Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The impact of tourism on the countryside in many places is signifi cant because it has changed
the countryside from being something people have gone to see, that is, the attraction in itself, to
being the setting for activities. Thus the activity has become more important than the location,
often with serious implications for the place. In some cases, this is because alternative locations
have not been considered, partly because their existence is unknown or unanticipated, or in other
cases because no one cares. Irrespective, there is a need for additional scrutiny of how and why
rural areas are used for tourism/leisure (see Saxena , Chapter 29). It goes back to the 'why what is
where' slogan - is it necessary or appropriate to have a specifi c activity in a particular location?
Another area only examined to a limited extent by tourism geographers is that of the
image of places as tourist destinations. It is fascinating and satisfying that the seventh most
cited journal article identifying tourism in geography journals over the last forty years
(Gibson, 2008) was one by Dilley (1986) on 'Tourist Brochures and Tourist Images'.
Sociologists and anthropologists have made heavy play with their writing on tourist images
and it puzzles me that such researchers seem to think that people read and actually believe
brochures to be true, rather than seeing them as advertising material like estate agent publica-
tions. In these 'would benefi t from sympathetic updating' means 'an old ruin liable to fall
down any minute', 'sea view' means only when using binoculars and a footstool, and 'beach
nearby' means it may be over the motorway and the railway and six blocks further on. There
is a great deal more research that could be done on what images people have of places, as well
as what knowledge they possess and, perhaps equally important, how they acquired that
knowledge. The work of Squire (1996), for example, on literary tourism, or the research of
Towner (1985) on the Grand Tour, based on journals of participants, provides many insights
into the views people have of places from a geographical perspective.
We might also continue to develop the work on politics and governance of tourist places.
The early work of Hall (1994), followed more recently by Butler and Suntikul (2010), has
focused attention on the links between politics and tourism. At a smaller scale, one interesting
question is whether local politics changes as tourism is developed in a place. One might
expect that the movers and shakers (Russell and Faulkner, 1999) would gradually assume
positions of political power in local government, replacing traditional power brokers from
agriculture, forestry or fi shing in some communities. There is not much research on this, and
only a few authors such as Martin (2006) have discussed political change driven by tourism
concerns. The process of change from casual visitation to more regular visitation, followed by
investment in a second home and ultimately retirement to many high-amenity areas, (e.g.
Florida, Arizona, British Columbia, southern France, Spain) has resulted in individuals who
have gone this route now running for political offi ce in their new home regions (see Casado-
Diaz, Chapter 15). Will they be arguing to raise the ladder of access after them, or will they
push for continued tourism/retirement development? How does this vary by place? How do
we deal with contrasting opinions over tourism development between local desires and
central government intentions; an issue that has long plagued national park establishment and
operation? A very fertile area for tourism geographers, I would suggest.
We need to determine precisely where it is that people go when they get to their destination.
We may know that 19 million people go to Venice each year, but where in Venice and why
there? Perhaps more importantly, where do people actually go in national parks and
other important environmentally and culturally sensitive areas? Such knowledge is often
on ly anecdotal and impressionistic, yet we have many ways of track ing people (see Hal l, Chapter
21 a nd Shoval, Chapter 22 of this volume). Such information is vital for successful management
of resources and places. Using mobile phone data to plot the movements of tourists has great
potential, despite privacy concerns. Pearce and Simmons in New Zealand have both separately
 
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