Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
and liminality. What Carr (1999) emphasised was that there were comparatively few
gendered differences in leisure and tourism activities among visitors aged 18 to 24 years
of age. In fact, these results appear to confirm the findings of Tunstall and Penning-
Rowsell (1998), in that the resort and beach are major attractions for coastal tourism.
Other studies published in non-geographical journals (e.g. R.Morgan et al. 1993) have
also examined issues of perception among beach users, but the literature is increasingly
scattered across a wide range of coastal-related journals which are not necessarily
tourism- or recreation-related. However, R.Morgan's (1999) examination of beach rating
systems for tourist beaches highlighted the contribution which coastal researchers can
make to understanding the perception of beach users. By using beach awards, such as the
European Blue Flag (UNEP/WTO 1996; Mihalic 2002), the Seaside Award and Good
Beach Guide (Marine Conservation Society 1998), there are indications of a growing
interest in the promotion of beach tourism in relation to quality measures (A.M. Williams
and Morgan 1995). Even so, poor public knowledge of these rating schemes and their
significance, even though in the EU the number of Blue Flag beaches increased from
1454 in 1994 to 1927 in 19 countries in 1998. Morgan (1999)
Plate 8.2:
Denarau Island, Fiji.
Modifying a mangrove swamp to build
a resort complex has meant that
erosion measures are necessary now
the ecosystem has been changed.
assessed 70 beaches in Wales and concluded that beaches are different, with users having
different preferences in line with Tunstall and Penning-Rowsell's (1998) study. Many of
these issues have also been examined in the context of Ireland and Portugal, where
beaches were valued in different ways with cultural and climactic factors influential in
attitudes to beach use (MacLeod et al. 2002).
