketing and development of national capitals

Main activities

Potential projects could include:

• Definitional analysis and conceptualisation of capital city types and issues facing capital cities
• Compilation of a comprehensive bibliography of literature and practitioner materials to scope existing work and research gaps
• Cross country project to develop a method to estimate the size and scope of school excursion tourism in capital cities (secondary data from attractions and primary research)
• Cross country project to examine role of capital status in attracting visitors and its impact of visitor behaviour, perceptions and identity (visitor survey)
• Cross country project to examine visitor perceptions of capital cities (destination image study comparing capital cities with 'primary' cities)
• Cross country project to examine branding of capital cities (the extent to which capital status is used in marketing and branding; links to national branding)
• Expert meeting and special conference sessions

Links To Other Special Interest Groups

There are clearly potential links to existing SIGs - particularly Cultural Tourism SIG (e.g. cultural tourism, precinct development and cultural institutions) and Business Tourism SIG (government lobbying and tourism, conferences in capital cities). We will also try to involve researchers interested in heritage cities (including to examine former capital city tourism). However we see these links as creating complementarities rather than duplication. There are clear and distinct themes around 'capitalness' that the SIG will explore.

Links To External Groups

• Capital Alliance Members (include Canberra, Ottawa, Washington, Brasilia and 12 other invited cities which meet yearly)
• Government Agencies in Capital Cities
• City Destination Marketing Organisations
• Council of Europe and European Commission
• International Cities and Town Centres and Communities Society
• Embassies and High Commissions in national capital cities
• Study Associations (including European, Canadian Studies Associations)

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