Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
definition, recreational travel'. Similarly, Cosgrove and Jackson (1972), in writing on
resort development, noted:
'Fashion' is therefore capable of analysis, and it can be shown to be
motivated by social distinction, which is characterised by geographical
segregation. Within the confines of such segregated areas individual
initiative may then account for variations in development. The geographic
mobility of the different social strata results in continuous changes in the
location and extent of these segregated areas. The word 'mobility' is used
here deliberately rather than accessibility, since access alone did not
create the resorts of the nineteenth century. Only when incomes were
sufficiently high and when free time was readily available could the
facilities of access be fully exploited.
(Cosgrove and Jackson 1972:34)
Cosgrove and Jackson's (1972) identification of time and income level are highly
significant for the study of tourism (Hall 2005a, 2005b) For while time budgets have
been a major focus of time geography, their role in tourism has been relatively little
explored. Arguably, one of the main reasons for this is that tourism is often portrayed as
being an escape from the routine (Hall 2005a, 2005b). Yet space-time compression has
led to fundamental changes to individual space-time paths in recent years. The routinised
space-time paths of those living in 2005 are not the same as those of people in 1984 when
Giddens was writing and even more so in the 1960s and 1970s when Hägerstrand (1970)
was examining daily space-time trajectories (Hall 2005a, 2005c). Instead, for those with
sufficient income and time, particularly in the developed world, extended voluntary
leisure or business travel (what we would usually describe as tourism) is part of their
routine on a seasonal or annual basis, and for some highly mobile individuals, on a
weekly or daily basis. Hall (2005b) has even argued that one possible interpretation of
this is that the study of tourism is intrinsically the study of the wealthy, particularly given
the relative lack of research in tourism as to those who do not travel and are relatively
immobile.
Despite the expansion of spatial mobility for many people time constraints still
operate, there is always only a finite amount of time in which people can travel in or take
part in touristic activities (Hägerstrand 1970; Pred 1977; Hall 2005a). Through increased
access to transport resources and the economic capacity to utilise them it may be possible
to increase the geographical space it is possible to visit within a given time. Given that a
travel money budget represents the fraction of disposable income devoted to travel, a
fixed travel money budget establishes a direct relationship between disposable income
and distance travelled, provided average user costs of transport remain constant (see
Schafer and Victor 2000). If people are on a fixed time budget then those who are willing
to pay the increased costs will shift from one mode of transport to another so as to
increase speed and therefore reduce the amount of time engaged in travelling relative to
other activities within the constraints of the overall time budget (Schafer 2000; Hall
2005a), thereby challenging both conceptually and technically the commonly used
approaches to defining tourism in time (see Chapter 2).
