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    Tourism in Peripheral Areas: Case Studies
    Tourism in Peripheral Areas: Case Studies
    Tourism in Peripheral Areas: Case Studies
    Ebook267 pages2 hours

    Tourism in Peripheral Areas: Case Studies

    By Frances Brown and Derek Hall

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    There has been little research on tourism in those European countries or regions which lie outside the continent’s main centres of production and population, even though tourism may be one of the few economic options open to them. This volume aims to fill a gap by presenting a range of case studies – including northern Sweden, the Orkneys, the tip of Norway and northern Cyprus – on tourism in the peripheral areas of Europe. Taking as a leitmotiv the paradoxes inherent in developing places whose very attraction may lie in their lack of development, the case studies investigate and illustrate both the opportunities and the threats that tourism presents to peripheral areas. Although they share certain similarities, the cases also demonstrate differing approaches to tourism development and varying outcomes over time. They suggest solutions for dealing with, for example, community participation as well as providing practical insights into visitor perceptions of peripheral areas and into ways of marketing such areas in a sensitive manner. Together they provide a picture of the needs of peripheral areas and of how far and how best tourism can fulfil those needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChannel View Publications
    Release dateAug 31, 2000
    ISBN9781845413965
    Tourism in Peripheral Areas: Case Studies

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      Tourism in Peripheral Areas - Frances Brown

      Preface

      The impetus for this collection came from a conference on Peripheral Area Tourism organised by the Research Centre of Bornholm and held on the island in September 1997. The conference revealed a great and widespread interest in the subject matter and sparked a debate on the nature, meaning and practical consequences of tourism in the peripheral regions of Europe, of which these chapters are the result.

      Some have been developed out of papers presented at the conference; others arose from research in progress being carried out by conference participants. All have been revised and brought up to date to reflect current thinking about – and experience of – tourism in a variety of locations on the periphery of Europe.

      Introduction: The Paradox of Peripherality

      FRANCES BROWN and DEREK HALL

      The notion that most tourism activity takes place outside the world’s main centres of production and population, in what Turner and Ash (1975) have termed ‘the pleasure periphery‘ – often assumed to comprise the countries of the developing world – is at the core of much writing on the subject. Nevertheless, there has been scant detailed research on tourism in countries or regions of countries deemed to be peripheral; this is particularly true for Europe, which is usually considered en bloc as a global core region.

      Such a view of Europe is at best partial, however, and this volume aims to redress the balance by presenting a range of case studies on tourism in European peripheral areas and by exploring the paradox of threat and opportunity that this offers. For peripherality means different things to different people – one person’s pristine wilderness is another’s dismal wasteland – and its effects (see later) can be markedly different for long-time residents, incomers and tourists. Indeed, the aspirations of residents and visitors for the future development of peripheral areas may be seriously at odds. Whatever their feelings, however, we cannot discuss peripherality without some definition of what constitutes the phenomenon, and it is to this that we shall now turn.

      What is Peripherality?

      Peripherality has been defined as ‘the outermost boundary of any area‘ (Collins Concise Dictionary), a clearly spatial interpretation which can be applied without controversy to many of the places covered in this volume – the Orkney islands, the North Cape promontory at the tip of Norway, the sparsely populated wilderness of northern Sweden, for example.

      But peripherality is more than merely a geographical notion. In modern parlance, to describe something as peripheral is often to dismiss it as unimportant, of no interest to the majority and of no significance to world events. In other words, to be peripheral is to be marginalised, to lack power and influence and it therefore carries social, political and economic implications. Thus it is that Wales, whose collapsed heavy industries no longer fuel the UK economy, and even part of the English county of Somerset, whose unique wetland environment has little in common with 21st century urban living, must feel peripheral to the concerns of government decision-makers, while Northern Cyprus, part of an island that has been a hub of trade and tourism, has become an artificial periphery through political division, shunned by all the world’s states except Turkey. It is this unequal or distant relationship with centres of power that marks out a periphery. For, as Scott points out in this volume, a periphery can only be a periphery in relation to some centre or core.

      The idea of conceptualising the world as divided into core and periphery was a product of development studies and became part of dependency theory (see, e.g., Frank, 1967; Wallerstein, 1974). This posits an economic relationship between strong, industrialised countries or regions and weaker, agriculturally based states/regions often lacking an advanced technological infrastructure. In this relationship, the former are able to extract surplus from and impose unfair terms of trade on the latter, leading to their continuing economic disadvantage, which is often compounded by out-migration prompted by this same disadvantage.

      In the tourism context, the concept has been applied (in a sweeping generalisation) to the relationship between the rich, industrialised tourist-generating countries and the less developed, often predominantly rural or coastal (especially small island) tourist-receiving regions. Here firms from the former remain in control of the industry and extract a holiday surplus from the latter, the profit from which these latter do not fully enjoy. In this case it is perhaps more useful to take Frank’s (1967) notion of metropoles and satellites, rather than core and periphery, since it allows us to conceive of both satellite areas within the metropoles (e.g. the Somerset Levels in England) and metropoles in the satellites (e.g. Cardiff in Wales).

      There are a number of problems both with dependency theory itself, which has failed to account either for the rise of formerly dependent states such as Singapore and Taiwan or for the growing interdependence of the (post)industrialised economies, and with its application to tourism, which cannot easily explain the vast numbers who visit metropolitan sites like Paris or Copenhagen, nor the fact that tourism development is often genuinely sought by many industrial areas now in decline as a vehicle for restructuring, and is not seen as exploitative. Nevertheless, several of the characteristics identified in dependency theory can be found in the countries and regions on the edge of Europe and these are summarised in Chapter 1 by Owen et al.

      A peripheral area, then, is one that suffers from geographical isolation, being distant from core spheres of activity, with poor access to and from markets. It suffers also from economic marginalisation, caused either by an outright lack of resources or by a decline in traditional industries or agriculture, with much business activity in the hands of small micro-firms, which lack know-how and training in areas such as marketing and innovation, and are denied influence by dint of their fragmentation. There is a concomitant lack of infrastructure and a reliance on imports, leading to economic leakages; a largely rural setting where life has changed little in recent years; and a low and frequently declining or ageing population, which further exacerbates (or for some enhances) a sense of remoteness (Wanhill, 1997).

      But beyond these objective characteristics, peripherality is also a matter of perception. A place that is remote and difficult to reach may be perceived by tourists (and others) to have certain qualities emblematic of its situation (natural beauty, quaintness, otherness) – qualities which are an attraction to some and a repellent to others. As Blomgren and Sørensen (1998: 334) have discussed, there is a mutual interdependence between these two sets of characteristics:

      the peripheral destination may possess symptoms of peripherality, but relies on the subjective interpretation of these symptoms by the tourist, while simultaneously the tourist will not perceive an area as peripheral without certain symbols of peripherality being present.

      It is these perceptions which represent the key to the development of tourism in peripheral areas.

      Paradox I

      For, in general terms, as people in industrialised societies in the West react to the stresses of city life, and to long-term global shifts in production and consumption, with a seemingly insatiable interest in nature and the past (see Urry, 1990; 1995); and, in tourism terms, as tastes in holiday-taking have become more sophisticated and diverse, the attributes of peripherality, long viewed as disadvantageous, are now being seen as opportunities. Isolation and remoteness represent peace, difference, even exoticism. Rurality means nature – for mental contemplation, aesthetic appreciation or physical activity. Traditional lifestyles represent our heritage and the security of past times, while the fact that there is little scope for developing or attracting other industries makes tourism an attractive possibility for the maintenance or creation of jobs and the safeguarding of lifestyles, built heritage and environments. Paradoxically, it is the very symptoms of peripherality that now suggest an antidote to the economic and social problems it causes. Indeed, the European Union’s Maastricht Treaty acknowledged in 1992 that tourism had a role to play in reducing regional disparities (Wanhill, 1997).

      Paradox II

      However, if the lure of remoteness and tradition proves too great or is not adequately managed, destinations that are beginning to prosper economically may become overcrowded, environmentally degraded or subject to pressure (both external and internal) to modernise and change, thereby losing the very characteristics that encouraged their success. In the case of North Cape, Jacobsen (Chapter 5) reports that, as well as attracting wilderness-seekers, the promontory is now regarded by some tourists as a site that ‘should be seen’ – one to be ticked off – which has caused it to be regarded by yet others as ‘too touristy’ and therefore to be avoided. Arel (Chapter 7) notes that holiday cottage construction in Sweden’s Tärna mountains in the 1990s ignored vernacular styles and turned some resorts into Alpine clones.

      Northern Cyprus, an unrecognised statelet since forcible partition of the island of Cyprus in 1974, presents a particularly interesting case. Despite attempts to attract non-Turkish tourists and investors, it remains perforce heavily dependent on Turkey because of its international pariah status. Its population is poor, with few economic opportunities, and many migrate to the Turkish mainland. Its doubly peripheral burden (depending on a country which is itself on the periphery of Europe) has meant, however, that its rich tourism resources have remained largely undeveloped (i.e. unspoilt) since 1974, particularly when compared with the Greek portion of the island or indeed with the southern Turkish coast. Its beaches are empty, its rich flora and fauna undisturbed, modern high-rise buildings are few and its Mediterranean way of life continues as it has done for years, albeit without its former Greek residents. In other words, it is a potential paradise (nay honeypot) for high-spending, eco- and culture tourists, who could provide the locals with the jobs, income and thus incentive to stay to maintain a viable community – but it is also currently complicated and relatively expensive to get to and most travel agents know little about it.

      This would all change if a solution to the intractable Cyprus problem were found. Agents would be queuing up to do business in the north, with all the risks of concretisation, unplanned mass development and the sidelining of the local population that this could entail, not to mention the alienation of the very tourists to whom the destination currently appeals. Nor should we forget that the locals themselves might desire such development, in opposition to environmentalists, as was the case with the Akamas peninsula in the Greek Republic of Cyprus (Ioannides, 1995). Should a solution ever be reached, it will be interesting (or perhaps sobering) to see how far the north of the island is able to learn from the mistakes of other pleasure peripheries.

      For the challenge is to develop tourism in Europe’s peripheries in ways that will attract income and provide benefits to local residents while maintaining and, where possible, enhancing their uniqueness. Julie Scott’s analysis of Northern Cyprus (Chapter 4) suggests a variety of outcomes for a case ‘in waiting’ but there are already lessons to be drawn from the other cases presented in this volume – about tourists’ perceptions of peripheral places and how these can be either modified or exploited, about involving the local community in tourism development (and the conflicts that may occur between different actors within that community), and about the economic and social value of using tourism not as a sole industry but as one element of diversification from other economies in retreat (Richards and Hall, 2000).

      Thus David Botterill et al. (Chapter 1) present a series of mini-case studies examining how Wales’ peripheral status and outsiders’ perceptions of that status affect levels and types of tourism, as well as analysing causes of and public responses to the decline in certain products. Tourists’ perceptions are also at the heart of Jens Jacobsen’s chapter (4) on the North Cape, which finds that there are two quite distinct views of the promontory and discusses how it can be marketed to accommodate both of them. It also demonstrates that even the ‘ultimate periphery’ may be considered too crowded by some.

      In Chapter 2, a methodological study, Marcus Grant describes the Project Appraisal and Community Evaluation (PACE) process being piloted in the Somerset Levels. A mechanism designed to steer touristic and other land-use activities in a sustainable direction, taking account of social, economic and environmental impacts as well as of cumulative and inter-project effects, and capable of being used by all stakeholders, PACE could prove particularly suitable for fragile peripheral environments.

      The environment of Orkney has always been its fortune but lately its high-quality and profitable farming industry has experienced difficulties, caused by changes in eating habits and a number of agricultural crises. In Chapter 5 Joy Gladstone and Angela Morris present findings of a survey of the diversification into tourism that has consequently taken place, with the offering of farm accommodation and the marketing of agricultural heritage as an attraction. All the businesses surveyed were micro-enterprises and the results build a picture of the constraints and opportunities facing these classic manifestations of development on the periphery. They also highlight respondents’ assessment of the importance of support from the tourist authorities.

      Bute, an island in the inner Hebrides, was once a thriving mass tourism resort much favoured as an escape from industrial Glasgow and well served by a veritable fleet of Clyde steamers. Today, however, with the decline in popularity of traditional British seaside holidays and the consequent withering of steamer services, Bute has arguably become more rather than less peripheral. Stephen Boyne et al. use Chapter 6 to analyse the reconfiguration of the island, now being targeted to visitors from England and overseas, who are being encouraged to view it as an exotic destination – positively peripheral – rather than one that is difficult to get to – negatively peripheral.

      Finally, two Swedish chapters focus on tourism in the mountainous, forested north of that country. Nils Arel’s history of tourism development in the Tärna mountains (Chapter 7) shows that tourism often has a longer pedigree than assumed, even in peripheral areas, but demonstrates the shifting roles played and influence wielded by different actors both within and outside the community over time. It is clear that external actors now play a more important role and, while this has helped open up the area, it has also erased some of its more distinctive features. Per Åke Nilsson (Chapter 8) continues this theme with examination of a project set up to try to increase jobs and turnover in tourism enterprises in the region of Arjeplog. The degree of endogenous and exogenous involvement in the firms studied is measured, as is the extent to which they are demand- or supply-side oriented. In this case it seems that experience from outside the community has been essential to the successful start-up of some of the firms in the study.

      The cases presented in the following chapters all share certain similarities, but they also bear evidence of different approaches to tourism development, different solutions (or not) to its potential problems. Together they present much from which we can learn about the needs of peripheral areas and about how far and how best tourism can fulfil these needs, while reminding us that peripheries are not static phenomena destined never to change, even if some tourists would prefer that.

      References

      Blomgren, K.B. and Sørensen, A. (1998) Peripherality – factor or feature? Reflections on peripherality in tourism research. Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research 4, 319–36.

      Frank, A.G. (1967) Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America. Historical Studies of Chile and Brazil. New York: Monthly Review Press.

      Ioannides, D. (1995) A flawed implementation of sustainable tourism: The experience of Akamas, Cyprus. Tourism Management 16, 583–92.

      Richards, G. and Hall, D. (eds) (2000) Tourism and Sustainable Community Development. London: Routledge.

      Turner, L. and Ash, J. (1975) The Golden Hordes. London: Constable.

      Urry, J. (1990) The Tourist Gaze. London: Sage.

      Urry, J. (1995) Consuming Places. London: Routledge.

      Wallerstein, E. (1974) The Modern World-System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Academic Press.

      Wanhill, S. (1997) Peripheral area tourism – a European perspective. Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research 3, 47–70.

      Chapter 1

      Perceptions from the Periphery: The Experience of Wales

      DAVID BOTTERILL, R. ELWYN OWEN, LOUISE EMANUEL, NICOLA FOSTER, TIM GALE, CLIFF NELSON AND MARTIN SELBY

      Introduction

      This chapter looks critically at some of the key issues that underpin the notion of periphery, in the context of tourism in Wales. Ours is an excellent vantage point from which to examine issues regarding the periphery. Wales is a small country of some 2.8 million people, located on the western edge of Europe next to a larger neighbour. It bears many of the hallmarks of a peripheral area, having been traditionally regarded as one of the most economically disadvantaged parts of the United Kingdom. During the last two decades the economy of Wales has undergone a major transformation, with the old heavy industries of coal, iron and steel being replaced by a more diversified pattern of light manufacturing and service-based industries. Tourism is a major industry which, along with other elements of the economic and social fabric, has been subject to major structural change during recent years.

      The chapter is in three parts. It begins with two introductory context-setting sections dealing respectively with the characteristics of peripheries and the main features of tourism in Wales. Two analytical themes set a framework for the consideration of five case studies in part three, which forms the paper’s substantive core. Over the past five years several research projects have been in progress at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, examining different aspects of tourism in Wales. These studies provide recent empirical evidence of the condition of tourism in the periphery. Data from studies of place perception and rural tourism development, urban tourism, seaside holiday resorts, coastal pollution and international tourism to Wales are used to analyse critically tourism in the context of the core–periphery axiom.

      The Periphery: Notions and Characteristics

      Definitions

      Humorists throughout the ages have warned us to choose our parents with care. Geographic humorists might remind us to choose our birth-places with equal caution! Because it sums up so many economic and cultural considerations, our location in terms of nationality continues to be one of the prime determinants of our life – and indeed has a bearing on whether we will even survive the trauma of our birth. (Haggett, 1983)

      This quotation highlights succinctly – possibly at the risk of trivialising – the fact that we live in an unequal world. These inequalities have long been the focus of academic interest, spawning a strong tradition of theoretical and empirical work under the banner of development and regional studies. They also raise challenging policy issues and have

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