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Noel Healy
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Profesor Noel Healy most recent paper entitled, "Low versus high intensity approaches to interpretive tourism planning: The case of the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland" has just been published in Tourism Management - the leading international journal for tourism research, carrying an impact factor of 2.554 and a 5 year impact of 3.762.
The study involved an international collaboration with Dr. Carena van Riper (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Professor Stephen W. Body (Ulster University). The study explored a controversial $50 million dollar tourism infrastructural development in County Clare in the West of Ireland and how the intensity of multimedia applications and onsite facilities shapes visitor experiences in natural area destinations.
Dr. Healy stated that the paper was significant as it "challenges the dominant producer-oriented development paradigm for visitor centers where the architectural design is often the focus of attention". Instead he claimed "a greater emphasis needs to be placed on interpretation that incorporates the perspectives of visitors and residents throughout all phases of the planning process".
Dr. Healy went on to say that "although authorities celebrate the creation of what is referred to as a world-class experience, architectural excellence and state-of-the- art interpretive technology, our research highlights the dangers of producer-oriented tourism development, given visitors' mixed re- views of the center's technology-intensive interpretive displays".
Professor Healy stated that "Ireland's weak local government and the absence of regional government structures, along with a highly centralized administrative culture, have made top-down decision-making, localism and brokerage a central part of Irish politics. This in turn informs public policy and in this case Irish tourism development decision making". He claimed that greater recognition and social scientific engagement with the issue and cultural practices that underpin tourism governance and the development of tourism destinations in Ireland is required.
The paper can be found here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517715300030