Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
6
RURAL RECREATION AND TOURISM
As a focal point for geographical research, the recreational and tourism potential of rural
areas is not a new theme for geographers to consider. The interest in rural areas has a
long tradition (Owens 1984) but the problem remains that much of the research
conducted, with a few exceptions (Page and Getz 1997; Sharpley and Sharpley 1997;
Butler et al. 1998; D.R.Hall and O'Hanlon 1998), is now dated, fragmented and continues
to view rural areas as either a recreational or a tourism resource. It fails to adopt a holistic
view of the rural resource base as a multifaceted environment capable of accommodating
a wide range of uses (e.g. agriculture, industrialisation, recreation and tourism) and
values. As Patmore (1983:124) recognised, 'recreation use must compete with
agriculture, forestry, water abstraction, mineral extraction and military training' within
the rural environment which has both spatial implications for competing and
complementary land uses as well as for the identification of the ways in which recreation
and tourism may be accommodated in an ever-changing rural environment.
According to Coppock (1982):
the contribution to research that geographers have made has been focused
primarily on outdoor recreation in the countryside. No clear distinction
has been made between tourism and recreation which is not surprising in a
small, densely settled country [Britain] where there is considerable
overlap between the two; in any case, geographical studies in tourism
have been much less numerous than those in outdoor recreation.
(Coppock 1982:8)
This is an assertion that, to a certain extent, still holds true for present-day rural areas.
Butler et al. (1998) argued that:
In many cases, however, the specific activities which are engaged in
during leisure, recreation and tourism are identical, the key differences
being the setting or location of the activities, the duration of time
involved, and, in some cases, the attitudes, motivations and perceptions of
the participants. In recent years the differences between recreation and
tourism in particular, except at a philosophical level, have become of
decreasing significance and distinctions increasingly blurred.
