Tourist hub consumption systems: Convenient flexibility versus administrative constraint

Identifier:  imarina:9470949

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina9470949

Authors:  Paulino Valldepérez, Isabel; Prats, Lluís; Schofield, Peter

Abstract:
The extant literature shows that political borders may artificially divide latent tourist destinations without considering consumer preferences (Blasco, Guia, & Prats, 2014b; Ioannides, Nielsen, & Billing, 2006; Lovelock & Boyd, 2006; Paulino & Prats, 2013). This study critically examines the traditional way of defining tourist destinations following administrative criteria and advocates a more visitor-oriented model of destination planning and management based on tourists' spatial visitation patterns (Dredge, 1999). This represents a demand side approach which should facilitate more effective management of tourist flows, the realisation of benefits from synergies between destination stakeholders, and the planning of new infrastructure and services in line with changes in market demand. The first step, then, is to identify the demand-side destinations by examining tourists' visitation patterns within a destination. This study uses network analysis in combination with GIS to examine three European tourist destinations. It focusses on the networks between accommodation hubs and attractions formed by tourists' spatial visitation patterns within a destination in order to critically assess the legitimacy of their administratively defined boundaries versus their visitor defined spatial configurations. The findings show that tourists geographically consume destinations using convenient radial trips from accommodation hubs, and as such, the visitation patterns are not prescribed by or aligned with political borders. Tourist visitation patterns are influenced by the spatial configuration of attractions and other features in proximity to their accommodation. This accommodation hub-based consumption pattern suggests that destinations should evolve to a more flexible system of stakeholder governance, which acknowledges the incongruity between the tourist destination prescribed by administrative boundaries and that defined by tourist visitation patterns.