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The Tourism Life Cycle Model
Think about it

1. Attempt the exercises below

2. Using the graph judge how well Blackpool fits the Tourism Life cycle model

Butler proposed that most tourist resorts go through a six stage model and he called this the tourism life cycle model
Butler's tourism model
It states that most tourist resorts start on a very small scale and get bigger and bigger until stagnation occurs.  Within the 6 stages the following happens;
1) EXPLORATION - a few hardy and adventurous people looking for something different in a holiday find a place that is special in terms of its culture, natural beauty, history or landscape.  There may be no tourist services available and local people will not be involved in  tourist money making activities.
2) INVOLVEMENT - local people start to notice that there are increasing numbers of people coming to their local area.  They start businesses to provide accommodation, food, guides, and transport.
3)  DEVELOPMENT - Big companies start to see the emerging potential of the area as a tourist resort and therefore start to invest money in the region.  They build large hotel complexes and sell package holidays (a package might include travel, accommodation, food and excursions).  This makes the numbers of tourists swell dramatically and massively expands the number of job opportunities for people in the local region, in both tourist related jobs and in construction and services.

4) CONSOLIDATION - The local economy is probably dominated by tourism at this stage, and many local people will make their money from this type of industry.  However, this can remove people from other industries such as farming and fishing and these industries can suffer as a result.  There will be continued building and expansion of the resort BUT some of the older buildings will start to become unattractive and a lower quality client base might result.
5) STAGNATION - competition from other resorts, rowdiness and a loss of the original features (e.g. if it had a great beach but that is now crowded and full of rubbish) can cause the resort to stop growing.  The number of people going levels off then starts to decline, threatening local businesses and services.
6) DECLINE OR REJUVENATION?  From the stagnation point onwards there are 2 basic possibilities:  Decline in various forms or rejuvenation (regrowth of the resort)  Decline can be slow or rapid, and regular visitors are replaced by people seeking a cheap break or day trippers.  Rejuvenation involves a cash injection from either a private company or the government, to create a new attraction within the original resort to boost its popularity - such as the Pleasure Beach at Blackpool.

Watch this video about Blackpool in the past

Blackpool's Tourist History applied to the Butler Model
Blackpool's changes in Tourism
 

To what extent do you agree with the message of the video above?

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