Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tourism is visiting the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area near Denver, Colorado, and marveling at all that
nature has to offer. Outdoor recreationists recognize their responsibility to maintain the environmental
integrity of the areas they explore. PhotobyRichardGrant,courtesyofDenverMetroConventionandVisitorsBureau.
demands of visitors. The most obvious examples include hotels, restaurants, conference centers, car
rental locations, and major attractions. Because of their special tourism orientation, the characteristics
of components of the superstructure are essentially determined by visitors
'
wishes rather than
residents
desires, even though residents often desire many bene ts from certain elements of the
tourism superstructure.
Technology is one of the most recent, and still increasingly in uential, dimensions of the built
environment that is shaping the nature of both tourism products/services and travel experiences.
In many ways, technology can be viewed as one of the most distinctive and most powerful
characteristics of the built environment since the dawn of modern tourism following World War II.
The advent of jet aircraft and the massive invasion of telecommunications technology, linked closely
with computer technology, have had a dramatic impact on the very essence of the tourism
phenomenon. Indeed, these aspects of technology have become so pervasive and so important that
they, in fact, represent very specialized elements of both the tourism infrastructure and super-
structure. However, because of their unique identi cation with the modern era of the built
environment, each aspect
'
transportation, telecommunications, and computer technology
merits
speci c identi cation. See Chapters 5, 7, 18, and 19.
A recent addition to the built environment of a destination is information. Increasingly, the success
of a destination is determined by its ability to assemble, interpret, and utilize information in an
effective manner. Information is of several types: information concerning the potential tourism
market, which is essential for destination design and development; information on the level of
satisfaction of current visitors regarding the quality, or enjoyment, of their visitation experience;
information regarding competitors and their activities; information concerning the functioning or
performance of the destination in its efforts to pro tably provide attractive experiences to visitors; and
information concerning the extent to which residents of the host region understand and support
tourism as a long-term component of the socioeconomic system.
Finally, a dimension of tourism that often receives inadequate attention is the overall system of
governance within which the tourism system functions. This topic is discussed in greater detail in
Chapter 15. For present purposes, it should be noted that the system of governance surrounding
tourism (the legal, political, and fiscal systems regulating its functioning) has a profound impact on the
ability of a destination to compete in the international marketplace and subsequently plays a major
Search WWH ::




Custom Search