The Role of Niche Tourism Products in Destination - Repository ...

1.1 Introduction
Chapter 1
Introduction and Overview
This critical appraisal is a narrative setting out the stages of the research journey, and the evolution in thinking, that I have taken
over the last ten years, as an academic in Australia, the UK and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It seeks to rationalise a number
of pieces of work each of which are self-contained but at the same time emerge as part of a consistent theme – The Role of Niche
Tourism Products in Destination Development. A PhD by Publication, unlike a traditional PhD, is a retrospective attempt to
construct a series of research articles and papers, within a critical contextual perspective. Thus the narrative takes on a different
form. Instead of a single in depth investigation into a specific subject, a coherent, thematic body of work around several research
areas is presented. The aim of this critical appraisal is to present the justification for a body of work that I have developed and to
demonstrate my contribution to the field of tourism research to substantiate the claim for the award of Doctorate of Philosophy. As
part of the research journey a research philosophy has been explored and developed, spanning the conception and development of
the research contribution.
The publications encompass eight published journal articles; two book chapters and three fully refereed conference papers to
reflect the particular contribution of the author’s work. The work presented is only a sample drawn from a wider body of work that is
still progressing and includes numerous other articles, international conference papers and the co-authorship of three seminal text
books in the area of Festival and Event Management (see Appendix 1). The publications presented here are both sole and co-