Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
weekends. This led Patmore (1983:158) to argue that 'on a day-to-day basis,
holidaymakers' patterns of activities within the holiday area differ, but little from the use
of day visitors…. Little attention, however, has been given to the sequence of those
activities as the holiday progresses'. One of the seminal studies which addressed this
topic was Cooper's (1981) analysis of holidaymaker patterns of behaviour in Jersey. As a
laboratory for tourism research, Jersey offers many attractions, for it is almost a closed
system with a limited number of resorts, attractions and defined tourist itineraries.
What Cooper (1981) observed was a spatial and temporal pattern of tourist use of the
coastal environment and non-coastal resources. For example, the holiday begins at the
tourist's accommodation to maximise uncertainty in visiting unknown places. As a result,
at St Heliers (the location of two-thirds of the island's accommodation stock), 75 per cent
of tourists surveyed spent their first day in the town. After that point, a growing spatial
awareness of coastal resources developed, and the two most popular beaches (St
Brelade's Bay and Gorey) were visited on days two and three. The touring of the island
to derive spatial familiarity with the tourist resources also occurred on days two and
three. As spatial knowledge of the island developed, smaller and lesser known
recreational sites were visited. What Cooper's (1981) research highlighted was a wave
pattern in visitation, as visitors' use of resources (especially the use of the coastal
environment) moved down the hierarchy, spreading to a wider distribution of sites. This
reveals a classic geographical diffusion process and offers a great deal of advice for
planners and coastal management.
D.G.Pearce (1988a) continued the interest in tourist behaviour using a time budget
methodology in 1985 in Vanuatu (South Pacific) to extend Cooper's (1981) research on
the tourists filtering down the hierarchy of sites. This behavioural research had an explicit
spatial focus—patterns of tourist circulation. The problem with Pearce's (1988a) island-
based study was the geographically constrained activity patterns of visitors, with resort
hotels at Vila dominating the activities.
Probably one of the most interesting studies published by geographers was Tunstall
and Penning-Rowsell's (1998) review of the English beach. As they observed,
England's beaches and coasts have a special place in the nation's
consciousness. A day at the English beach is a particularly notable
experience, full of rituals, symbolism, nostalgia and myths. The holiday at
the coast, or the day visit, brings special activities, enjoyment and
memories that virtually no other recreational experience provides. The
English beach, with its particular characteristics and contexts, holds
special meanings for those it attracts, and creates experiences which have
life-long echoes.
(Tunstall and Penning-Rowsell 1998:319)
In their analysis of the beach, they precisely identify it as the inter-tidal zone, the area
which occurs above the high-watermark where beach material exists (i.e. sand, shingle
and mud). The significance of the coast is epitomised in the UK Day Visits Survey, with
over 137 million visits a year in England to rural areas, seaside resorts and the coastline.
Cultural geographies of the beach and coastal environment (e.g. Shields 1991) mark the
change, continuity and endurance of the beach as a social construction. In the post-war
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