Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
(Butler et al. 1998:2)
In fact, Pigram (1983) observed that it is
where [such] space consumption and spatial competition and conflict are
most likely to occur…that spatial organisation and spatial concerns
become paramount, and so the geographer has a valuable role to play in
considering rural recreation and tourism as a process and phenomenon
which has spatial implications.
(Pigram 1983:15)
Pigram (1983:15) further argued that the geographer cannot focus only on the spatial
organisation and interaction which occurs, but also the 'imbalance or discordance
between population related demand and environmentally related supply of recreation [and
tourism] opportunities and facilities'. This point is reiterated by Hall (1995), who felt that
the rural areas now host a wide range of activities undertaken in people's leisure time and
to determine whether the activity is tourism or recreation may seem irrelevant. In
contrast, Patmore (1983:123) argued that 'outdoor recreation in rural areas rapidly
achieves a distinctive character of its own and needs separate consideration for more than
convention'. Either way, recreation and tourism are increasingly important activities in
rural areas throughout the western world.
This chapter examines the growing interest from geographers in the way in which the
rural environment is examined as a recreational and tourism resource together with some
of the ways in which it has been conceptualised and researched. The chapter commences
with a review of the concept of 'rural' and the ways in which geographers have debated
its meaning and definition. This is followed by a discussion of the geographer's
contribution to theoretical debate in relation to rural recreation and tourism. The
contribution made by historical geography to the analysis of continuity and change in the
rural environment and its consumption for leisure and tourism is briefly examined. The
other contributions made by geographers to the analysis of recreation and tourism in rural
environments is examined and a case study of tourism in Ireland is developed as a way of
synthesising the geographer's interest in rural tourism.
IN PURSUIT OF THE CONCEPT OF 'RURAL'
G.M.Robinson's (1990) invaluable synthesis of rural change illustrates that the term
'rural' has remained an elusive one to define in academic research, even though popular
conceptions of rural areas are based on images of rusticity and the idyllic village life.
However, Robinson (1990) argued that:
defining rural…in the past has tended to ignore common economic, social
and political structures in both urban and rural areas…. In simple terms…
'rural' areas define themselves with respect to the presence of particular
types of problems. A selective list of examples could include depopulation
and deprivation in areas remote from major metropolitan centres; a
