ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the dominance of the physical setting is one of the strongest images that emerges when tourism on coldwater islands. First and foremost the determining characteristic of the coldwater islands is that they are each specific rather than generic destinations. Without meaning to downplay the uniqueness or appeal of any warmwater island, there is a great deal of substitutability between many of those islands. To the millions of tourists who visit Spain’s islands each year, many do not make a great distinction between Mallorca and Minorca, or between Lanzarote and Tenerife. A second characteristic is that of the spatial spread of this tourist activity. A third feature of the tourism experienced on these islands is its extreme seasonality. Image is therefore important, as it is with every tourist destination. Potential visitors must have some image of a destination to allow it to enter their consideration as a destination.
