Group wants to find solutions for visitor harassment globally | THE DAILY HERALD

In St. Maarten, late last year, Oyster Pond residents complained again about so-called off-premises consultants (OPCs) working on behalf of timeshare resorts in Oyster Pond. Residents say that despite all the Oyster Pond residents’ complaints, articles in newspapers and complaints to the Préfecture and Gendarmerie, the illegal timeshare OPC operations on the public road and private parking lots in Oyster Pond continue. OPCs have also been seen working in Marigot, Orient Bay and other areas.

 

~ Locals can assist ~

 

INDIANA–The School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Purdue University in Indiana, United States, has a unit dedicated to visitor harassment research.

  The Unit, which began officially in 2017, was established with two goals in mind: to find sustainable solutions to the problem of visitor harassment and to be the conduit by which research findings from around the world are shared.

  The group’s primary function is to engage in research projects. Some of their current research projects include the following: The team developed a holistic learning model for sustainably reducing harassment of visitors by local micro-traders such as by local craft traders, street performers, and small transport providers among others. This model was first published in the journal Tourism Management and the revised model in the book The Routledge Handbook of Tourism Impacts.

  Currently, the team is engaged in two research projects. The first involves mapping visitor (trader) harassment around the world and the second is determining ways tourism leaders could overcome the negative effects of trader harassment of visitors on their destinations. Data collection for these projects have ended and these projects are on to the next stage – analysis and review.

  Associate Professor and Lead Visitor Harassment Researcher at Purdue University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management College of Health and Human Sciences Annmarie Nicely told The Daily Herald that there are three ways that locals in St. Maarten can assist in general in future projects. These include assisting with data collection in the various research projects. This can be done by participating in surveys, sharing surveys with others, and by connecting us with persons who can help.

  “Most of our surveys are usually online,” she said, “We will be commencing data collection for another project during this month.” Locals can also share their ideas/opinions/thoughts by sending an email to Nicely at: ajnicely@purdue.edu.

  The Unit dedicated to visitor harassment research serves researchers, tourism leaders, and the travelling public. They accomplish this through a range of initiatives. Such as through their Ideation event held in April each year. Every year, usually during the month of May, the group publishes on its website an updated list of studies on the topic from universities around the world. The links to the abstracts and how persons may access the full articles are also included in the list. And last year the group produced three YouTube videos that travel groups can use when preparing for trips overseas.

  Purdue is a public R1 research university based in the United States. R1 universities are doctoral universities with very high levels of research activity. The University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management is also ranked seventh in the world in the latest Shanghai Global Ranking of Hospitality and Tourism Management Programmes. The University is located in West Lafayette Indiana. For the latest on visitor harassment research visit the Website https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/htm/research/visitor-harassment-research-unit/index.html.

Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/93726-group-wants-to-find-solutions-for-visitor-harassment-globally

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