Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
reorganisation of each destination is, thus, provoked by the changing profi le of tourists;
the transformation of systems of intermediation; the integration of destinations into
regional spaces; the emergence of innovative networks of new stakeholders; the increasing
awareness of tourists of their own impacts associated with tourism development; the increasing
mobility of the tourists between origin and destination as well as within the destination;
the role of ICT as information supplier; and the emergence of new social and cultural
realities in destinations that determine new expectations and offer alternatives to the
traditional ones.
Beyond these abovementioned factors, it is fundamental to point out the evolution of
transport systems and the emergence of (especially low-cost) mobility systems (see Duval and
Koo
, Chapter 27
of this volume) that have stimulated fl ows of non-resident populations
to traditional mass coastal destinations that, in turn, generate the development of housing
associated with long and repeat stays in the same destination. Additionally, destinations
receive migration associated with the arrival of skilled and non-skilled workforces that will
be ready to meet the services development of the 'new' citizens of these mass coastal destina-
tions (Agarwal and Brunt, 2006). Their spatial residential fi xity generates a new 'urbanity'.
As a consequence, we might propose the hypothesis that there are three different types of
coastal mass destination according to the decision-making outcomes of the agents involved in
the (re)development of each place:
Reactives
Destinations such as Malta (Chapman and Speake, 2011) that have established
policies of renewal, differentiation and heritage preservation and that have implemented
adjustment measures oriented to image improvement and the maintenance of tourism activity.
Creatives
Destinations such as the Australian Gold Coast (Faulkner, 2002) that are promoting
new opportunities for differentiation based on the innovative use of their potential attractions
and of the innovation processes generated by their own visitors.
Transitives
Destinations that, as in certain localities of the Costa Blanca in Spain (Huete,
2009), can be characterised in terms of their development of strategies for the intensifi cation
of residential functions and the incorporation of permanent urban services.
The fact is that it isn't possible to study the competitiveness of mass coastal destinations if
the analysis doesn't include social, cultural, economic and environmental global changes
and challenges as strategies of the transnational capital (Amin, 2002). Neither is it possible
without due consideration of the transformation of ways of life and consumption trends
(Mansvelt, 2008), the reconfi guration of the social and economic mobility fl ows to different
scales (Hall, 2005c), the emergent role of new social, economic and environmental confl icts
(Davis, 2006) and, in particular, issues related to the energy paradigm for the future (Becken,
2002). In addition, all of this means we need to be conscious of the opportunities for develop-
ment (and their limitations) that coastal mass destinations have as global places with capacity
to attract fl ows of people and capital. We must also be aware of their vulnerability and fragility
as places facing (1) the current economic, social and technological global conditions that have
favoured the huge mobility that may now sustain them (Ritzer, 2009), and (2) their own
capacities of attraction and the fi xity of a resident population that gives them new production
dynamics (see, for example, Stimson
et al.
's (2001) application of the concept of opportunity
and vulnerability, which could be used into the analysis of mass coastal tourism
destinations).
