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1. What is Geography?

Geography is the study of place. A place is any area occupied by somebody. Places are to a greater or lesser degree unique. The characteristics of any place are the result of different processes (social, environmental, cultural, economic).

 

2. Tourism, recreation and leisure

Leisure: measure of time, time left over after work, chores, sleep etc. Free time for individuals to do as they want.

Recreation: usually the variety of activities undertaken during leisure time.

Tourism then = one kind of recreation activity. Tourism fits at one end of the recreation spectrum – see OHP. Day travelers – a kind of tourism – use all resources apart from accommodation. UN Statistical Commission: ‘The activities of people travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes.’ This def: includes business travel; focuses on the tourist, rather than tourism sector or industry

 

 

3. How are geography and tourism related?

Geography influences tourism: each place is a combination of factors and features, resulting from various processes. These features and factors combine to form an attraction.

Tourism can also change geography: tourism itself becomes an agent of change – can sustain or threaten uniqueness, can bring about changes in economic, social, cultural or environmental conditions.

Relationship between the two is dialectical – both can affect, influence and change the other.

 

 

4. Elements of geography

 

Geography explains the world through examining four principal factors: Location, Place and Space, Movement, Region. All of these are important in understanding the tourism.

 

1. Location
1. Absolute (site)

Absolute location is measurement of location according to latitude and longitude. On any map, the grid of lines represents latitude and longitude. EW parallel lines are latitude. Measured N or S of the equator, in degrees of arc. Equator is 0 degrees, poles are 90 degrees. NS lines are meridians, measure longitude. Converge at poles, widest separation at equator. Prime meridian = base point for measurement – longitude of the Royal Observatory in London. Located in Greenwich. Longitude = measurement of location east or west of the prime meridian.

Measured in degrees but also has minutes and seconds. Minutes and seconds are smaller subdivisions of degrees.

EG: 40 degrees N latitude, 116 degrees east longitude = Beijing.

 

2. Relative (situation)

Relative location (situation) refers to location of places with respect to other places. Absolute location is one of the internal characteristics of a place. Relative location looks at the external interaction of a place with other places. Depends on: location, distance from other places, accessibility, potential for contact, and internal characteristics. Countries that have a poor relative location relative to wealthy nations have few tourists even though they may have attractive physical or cultural relationships. Eg: interior of Africa – v. beautiful physical characteristics, but poor relative location. As relative location changes, tourism flow can change. Eg; opening the airport on Samui made its relative location more favorable (easier to get to) so tourism increased.

 

3. Geographic location

Combination of relative location and absolute location.

 

Development of tourism depends on site, situation, and relationship to other attractions. Eg: difference between Paris and Edinburgh. Paris: central to Europe, accessible, more attractions in city and surrounding areas. Edinburgh: peripheral location, isolated from main population centres.

 

Also perception is important: people do not react to reality, but to what they perceive as reality. Perception comes from cultural values, traditions, historic interaction, goals, personal values, and personal interaction. Perception can enhance or deter tourism to an area. Eg: Thailand’s perceived quality as ‘exotic’ encourages tourism; however, also perceived as ‘sex tourism’ so discourages other tourists. Perception can be altered by advertising and marketing – eg; I love NY campaign.

 

 

2. Place and Space
1. Physical characteristics
1. Climate
2. Vegetation
3. Landforms

All the physical characteristics will be covered in lesson ****

 

2. Human and cultural characteristics

Called ‘cultural geography’. Reflects both human changes to physical environment and cultural variables.

 

1. Language

1. Tourists often visit countries where people speak their language. Eg: taking English and French tourists to the Caribbean: French visit Martinique, Guadeloupe; English visit Trinidad, Barbados. Increased int’l tourism is often accompanied by the spread of second languages. In Thailand, many hotel staff speak a second language – English, German, Japanese. In this case language is acting as an attractor – it is making the place more attractive to tourists.
2. Language can also be a deterrent to tourism. Fear of not being able to communicate can inhibit people from travelling to a particular destination.

1. Food and clothing

Form major elements in cultural differences between places.

Foods eaten by various groups of people chosen as a result of cultural attitudes, religious beliefs, physical characteristics of place etc.

Food not usually a major attraction of places, although it does add to a place’s attractiveness. Tourists often select food they are familiar with, even when food is considered as one of the attractions of the place.

Clothing again can add to the attractiveness of a place, or stimulate curiosity about it, but is rarely a major attraction in and of itself.

 

2. Political/Legal systems and religion

Political systems and religion are two forces that institutionalize and formalize the beliefs, values, traditions and way of life of a group.

Political systems can affect tourism directly – should people travel to Burma?

Also affects tourism indirectly: legal systems affect tourism in a number of ways:

Las Vegas/Nevada legalized gambling in US

Many Islamic countries don’t allow alcohol

Topless bathing prohibited in some countries

Drugs – drug driven tourism in Laos

Legal requirements for visas, currency exchange, places that can/not be visited.

 

Religion also differs from one place to another.

Directly affects tourism: Motivator to travel and attractor – Hajj (Mecca), Rome (Vatican), Israel/Palestine

Also indirectly affects tourism: can be directly interwoven with political landscape – eg; Islamic law/sharia. Influences personal interactions, dress, food, and the rest of the cultural landscape.

 

 

 

 

3. Architectural styles

Probably the most visible part of the cultural landscape, and often the first noticed. Methods and materials of construction and styles of buildings reflect different styles characteristic of different places and times. Architectural types can be divided into rural and urban.

0. Urban

• Unique place, representative of the area.
• Comforts of home
• Activities and recreation.

1. Rural

• Crop and livestock combinations
• Field and holding patterns – in Europe (with the exception of the Communist countries), Asia, and Africa plots tend to be small and in divided into lots of fields (although this is changing), not always contiguous; in Americas, Australia, NZ, and S Africa, plots tend to be in large units of contiguous holdings.
• Fencing materials and style – hedgerows in S. England and N. France, drystone walls in N. England.
• Settlement patterns in rural areas.
• Most of Europe, some parts of Latin America, densely populated parts of Asia, parts of Africa and Middle East : nucleated settlements or villages. Village contains: farmers’ houses and pens, barns, garden. Outside village are fields, pastures, meadows.
• N America, NZ, Australia, S. Africa (parts) – dispersed rural settlements. More recent type of settlement. Isolated homesteads.
• Folk Culture = culture that has retained traditional way of life. Can be an attractor for tourism, but often suffers from its impact. Eg; Hill Tribe people in Thailand, will be examined in lesson ****

1. Movement

.

0. Terms used in analyzing spatial interaction.

These terms are important in understanding spatial interaction

 

0. Complementarity

 

Places do not automatically interact. Must be a complementary relationship between them. One place must supply something that the other place demands. This supply-demand relationship can lead to interaction between the two places – tourism, economic, trade etc.

 

1. Intervening Opportunity

Substitution of one place for another. Growth of a suburban mall leads people to shop there instead of downtown. Mall = intervening opportunity. Intervening opportunities are common as a nearer/less expensive/more favourable relative location place is substituted for another.

 

2. Transferability

Ease with which a person can go from one place to another, includes both time and money. Higher transferability = more interaction. Hence, domestic tourism usually dominant over int’l tourism.

 

3. Movement within tourism system/Tourism flows.

• Tourist generating areas. Homes of tourists. Issues to examine in this area include: Why is there a demand for tourism? Who? Geographical location of an area, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Examined in lesson 3.
• Tourist destination areas. Attract tourists to stay temporarily. Most important part of system. Largest and most important impacts occur in these areas. Most of the course will examine these areas.
• Transit routes. Link two types of areas. Key element in the system. Effectiveness and characteristics shape the size and direction of tourist flows.

• Push factors are concerned with stage of economic development in the originating area. Include level of affluence, mobility, holiday entitlement. Also includes unfavourable climate.
• Pull factors relate to relative location and attractions and amenities of destination area. Cost also important, as well as marketing (affects perception of location).

• Volume. Want to know the number of tourists leaving an area or entering a destination in a given period of time. Also include length of stay.
• Tourist characteristics. Information on tourists (sex, age, socioeconomic group) and behaviour (structure of trip, destinations, attitudes)
• Expenditure statistics. How much moola did they spend. Tourism represents a flow of money from one place to another. Often v. important for destination.

• Volume – can count tourists as they enter or leave an area. Easy for int’l tourists, but problematic for domestic flows. In destination areas, can count tourists by registration cards – only effective when enforced and automated. Domestic flows use surveys – interview sample of people in their homes, ask about nature and extent of travel. Can also run surveys in destinations.
• Characteristics – surveys. Can be added to registration cards, more often ask a sample at airports etc. Q’s about them, their trip, opinions etc.
• Expenditure – can be obtained by directly asking, or by asking hoteliers etc. Can also use bank records of foreign currency transactions.

• Holiday tourism – recreation: sun-sea-sand, touring-sightseeing-culture.
• Common interest tourism – visiting friends/relatives, religious travel.
• Business and professional tourism. Trade fairs, conferences, etc. Not part of leisure time (so not recreation), but makes demands on accommodation etc.

• Inclusive [package] (two or more components purchased together, one price paid. Usually little choice about items that are combined.
• Independent – separate purchase of elements,
• Tailor made – combination of these two. Traveler selects items and pays one price.

• First world. Wealthy, technological nations of N. America, W. Europe and Japan.

• Second World. Centrally planned communist economies in E. Europe, USSR etc.

• Third World. Poor countries of the world.

Another way is on the basis of economic development.

• Developed/Industrialized – USA, W. Europe. High income, high consumption, developed middle class, manufacturing, service

• NIC/developing – Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore. In transition.

• Undeveloped – much of Africa. Low income, v. unequal distribution of wealth. Predominantly agriculture.

Reading: 3-11.

Leisure

Recreation

Tourism

Absolute location /site

Prime meridian

Longitude

Latitude

Relative location

Market city

Transit city

Specialized city

Nucleated settlement pattern

Dispersed settlement pattern

Folk culture

Complementarity

Intervening opportunity

Transferability

Push/pull factors

Region

In general, how are geography and tourism related?

What are the four main elements of geography?

How is absolute location measured?

What is the difference between absolute location/site and relative location?

What is geographic location?

How can language affect tourism?

How can food or clothing affect tourism?

How can legal/political systems affect tourism?

How can religion affect tourism?

In general, why do cities attract tourists?

List and explain the elements that can cause variation in agricultural landscapes.

What are the three major components of the tourism system in geographical terms?

What is the difference between push and pull factors?

What kinds of measurements are taken of tourist flows, and how is this measurement achieved?

Explain Smith’s classification of tourists.

What are the various ways in which tourism can be classified and subdivided?

1. Demand for tourism – basic concepts and definitions

 

1. Tourism demand

‘the total number of people who travel, or wish to travel, to use tourist facilities and services at places away from their places of work and residence’ (Mathieson & Wall 1982).

 

Demand has a number of components.

 

1. Effective/Actual demand

Numbers of people who actually travel. Most commonly referred to, most easily measured.

 

2. Suppressed demand

That part of the population that does not travel for some reason.

 

Potential demand = people who will travel at some point in the future, if they experience a change in their circumstances, eg, a raise.

 

Deferred demand = people who do not travel because of a scarcity in the supply environment, eg, all the hotels are full.

 

3. No demand

People who do not want to travel.

 

2. Travel propensity

Travel propensity is a measure of the effective or actual demand for tourism. Refers to the percentage of a population that engages in tourism.

 

1. Net

Refers to percentage of the population that take at least one trip in a given period of time. Can never go over 100%

 

2. Gross

Total number of tourism trips taken as a percentage of the population. Theoretically could go over 100%.

GTP/NTP = average number of trips taken by those participating in tourism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXAMPLE:

Population of 100 people.

50 people take one trip

20 people take two trips

5 people take three trips

2 people take four trips

 

77 people take at least one trip

Total of 50+40+15+8 = 113 trips

 

NTP = number of pop taking at least one trip

______________________________ x 100 = 77%

 

total population

 

 

GTP = total number of trips

________________ x 100 = 113%

 

total population

 

 

 

GTP/NTP = 1.47 trips average.

 

2. Factors affecting travel propensity

 

1. Stage in economic development

Economy is critical in determining travel propensity. Waugh (1995) – stages in economic development.

 

USE OHP pg. 14.

 

Different countries reach different stages of development at different times. As economy moves towards high mass-consumption, changes occur:

 

Employment shifts from primary (agriculture) to secondary (manufacturing) and then tertiary (service).

 

Health improves.

Discretionary incomes rise.

 

Demand for consumer goods and recreation rises.

 

Educational attainment increases.

 

Access to media increases = increased awareness of tourism opp.

 

Increase demand for tourism.

 

Institutions develop leisure products and services.

At high mass consumption stage, economy encourages high levels of travel propensity. Tourism (outbound) is a result of economic development. More highly developed an economy, more tourism.

 

2. Population factors

Population growth and economic development are linked. Demographic transition from traditional society to high mass consumption.

 

OHPs from page 16.

 

High stationary phase – population at low and relatively constant level. Birth rates roughly equal or slightly exceed death rates. Large proportion of society is young. Relatively few old people.

 

Early expanding phase – continued high birth rates, but sharp decline in death rates due to improved sanitation and health provision. Population expands, often v. rapidly. Change in proportion of population – more old people, but still predominantly young.

 

Late expanding phase – fall in birth rate as economy grows. Also a result of the spread of birth control technology. This phase often corresponds with the drive to maturity phase in economic development.

 

Low stationary phase – corresponds to high mass consumption stage of economic development (usually, but see China). Birth rates and death rates have stabilized. Small numbers of children born to each family. Populations are aging, more and more elderly people. Aging population often has high discretionary income levels.

 

 

Distribution of population affects tourist patterns. Eg, in USA, population is asymmetric. 2/3 of population live in eastern 1/3 of country. Results in a net E-W tourist flow.

 

 

3. Political influences

Can affect TP in a number of ways:

Political complexion. Before collapse of Soviet Union, many E Europeans and Russians could not travel outside their own countries. Granting of visas (both outbound and inbound) often depends on gov. Currency restrictions may be emplaced to control outflow of money.

Political groupings. Some political groupings facilitate travel between the member states. Prime example is the EC. Abolition of intra EC border controls. Has led to increased intra-EC travel.

Political instability. Unstable political regimes may forbid travel. Or exclude people from a particular area from traveling (outbound or inbound).

 

 

 

4. Lifestyle

 

1. Income

Tourism demands money. Need a certain threshold level of income before an individual can take part.

 

Gross income = total amount earned.

 

Disposable income = money that reaches the public after taxes etc. includes essentials such as housing, food, clothing.

 

Discretionary income = income left over when tax, clothing, food, etc. have been subtracted.

 

Low discretionary income = low TP

 

Discretionary incomes rises = TP rises.

 

When discretionary income reaches a ceiling, TP levels off due to demands of high paying and high status job.

 

2. Employment

Employment nature affects holiday entitlement and income levels. Also a fundamental distinction between those in employment and those unemployed. Impact of unemployment obvious. Also some more subtle influences: job insecurity encourages later booking of flights, more domestic holidays, shorter stays and lower spending levels.

 

3. Holiday entitlement

Low levels of paid holiday entitlement = constraint on ability to travel.

 

High levels of paid he = encourage travel.

Possibly not due to the amount of time available, but because higher levels of holiday entitlement are associated with higher status jobs (more income etc.).

 

National holidays can affect travel patterns within or across countries. Within Thailand, new year travel, Songkhran etc.

 

4. Others

Education attainment. Higher education = higher TP. More aware of opportunities. Education stimulates desire to travel. Also related to higher levels of education link to higher status jobs.

 

Personal mobility. Car ownership. Obviously, owning a car makes it easier to travel (domestic).

5. Life cycle

 

1. Age

Chronological age = age in years. Not v useful.

Table works well for westernized industrialized countries, but not so well anywhere else. V general broad sweep categories.

Homework.

Reading pg 12-24

Tourism demand

Actual demand

Suppressed demand

Potential demand

Deferred demand

Travel propensity

NTP

GTP

Demographic transition

High stationary phase

Early expanding phase

Late expanding phase

Low stationary phase

Gross income

Disposable income

Discretionary income

Domestic age

Explain the various types of demand for tourism

What is the difference between GTP and NTP, and how are they measured?

What are the stages of economic development?

What changes occur during economic development that drive a growth in the demand for tourism?

What is the demographic transition, and how is it (typically) linked to economic growth?

How can political characteristics of a region affect travel propensity?

What is the relationship between income and TP?

What is the relationship of holiday entitlement and TP?

List and explain the three categories in the typical domestic age analysis.

6. Personality

Seven were classified as socio-psychological, namely:

• Escape from a Perceived Mundane Environment. A temporary change of environment was a frequently expressed respondent motive. Escape was sought not only from the general residential locale but also from the specific home and job environments. There did not appear to be any single optimum type of environment that facilitated escape. The critical ingredient was only that the pleasure vacation context should be physically and socially different from the environment in which one normally lives.

• Exploration and Evaluation of Self. a pleasure vacation may be viewed by some people as an opportunity for re-evaluating and discovering more about themselves or for acting out self-images and in so doing refining or modifying them.

• Relaxation. The term relaxation was a constant respondent theme, but its use was often ambivalent. Generally, there was a reluctance on the part of respondents to relax physically. Respondents would say they felt relaxed and then admit that they came home physically exhausted. It was apparent that the term relaxation referred to a mental state rather than a physical relaxation. Relaxation meant talking the time to pursue activities of interest.

• Prestige Although some respondents suggested prestige was a primary motivating factor in other people's trips, few of them accepted that there was any prestige motive involved in their own pleasure vacation decisions. It may be that as travel has become more frequent, it is perceived to be less prestigious. Travel may have become part of the indigenous life style rather than symbolic of a higher life style. May play a part in determining type of travel. Also operates in reverse – backpackers avoiding developed destinations.

• Regression Some respondents suggested that a pleasure vacation provided an opportunity to do things which were inconceivable within the context of their usual life styles. The things respondents' cited were often puerile, irrational, and more reminiscent of adolescent or child behavior than mature adult behavior. Forget about worries. Simpler life style, or simpler period in their own lives.

• Enhancement of Kinship Relationships Many respondents perceived the pleasure vacation as a time when family members were brought close together. Hence, the pleasure vacation served as a medium through which family relationships could be enhanced or enriched. Long car trips.

• Facilitation of Social Interaction It was evident that an important motive for some respondents going on a pleasure vacation was to meet new people in different locations. These trips were people oriented rather than place oriented.

• Novelty Synonyms included curiosity, adventure, new and different. Novel meant new experience but it did not necessarily mean entirely new knowledge. Often respondents knew a lot about a place. The novelty resulted from actually seeing something rather than simply knowing of it vicariously. A preference for going to a previously unvisited destination was a consistent factor.

• Education The positive influence of pleasure vacations on children's' education was exhorted by most respondents and in some cases was the primary consideration in the selection of a destination. Education was perceived as a means of developing a rounded individual.

• The pleasure-seeker demands comfort and luxury in components such as lodging services, entertainment, and transportation during their travel experience.

• The impassive is noticed for undertaking travel decisions fast and without advanced planning.

• The self-confident is receptive to undertaking different kinds of activities through his or her selection of unusual destinations and activities.

• The planful tends to plan well in advance and is more inclined to purchase pre-packaged tours.

• The masculine is immersed in active leisure itineraries such as camping, hunting, and fishing.

• The intellectual dedicates a good amount of attention to a destination’s historic and cultural aspects.

• Finally, the people-orientated is eager to establish contacts with locals when he or she travels.

1. Historical development of tourism

 

1. Ancient

Logical motivators for the earliest of peoples in prehistoric civilisations to travel focused on gathering food, avoiding danger, and moving to more favourable climates. As humankind's skills and technologies increased, there was a decreased need in the nomadic existence, resulting in yet another travel motivator: the trade and barter of goods.

However, travel time consuming, expensive, dangerous = low levels of travel. Transportation slow, no way to exchange money, no commonly accepted common language. In each time period however, some form of widely accepted lang and currency. eg, Greek city states, Greek coins (owls) and Greek common lang and money around Mediterranean area.

Early travel ass. with waterways, as travel across land slow and dangerous. Travel along major rivers – in Mediterranean area, Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, Danube – and across sea, but often coast hugging. In Pacific, some examples of Polynesian peoples making v long voyages, eg over 2000 miles on outrigger canoes.

Travel v. v. slow. Walking speed around 2 to 3 mph. Journey of 120 miles, travel night and day, takes 2 days. Washington to NY takes 4 days of non-stop, or week or 12 hour days.

Roads developed slowly. Assyrians built network of roads in Mesopotamia to facilitate military travel.

Construction of roads accompanied by growth in wheeled traffic – carts etc., but still v slow.

 

2. Roman

Romans by 0 AD controlled all of Mediterranean area. To cement control, built a network of excellent roads. Some still visible today – eg Watling street in UK.

Unification resulted in common tongue (Latin/Greek), common currency (sestertii ?), safe travel, common legal system.

Ease of transportation allowed growth of trade within Empire – most of Rome’s grain came from Egypt.

Also encouraged for the first time growth of leisure travel.

 

Sightseeing was also popular with the wealthy Romans, and many visited Greece. A ten-volume travel guide was published in 170 AD by the Greek, Pausanias. Entitled A Guide to Greece, the guide targeted the Roman tourist market and described the Grecian monuments, sculptures, and the stories and myths behind them.

 

Romans also toured Egypt to see the Sphinx and the Pyramids. Alexandria was a cosmopolitan oasis for Roman aristocracy, since many nationalities were represented there including Egyptians, Greeks, Jews, Ethiopians, Indians, and Syrians. Egypt's weather was also a travel incentive for the Romans, as it offered a sunny, hot, and dry environment.

 

The citizens of the Roman Empire also liked to shop when abroad, as most tourists do today. The practice of hiding purchases from custom officials probably originated with this class, a result of high duties, typically 25 percent, placed on imported purchases.

 

Concept of holiday began to develop. Originally religious day of observance.

 

3. Middle ages

 

During the Middle Ages from about the 5th to 14th century AD, trade and travel declined as roads fell into disrepair and overall travel conditions became difficult as well as dangerous.

 

During this period, the Christian Church was the primary impetus for travel with the spreading of monasteries and the Christian religion.

 

 

Monks and priests encouraged the public to go on pilgrimages, and by the 14th century, pilgrimages were an organised mass phenomena served by a growing network of charitable hospices with growing ranks of participants from most social classes.

 

Christians went to Jerusalem and Rome, and even though the pilgrimages had a religious basis, they were also seen as social and recreational journeys.

 

In the latter part of the 13th century, Marco Polo explored the land routes from Europe to Asia. In China, Polo discovered a well-developed road system, the first having been built during the Chou dynasty (1122-1221 BC).

 

Polo's book on his travels was the West's main source of information about life in the East during this period.

 

Other travel books began to appear with the advent of the printing press, and Sir John Mandeville's Travels in 1357 was printed in several foreign languages, with descriptions of travel to places as far away as Southeast Asia.

 

By the 15th century there is a record of an actual package tour, which originated in Venice to the Holy Land. For the price of the package, the tourist received passage, meals, accommodation, donkey rides, and the bribe money necessary to avoid red tape.

 

Early versions of today's convenience fast food stands popped up along heavily trafficked pilgrim travel ways. Roadside hawkers during high seasons would sell wine, fruits, fish, meats, bread and cakes from roadside tents.

 

 

 

4. Early int’l

 

Began in Elizabethan times, to groom future diplomats and the universities such as Oxford and Cambridge in England and Salamanca in Spain provided travel fellowships. Sons sent to Germany, Low countries, France and Florence for three years. Culture and language of Ren. Also Naples. “See Naples and die” – STDs.

 

Developed later into highly structured Grand Tour. Sons of well-to-do families travelled to specific countries to visit historical sites and ruins as well as to study art, architecture and history.

 

Grand tour resulted in growth of hospitality sector – guidebooks, etc.

 

Travel remained province of wealthy.

 

1800s/early 1900s.

Growth of resorts. Bath in UK. Spas like Davos, Baden-Baden. Originally meeting places and socializing area for wealthy. Later, with improved transportation, became large complexes for the masses.

 

Industrial Revolution.

Industrialization, resulting in the kinds of changes outlined in previous lecture, provided a growth in the demand for tourism. = stimulated growth in resorts and tourist destinations.

Also growth of mass transit systems (railways) development of destinations often linked to rail access

Middle/Working class = seaside resorts, mountain spas – close to urban centres.

Wealthy = extended periods of time – Riveria, Monte Carlo etc.

 

5. Recent

1950s.

1950 – int’l tourist arrivals = 25.3 million. US$ million 2,100. Growth sluggish after WW2, but increased use of jet engined aircraft starting

 

1960s

1960 – arrivals = 69.3 million. 6,867mUS$. development of standardized approach to tourism. Package tours. Business travel starting to grow.

 

1970s

1970 – arrivals = 159.7 million. 17,900m US$. Growth slowed due to oil crisis, but did not shrink. ‘Ratchet effect’ – times of recession, demand remains constant, people not willing to give up travel.

 

1980s.

1980 – arrivals 284.8 million. 102,372m US$. Growth rates slow as market approaches maturity. Chernobyl, Libyan bombing, fall in dollar = shift away from Europe and N Africa. Same with Gulf War.

 

1990s.

1990 – arrivals 454.8 million. 255,000m US$. Shift in demand with collapse of Soviet bloc, growth in Pacific Rim. Asian currency collapse boosted inbound tourism in these countries.

 

.

Homework

 

Terminology

Attitudes

Perceptions

Motivators

Wanderlust

Sunlust

Environmental bubble

Grand tour

 

Questions

 

Explain Gray’s analysis of motivators to travel.

 

Explain Crompton’s motives for travel. What is the difference between socio-psychological and cultural?

 

Explain Cohen’s typology of tourists.

 

Explain Plog’s typology of tourists.

 

Outline the reasons for the growth in travel experienced in the Roman empire.

 

Outline the historical growth of tourism from the 1600s to modern times.

 

Describe and explain the current world tourist flow patterns, as well as any recent changes and the reasons for these changes.

 

5.

Present day tourism flows, introduction to the geography of resources for tourism.

 

 

2. Current int’l tourist flows

 

1. Generators

Main generators of tourism are developed high mass consumption countries. Europe (in regional terms) most important region for int’l tourism.

 

OHP – table on page 31 of Hudman and Jackson (1999)

 

2. Destinations

OHP – top 12 countries drawing tourism. Page 30 of Hudman and Jackson (1999)

 

OHP represents 58.98% of all int’l tourist visits.

 

Europe tops the list, as:

much of traffic is intra-European.

Europe pulls many N American tourists due to historic ties.

 

Within Europe, Mediterranean countries most as,

cost

climate

coastal locations – sun, sea, sand

cultural attractions – Greek and Roman

 

Many US/Canada tourists travel to several countries on one trip to Europe.

 

China moved into list in 1986. Reflects opening up of country. Return of expat Chinese.

 

US-Mexico-Canada have similar situation to Europe. Close by, relatively easy for nationals to travel across borders.

 

OHP – tourist arrivals by region. Page 30 of Hudman and Jackson (1999).

 

Again, as expected Europe tops list. As before – intra European travel. But Europe’s share has declined 15% since 1977. Shift has gone to E. Asia and Pacific. Increased from 4.5% in 1977 to 14.1% in 1994.

 

Low growth in Africa and Middle East due to instability.

 

3. Geography of resources for tourism

 

1. Characteristics of tourist resources

• Tangible objects which are of economic value to the tourism industry. Must be recognized as such. Place, landscape, natural feature etc. eg; sunshine not seen as tourist resource until 1920s, concern with skin cancer, maybe will not be in future.

• Not used solely by tourists. Tourism shares use with agriculture, forestry, water management, residents. Tourism significant land use, but often not dominant. Can lead to conflict between users of land.

• Tourist resources are perishable. Vulnerable to alteration and destruction.

1. National Scale

 

Classification of resources

 

0. Swarbrooke 1995

• Natural. Beaches, caves, scenic features, wildlife

• Human-made, but not purpose built. Cathedrals, temples, ruins etc.

• Human made and purpose-built. Museums, art galleries, theme parks etc.

• Special Events. World Cup, Ashes, Olympics, markets, festivals, ceremonies etc.

1. Clawson & Knetsch 1966

1. Local Scale

 

0. Conditions affecting tourism development

 

0. Public sector

For resource base to be developed, someone has to act. Public sector usually involved with planning and coordination. Providing and encouraging tourism development. Takes responsibility for providing initial tourist infrastructure: airports, railways, utilities. Seeks to provide environment conducive to tourist development.

 

1. Private sector

Takes on responsibility for providing tourist superstructure: accomodation, entertainment, shopping facilities, restaurants etc. Seeks profit.

 

 

 

2. Accessibility

For successful development of tourism resources, access from major tourist generating areas is v important. May be deciding factor (favourable relative location).

 

3. Other factors

land availability, physical site attributes (topography), planning environment, finance

 

1. Tourist resorts

 

0. Lavery 1971

• Capital cities

• Select resorts.

• Popular resorts.

• Minor resorts.

• Cultural/Historic areas.

• Winter-sports resorts.

• Spas/watering places.

• Day trip resorts.

1. Morphology

Morphology means ‘shape’. Typically concentration of tourist oriented land and buildings is located close to the main attractions (beach, lake, falls). This area is termed RBD (recreational business district). Nature varies with resort type. Not same as CBD (central business district). RBD develops under influences of central access route to attraction and location of tourist attraction. eg. beach resorts RBD develops into strip paralleling beach. In historic centre, RBD develops in the core of town. Beyond RBD intensity of tourist functions and land values decreases.

 

OHP from Boniface and Cooper (2001), page 32.

 

2. Development

• Exploration – small numbers of tourists. main attraction unspoilt nature or cultural features.

• Involvement – local initiatives provide facilities and some advertising starts. Larger number of visitors, season, public sector involvement follows.

• Development – large numbers of tourists, control passes from locals to national or international companies. Destination begins to change in appearance.

• Consolidation – destination now fully fledged resort. Rate of increase of visitors is reducing. RBD has emerged.

• Stagnation – peak visitor numbers have been reached. Destination becomes unfashionable with environmental, social and economic problems. Major promotional efforts needed to maintain visitor numbers.

• Decline – visitors now visit newer rural resorts as destination goes into decline.

• Rejuvenation – authorities attempt to relaunch destination by providing new facilities, attracting new markets and re-investing.

This approach has its critics – difficult to operationalize (measure). But does provide useful paradigm

RBD

Stagnation

Rejuvenation

What are the characteristics of tourism resources?

Explain Swarbrooke’s classification of tourist resources.

Explain and discuss Clawson’s classification of the tourism resource base.

What are the factors affecting tourism development on the local scale?

Explain and discuss Lavery’s classification of tourist resort types. Apply this classification to tourist resorts in a country within SEA (excluding Thailand).

Explain the typical morphology of tourist resorts/centres.

Explain and discuss Butler’s model of the tourist resort life cycle. Apply the model to resorts in Thailand. What are the limitations of this model? Give specific examples of these limitations.

1. Introduction

 

Climate can be resource for tourism or constraint limiting appeal of a destination.

 

Some types of tourism are dependent on climate = sun-sea-sand, skiing.

 

On a world scale, importance of climate illustrated by flow of tourists from colder, cloudier tourist generating countries to warmier, sunnier destinations.

 

On local scale, importance illustrated by hot days seeing increase in travel to beach.

 

Climate seasonality can affect tourism, rainy season, winter etc.

 

2. World climate scene

 

Climate = ‘long term average of weather conditions at a particular location’

 

Determined by three main factors – latitude, distribution of land and sea, relief

 

1. Latitude

Latitude is distance from equator. Determines angle of suns rays (diagram). Suns rays strike directly – more energy per area – warmer. Earth’s rotation tilts – in june N. hemisphere gets more direct rays – hotter – summer. June – sun’s path is directly over the tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees N). December – N. Hemisphere tilted away, less energy – winter. December – sun’s path directly over the tropic of Capricorn (23.5 degrees S).

 

North of Arctic circle (66.5 degrees) daylight for 24 hours at mid-summer

Antarctica (66.5 degrees south) reverse.

 

Decrease in temperature away from the Equator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Distribution of land and sea

 

However, not simple linear drop.

 

Ocean cools slower than land.

 

Some ocean currents have a warming effect (Gulf Stream – England), others have a cooling effect (Labrador current off Canada). Ocean currents act as reservoir of either hot or cold - reduce changes in temp.

 

Continental climates arise in land locked areas where there is no oceanic temp. res. Rapid and extreme variations in temp. e.g. mongolia.

 

3. Relief

Relief – vertical distance. Can have major effect on weather. E.g. on mountains – colder. (air temp) also lower pressure means that heat can escape more rapidly at elevations. Mountains can also alter rainfall and precipitation patterns. Can get ‘rain shadow’ effect –e.g. in Australia.

3. Climatic elements and tourism

 

1. Temperature

Has greatest effect on tourism.

 

Some activities depend on warm weather – beach resorts, swimming, surfing, etc. need to be over 20 degrees.

 

Some activities less suitable in hot weather – trekking etc.

 

Humidity – amount of water in the air. Relative humidity = moisture content of the air as a percentage of the total amount it could contain at a given temperature. Tropical air at 35 degrees can hold nine times more water vapour than cold air at 0 degrees.

 

Dry heat – relative humidity less than 30% - more tolerable than humid heat.

 

When humidity v. high, sweat will not evaporate (as air has great deal of vapour already). Can lead to heatstroke (body loses control of internal temperature), prickly heat.

 

Effective temperature = takes into account air movement and humidity.

 

2. Sunshine

Important at seaside – energy reflected from water and sand – adds to energy from direct rays.

 

UV more intense at lower latitudes, even though amount of sunshine is lower. UVB – causes burns, UVA – causes tan (melanin production).

 

UV also more intense at altitude, as air thinner, less UV absorbed. Also reflected from snow.

 

Increasing worries about skin cancer. Australia has public service announcements about wearing hats and putting on sun cream. Many farangs in Thailand suffer problems with skin in Thailand.

 

3. Wind

Winds arise from a flow of air from high to low pressure areas. World scale – trade winds, so named because constant direction, used as trade routes by sailing ships.

 

Local scale – wind blows from sea to land during day, and from land to sea at night.

 

Wind chill – wind can have chilling effect on exposed skin. Can restrict outdoor recreation in areas with constant wind. E.g Scotland where it’s bloody freezing even in summer.

 

4. Precipitation

Precipitation – water falling from the sky. In tropics can have rainy season – predictable amount and time of rainfall. Rainy season in Samui – like clockwork. Temperate areas – often less predictable.

 

Rain – Tropical - typically short heavy downpours, following convectional heating of the air and build up of cumulus clouds. Temperate – smaller in total amount but spread out over longer periods of time. Cyclonic in origin.

 

Snow – can be views as hazard for travel or as recreational resource. Suitable locations for ski resorts, usually accessible mid-latitude mountain regions. Adequate snow cover for at least three months of the year. Usually needs monthly average temperatures of –2 degrees. Also need special type of snow – powder snow, loose low density.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Air quality

Large problem where anti-cyclonic conditions (no wind) prevent dispersal of pollutants. Eg. California in the summer. Cities particularly prone to emissions – directly affect lungs and health, reduce visibility, erode buildings. Outside cities – acid rain when sulphides and sulphates are absorbed.

 

4. World climate

Can identify a number of broad climatic zones. Even though places nearby may show differences in climate, these become less important over world scale. Eg. Climate of California very similar to climate of Spain. South island of NZ v. similar to England.

 

Several different classification systems have been devised to describe the different kinds of regional climates that exist. In all of these systems, average monthly temperatures and precipitation amounts are the most often used statistics to describe the different types of climates.

 

1. Hot climates

 

These are regions where the coldest average monthly temperature is 18 degrees C. or higher. Sometimes, hot climates are termed mega-thermal. There are three such climates:

 

1. Equatorial Climate (sometimes also called Tropical Wet Climate

or Tropical Rainforest Climate)

Found between the tropics and close to the equator. With the sun directly overhead at the tropical solstices, year-round average temperatures are very high (typically 26 to 27 degrees in the hottest months), with a very low annual range of temperature. Precipitation is heavy all year round but especially in the warmer season. On-shore trade winds bring rainfall; intense insolation causes convectional precipitation. Such climate regions are found in Central America, South America, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Papua-New Guinea.

 

2. Tropical Wet/Dry Climate (sometimes also called Tropical Savanna Climate)

 

Found at the margins of the equatorial rain-belt close to the tropics. Heavily influenced by the annual shift of the thermal equator, these regions have distinctive wet seasons during their hottest months due to convectional precipitation and on-shore trade winds. However, during their cooler months (still hot by our standards) drought prevails with little or no rainfall. Annual temperature range is larger than in equatorial regions, ranging from 27 degrees C. in summer to 18 degrees C. in winter. Such climate regions are found in Central America and the Caribbean, South America, Florida, Central and Southern Africa, and Australia.

 

 

3. Tropical Monsoon Climates.

 

Found especially in coastal tropical regions around the Indian Ocean, particularly the Indian sub-continent, and to a lesser degree in similar coastal areas in the American, West African and Southeastern Asian tropics, the tropical monsoon is a pronounced form of the tropical wet/dry climate.

 

 

2. The Warm Temperate Climates.

 

These are mid-latitude regions between about 30 degrees and 45 degrees latitude. They experience warm to hot summers (over 20 degrees C. average temperatures in the hottest months) and mild winters (the coolest months' average temperatures will be 6 degrees C. or higher). They are sometimes referred to as meso-thermal climates. There are two such climates:

 

1. Mediterranean Climate

 

Found generally on the western margin of a continental mass. Influenced by offshore tradewinds in the summer and on-shore westerlies in the winter; consequently having dry summers and moderately wet winters. Such regions are found in California, the Mediterranean coastal region (Portugal, Spain, North Africa, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Cyprus), South Africa (Cape Province), Central Chile, and Australia (Perth and Adelaide).

 

2. Sub-Tropical Humid (sometimes called Warm Temperate Eastern Margin or "China Climate")

 

Found generally on the eastern margin of a continental mass. Receive precipitation all year round but especially during the summer. These regions can be found in the southeastern USA, Argentina, southeastern South Africa, southeastern Australia, and also influenced by the monsoon effect in coastal south China.

 

 

3. The Cool Temperate Climates

 

These climate regions are found between 40 degrees and 65 degrees latitude. They have mild to warm to hot summers with hottest months (with monthly averages as low as 10 degrees C. and as high as 20 degrees C.). There winters can range from cool, where coldest monthly average temperatures may be as warm as 2 degrees C. but as cold as -20 degrees C. These climates are still referred to as meso-thermal. There are two such climates in this category:

 

 

 

 

 

1. West Coast Marine Climate.

 

Found on the western margins of continental masses, these regions experience considerable amounts of precipitation all year. On-shore westerlies as well as frequent frontal weather disturbances and mid-latitude cyclonic storms are major factors in bringing precipitation, especially in winter. Moderated by the sea, winter temperatures are very mild while average summer temperatures are never really hot. The resulting annual range of temperature remains quite small. These regions are found in the Pacific Northwest Coast of the USA, coastal British Columbia and the coastal Alaskan panhandle, northwest Europe (coastal Norway, Britain, northern France), southern Chile, Tasmania, and New Zealand's South Island.

 

2. Humid Continental Climate.

 

Found in continental interiors tending towards the eastern margin, these regions have hot summers with cool winters - one, two or three months of snow may stay on the ground. Annual temperature ranges are quite high because of continentality. Precipitation from mid-latitude disturbances occurs all year long but summers tend to be wetter because of convectional rainfall. These regions are found in the southern Great Lakes region, the southern maritime provinces and New England regions of North America, southern Argentina, central Europe, and northwest China.

4. The "Cold" Climates.

 

Sometimes referred to as micro-thermal climates, these regions extend from 55 degrees latitude to the poles depending on continentality. They experience either year-long freezing cold temperatures or short warm summers countered by very cold winters.

 

1. Sub-Arctic Climate.

 

Extremely cold winter temperatures but one or two months in summers when average temperatures can be quite warm are features of this climate. Consequently, their annual ranges of temperature are the highest of all climate types. In continental interiors summer precipitation tends to be greater than that in winter. The tree-line marks the colder margin boundary of this region. Such regions are found in southern and central Alaska, southern Yukon, northern interior British Columbia, northern Ontario and Quebec and the northern Maritime provinces, Labrador and Newfoundland in North America, central Scandinavia, north central Europe and Siberia.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Tundra Climate.

 

Close to and just north of the arctic circle, this climate region experiences a short one to three month period when average monthly temperatures do rise above the freezing point. This is sufficient for hardy tundra vegetation to grow, but not trees. Light precipitation, mainly in summer in the continental interior. Tundra regions are found in northern Alaska, northern Yukon and the Canadian Arctic, northern Scandinavia and Siberia.

 

3. Ice-Cap Climate.

 

Close to the poles and over large continental masses , extremely cold all year, monthly average temperatures never going above the freezing point, these regions receive little precipitation under the year-round influence of dry polar easterlies. No vegetation grows. These regions are found in relatively small areas of the Canadian High Arctic, Greenland and Antarctica.

 

 

5. The Arid and Semi-Arid Climates.

 

Dry climate regions occur where little or no precipitation coincides with high evapo-transpiration rates. There are two such categories: deserts(sometimes associated with regions having less than 250 mm. of annual precipitation) and steppes (semi-arid grasslands), each with two sub-categories:

 

1. Desert Climates

 

1. Hot Deserts

 

Coldest average monthly temperature is 6 degrees C. or higher. These regions occur in sub-tropical high pressure regions, are influenced by offshore trade winds and in coastal margins, by nearby offshore cold currents. Examples of such regions are the Baja Desert of Mexico, the Atacama of South America, the Sahara, Namib and Kalahari Deserts of Africa, the Arabian Desert, the Thar Desert of India and the Western Desert of Australia.

 

2. Cold Deserts

 

These arid regions have at least one month where the average temperature is less than 6 degrees C. They are associated with rainshadow areas which may be polewards of the sub-tropical high pressure belts and they are associated with extreme continentality. Examples of these regions are Death Valley in California, the Persian Desert, and the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.

 

2. Steppe Climates.

 

1. Hot Steppes

 

On the more temperate margins of the hot deserts, the tropical steppes receive a little more precipitation sufficient for a grassland biome to flourish. These regions are found in Mexico, Texas, South America, Africa, Asia and Australia.

 

2. Cold Steppes.

 

At higher mid-latitudes are the cool temperate steppes, often called prairies, in Canada. They are found in the southern interiors of the western provinces, the northern interior plains states of America, and in Russia and the Ukraine.

 

 

6. Complex Mountain Climates.

Homework

Terminology

Climate

Relief

Humidity

Relative humidity

Dry heat

Effective temperature

Powder snow

Tundra

Steppe

Rainshadow

Questions

What elements determine the climate of any given area?

How can climate (temperature, sunshine, wind, precipitation and air quality) affect tourism?

Briefly discuss and outline the world climate zones, giving examples of each type of climate.

1. Introduction

 

Tourism has clear socio-cultural implications. It affects tourists, hosts and host-guest

relationships (Mathieson and Wall, 1982).

 

2. Host-guest relationships

 

Before giving an overview of possible social and cultural impacts, we will first address several general observations about the possible forms of contact between hosts and guests, about the characteristics of these contacts and about the factors that may reinforce their impacts.

 

Transculturation = people in a traditional culture are exposed to new and alien ideas from outside.

 

1. Forms of contact

• when tourists buy goods and services
• when hosts and tourists share a facility
• when tourists and hosts meet for cultural exchange

1. Characteristics of host-guest relationships

• Their transitory nature. A tourist’s stay is usually short. It is unique to the tourist, but not to the host, who sees tourists come and go.

• Temporal and spatial constraints. Tourists are often separated physically from the local population, which reduces the possibilities of contact. Also, tourists attempt to see and do as much as possible in the relatively short time available. This hinders contact.

• Lack of spontaneity. Formerly informal human interaction such as hospitality are drawn into the area of economic activity, formalising relationships to a large extent.

• Unequal and unbalanced experiences. Material inequality often exists and is seen in tourist spending and attitudes. Hosts often feel inferior and, to compensate for this, exploit the tourists’ apparent wealth.

1. Impact reinforcing factors

• Absorption capability. Problems are bound to arise once more tourists arrive than a destination’s facilities can sustain. In such cases direct competition arises between tourists and the host population.

• Pace of tourism development. Development which is too rapid leads to overdependency on tourism and to serious social adjustment problems. In short, a thousand Dutch tourists probably have a greater socio-cultural effect on a small but rapidly developing destination in Africa than on a well-established destination such as Paris.

1. Social impacts

 

Many possible social impacts of tourism have been put forward in the literature, most of which are negative. Not every form of socio-cultural change is necessarily bad, however. In order to reach a higher standard of living, some socio-cultural changes are often needed. But this does not need to damage social or cultural identity. Unfortunately, no generally accepted classification of social impacts seems to exist in the literature. The existing classifications lack a logical structure and their impact categories are overlapping. Our own classification based on Pearce (1989) and France (1997), consisting of the following eight categories:

 

1. Local resentment resulting from the “demonstration effect”

2. Impact on population structure

3. Transformation of forms and types of occupation

4. Congestion

5. Transformation of values

6. Modification of consumption patterns

7. Health problems

8. Neo-colonialism

 

 

1. Local resentment resulting from the “demonstration effect”

 

Especially young people tend to imitate the tourists’ behaviour. They are attracted by the. tourists’ clothing and eating habits and their spending patterns. This is called the demonstration effect. The problem is that the local population often cannot afford the tourists’ behaviour, which may lead to feelings of frustration.

 

Older people can also become frustrated with tourism development. On the one hand they see the advantages of tourism in terms of employment and income, but on the other hand they see the disadvantages, for example in terms of loss of culture. This ambiguous attitude may produce feelings of resentment.

 

2. Impact on population structure

 

Population structure can be affected by tourism. First of all, by strengthening the

economic basis of the local community, tourism may foster population growth. This population growth often comes about by immigration. People from other areas are lured to the tourist destination by the possibility of finding a better paid job. Movements of people appear to be both age- and sex-selective. For example, according to Pearce (1989), people aged twenty to thirty and females are overrepresented in the tourist destination of Queenstown, New Zealand.

 

One of the main characteristics of tourism is its seasonal nature. During the high season, employment opportunities are far greater than during the low season. This is often reflected in population structures. Workers flow in and out of the destination together with the tourists. This makes it hard for the local population to develop a sense of community. Moreover, the seasonal workers do sometimes not belong to the same culture as the autochthonous population. In the case of English-spoken Belize, for example, people working in the tourism industry often have a Hispanic background (Pearce, 1989).

 

3. Transformation of forms and types of occupation

 

Tourism offers new employment opportunities, which may draw workers from other sectors of the economy - for example, agriculture - with consequent effects on class or social structure. Also, activities may become financially rewarded, which were not paid for in earlier times. Here one can think of cleaning and washing.

 

Tourism can place people, especially women and young people, in a financially less dependent position. This can drastically alter hierarchical structures in society.

 

4. Congestion

 

By using facilities and resources in the destination, tourists can have a serious impact on daily life. Tourism may for example lead to water shortages as aggregate demand for water is greater than supply. This phenomenon may be worsened by the earlier discussed demographic processes. The described forms of congestion usually occur when a rapid pace of development or marked seasonality is combined with a large number of tourists compared with local population.

 

5. Transformation of values

• Tourism affords employment for women, so it may upgrade their economic status. This, in turn, may lead to their liberalisation and, eventually, to their involvement in prostitution to maintain or acquire new economic levels.

1. Modification of consumption patterns

 

Contact between hosts and tourists may give rise to changed consumption patterns. This may be due to the demonstration effect or to increased income levels. If a tourist is rich and successful in the eyes of the host, the latter may try to emulate the formers behaviour and consumption pattern. In the process the host may forget that the tourist often seems better off than he really is. After all, tourism is a hedonistic experience which most tourists cannot afford on a sustained basis. The significance of the demonstration effect for changing consumption patterns probably increases with increasing cultural and economic distances.

 

Tourism may indirectly change consumption patterns by increasing abilities. A higher income level means more consumption possibilities.

 

 

2. Health problems

 

Tourism may give rise to health problems in at least two ways. First of all, by moving around the world tourists may spread diseases such as AIDS, cholera or malaria. Second, the movement of tourists or of people employed in the tourism industry may lead to excessive use of facilities such as sewage treatment which may present health risks.

 

 

3. Neo-colonialism

4. Assessment frameworks

Many possible and actual social impacts can be summed up, but unfortunately not many frameworks are available to assess them in a coherent way. Mathieson and Wall (1982) mention two such frameworks. In a sense these frameworks offer a possibility to assess perceptions by locals of tourism development.

The first one is the irritation index of Doxey (1976), which describes a transitory development of host attitudes through five stages:

• level of euphoria: locals err enthusiastic and thrilled by tourist development

• level of apathy: tourists become targets for profit-taking

• level of irritation: locals cannot handle the large number of tourists

• level of antagonism: tourism is a scapegoat for all that is bad

• final level: locals must learn to live in an altered environment

In this framework, change can only be in one direction, from euphoria to the final level. No movement in the other direction is possible. Another underlying assumption of this framework is that the host population can be viewed as a homogeneous group.

A probably more realistic approach is taken by Bjorklund and Philbrick (1972). Here, the host population is not seen as a homogeneous group, but as made up of individuals with varying interests and other characteristics.

In the Bjorklund-Philbrick framework, four responses to tourism development are identified, ranging from aggressive promotion to silent opposition. People’s responses are dependent on the distribution of advantages and disadvantages from tourism development. Entrepreneurs making a profit out of tourism and not bearing a significant part of the costs associated with it, can be expected to be aggressive promoters. On the other hand, fishermen seeing their fishing grounds become polluted and less accessible will be aggressive opponents.

People’s place in the matrix may change, however, in any direction. Fishermen, for example, may find a job as a tourist guide. Then, costs and benefits to them are more equilibrated, possibly leading to a response shift towards slight support of tourism development.

4. Cultural impacts

 

 

 

1. Impacts on visible culture – handicrafts, dances etc.

• The disappearance of traditional artistic designs and art and craft forms, particularly those with deep religious and mythical affiliations. This is followed by;

• The growth of a degenerate, unsophisticated replacement which develops in association with mass production techniques. This is often followed by;

• The resurgence of skilful craftsmanship and distinctive styles incorporating the deeper cultural beliefs of the host society. This phase is a response to the deleterious impacts evident in phase 2.

1. Impacts on visible culture - architecture

 

Impacts on architecture are of another nature. These arise mostly because tourist buildings are not built according to local architectural standards. To give an example, whereas in many less developed countries high-rise buildings are rare, hotels are often many stories high. This, coupled with an often high level of international building standardisation, may lead to complete alterations of the local scenery.

 

Standardization
Destinations risk standardization in the process of satisfying tourists' desires for familiar facilities. While landscape, accommodation, food and drinks, etc., must meet the tourists' desire for the new and unfamiliar, they must at the same time not be too new or strange because few tourists are actually looking for completely new things. Tourists often look for recognizable facilities in an unfamiliar environment, like well-known fast-food restaurants and hotel chains

 

Cultural deterioration. Damage to cultural resources may arise from vandalism, littering, pilferage and illegal removal of cultural heritage items. A common problem at archaeological sites in countries such as Egypt, Colombia, Mexico and Peru is that poorly paid guards supplement their income by selling artifacts to tourists. Furthermore, degradation of cultural sites may occur when historic sites and buildings are unprotected and the traditionally built environment is replaced or virtually disappears.

 

 

 

2. Impacts on invisible culture: Acculturation and cultural shift

4. Conclusions

Tourism may seriously alter the social and cultural setting in a destination, especially when tourism development is rapid and economic and cultural distances between hosts and guests are large.

The actual assessment of social and cultural impacts is very difficult, because tourism is only one of the factors of societal change. Ascribing social and cultural developments to tourism is therefore a very difficult task. Moreover, a great handicap of the assessment of impacts appears to be the lack of a logically structured impact classification.

Material vs. non-material culture

Commodification

Zooification

Reconstructed ethnicity

Staged authenticity

Standardization (in terms of architecture)

Acculturation

Cultural shift

Describe and criticize Doxey’s (1976) irritation index

Describe Bjorklund and Philbrick’s (1972) framework for analyzing responses to tourism development. What advantages does this framework possess over Doxey (1976)?

Outline the process of commodification.

Discuss and criticize Mathieson and Wall’s (1982) U-shaped impact of tourism on material culture.

Briefly outline tourism’s impact on architecture

Contrast acculturation and cultural shift

Environmental impacts of tourism: Effects on local physical environments

1. Air Pollution through Exhaust Emissions and Smoke + Noise Pollution

 

Air quality is compromised by private vehicles and tour coaches. into restricted parking areas. Can contribute to severe local air pollution. Some of these impacts are quite specific to tourist activities. For example, especially in very hot or cold countries, tour buses often leave their motors running for hours while the tourists go out for an excursion because they want to return to a comfortably air-conditioned bus.

 

In Yosemite National Park (US), for instance, the number of roads and facilities have been increased to keep pace with the growing visitor numbers and to supply amenities, infrastructure and parking lots for all these tourists. These actions have caused habitat loss in the park and are accompanied by various forms of pollution including air pollution from automobile emissions; the Sierra Club has reported "smog so thick that Yosemite Valley could not be seen from airplanes". This occasional smog is harmful to all species and vegetation inside the Park. (Source: Trade and Environment Database)

 

Lascaux where Palaeolithic cave art may be impacted by changing air quality due to weight of tourist traffic. Air quality in sensitive cave systems may also be compromised by weight of tourist numbers and exhaled breath, where both moisture and CO2 are pollutants.

 

Also noise pollution

 

In winter 2000, 76,271 people entered Yellowstone National Park on snowmobiles, outnumbering the 40,727 visitors who came in cars, 10,779 in snowcoaches and 512 on skis. A survey of snowmobile impacts on natural sounds at Yellowstone found that snowmobile noise could be heard 70% of the time at 11 of 13 sample sites, and 90% of the time at 8 sites. At the Old Faithful geyser, snowmobiles could be heard 100% of the time during the daytime period studied. Snowmobile noise drowned out even the sound of the geyser erupting. (Source: Idahonews and Yahoo)

 

 

 

 

 

2. Water Pollution by Human Waste and Disease Pathogens

Construction of hotels, recreation and other facilities often leads to increased sewage pollution. Wastewater has polluted seas and lakes surrounding tourist attractions, damaging the flora and fauna. Sewage runoff causes serious damage to coral reefs because it stimulates the growth of algae [eutrophication], which cover the filter-feeding corals, hindering their ability to survive. Changes in salinity and siltation can have wide-ranging impacts on coastal environments. And sewage pollution can threaten the health of humans and animals. Also through chlorine cleaning and sterilizing agents.

 

3. Water pollution by Fuel and Other Spills

 

International tourism literature on this subject confirms that fuel spills have detrimental impacts upon water quality where traffic movements are heavily concentrated.

 

Cruise ships in the Caribbean are estimated to produce more than 70,000 tons of waste each year.

The Wider Caribbean Region, stretching from Florida to French Guiana, receives 63,000 port calls from ships each year, and they generate 82,000 tons of garbage. About 77% of all ship waste comes from cruise vessels. The average cruise ship carries 600 crew members and 1,400 passengers. On average, passengers on a cruise ship each account for 3.5 kilograms of garbage daily - compared with the 0.8 kilograms each generated by the less well-endowed folk on shore.

 

Low turnover bodies of water such as glacial lakes may be particularly susceptible to impact.

 

 

4. Changed Hydrological Patterns and consequent eco-system damage

 

Impacts are particularly severe in alpine environments and along river margins where loose alluvial material predominates. When rainfall draining from a mountain side strikes a track that traverses that slope, hydrological patterns may be significantly altered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Physical Erosion of Soils and Parent Materials

 

Constant use of tracks often results in forces of erosion impacting surrounding areas.

 

Where vegetation is impacted and ground cover removed water and wind may act to cause serious erosion.

 

6. Physical Damage to Geological Features

 

Geological features such as glacial lakes may be prone to impact from trampers. Water course areas, dunes and alpine areas are those considered to be particularly susceptible to recreational damage.

 

Graffiti and vandalism may take place at some sites while abseiling and rock climbing activities and fixtures may cause impacts (Cessford and Dingwall 1996).

 

Cave systems may be impacted by the modification of air content while mere touch may damage fragile geological formations (eg stalactites).

 

 

7. Damage through Collection of Specimens

 

Various cases in world tourism confirm that the aggregate impacts of casual souveniring may be a significant cause of impact. The casual collection of fragments or artefacts from sites such as the Acropolis, the Pyramids or Uluru (Ayres Rock) may, with the passage of time, result in serious impact.

 

Stonehenge – closed for many years because of this.

 

Carvings – stolen from Angkor

 

8. Ecological and geological impacts associated with facility construction.

Any major tourist development requires a good airport where large jets can bring tourists from overseas countries. Visits by tour ships may require improved docking facilities. Roads may have to be built to resort sites, or improved for tour buses. Water and electricity supplies may have to be increased. All these kinds of infrastructure require investments which must be added on to the direct cost of a tourism project.

 

Deforestation and intensified or unsustainable use of land
Construction of ski resort accommodation and facilities frequently requires clearing forested land. Coastal wetlands are often drained and filled due to lack of more suitable sites for construction of tourism facilities and infrastructure. These activities can cause severe disturbance and erosion of the local ecosystem, even destruction in the long term. The most alarming and extreme example of facility construction impacts occurred in 1987 when the European ski resorts of North and South Tyrol were devastated by mud slides resulting from the construction of ski facilities. Over a three week period a series of mudslides resulted in 60 deaths, rendering 7000 people from 50 villages homeless.

 

 

Marina development Development of marinas and breakwaters can cause changes in currents and coastlines. Furthermore, extraction of building materials such as sand affects coral reefs, mangroves, and hinterland forests, leading to erosion and destruction of habitats. In the Philippines and the Maldives, dynamiting and mining of coral for resort building materials has damaged fragile coral reefs and depleted the fisheries that sustain local people and attract tourists.

Overbuilding and extensive paving of shorelines can result in destruction of habitats and disruption of land-sea connections (such as sea-turtle nesting spots). Coral reefs are especially fragile marine ecosystems and are suffering worldwide from reef-based tourism developments. Evidence suggests a variety of impacts to coral result from shoreline development, increased sediments in the water, trampling by tourists and divers, ship groundings, pollution from sewage, overfishing, and fishing with poisons and explosives that destroy coral habitat.

 

 

9. Diminution of Visual Amenity

 

Spatial impacts. Describes the fact that tourism can not take place without the provision of services and facilities (tourists must be transported and accommodated regardless of the environment in which their visitor experiences take place)

 

Provision of facilities consumes space and may act to compromise the naturalness of the setting in question.

 

‘Recreational succession’ takes place in instances where additional facilities are continually developed to satisfy the constantly evolving demands of tourists.

 

Visual impacts are closely related to spatial impacts described above.

 

Any spatial developments also detract from the visual appeal of the setting in question. Tracks, boardwalks, swing bridges and huts may be seen to detract from the naturalness of the settings in which recreational takes place.

 

Visual impacts also caused by inappropriate tourist conduct, eg, littering

In mountain areas, trekking tourists generate a great deal of waste. Tourists on expedition leave behind their garbage, oxygen cylinders and even camping equipment. Such practices degrade the environment with all the detritus typical of the developed world, in remote areas that have few garbage collection or disposal facilities. Some trails in the Peruvian Andes and in Nepal frequently visited by tourists have been nicknamed "Coca-Cola trail" and "Toilet paper trail".

 

Development of facilities for tourism takes place in any setting that tourists visit. These forms of impact, therefore, exist wherever tourism takes place.

 

10. Comments on physical environment effects

Tourism creates a raft of impacts or residuals, often to the detriment of the natural resource. Central to this topic are the realisations that:

1. tourism is an industry and, as such, a consumer of resources;

 

2. tourism can not take place without the creation of tourism infrastructure;

 

3. this will inevitably cause some degree of impact;

 

4. tourism must be managed so that impacts that arise do so within certain limits of acceptability.

The seriousness of impacts upon the natural environment generally relate to:

1. site specific considerations relating to susceptibility to impact;

 

2. weight and patterns of recreational use.

Environmental impacts of tourism: Impacts on local ecological environments

1. Wildlife

 

1. Disruption of breeding patterns

 

Wildlife tourism attraction are usually highly seasonal (Snepenger et al. 1990). Results in extremes of seasonal tourist attention with implications for impacts. Crowding and tourist conduct, including noise levels and flash photography, have been shown to disrupt wildlife breeding patterns in some instances.

 

Turtles have sand beaches as a breeding place, are expelled when those beaches are used for tourism purposes. This is happening in the Costa Rican natural reserve of Tortuguero, where more and more hotels are built at the beaches used by turtles. Turtles are very susceptible to light, so their breeding at the Tortuguero beaches is threatened by these developments (Morera and Garcias, 1995).

 

 

2. Disruption of feeding patterns

 

Tourist activity may impact detrimentally upon the feeding patterns of focal species regardless of the environment in which food is taken and the proximity of tourists to the predator-prey contact.

 

Recent research into the Sperm Whales at Kaikoura examines whale behavioural changes with possible implications for feeding (Gordon et al. 1992). Include: time spent on the surface, diving speed and duration of subsequent dives. All or any of these will dictate feeding time.

 

Possible that noise from tourist vessels disrupts the echo location environment within which whales communicate and feed. It is probable that dolphins are impacted in a similar manner.

 

 

3. Disruption of ecology/habitat and displacement of wildlife

 

The introduction of tourists into natural wildlife habitats is likely to cause physical disruption in some form..

 

Litter, pollutants and wastes are also likely to disrupt or threaten the survival of wildlife species. Inappropriate disposal of wastes may encourage the proliferation of rodents and predators.

 

Also development of tourism infrastructure consumes resources that comprise a part of the wildlife environment.

 

Also, physical wear and tear, weed introduction, erosion etc.

 

Building new hotels near the seacoast is an example of an activity that can destroy transitional ecosystems between land and sea (for example, dune ecosystems could be destroyed in such ways) (GFAfNC, 1997).

 

Coral reefs are often used as building material, for it is easy to get and cheap. Sometimes reef flats next to coral reef are transformed into airports.

 

Introduction of tourist infrastructure often involves the relocation of soils, sometimes destroying whole ecosystems. Evidence for such large relocations of soil can be found in Costa Rica. In the Tambor-project, comprising the construction of 1500 new hotel rooms by a Spanish hotel chain, large amounts of white beach sand from another beach were used to cover the black sand of the beach in front of the new tourist resort. The sand used for other parts of the project was obtained by digging off large parts of a river-bed (Hagenaars, 1995).

 

4. Disruption/modification of wildlife behaviour

 

Tourist actions borne out of ignorance are beautifully illustrated by the case in which tourists visiting the Merchison National Park (Uganda) were delighted to view female crocodiles, baboons and monitor lizards on the banks of the upper Nile from waterbound tourists vessels (Ettringham 1984).

 

These tourists, and the tour operators were acting in ignorance of the fact that they were causing serious impacts.

 

The maneuvering of boats too close to the crocodiles were causing them to be displaced from their nests into the water. In their absence the baboons and monitor lizards were raiding the unattended nests and feeding on crocodile eggs.

 

Any degree of contact between tourists and wildlife is likely to change the behaviour of the species in question.

 

Noise levels and the use of camera flashes is a regular occurrence at the Taiaroa Head Albatross observatory = earlier fledging = less likely to survive / return to this site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Disruption through the Collection of Specimens and Hunting

 

Duffus and Dearden (1990) - human recreational interaction with wildlife can take several forms.

 

Increasing tourist demand for ‘non-consumptive’ uses of wildlife, involving observation and photography, resulting in no deliberate interference with the focal species. Provides tourists with an experience rather than a product.

 

However, a segment of the tourism market comprising those who seek ‘consumptive’ wildlife engagements. Examples include trout and salmon fishing, big game fishing and hunting.

 

The introduction of species for consumptive uses (such as aggressive non-native fish species) may result in the death or relocation of less aggressive native species, while there are bound to be imbalances through the removal of species from the food chain.

 

Somewhat more indirectly, tourists can influence the number of individuals of a species by buying biotic souvenirs, thereby triggering hunting activities by the local population. Exemplary are the trade in ivory products and products made of crocodile skin.

 

 

6. General comments on wildlife impacts

1. played played a secondary visitor motivation;

 

2. was contacted by chance rather than deliberate judgement;

 

3. were totally unaware that they contacted.

• tourist activity,
• climate,
• predation,
• foraging success,
• changing nest site patterns,
• active conservation efforts.

Eutrophication

Souveniring

Consumptive vs. non-consumptive uses of wildlife

Discuss the various impacts that tourism can have on the physical environment at a local scale (areas are listed below). Include in your answer a discussion of the process whereby tourism causes these impacts, and variables that affect the severity of these impacts.

Pollution: air, water and noise.

Soils and parent materials.

Geological features

Artifacts.

Impacts associated with facility and infrastructure construction.

Spatial and visual impacts.

Discuss the possible impacts of tourism on animal behaviour. Include in your answer a consideration of feeding patterns and breeding patterns. Provide specific examples.

Discuss the possible impacts of tourism on habitat.

Contrast consumptive and non-consumptive uses of wildlife. Given the possible impacts of tourism on wildlife/ecology, how valid is this distinction?

What issues arise when assessing the possible impacts of tourism on wildlife/ecology? How can these issues be resolved?