ABSTRACT
The coastal environment is a magnet for tourists and recreationists although its role in leisure activities has changed in time and space, as coastal destinations have developed, waned, been reimaged and redeveloped in the twentieth century. The coastal environment is a complex system which is utilised by the recreationist for day trips, while juxtaposed to these visits are those made by the domestic and international tourist. In an early attempt to identify the complexity of the coastline for tourism, D.G.Pearce and Kirk (1986) identified three elements to the coastal environment: the hinterland (where accommodation and services are provided); the transit zone (i.e. dunes) and the recreational activity zone (beach and sea). This model typifies much of the research by geographers prior to the 1990s: to observe, record, synthesise and model recreational and tourism phenomena in pursuit of an explanation of the spatial relationships and nature of the coast. In Lavery’s (1971b) analysis of resorts, the distinction between recreation and tourism blurred but the coastal resort was a dominant element of the observed patterns and models of tourism activity. The pursuit of explanations of the spatial structure of coastal tourism and preoccupation with the resort morphology has led to the replication of a multiplicity of studies that look at the similarities and differences between resorts in different parts of the world. As D.G. Pearce (1988a) rightly concluded:
In stressing the physical form tourism takes along the coast, geographers have largely neglected the way tourists actually use this space. The questions of where and how coastal tourists spend their time appear to have been taken for granted for they have rarely been addressed explicitly nor examined in any detail.
