Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
spending. Urban tourism destinations are likely to have to compete more aggressively for
such spending in the new millennium, as new investment strategies, constant expansion
and value adding to the shopping experience are part of this competitive development,
with public-private sector partnerships promoting such development.
Conditional elements
The fourth feature which Jansen-Verbeke (1986) views as central to the city's 'leisure
product' is the conditional elements, such as transport, physical infrastructure and the
provision of signposting. Unless adequate infrastructure is provided, tourists will be
reluctant to divert from established patterns of visitor activity and tourism and leisure
shopping will fail to materialise. Transport is a vital element in the facilitation of tourism,
as it allows people to move from origin to destination (i.e. it permits mobility), and at the
destination it provides the mechanism to enjoy sightseeing, touring, and the linking of
visitors with their place of accommodation to the attractions/activities they wish to
pursue. Good signposting, connectivity in transport systems, inter-modal interchanges
and a clear circuit/itinerary are important to link visitors and resources/places. Numerous
studies exist which examine the conceptual basis of the transport-tourism interface (Page
1994b, 1999, 2005) with new perspectives on research agendas questioning the
significance of transport (Lumsdon and Page 2004). In fact many geographical analyses
of tourism have mapped the routes tourists take by car on holiday within cities and
regions (Page 1998), the flows by means of air travel (Graham 1998; Page 2003b) as well
as by coach (Page 2003c) and rail (Page 2002), and the importance of transport as an
attraction in the 'leisure product' (e.g. Melbourne's refurbished tram restaurant) and as
icons in destinations like the London Routemaster bus, which is now under threat as fleet
replacements have seen these vehicles used more on sightseeing services. This last issue
of sightseeing also highlights one new area for geographical research on tourism as part
of the conditional elements—tourism and visual culture.
There is a growing body of interdisciplinary research, informed by cultural geography
which examines how tourists consume visual culture, which refers to the image-making
devices and skills of a particular culture. This has been broadened in context to include
fine art, the media, television, video, photography and advertising and the way these
forms of media are used to attach meanings to artefacts, objects and places. In a tourism
context, Crouch and LĂĽbbren (2003:5) note that 'visual culture is consumed in spaces.
Geographical thought is an important component of understanding the consumption of, or
encounter with, visual culture. Tourism has frequently been depicted and theorized, as a
journey; a journey to and in places, identities and experiences'. As the physical space and
places that tourists visit are consumed, the visual culture is part of the tourist experience
of the place, site and way in which it is visually consumed. In other words, tourism is a
sensual encounter, based on visual images and Baudrillard (1981) noted the strategies of
desire, whereby tourists' interests and needs are met through consumption. The tourism
industry is therefore very adept at using visual culture to develop the tourist offering, as
well as using advertising, promotion, signs and symbols which the tourist gazes at,
observes and consumes. Therefore, visual culture has important links in the conditional
elements of tourism, since the consumption of tourism is part of a cultural process.