Tourism

Tourism is defined as travel to a place outside the usual residential environment, involving a stay of at least one night but no more than 1 year, with varying motivations, such as business, pleasure, visits to friends and relatives (VFR), and education. It is one of the world's largest industries. Tourism has long been of interest to geographers, [Page 2855]given its spatial, temporal, and activity patterns and given its major economic and environmental impacts, ranging from the local to the global.

Tourism in Switzerland: Hotel Wetterhorn

Source: Barbara Peacock.

Geographers have been influential in developing conceptual models for explaining tourism development. Some of the most important models are resort morphology, the tourist-historic city, and the tourist area cycle. Douglas Pearce's work on resort morphology has helped explain the resort's particular urban form and its evolution in response to new recreational demands. Pearce found that many older beach resorts first developed around a traditional waterfront; later, parallel developments, including a road or highway, high-end accommodation and retail, and interior residential zones, were built as one moved inland. Given environmental degradation and traffic hazards with this traditional resort model, newer shore resorts have increasingly integrated accommodations with the sea via yacht moorings. Likewise, modern integrated ski resorts similarly physically integrate the snow front (slopes and uphill facilities) with concentrated resort buildings. As with new urbanist developments, these new resort models allow for greater integration of accommodations and activities, reduce the amount of land developed, and promote more efficient service provision (e.g., heating, water, sewage). However, equity issues have arisen since integrated development generally favors a single developer, often from distant metropolitan areas and having the needed capital and technical expertise, over smaller local or regional entities.

Another key model in tourism geography is the tourist-historic city model, which represents the fusion of a tourist city with a historic one. The tourist-historic city has attractions, dining services/restaurants, and accommodations in the historic core. Tourists’ action spaces and impacts tend to be concentrated within a small portion of the entire city. This model, which was based on medium-sized, older historic cities in Europe, has [Page 2856]been modified to explain tourism in other parts of the world. In settlements of the American West, historic and reconstructed tourist attractions and accommodations can be found in the equivalent historic cores, which are the old central business districts containing train stations. However, with the dominance of the automobile, a newer, secondary concentration of lodging and dining services for tourists can be found along interstate highways.

Alpine and lake landscapes for tourism, Switzerland

Source: Barbara Peacock.

The tourist area cycle model developed by the geographer Richard Butler has influenced and spurred much research, application, and debate. The underlying concept, which is based on the product cycle, is that tourist areas, their attractions, and the number and type of their tourists evolve over time. Tourist areas move through the following stages: (a) exploration, in which there are a small number of tourists who are attracted to unique natural and cultural-historical features, use the local facilities, and have high contact with the local residents; (b) involvement, with increasing visitation; (c) development, in which the number of tourists during peak seasons exceeds the local population and locally developed infrastructure and original attractions are supplemented and increasingly supplanted by human-made attractions and facilities developed by external entities; [Page 2857](d) consolidation, in which tourism is a major component of the economy and thus marketing and advertising efforts increase to expand the visitors’ season and market area, particularly as the rate of increase in visitation is declining (while the total number of visitors continues to increase); and (e) stagnation, in which the peak number of visitors and carrying capacity levels are reached, natural and cultural attractions are superseded by created ones, and the less fashionable area relies on repeat and convention visitors. At this point, tourist areas can continue to stagnate, or they may move into a stage of decline, with reduced visitation and number of tourist facilities but often with increased permanent settlement or retirement. Alternately, they may undergo rejuvenation by completely changing the tourist attractions or by capitalizing on previously untapped resources. While this model has been much examined and debated regarding its fit to real places, it has important implications for planning, as it confronts the assumption that tourist areas are unchanging and will always attract an increasing number of visitors. Butler notes that the competitiveness of tourist areas could be sustained longer if proactive policies were enacted to maintain development within capacity limits.

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