Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
research on leisure spaces (e.g. Shields 1991; Urry 1995). This discussion is followed by
an analysis of the major data sources which researchers use, emphasising how the
geographer has used and manipulated them to identify the patterns, processes and
implications of such activity.
Within the literature on recreation and tourism, there is a growing unease over the
physical separation of the theoretical and conceptual research that isolates behavioural
processes and spatial outcomes, and fails to derive generalisations applicable to
understanding tourism in totality (see Chapter 1). According to Moore et al. (1995:74)
there are common strands in the 'relationships between the various motivating factors
applicable to both leisure and tourism'; as Leiper (1990) argued, tourism represents a
valued category of leisure, where there is a degree of commonality between the factors
motivating both tourist and recreational activities and many of the needs, such as
relaxation or being with friends, can equally be fulfilled in a recreational or tourism
context. Although there is some merit in Leiper's (1990) approach, grouping leisure into
one amorphous category assumes that there are no undifferentiated attributes which
distinguish tourism from leisure. As Pigram and Jenkins (1999:19) confirm, 'the term
recreation demand is generally equated with an individual(s) preferences or desires,
whether or not the individual has the economic and other resources necessary for their
satisfaction'. In this respect, it is the preference-aspiration-desire level, reflected in
behaviour or participation in activities. It is interesting to note that Leiper's (1990)
approach has a great deal of validity if one recognises that some tourism motivations may
in fact differentiate tourism from leisure experiences, just as the reverse may be true, and
that ultimately the particular range of motives associated with a tourism or recreational
activity will be unique in each case despite a range of similarities. For this reason, the
following discussion examines recreational demand, emphasising many of the
explanations commonly advanced in the recreational literature followed by a discussion
of the tourism context and the issues raised, bearing in mind the need to compare and
contrast each literature base in the light of the arguments advanced by Moore et al. (1995)
and Leiper (1990).
RECREATIONAL DEMAND
Human activity related to recreation and tourism is a function of an individual's or
group's willingness or desire to engage in such pursuits. Yet understanding this
dimension in recreation and tourism requires a conceptual approach which can rationalise
the complex interaction between the desire to undertake leisure activities, however
defined, and the opportunities to partake of them. As Coppock and Duffield (1975)
argued:
the success of any study of outdoor recreation depends on the synthesis of
two contrasting elements: the sociological phenomenon of leisure or…that
part of leisure time which an individual spends on outdoor recreation [and
tourism] and…the physical resources that are necessary for the particular
recreational activities.
(Coppock and Duffield 1975:2)
