The Tourism Area Life Cycle, Vol.2: Conceptual and Theoretical Issues

by Richard Butler

Overview

This volume consists of specially invited chapters by leading researchers who have reviewed the original model in the light of their own and other conceptual and theoretical positions and models. The book is divided into five sections, the conceptual origins of the TALC, spatial relationships and the TALC, alternative conceptual approaches, renewing or retiring with the TALC, and predicting with the TALC. The book concludes with a review of the future potential of the model in the area of the destination development process.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845410285
Publisher:	Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Publication date:	01/11/2006
Series:	Aspects of Tourism , #29
Edition description:	Vol.2, 29
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.15(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Richard Butler has researched tourism from a geographical perspective for over forty years in Canada and the UK. He is most well known for his adaptation of the life cycle model to tourist destination, and has also published widely on sustainable tourism, and tourism development and impacts.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

The Ontological Foundation of the TALC

CHARLES S. JOHNSTON

Introduction

Martin Oppermann (1998: 179) wrote, in response to a paper by Agarwal (1997): 'I am sure that almost everything that can be said about the advantages and disadvantages of Butler's model has indeed been said already.' Yet on the next page he was to note:

Butler's model is a brilliant example of how scientific progress could and should work. In fact, it is probably the only model in tourism that has been scrutinized in many different contexts with modifications suggested to fit specific situations and circumstances. (Oppermann, 1998: 180)

This is certainly true. Since 1980 there have been dozens of published works utilising the TALC model. Most of these focus on basic research but, in addition, the model is now included in text books (Boniface & Cooper, 1987) and defined in glossaries (Middleton & Hawkins, 1998). In one case study, Burns and Murphy (1998) noted that tourism operators at a mature destination in Australia had used knowledge of the model to determine they would be in trouble if they didn't plan ahead. These examples show that, a score of years after publication, Butler's message is truly 'out there'. Within the contemporary research community, however, there is little consensus about the model's usefulness. The depth and breadth of criticism is now extensive. Further, Pearce's (1993) complaint that there has been no solid comparative work done continues to be valid.

Because of this situation, the objective of this paper is to raise and examine ontological and epistemological issues, as an attempt to shore up the theory underlying the model and, hopefully, facilitate future comparative research. The organising method for the paper was a modified form of 'grounded theory'. This is an inductive approach to research developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967). These authors asserted the major goal of inductive research was to generate theory, not verify it. This was considered particularly useful in new contexts, for which theory had not been established. The extant body of work on the destination life cycle model seemed to represent such a situation. Here, ontology will be discussed first, then epistemology. Points from TALC literature will be introduced when relevant, as illustrations. Because the focus is on ontological and epistemological underpinnings, the chapter attempts to be something more than a literature review, but is also less than a fully described grounded theory of destination development. The final section of the paper is synthetic and suggests a formula for integration in case study research.

Ontological Considerations

As a word, 'ontology' is generally defined abstractly as relating to the 'nature of being' (Webster, 1983). In this paper the word is used to define a set of basic concepts that underpin the understanding of the reality Butler's model attempts to describe. This is not an idle exercise, for it relates to the basic question: 'How can a tourist destination – a place – have a life cycle?' Haywood (1992) and Agarwal (1997) have wondered aloud whether the concept of the 'resort cycle itself' has validity. Choy (1992: 2), in his study of Pacific Island destinations, cited Hart, Casserly and Lawless to show that there were cases in which the product life cycle did not apply. It is therefore crucial to settle the issue of whether the model is based merely on a metaphor, or whether it has a firmer ontological foundation.

Structuration theory

Giddens' (1984) theory of structurationism provides the necessary underpinning to answer the question. As well as providing an ontological basis for concepts such as 'structure' and 'agency', Giddens established that there were 'institutions' of social behaviour which were real in an ontological sense. He defined 'institutions' as the sets of practices of individuals that encompass 'the more enduring features of social life' (p. 24) and are 'deeply embedded in time and space' (p. 13). Based on these definitional elements, tourism can clearly be interpreted as an excellent example of an institution. Writers such as MacCannell (1976: 49) and Urry (1990: 9) have in fact referred to the institutional nature of tourism. Cohen's (1972: 169) section on 'The Institutionalised Forms of Tourism: The Organized and the Individual Mass Tourist' is perhaps the most developed treatment. In contemporary tourism, there are at least four sets of practices that are 'institutional' in nature: the practices of tourists themselves; the practices of the tourist industry; the promotional efforts from which evolve a standardised image of the destination; and the practices of the community in relation to the presence of tourists.

Besides defining recognisable sets of behaviour as institutions, Giddens asserted these did not occur randomly but were situated in time and space at locales. A locale was not of any fixed size, it could be even an area within a room, or it could be something larger. The importance of the concept is Giddens' assertion that place makes a difference to behaviour. Conceptually, then, tourism at a destination can be considered as locale-based institutional behaviour. By itself this is atemporal. But Giddens also asserted institutions had life cycles; he referred to this as their longue durée. Within such a life cycle the institutionalised behaviour was passed (and evolved) from generation-to-generation and could last several hundred years or more. A destination can therefore be said to have a life cycle on the basis that, as a locale, it is in the process of completing its longue durée with respect to the institution of tourism. This in turn allows the assertion that all destinations can be interpreted to have begun a life cycle once minimum definitions of institutionalisation have been met. Ontologically there are no exceptions, whether or not the model is capable of predicting aspects of the life cycle of a particular area, or whether in its generalised form it fits a specific destination very well. The question – when does life begin? – is as tricky here as it is with human life. A general answer, applicable to many situations, would be that a destination's tourism life cycle has begun when any aspect of tourism has become institutionalised. A more specific answer, based on research done in Kona (Johnston, other volume), is that the involvement stage of the cycle began when institutionalised features of the tourism industry were constructed at the locale.

A conceptual expansion may be made at this point. When tourism is considered as an institution, it is apparent that it will be just one of many to dominate a locale over the course of its history. Such an idea is familiar in the discipline of geography, as expressed through Whittlesey's (1929) concept of a locational 'sequent occupance', consisting of several eras. Over the course of the longer sequent occupance, tourism will be just one of many institutional eras. There will likely have been pretourism eras, and post-tourism eras will follow after the institutional 'death' of tourism (Baum, this volume). Butler did not discuss this broader picture in any detail, though Young (1983) has theorised a pretourism era with two stages.

Relying solely on Giddens has limitations, for he did not theorise the nature of the institutional longue durée beyond defining it. Yet as will be seen, other life cycle models break down the whole of the cycle into meaningful stages and substages. Butler (1980) focused on identifying stages; so has all subsequent case research. Therefore, the stages of the life cycle become an important component in the concepts of institution and longue durée. This is an aspect that Giddens failed to examine and inspiration must be sought elsewhere.

'Basic process' theory

The stages of the longue durée relate to the process which the institution of tourism undergoes while progressing through its life cycle. The word 'process' can be used to refer generally to a 'progressive course' but this often includes 'a number of steps' (Webster, 1983). The word also has ontological significance when used in research about social life. Glaser (1978: 98) has noted that the concept of process is 'a way of grouping together two sequencing parts of a phenomenon'. That is, a process can be ontologically defined when there are two or more temporally distinct parts to a phenomenon and these occur directionally, from one to the next. An 'institutional process', then, may be defined as one in which the longue durée can be broken into stages and substages occurring directionally.

Glaser (1978: 97–100) has also noted that certain processes are 'basic social processes' because they are 'fundamental patterns in the organization of social behavior as it occurs over time.' Basic social processes were considered to have three properties: 'stages', 'variability' and 'pervasiveness'. With respect to stages, he asserted they are relatively unique in form/condition and consequences. They have 'breaking points' that can be discerned on the basis of a sequence that has general time limits. Stages are in fact 'theoretical units' and the point of identifying them is to be able to show that variations exist in the pattern of behaviour being studied, and to account for these variations. The length of time for each stage is not fixed, but is a function of the conditions that create the changes leading to the next stage. These conditions might occur quickly, in which case there would be a 'critical juncture' or more slowly, as a 'blurry transition'. It is unlikely that they will occur identically in different case situations. Basic social processes are thus variable in the sense that no two entities ever go through a specific process in exactly the same manner. The final point is that social processes were considered basic because they were pervasive. They occur again and again because of the 'patterned, systematic uniformity flows of social life'.

From this description it would not seem unduly assertive to claim that Butler's destination life cycle model focuses on what could be called a 'basic geographical process'. The model captures the general sequence _/ the set of stages – through which destinations go as they evolve from isolated areas, to developed resort towns, to fully urbanised towns (or abandoned derelict landscapes). The concepts of 'pleasure periphery' (Turner & Ash, 1975) and 'periphery frontier' (Zurick, 1992) show that the pervasiveness of tourist destination development is increasing worldwide. Lastly, life cycles will be destination specific, as Cooper (1992: 149) has asserted. The existence of this variability, however, cannot be used to disprove the general accuracy of the theory upon which the model is based. Rather, it can be argued that the reverse situation exists – the theory and model become validated as reasonably accurate portrayals of a basic geographical process whenever a researcher is able to utilise them. Because the theory and model are inductive, all subsequent variation discovered in case studies should therefore be interpreted in such a way as to broaden the general theory of destination development.

Epistemological Considerations

Trusted (1981: 23) has defined 'epistemology' as 'the theory or science of the methods or grounds of knowledge'. Tribe (1997) has recently written a discussion of how epistemological questions can be applied to tourism studies. He noted that pertinent concerns include the use of concepts and boundaries, and the character, validity and reliability of claims of knowledge about tourism. Focusing on aspects such as these would seem useful in removing what he regarded as the excessive 'indiscipline of tourism' (the title of his article), and get at the 'how do you know?' considerations. Pollock (1986) has shown these are crucial to epistemology. The next part of the paper discusses such epistemological concerns.

Beyond having an operational definition, it is necessary to identify a set of epistemological elements that could be used to shore up the theory in the existing corpus of literature. A variation of the 'constant comparative method' (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was used to do this. Specifically, literature on four other types of process research was read and compared to see what elements were held in common and therefore might be transferable to the study of a tourism process. The literature was chosen simply on the basis of familiarity; the processes identified were: the human life cycle, the product life cycle, port development and ecosuccession models. The reading was not exhaustive, yet the exercise in comparison was successful, in that seven epistemologically oriented elements were found to be (mostly) held in common. These are: the entity undergoing the process; its internal characteristics; its users; stages as conceptual units; the mechanisms that cause stage changes; the macro-structural conditions under which the process occurs; the typical sequence and the variability of stages. The comparative details are provided in Figure 1.1. The next section of the paper will elaborate on each element and also discuss it in relation to salient points found in the destination area literature.

The entity undergoing the process

In any process research there is always some type of 'entity' that represents the 'unit' of analysis. In the human life cycle, that entity is an individual human being. A human being of course has a discrete scale, his or her physical body. This is not always the case. With product life cycles, the boundary can be inexact and sometimes an imposition of arbitrary definitions is required. As an example, Rink and Swan (1979: 225–227) have noted that for tobacco, there existed three levels of product aggregation. The 'class' was composed of all tobacco products. The major 'forms' they comprised were pipes, cigars and cigarettes. 'Brands' were the subdivisions of each. Butler's (1980) discussions of the typical features of each stage were general and lend themselves to analysis at many types and scales of destination areas. Subsequent theoretical development has not shown much epistemological concern over boundaries. In terms of Rink and Swan's (1979) discussion of tobacco products, we might say that different classes, forms and brands of destinations have all been compared against a single model. Transferring these ideas, the epistemological issue becomes one of bounding tourist destinations so that they can be compared. Three points require examination: the nature of the destination entity; the type of destination; and the spatial scale.

By the late 1990s, confusion seems to have arisen over the nature of the entity being studied. Butler adapted the product life cycle model to destinations going through a particular life cycle. Other writers have chosen to focus on some component of the tourism product at the destination rather than the destination itself. Haywood (1998), for example, noted that different products within a destination will display their own patterns of evolution. Based on the discussion of institutional behaviour above, this is undeniably true. Thus both the destination and sectors contained within could be legitimate objects of study. However, the capability of studying the life cycle of, say, the attractions sector, does not neutralise the validity of studying the life cycle of the destination itself.

(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "The Tourism Area Life Cycle, Vol. 2"
by .
Copyright © 2006 Richard W. Butler and the authors of individual chapters.
Excerpted by permission of Multilingual Matters.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Introduction by C. Michael Hall

Part 1: The Conceptual Context and Evolution of the TALC

1. The Ontological Foundation of the TALC - Charles S. Johnston

2. Legitimising the TALC as a Theory of Development and Change - K. Michael Haywood

Part 2: Spatial Relationships and the TALC

3. Enigma Variations? The TALC, Marketing Models and the Descendants of the Product Life Cycle - Tim Coles

4. TALC and the Spatial Implications of Competition - Andreas Papatheodorou

5. Space-Time Accessibility and the TALC: The Role of Geographies of Spatial Interaction and Mobility in Contributing to an Improved Understanding of Tourism - C. M. Hall

Part 3: Alternative Conceptual Approaches and the TALC

6. The Contribution of Entrepreneurship Theory to the TALC Model - Roslyn Russell

7. The TALC and Protected Natural Areas - Sabine Weisenegger

8. Time Path Analysis and TALC Stage Demarcation - Sven Lundtorp and Stephen Wanhill

9. The Implications of Lamarckian Theory for the TALC Model - Neil Ravenscroft and Ion Hadjihambi

10. Chaos Theory and its Application to the TALC Model - Roslyn Russell

Part 4: Renewing or Retiring with the TALC

11. The Anatomy of the Rejuvenation Stage of the TALC - Chris Cooper

12. Coastal Resort Restructuring and the TALC - Sheela Agarwal

13. Revisiting the TALC: Is There an Off-Ramp? - Tom G. Baum

Part 5: Predicting with the TALC

14. How to Define, Identify and Monitor the Decline of Tourist Destinations: Towards an Early Warning System - Mara Manente and Harald Pechlaner

15. The Predictive Potential of the TALC Model - Ted Berry

Part 6: The Future and the TALC

References