ABSTRACT
The future geography of travel and tourism will be influenced by a number of interrelated trends. These can be summarised as the changing tourism market place, new trends at the destination, the changing world situation and the effects of globalisation on the tourism sector. In line with these forces for change are other influences such as technology, consumer behaviour, crisis management and the rise of environmental awareness, particularly climate change. Technology is forcing the pace of change in the transport sector, mobile commerce and the Internet. This is linked to changing consumer behaviour, particularly in the ageing markets of the developed world. Here knowledgeable, discerning tourists are seeking independent travel and active involvement. Destinations will respond through positive planning, showing more concern for the environment and host community, and by providing a quality experience. Finally, the world is changing and tourism will be affected by the developing economies of the East Asia-Pacific region, the rising number of signatories to GATS and the expansion of the tourism frontier into space. A disciplined approach to predicting the future of tourism is required and there is no doubt that the skills of geographers and their understanding of these global issues will be a valuable contribution to the ‘knowledge-based’ management of the tourism sector in the twenty-first century.
In this chapter, the nature of tourism resources and the methods used to classify and evaluate them are discussed. A consideration of the key factors favouring the development of tourism resources, and subsequently the evolution of destinations, will lead to an appreciation of the need for tourism planning, marketing and sustainable development. At the world scale, both physical and cultural features are key factors influencing tourism development and it will be seen that specific types of recreation and tourism can be matched to the appropriate resources. Attractive coastlines, mountains and lakes – the most popular locations for recreation and tourism – are valuable tourism resources but culturally developed resources are considered by society to be of economic value as well. The world pattern of supply of tourism resources is by its nature uneven; resources are usually shared with other users and are both fragile and perishable. As countries realize the negative impacts of tourism, so planning to safeguard these resources has become vital. It will be seen that planning aims to minimize the costs of tourism and to maintain the integrity of the resource base. At the national scale, classifications of tourist attractions which include the whole resource base are useful. Evaluations of the potential of the resource base to satisfy tourist’s demands allow possible future areas for recreation and tourism to be identified. These evaluations can then be applied at the local scale to resort developments with their distinctive morphology and mix of service functions. Within this context, the cycle of resort development is considered.
