and selective land-use activity within all Anglo settler societies
and most OECD nations. It has become an economic growth
leviathan, which often neglects its conservancy origins. It is an
activity prone to boosterism and ‘boom and bust’ vagaries. It is
profusely written about. Tourism has emerged as the most diverse
unruly and complex subnational planning policy process of all,
because it implicates non-governmental organizations, local as
well as central government, the private sector, those who own the
tourism attractions and events, and of course the tourists them-
selves as consumers.By broad definition (Mathieson and Wall 1982) tourism is ‘the
temporary movement of people (including business people) to
destinations outside their normal places of work and residence,
the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations
and the facilities created to cater to their needs’. The interde-
pendence and interpenetration this gives rise to is introduced in
a three-part dragram: figure 4.6, Tourism industry: a construct–
depicting the structure of the tourism industry, demand and
supply factors, and the effects of tourism.
Interdisciplinary professionalism and socio-cultural diversifi-
cation is implicated and interwoven with tourism. The salient
point to make, which has implications for all those who would
plan for this industry, is that there is no single output; instead
there is a variegated, ever-continuing provisioning and through-
put. Clearly identified are the transportation, accommodation and
victualling services; yet these do not comprise a ‘tourism
product’. The output product includes tourism attractions
and events, imparted information, transportation accommoda-
tion and victualling; and the most important output of all, tourist
satisfaction.
Thephysical impacts within settler societies can be identified
directly from an abrasive clutch of motorized transportation
modes: including, in addition to the usual cars, buses, trains,
planes and ships, an array of helicopters, hydrofoils, jet boats, jet
bikes, balloons, four-wheel-drive vehicles, trail bikes and motor
skis. Noteworthy is their direct physical impact – as a conduit for the introduc-
tion of water-borne pests and diseases, destruction of flora and fauna, litter
discards, sewage disposal, and vandalism. The socio-cultural impactscan be iden-
tified at destinations where visitor-visited contact occurs, particularly when
indigenous first peoples are engaged commercially to provide entertainment in a
context which commodifies and parodies their cultural heritage and debases the
individuals involved. Tourist attendance at cultural celebrations and religious
events, and their use of local recreational facilities (intensive as well as extensive)
can degrade both the local people’s facilities as well as the visitor’s sense of
welcome.170 Practice
‘TRAVEL AND
TOURISM....
Is the World’s largest
industry.
Employs 127 million
people. Accounts for 13
per cent of consumer
spending.’ Will double
over the next decade.
World Travel and
Tourism Council.
‘Artificialized
managementhas....
paid dividends to one
citizen out of capital
stock belonging to all.’
Aldo Leopold,A Sand
County Almanac, 1949.Tourism, by reason of
the inter-connectedness
of widely dispersed yet
co-related sites and
activities, can be usefully
reviewed in terms of the
practice procedures
detailed earlier in this
chapter: namely,
Multiplier Principles and
the passage on Risk
Assessment and Risk
Management.Urry writes about the
infrangible, intrusive,
contrived, artificial,
unnecessary and trivial
character of tourism.
J. Urry,The Tourist Gaze,
2002.
See also Flight to the Sun.
Bray and Raitz, 2001