| Global Business Resources
Find out worldwide manufacturers and traders.for contagious
Discover best resources in business2k.com.
business2k.com
The effects of contagious diffusion follow on from the effects of hierarchical diffusion in two ways. First, as cities grow, they emerge as significant domestic tourism markets in their own right. This leads to the development of recreational hinterlands around these cities, the size of which is usually proportional to the size of the urban area — the domestic tourism portion of these hinterlands, of course, would not begin until the applicable distance threshold away from the city is met. As the city grows, the recreational hinterland expands accordingly. The 'boutique' communities in the hinterland of the Gold and Sunshine Coasts are examples of this phenomenon at the excursionist level, while Muskoka (in the Canadian province of Ontario) and the Catskills (in the American state of New York) illustrate stavover-oriented recreational hinterland. The second variation in contagious diffusion involves the inbound tourists who engage in day trips from urban bases. The main difference with the domestic version is that these individuals, not being domestic tourists, are not subject to the above-mentioned distance thresholds.
Once a community becomes tourism-oriented (i.e. 'adopts' the 'innovation' of tourism in diffusion terminology), nearby communities are then more likely to also experience a similar process within the next few years. This observation is very much reminiscent of Christaller's view. and thus links the process of national tourism development with the destination life cycle. In other words, the destination life cycle will first, affect communities on the edge of existing tourism regions, and then gradually incorporate adjacent communities as the recreational hinterland spreads further into the countryside. The same effect can occur in a hierarchical way — as a country develops, monies may be made available to upgrade the airport or road connection to third order regional cities, which then becomes a trigger factor that initiates the involvement stage.
This process, however, is not likely to continue indefinitely, in part dtte to the fact that demand is not unlimited, but also because of barriers to the tourism diffusion process. These can take numerous forms, the most obvious being the lack of an attraction base capable of carrying the destination beyond the exploration stage. Other' barriers include community resistance, political boundaries and climate (e.g. 3S tourism can only develop within a certain latitudinal range). Conversely, factors that can 'pull' or accelerate the diffusion process include an extensive area of tourism potential such as a beach-lined coast or an alpine valley, and upgraded transportation networks. It should be noted here that a road network is likely to facilitate contagious diffusion, while an air network will facilitate hierarchical diffusion.
|
