Spatial zoning is a land management strategy that designates permissible uses of an area based on its resources and/or character. In tourism, zoning determines what tourism activities may be undertaken where. Typically, governmental regulatory agencies identify the resources within particular areas of a destination, as well as the demand for tourism opportunities in those areas. Then, officials determine which areas have the most appropriate resources to allow those activities. Each zone permits an increasing amount of human activity. This includes primary conservation areas with strictly controlled access, natural areas with minimal facilities, and recreation areas with the greatest access and opportunities for hiking, fishing, camping, picnicking, and more.
Zoning may be used to either spatially concentrate tourists or disperse them. Preferred sites are typically planned locations that attract visitors through advertisements and promotions; they have facilities like parking lots, restrooms, refreshments, picnic areas, designated paths, and/or information and interpretation centers. These sites spatially concentrate general visitors to ensure that their needs are met and to limit the effects of tourism to one particular area that is designed to handle it. The experience of these places may be enough for many visitors who don’t feel the need to venture into other zones with less infrastructure and more fragile ecosystems (figure 11.5). In contrast, tools like planned scenic drives or tourist routes may be used to disperse tourists. These routes take people away from pressure points and spread them out over a wider area so as to not exceed the carrying capacity in one particular place.
Figure 11.5. Managed natural areas may provide limited facilities for activities such as camping, such as this space in Acadia National Park, Maine. This prevents users from environmentally destructive behavior as they attempt to create their own spaces. However, the majority of users will look for camping alternatives outside of the park that have more amenities such as bathrooms, showers, grills, refreshment stands, convenience stores, recreation areas, and more. (Source: Kim Sinkhorn)
Entry restrictions, pricing policies, and/or guiding may also be used to shape patterns of tourism within certain zones. General visitors may not be permitted in certain zones or only with guides. For example, Galápagos National Park is a highly attractive tourism destination but one that has a distinct need for controlling both tourist numbers and behavior. The park has an adult foreign tourist entrance fee of US$100, and all visitors are required to travel with a certified guide. Not only does this promote a high-quality visitor experience with interpretation of the islands’ natural features, but it also ensures that park rules and regulations are enforced.
Similarly, codes of conduct have been proposed by governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), tourism industry associations, and even entrepreneurs to help mitigate the negative effects of tourism. These codes may be targeted at any number of tourism stakeholders including the industry, the local community, and tourists themselves to inform patterns of behavior for the purpose of minimizing the negative effects of tourism. Codes of conduct have limitations in that they are seen as broad principles rather than specific policies. Their adoption is voluntary rather than mandated, and there is little means of monitoring practices to ensure that the codes are being upheld.
In one example, the well-known environmental NGO World Wildlife Federation (WWF) developed a set of codes specifically to minimize the negative environmental effects of tourism in the Mediterranean destination region. The overarching categories of their code of conduct for tourists include (1) support integration between environmental conservation and tourism development; (2) support the conservation of biodiversity; (3) use natural resources in a sustainable way; (4) minimize your environmental impact; (5) respect local cultures; (6) respect historic sites; (7) local communities should benefit from tourism; (8) choose a reputable tour operator involved in environmental protection with trained, professional staff; (9) make your trip an opportunity to learn about the Mediterranean; and (10) comply with regulations. Correspondingly, the categories for their code of conduct for the tourism industry (defined as tour operators, hotels and airlines) include (1) support integration between environmental conservation and tourism development; (2) support the conservation of biodiversity; (3) use natural resources in a sustainable way; (4) minimize consumption, waste, and pollution; (5) consider local cultures and attitudes; (6) respect historic sites; (7) provide benefits to local communities; (8) educate and train staff to support sustainable tourism; (9) ensure that tourism is educational; and (10) comply with regulations.2
The final concept that will be discussed here is sustainable development. Although this concept has a long history among conservation movements, its modern usage is credited to the 1987 Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future, widely known as the Brundtland Report. The report defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”3 While this is the most commonly referenced definition, it is far from universally accepted. The idea has been criticized for its vagueness, and it is often interpreted in many different ways by various governmental agencies, NGOs, business interests, and researchers. Some of the strictest interpretations seek to limit most forms of development on the basis that sustainability and development are mutually exclusive. Other interpretations take a far more relaxed stance and seek to allow all but the most destructive forms of development. Moreover, the critics of sustainable development argue that it is merely an idea that lacks practical applications that would guide “sustainable” uses of the environment.
Even as the debate about the concept continues, sustainability and sustainable development have been used in a wide variety of contexts, including tourism. Applied to tourism, the Brundtland definition would indicate that sustainable tourism development would allow for the demands of present tourists to be met without eroding the tourism base that would reduce or prevent tourism in the future. In essence, tourism development needs to be sustainable development because it is highly dependent on the resources on which tourism is based. Some interpretations of sustainable tourism correspond with the concept of niche or alternative tourism because these forms of tourism are typically presented as an alternative to large-scale organized mass tourism. However, poorly planned and/or managed niche tourism can be highly unsustainable. At the same time, equating sustainable tourism with niche tourism implies that mass tourism cannot be undertaken sustainably.
Because sustainable tourism is not a tourism product—like those discussed in chapter 3—but rather an approach to tourism, it has the potential to be extended to all forms of tourism. In fact, it may be argued that it is particularly important for sustainable practices to be implemented at mass tourism destinations because of the potential for negative consequences to be magnified by the large scale at which tourism takes place. As with sustainable development in general, however, it is difficult to apply concepts of sustainable tourism. Similar to other concepts, such as codes of conduct, various public and private sector interests have proposed principles for sustainable tourism. Yet, there continues to be a distinct need for specific, place-based guidelines for these goals to be of practical use in tourism development.
The Evolution of Destinations
The tourist area life cycle (TALC) model, sometimes also referred to as the resort life cycle, has been one of the most influential concepts throughout studies of tourism. This model was proposed over thirty years ago by a geographer, Richard Butler.4 Ever since, it has been widely discussed and applied to cases of tourism development around the world. Butler has argued that there was (and perhaps still is) a need to challenge the prevailing ideal that once a place was established as a tourist destination, interest in and visits to it would be maintained indefinitely.5 In reality, few destinations can remain unchanged over time. Tourism is a dynamic industry. Transportation innovations have increased the accessibility of places ar
ound the world, and new destinations are developing all the time. With greater freedom to explore new, different, and unknown destinations, modern tourists have less place loyalty. A destination that doesn’t respond to market trends will be perceived as outdated and unfashionable. Consequently, it will lose competitiveness in this highly competitive industry.
As he was a geographer, Butler’s initial idea focused on the spatial implications of growth and development of tourism destinations. Using concepts such as carrying capacity, he argued that there are limits to growth. A destination that doesn’t manage its tourism resources in light of the demands being placed on it will experience a decline in quality. This leads to a corresponding decline in the quality of tourists’ experience and ultimately a decline in tourist visits. The TALC model provides a means of thinking about the development and evolution of destinations over the course of a series of stages. It describes changes in the character of the destination as well as in the types of tourists visiting and the nature of the effects from tourism there.
The first stage in the model is exploration. In this stage, tourists begin to be attracted to the destination for its inherent physical and/or human resources. Therefore, the primary attractions are most likely to be natural or human (not originally intended for tourism). The first tourists to “discover” the destination are typically adventurous, most likely categorized at the drifter end of the spectrum. With only a small number of tourists, the effects of tourism—positive or negative—are generally minimal. Given both the undeveloped nature of the destination and the type of tourists visiting in this stage, however, there is often a high level of interaction between tourists and local people.
The second stage is involvement. Following the arrival of the first tourists, local people begin to recognize the demand for tourism and develop new facilities. Subsequently, the public sector may offer some support, such as infrastructure development. The new stakeholders may begin to advertise the destination to encourage visits. Consequently, the destination experiences an increase in tourist numbers, more of whom would be characterized as explorers, and characteristics of the tourism industry in that place, such as season, become clearer. In this stage, the destination may experience some of the positive economic, social, and environmental effects of tourism.
The third stage is development. The number of tourists continues to increase, and more development occurs. Control over the tourism industry begins to pass from small business owners and local offices to a national governmental agency and large-scale, possibly even multinational, companies. With this continued development, individual mass tourists may begin to arrive. In this stage, the destination begins to experience many changes and an increase in the negative effects of tourism. For example, leakages will likely increase, tensions may build between locals and outsiders, and the overuse of resources may become apparent.
The fourth stage is consolidation. The tourism industry has become firmly established in that place, and the destination has become characterized by major multinational chain hotels and restaurants. A distinct CTD has emerged with a dense concentration of infrastructure and activities. However, many of the earliest facilities have become dated and may need to be upgraded. Tourism is the main economic contributor at the destination. With organized mass tourists visiting the destination, numbers are at a high, but the rate of increase begins to slow. In order to attract new markets, the destination may undertake widespread promotional campaigns.
The fifth stage is stagnation. The original natural and/or human attractions have been replaced by human-designed and artificial attractions. Consequently, the tourist area becomes divorced from the character of the place in which it is situated. The infrastructure has continued to deteriorate, and it experiences greater economic, social, and/or environmental consequences from the tourism industry. Although it is well known, it suffers from a poor reputation. The peak in tourism has been reached, and thus major promotion efforts must be undertaken. In addition, substantial discounts may need to be offered to maintain visitor numbers; however, cheap vacation packages will attract a new demographic of tourist that will further discourage earlier generations of tourists from returning.
The sixth stage can consist of decline, stabilization, or rejuvenation, depending on the decisions of destination stakeholders. If no action is taken, the tourist area will enter a period of decline. It may be immediate and drastic or slow and prolonged, but tourists will move on to other, newer destinations. The area will receive a smaller number of tourists from a more limited geographic area for weekend or daytrips. However, if minor adjustments are made and/or efforts are undertaken to better protect tourism resources, the tourist area may stabilize or perhaps see a limited amount of growth. If significant redevelopment projects are undertaken, the area can rejuvenate. This will involve investment in new facilities or upgrading existing ones. It may also involve creating new (human-designed) attractions, finding new ways to utilize previously untapped natural or human (not designed) attractions, and/or trying to attract new markets. If successful, this will create a new wave of growth.
TALC was created to be a general model of the tourism process. While it was intended to be applicable to destinations in various contexts around the world, not all will progress through the stages in the same way. The model has been criticized as being descriptive in nature, meaning that it is most useful in describing the process of development after it has occurred. Indeed, it can be difficult to identify and analyze the stages of a destination’s development as it is taking place. Nonetheless, it can be predictive in the sense that it identifies what will happen if destinations are not appropriately planned, developed, and managed from the beginning. Although the concept of sustainable development had not been established when this model was proposed, the two are very closely related. As with sustainable development, TALC requires the acceptance of limits to development and necessitates a long-term perspective to minimize the negative effects of tourism.
Conclusion
Space is a fundamental concept in geography, and the spatial perspective offers valuable insight into patterns of tourism at destinations around the world. The spatial organization of a destination can play an extraordinarily important role in shaping the ways tourists experience that place (see chapter 13). Moreover, the spatial perspective provides an important basis for destination management strategies to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of tourism identified in part III. These strategies are vital in maintaining the destination and, crucially, its reputation (see chapter 12). Ultimately, this will extend the destination’s “life.”
Box 11.3. Case Study: Atlantic City’s Extended Life Cycle
Since it was first proposed, the TALC model has been applied in the context of destinations around the world. For example, the evolution of many of the first resorts (such as spas) to develop in Britain in the nineteenth century (see chapter 4) has been examined through the life cycle. Likewise, early American resorts could also be considered in this way. One of the most interesting, if perhaps extreme, examples has been the case of Atlantic City. This destination progressed through the stages of the life cycle and even appeared to have reached the end with decline. However, stakeholders were able to turn the final stage around, successfully rejuvenate the destination, and extend its life.
Atlantic City dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. By this time, there was an increasing demand for tourism experiences in the United States, and several resorts had already been developed. However, the location of these resorts was highly dependent on the available transportation and accessibility by water or overland carriage routes. The development of rail lines dramatically re-created patterns of tourism. Investors in the nation’s growing rail infrastructure also became influential resort developers, as was the case for Atlantic City. A group of investors identified a demand for tourism from the large and growing cities, such as Philadelphia, and a site with resources for tourism development—a white sand beach, clean ocean water
, and fresh air. Then, a rail line was constructed to link Philadelphia with the selected site. This new line was the shortest all-rail route from the city to the coast, which gave Atlantic City a distinct advantage over other coastal resorts.
Atlantic City was created to be a tourist resort based on the successful model of other early American resorts. It was located on a sparsely populated island with few economic activities. It was developed based on a combination of the natural attraction of the coast and the human-designed attractions, with a host of brand new hotel, restaurant, and entertainment facilities. Initially, the only available mode of transport to reach the destination was rail, which meant that tourists primarily walked at the destination. As such, the destination was highly spatially concentrated and oriented around pedestrian walkways. With the rapid development of infrastructure, stakeholders also worked to create a reputation for the destination. Although it was primarily a middle-class resort, it was promoted as a fashionable place that would be visited by the social elite. The resort continued to grow and reached a period of peak popularity in the early 1900s. During this time, it was widely known and boasted reputations such as “The Queen of the Jersey Shore” and “The World’s Playground.”
Beginning in the years following World War I, the destination began to experience a series of changes. It was becoming easier and cheaper for more of the lower socioeconomic classes to make daytrips to the resort. As more of these tourists arrived at the destination, new, cheap entertainments began to cater to their tastes. Families and the upper socioeconomic classes considered this vulgar. With increased mobility and the development of ever more destinations, many of these tourists looked elsewhere. As this market declined, little new investment was made in high-end facilities. In addition, rail services were eventually reduced, and more people were traveling by car. Yet, the destination was not designed for automobile traffic. There was limited space for parking, and given the physical location, it was unable to expand to accommodate this new development. More tourists chose to stay elsewhere and simply drive in for the day. As a result, they spent little money in the city.
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