Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
in the 1990s, the research agenda and formulation of the model framework would have
been very different. A greater emphasis would be placed upon the supply dynamics
which created the RBD (i.e. the role of capital) (Judd and Fainstein 1999), the cultural
and social meaning attached to the tourist, and recreationalists' experience of the RBD as
a place in time and space (see Britton 1991 for a fuller discussion of these ideas). It
would not be viewed in a static context, since the processes of change and evolution of
the RBD to accommodate consumer tastes would also be emphasised.
In the emerging tourist destinations in South East Asia (see Hall and Page 2000), the
RBD is a more complex phenomenon where the addition of hawker stalls, souvenir
sellers and the informal economy combine to create a distinct entertainment district.
D.G.Pearce (1995a) identified the addition of a night-life function in Patong, Phuket
(Thailand) where the commodification of sex tourism is an additional function evident in
the RBD (see Ryan and Hall 2001 for further discussion). Research by planners, most
notably R.A.Smith (1991, 1992b), observed that in integrated resort development in
South East Asia, the RBD function is incorporated as a key function. Land use zoning
and the spatial separation of accommodation from the RBD to increase resort carrying
capacity in locations such as Cancun (Gormsen 1982) highlighted the use of spatial
concepts to manage tourist development. Pigram's (1977) influential study of
morphological changes in Surfers Paradise (Queensland, Australia) between 1958 and
1975 recognised the spatial separation of the RBD and CBD. Yet relatively little interest
has been shown in models of beach use, with a notable exception (Jeans 1990) where a
semiotic model was developed. This model distinguished between the resort which
represented culture and the sea which represented nature. What emerged was a
transitional zone between culture and nature, a zone of 'ambiguity'—the beach. A second
axis of meaning was also recognised, where the beach zone had a social periphery, where
nonconformists (i.e. semi-nude and nude bathers and surfers) inhabited the area. This
further refines D.G.Pearce and Kirk's (1986) model, though it was valuable in identifying
the complexities of understanding the different types of carrying capacity of the resort
and wider coastal zone.
TOURIST AND RECREATIONAL TRAVEL TO THE COAST
Within the tourism literature, the role of transport as a facilitating mechanism to explain
tourist travel, patterns of tourism and development have only belatedly been
acknowledged (Page 1994b, 1998, 1999). There are a number of seminal studies (e.g.
Patmore 1968) in explaining the development of spas. Similarly, Pearson's (1968) study
of the evolution of coastal resorts in East Lincolnshire illustrated the geographers'
interest in the transport dimension. Patmore's (1971:70) recognition that 'Deep-rooted in
the very concept of outdoor recreation is the “journey to play”, the fundamental
movement linking residence or workplace to recreation resource. Such movement varies
in scale, in duration and frequency'. A similar analogy may also be applied to tourism,
and geographers have utilised a wide range of concepts from transport geography to
analyse the patterns of travel for coastal activity by recreationalists and tourists. As
Patmore (1971) recognised, it is the identification of the routeways (the lines of
movement) and the link to nodes of intensive leisure activity which have preoccupied
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