| Global Business Resources
Find out worldwide manufacturers and traders.for geographic scale
Discover best resources in business2k.com.
business2k.com
As discussed in earlier chapters, the term 'destination' can be applied at dil-ferent scales, ranging from a single small attraction to an entire continent (e.g. Asia or Europe) or macro-region (e.g. the pleasure periphery). This raises the question as to which scales are most suited to the application ol the Butler sequence. Because visitation levels and other surrogates such as the number of accommodation units can be graphed at any scale, there is a tendency in the life cycle literature to assume that the Butler sequence can be applied across the geographical spectrum.
The resemblance to Butler's curve, however, is often superficial. This is because of the fact that the dynamics discussed by Butler are not applicable at the country level, unless the country happens to be very small. The problem can be illustrated by considering the situation in Spain. A graph of past inbound visitation levels would stiggest that Spain is now in the later development or very early consolidation stage. However, it is absurd to even imagine that all or most of Spain's 40 million residents are now expressing antagonism towards tourists, or that all of its tourist accommodation is now accounted for bv large, 'international'-style hotels. Such circumstances may indeed apply to parts of the Spanish Riviera, but certainly not to most parts of inland rural Spain o)- to its large cities. Similarly, the appearance of early 'development' in a graph of inbound arrivals to Australia disguises great disparities between the exploration-stage Outback and post-stagnation dynamics on parts of the Gold Coast. In essence, Butler's cycle, in its classic format, does not apply to such large countries because ol the tendency of large-scale tourism to concentrate only in certain areas of these countries .
The Butler sequence is more appropriately applied at the scale of an individual resort concentration such as the Gold Coast, Spain's Costa Brava, a small Caribbean island such as Antigua, or an alpine resort such as Thredbo or St Moritz (Switzerland). However, caution must still be exercised since significant internal variations often occur even at this scale. This can be illustrated by the Gold Coast, where the late development stage of Surfers Paradise can be contrasted with the post-consolidation situation at Coolan-gatta, or the early development stage at Hope Island.
|
