James Higham
Professor
Office - Commerce 4.43
Tel 64 3 479 8500
Email james.higham@otago.ac.nz
Background
James Higham began and continues his academic career at the University of Otago (New Zealand). In 1991 his first postgraduate research project examined changing visitor patterns at the Taiaroa Head (New Zealand) Royal Albatross colony, and consequences for visitor management. His PhD (1992-1995) addressed the management of wilderness experiences at a time of intense growth in inbound tourism to New Zealand, which acted to greatly diversify recreational demands upon New Zealand’s national parks. During his PhD, in 1994, he was appointed to the academic staff of the Department of Tourism initally as an Assistant Lecturer. Between 1996-2001 he worked in a research team on a range of projects as part of a government funded ‘Sustainable Tourism’ research programme. The last of these projects (1999-2001) was a two year study of ecotourism businesses in New Zealand on which he collaborated with his colleague Dr. Anna Thompson. Periods of sabbatical leave in 2002 and 2007 were spent in the United Kingdom (2002, 2007) and Norway (2002). He has been a visiting researcher at the University of Stavanger (Norway) in 2002 and the University of Alberta (Canada) in 2001 and 2006. In November 2006 he was promoted to personal professor. He was appointed Head of Department (Department of Tourism, School of Business) in December 2006.
Research Interests
Professor Higham’s research dating to 1991 focusses on various aspects of tourism and environmental change. Specific subjects of his research include tourist interactions with wildlife, tourism and wilderness, and the relationship between tourism, recreation and climate change. His most recent publications address various subjects such as; the development of integrated, adaptive and research-informed management models to address the sustainability of tourist interactions cetaceans (and other human-widlife interactions), tourism and wildlife habituation, and resource use conflicts in marine tourism. Since 1998, his research interested have diversified into sport-related fields following the development of an international research collaboration with Professor Tom Hinch (University of Alberta, Canada). Their research interests in the field of sport and tourism include sport and spatial travel flows, sport and tourism seasonality, sport and authentic experiences, and globalization, sport and tourism. His latest publication project (with Tom Hinch) is a book titled ‘Sport and tourism: Globalization, mobility and identity’. James serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Sport & Tourism (Taylor and Francis) and on the editorial boards of Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Journal of Ecotourism and Tourism in Marine Environments.
Major Works
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Hinch, T.D. & Higham, J.E.S. 2004, Sport Tourism Development. Aspects of Tourism Book Series. Channel View Publications: Clevedon |
Higham, J.E.S. (ed.) 2007. Critical issues in ecotourism: understanding a complex tourism phenomenon. Oxford: Elsevier. |
Higham, J.E.S. & Lück, M. (Eds) 2007. Marine wildlife and tourism management: Insights from natural and social sciences. Wallingford: CABI Publishing. |
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Hall, C.M. & Higham, J.E.S. (Eds). 2005. Tourism, recreation and climate change: International perspectives. Aspects of Tourism Book Series. Clevedon: Channel View Publications. |
Higham, J.E.S. (Ed) 2005. Sport Tourism Destinations: Issues, opportunities and analysis. Oxford: Elsevier. |
Higham, J.E.S & Hinch, T.D. 2009, Sport and Tourism. Globalization, Mobility and Identity. Oxford: Elsevier. |
Selected Recent Publications
Higham, J.E.S. & Bejder, L. (2008). Managing wildlife-based tourism: Edging slowly towards sustainability? Current Issues in Tourism 11(1):63-74.
Higham, J.E.S., Lusseau, D. & Hendry, W. (2008). The viewing platforms from which animals are observed in the wild: A discussion of emerging research directions. Journal of Ecotourism 7(2/3):132-14. (Special Issue on Australian wildlife tourism).
Higham, J.E.S. & Lusseau, D. (2007). Urgent need for empirical research into whaling and whale-watching. Conservation Biology 21(2): 554-558.
Higham, J.E.S. & Hinch, T.D. (2006). Sport and tourism research: A geographic approach. Sport & Tourism: A Multidisciplinary Journal 11(1): 31-49
Higham, J.E.S. (2005). Sport tourism as an attraction for managing seasonality. Sport in Society 8(2): 238-262 (Special Issue on sport tourism).
Hinch, T.D. & Higham, J.E.S. (2005). Sport, tourism and authenticity. European Sports Management Quarterly. 5(3): 245-258 (Special Issue).
Finkler, W. & Higham, J.E.S. (2004). The human dimensions of whale watching: An analysis based on viewing platforms. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 9(1): 103-117.
Lusseau, D. & Higham, J.E.S. (2004). Managing the impacts of dolphin-based tourism through the definition of critical habitats: The case of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.) in Doubtful Sound, New Zealand. Tourism Management 25(5): 657-667.
PhD and Masters Supervision
PhD A. Palliser*. Tourism and socio-ecological systems.
PhD R. Wright*. Sport, tourism and identity.
PhD A. Reis*. Trampers' and Hunters' Constructions of Nature and Tensions in the Outdoors (recipient of Education NZ Scholarship, World Leisure Congress International Scholarship)
PhD S. Cohen*. Finding self: Long term travellers.
PhD C. Orchiston*. Isoseismic mapping and tourism disaster response.
PhD R. Mitchell. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in tourism.
PhD M. Kane. Adventure narratives in New Zealand.
PhD Å. Grahn Personal benefits of educational tour experiences
PhD M. Byeon. FIFA 2002 World Cup longitudinal study.
Masters M. Julseth. The international transferablility of the Stetind Project