How and why has tourism changed in the Lake District over time?

Introduction Tourism has changed over time because of three main things; Ability, Mobility and Motivation. Ability has changed because recently more and more people have had an increasing amount of disposable income allowing them to be extravagant and go on holidays or have second homes. Also modern jobs give you more holidays giving you time to take a trip. Over the last 100 years there has been far more people retiring and allowing them to live in remote areas because they dont need to commute anywhere. Mobility has improved hugely over the last century. There is a growing population who own cars. There is a better infrastructure like the channel tunnel, motorways and its far cheaper to fly and more available. Motivation has increase recently mainly because of the internet. There are more advertisement, articles, photos, newspapers and this raises the awareness. Also society has changed and its now in fashion to go on holiday. Also we can look at Butlers Model to see the comparisons of the Lake District over time. The purpose of the Butler Model is to look at the way that tourist resorts, grow and develop. The tourist industry, like all industry, is dynamic and constantly changing. Therefore, the Butler Model is a way of studying tourist resorts and seeing how they change over time and in relation to the changing demands of the tourist industry. These changes can then be compared to the predictions as shown on the model. Research and method For research we can look at websites like wheres the path and national statistics. They would tell us how the land use has changed, when the access changed, the economic impacts of tourism. We could go on Google maps and create a land use survey and work out how much of its linked to tourism. We could look at old picture, news articles, blogs, books etc to gather further information. I would take all the quantative information together and put it into a graph on computer and compare it to Butlers model. I would carry out some field work. I would create 2 questionnaires, one for the locals asking about the social, environmental and economic impacts that tourism have brought to the area and one for the tourist asking about there ability, mobility and motivation. I would hand out the questionnaire in stratified situations. I would hand them out next to the bus park, main high street, the information centre in a village in the Lake District such as Grasmere. I would also carry out a people count and an environmental survey.

Analysis, application and understanding The Butler Model breaks down tourist resort development into five distinct stages. 1. Discovery Stage A settlement is 'explored' or 'discovered' by a small number of people who later tell others about their experience. In time other people visit and local people seize upon the new economic opportunities provided by these visitors and provide services to meet the needs of these visitors or tourists. Tourism in the Lake District dates back to 1698 when many visitors travelled to the Lake District for the education and the pleasure of the journey.

2. Growth and Development Stage More tourists arrive having heard about the place by word of mouth, articles in Travel Supplements in papers such as The Sunday Times, brochures or tourist guides. The extra tourists attracted by the publicity and people willing to visit somewhere new will lead to the building of new hotels, restaurants, shops and services to cater for the influx of people. The area started to become very popular with travellers towards the end of the 18th century, and in 1778 Father Thomas West wrote A Guide to the Lakes, which started the era of true tourism. In the 1790s viewpoint stations were set up so that tourists could enjoy the best views of the landscape, at some of these stations buildings were erected to help tourists appreciate the formal qualities of the landscape. The remains of Claife Station can still be seen today

3. Success Stage As more people visit the resort, the facilities are now fully utilised. At this stage mass tourism replaces what was once the original economic function of the settlement. This may cause some resentment with people in the town who have not benefited from the new industry or from the loss of distinct identity that the settlement held before. It may appear that the local culture is being diminished by a more international and non-unique culture compared to what may have existed before. In 1810 William Wordsworth published hid Guide to the Lakes, which was very influential in helping to popularise the region and boost tourism to the Lake Districts. By 1835 the book had reached its fifth edition and was now called A Guide through the District of the Lakes in the North of England. The Kendal and Windermere Railway was the first to be built in the Lake District, and reached Kendal in 1846 and Windermere in 1847. The line was extended to reach Coniston in 1848; Penrith through Keswick to Cockermouth in 1865; and in 1869 the line to Lakeside at Windermere was opened.

The railway brought a huge increase in the number of tourists to the Lake District and was one of the biggest contributing factors to the growth of the tourism industry of the Lake District.

4. Problem Stagnation Stage Popularity may be short lived. People may become bored with the resort once its initial appeal had waned. Little of the original natural environment will remain and negative comments about what it used to be like may lead people to find somewhere new to discover. The effect of falling tourism; if a resort goes out of fashion leads to economic decline and the under-utilisation of tourist infrastructure. The eventual closure of some of the businesses will lead to a rise in unemployment. The national trust tried to stop the environmental impacts in 1900. They ultimately ran the Lake District and protected the builds, landscapes, wildlife and maintained farming changing the Lake District for a more sustainable future. There aim was to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, provide understanding and in conflicts conservation gets priority. So they build Honey Pots this is were all the building go up into one area and there for protecting the landscape. 5. Decline or Rejuvenation The tourist resort then has two options; either go into decline or rejuvenate and develop more sustainable strategies based upon lower visitor numbers. The National Park Authority's current challenge is finding ways of encouraging sustainable tourism without further damaging the very landscape which visitors come to enjoy. Indeed public access to the uplands or fells is unrestricted, and this can pose problems. Lake Windermere attracts over 1 million visitors on its own each year! This makes sustainability difficult to achieve with such large visitor numbers. This is were we will have to wait and see what happens but so far Tourism has fluctuated in the Lake District over the last century. This could be down to a number of things. The cheap and availability of air transport has taken off and the boom of packaged holidays effect the tourists industry in the UK. It would take a shorter time to get as far as Greece from London than the Lake District. We now have more disposable income, we get longer holiday time from work, and Economic depressions leave people looking for cheap holidays and cant afford to go abroad. There has been negative impact from tourism also one of them being the Limited supply of property. The limits placed upon development in the Lake District means that new houses are seldom built. There has also been a rise in the number of people from outside of the Lake District buying up property for a second home they can use to holiday in. These 2 factors have pushed up house prices in the Lake District and made it very difficult for local people (especially those on low wages) to own their own property in the Lake District. The ownership of second homes (15% of homes in the Lake district are

second homes of holiday lets) has knock on or secondary problems because holiday homes are unoccupied for most of the year this can increase crime and means people are not in the towns and villages using local services. This has a bad effect on the community and means that local services such as schools and shops can be under pressure for closure. Housing is private, so there is very little local councils can do apart from build more properties to rent to locals.

Traffic problems 89% of visitors come to the Lake District by car, often just for the day. In a region where roads are often narrow and winding, and towns were constructed before the invention of the motor car this can pose massive problems. Congestion, traffic jams and parking are major issues, and people can park on grass verges in desperation, narrowing the road and making congestion even worse. These problems can be overcome in 2 ways improving the road network and improving public transport.

Environmental problems There is a wide array of environmental problems associated with tourism in the Lake District. Aside from common problems with litter, there exists footpath erosion, lakeside erosion and air pollution. The increased number of cars damages the air from car exhausts, and also people park on grass verges, damaging the ground parked upon. Footpath erosion occurs because of the sheer numbers of people using popular routes. According to the Park Authority, 4 million people walk an average of 6km each year. The pressure of these peoples feet damages plants and soil, making soil erosion possible. These issues are worst in Honey pot or popular areas, which also suffer from the stresses of overcrowding, parking problems and second homes. Conclusions Overall there have been negative and positive impacts on the Lake District due to the change of tourism over time. This has accoutred through increasing numbers coming to the lakes each year. You can compare models, like Butlers Model and you can combine that with take accurate field work and research to tell you how and why tourism have changed the Lakes.