Core Concepts
The four basic system steps where inputs create change, leading to end results and reinvested returns.
What are Inputs, Processes, Outputs, and Feedback?
The five main components that make up the Tourism Development Model.
What are Tourists, Attractions, Tourism Industry, Facilities & Infrastructure, and Regulators?
The two broad geographical categories of tourists based on whether they travel within or outside their home country.
What are Domestic and International tourists?
Attractions categorized by whether they are naturally occurring features or made/organized by people.
What are Natural and Cultural attractions?
The model used to visualize the stages of a tourist destinations' life cycle over time.
What is Butler's Tourism Life Cycle Model?
The key geographic concept defined as "a sequence of actions that shape & change environments".
What is a Process?
Broad category of assets including roads, accommodation, venues, transport networks, and dining precincts.
What is Infrastructure?
The three key motivators beginning with "A" that influence whether tourists can visit a destination.
What are Accessibility, Affluence, and Awareness?
These are the main reasons people travel to a destination, compared to attractions established later to capitalize on existing visitors.
What are Primary and Secondary attractions?
The two main potential outcomes that follow the "Stagnation" stage in Butler’s Model.
What are Rejuvenation and Decline?
The geographic concept defined as "meeting current needs in a way that allows future generations to meet theirs".
What is Sustainability?
Government or industry groups that enforce rules regarding land use, health & safety, and environmental management.
What are Regulators?
Plog’s continuum categorizes adventurous thrill-seekers on one end and unadventurous, resort-preferring travelers on the other.
What are Allocentric and Psychocentric tourists?
Attractions tied to a specific site due to environment/history versus attractions that can be built anywhere.
What are Fixed and Footloose attractions?
The spatial layout pattern typically formed by transport corridors such as roads and highways.
What is a Linear pattern?
This concept explains the buildup of local activities in a location over time because conditions remain favorable.
What is Cumulative Causation?
The two locations linked together in the Tourism Development Model—where tourists originate versus where development occurs.
What are the Source and the Destination?
Travelers who plan their own trips without tour packages, often using backpacker hostels or campgrounds.
What are FITs (Free Independent Travellers)?
Larger accommodation facilities with restaurants, gyms, and function rooms versus smaller units with kitchens aimed at driving tourists.
What are Hotels and Motels?
The central area containing a high concentration of facilities/civic life versus the surrounding outer areas.
What are the Core and the Periphery?
The term for a concentration of similar tourist activities or businesses in the same geographic area.
What is Agglomeration?
Entities like Tripadvisor, travel agents, and transportation providers that connect supply with demand.
What is the Tourism Industry?
The economic cycle created when tourists spend money at attractions, allowing staff to earn wages and spend locally.
What is the Circular Flow?
Exclusive, high-end accommodation hidden in areas of natural beauty designed for wealthy tourists.
What are Resorts / Lodges?
Changes in tourism elements and processes over time versus changes across physical space.
What are Temporal Variations and Spatial Variations?