Academic Researchers - UNC System

Community Outreach Interests

Currently, I serve as Director of the Center for Sustainable Tourism, Division of Research and Graduate Studies, East Carolina University. I have served in the capacities of President/CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Rural Tourism Foundation authorized by Congress (Public Law 102-372) to support tourism development in rural America, am founder and past director of the Colorado and Intermountain Rural Tourism and Recreation Initiatives, and was recently reelected to a second two year term as President of the America Leisure Academy.  My outreach interests are in rural tourism, gaming tourism and sustainable tourism practices.

Research Interests

My tenure home is in the College of Business and my scholarship focuses on sustainable practices in tourism, tourism planning strategies, and host community adjustments to tourism development. My research interest in these topics spans a number of years in a variety of capacities including program management, teaching, research, and publication in leading tourism journals. I have also served as Principle Investigator on numerous research efforts including a multi-year research initiative on state and local policies regarding community-based casino gambling funded through the Rural Economic Policy Program of The Aspen Institute.

I serve on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism and the InterAmerica Journal of the Environment and Tourism and have a number of research and technical publications on tourism impacts, planning, and policy.  These include a monograph on gambling titled Win, Lose, or Draw?: Gambling with America's Small Towns and a co-edited book titled Seeing and Being Seen: Tourism in the American West. I have served as Guest Editor of a special issue on gambling and tourism for the Journal of Travel Research and have made numerous national and international presentations regarding general rural tourism policy as well as gambling tourism and sustainable tourism. In 1996, my co-authored article received the Travel and Tourism Research Association's Best Article Award.

Notable Publications

Dolnicar, S., Crouch, G. & Long, P. 2007. "Environmentally Friendly Tourists: What do we really know about them?" Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 16(2), pp. 197-210.

Kang, S., Lee, C., Yoon, Y. & Long, P. 2007. "Resident perception of the impact of limited stakes community-based casino gaming in mature gaming communities." Tourism Management. 29(4), pp. 681-694.

Wrobel, D. & Long, P. 2001. Seeing and Being Seen: Tourism in the American West. Book published by the University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, KS.

Perdue, R., Long, P. & Kang, Y. 1999. "Boomtown Tourism and Resident Quality of Life: The Marketing of Gaming to Host Community Residents." Journal of Business Research. 44(3), pp. 165-178.

Long, P. 1996. "Early Impacts of Limited Stakes Casino Gambling on Rural Community Life." Tourism Management, 17(5), pp.341-354.

Perdue, R., Long. P. & Kang. Y. 1995. "Resident Support for Gambling as a Tourism Development Strategy." Journal of Travel Research. 23(2), pp. 3-11. (Selected as 1995 Best Article in the Journal of Travel Research).

Kang, Y., Long, P. & Perdue, R. 1995. "Resident Attitudes Toward Legal Gambling: A Report on Measurement Development." Annals of Tourism Research. 23(1), pp. 71-85.

Long, P., Clark, J. & Liston, D. 1994. Win, Lose, or Draw?: Gambling with America's Small Towns. Book published by the Rural Economic Policy Program, The Aspen Institute, Washington, DC.

Long, P. & Nuckolls, J. 1994. "Organizing Resources for Rural Tourism Development: The Importance of Leadership, Planning and Technical Assistance." Journal of Tourism Recreation Research. XlX(2), pp 19-34.