TOPIC 2

GEOGRAPHY FROM
THE TOURISM
PERSPECTIVE

Prepared by:
Norzakiah Bt Mohamed Bakhari
Tourism and Hospitality Department
Politeknik Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin
 OBJECTIVES

Demonstrate mastery of knowledge and

understanding of geography from tourism
perspective:

Identify the three major geographical components of

tourism.
Tourist generating areas (countries of origin)
Tourist receiving areas (the tourist destination)
Tourist routes (link between countries of origin and
tourist destination)

Plot the major routes by air, by sea and on land, between

the tourist generating areas and the destination areas.
LEISURE, RECREATION & TOURISM
Leisure is often seen as a measure of
time and is usually used to mean the
time left over after work, sleep, and
personal household chores have been
completed. Leisure is free time for
individuals spend as they please.
 LEISURE, RECREATION & TOURISM

Recreation is variety of activities

taken during leisure time. It
refreshes a persons strength and
spirit and can include activities as
diverse as watching television or
holidaying abroad.
LEISURE, RECREATION & TOURISM

Tourism is the activities of persons

travelling to and staying in places
outside their usual environment for not
more than one consecutive year for
leisure, business and other purposes.
Source : Brian G. Boniface and Chris Cooper (2005)
 Geography & Tourism
Spatial Scale
Geographers study the spatial expression of tourism as a
human activity, focusing on both tourist-generating and
tourist-receiving areas as well as the links between them.
The spatial study can be undertaken at a variety of scales;
The global or continental scale the distribution of major
climate zones and ecosystems, air and shipping routes and
patterns of migration.regional assessment of tourist resources
The national scale the identification of a countrys transport
networks and tourist regions and population distribution.
The regional scale the assessment of tourism resources in
part of a country.
The local scale the location of particular attractions and the
configuration of holiday resorts.
THE GEOGRAPHICAL COMPONENTS OF
THE TOURISM SYSTEM

1) The Places Of Origin Of Tourists

(The Tourist-Generating Areas)
2) The Tourist Destinations
(The Receiving Areas)
3) The Routes Travelled Between Tourist-
generating Areas And The Receiving
Areas.
(Transit Routes)
Components of the Tourism
System

Source : Brian G. Boniface and Chris Cooper (2005)

Continued..
THE GEOGRAPHICAL COMPONENTS OF
THE TOURISM SYSTEM
1) The Places Of Origin Of Tourists
(The Tourist-generating Areas)
Represent the homes of tourists, where journey begin and
end.

Examine the features that stimulate demand for tourism,

include the geographical location of an area; its
socioeconomic and demographic characteristic.

These areas represent the main tourist markets in the world.

Major marketing functions of tourist industry are found here,

such as tour operation, and travel retailing.
Continued..

2) The Tourist Destinations

(The receiving areas)
Places that attract tourist to stay temporarily and
will have features and attractions that may not be
found in the generating areas.

comprise of the accommodation, retailing, and

service functions, entertainment, and recreation.

most important part of the tourism system, which

attract the tourists and energizing the system.

recognized as the impacts recipient of the tourism

industry, and therefore where the planning and
management of tourism is so important.
Continued..

3) The Routes Travelled Between Tourist-

generating Areas And The Receiving
Areas.
(Transit Routes)

Link the tourist-generating area and the tourist

destination area.

As the key element in the system as their

effectiveness and characteristics shape the size and
direction of tourist flows.

It represents the location of the main transportation

component of the tourist industry.
Continued..
PUSH AND PULL FACTOR WHICH AFFECTED
THE TOURIST FLOW

1) Push Factors
Mainly concerned with the stage of
economic development in the generating
area, including the factors as levels of
affluence, mobility and holiday entitlement.
Economic development may cause the
pressure of life will provide the push to
engage in tourism.
An unfavourable climate will also provide a
strong impetus to travel.
Continued..

2) Pull Factors

Include accessibility, and the

attractions and amenities of the
destination area.
The relative cost of the visit is
important, as is the marketing and
promotion of the receiving area.
 Explaining tourist
flows
1. Williams and Zelinsky (1970)
Selected 14 countries that had relatively stable
tourist flows over a few years, which accounted
for the bulk of the worlds tourist traffic.
A number of factors that helped to explain these
flows:
a) Distances between countries (the greater the
distance, the smaller the volume of flow).
b) International connectivity (shared business or
cultural ties between countries).

c) The general attractiveness of one country for

another.
Continued..
2. The Gravity Model
The gravity model is another way of explaining
tourist flows (see next slide). Push and pull factors
generate flows, and the larger the mass
(population) of country A or country B, the
greater the flow between them.
The second factor, known as the friction of
distance, refers to the cost in time and money
of longer journeys, and this acts to restrain flows
between the country of origin and more distant
destinations.
The Gravity Model
MEASURING TOURIST FLOWS

The measurement of both international and domestic flows has

been introduced by the national governments and international
organizations.

Reasons why this statistical of flows is important:

a) To evaluate the magnitude of tourist flows and to monitor
any change. This allows projection of future flows and the
identification of market trends to be made.

b) Act as a base of hard fact to allow tourism planners and

developers to operate effectively and plan for the future of
tourism.

c) Both public and private sectors use it as a basis for their

marketing.
MEASUREMENT OF TOURIST FLOWS CAN
BE DIVIDED INTO THREE MAIN TYPES:

STATISTICS OF VOLUME
Give the number of tourists leaving an
area or visiting a destination in a given
period of time.
Provide basic count of the volume of
tourist traffic.
It also includes the length of stay of the
visitors at their destinations.
Continued..

TOURIST CHARACTERISTICS.
Measure the quality of tourist flows.
Include information on types of tourist (sex,
age, socioeconomic group) and their behaviour
(structure of the trip, attitudes to the
destination)

EXPENDITURE STATISTICS.
Tourist flows have important economic
significance for the destination, the generating
region, and the transport carriers.
Tourism represents a flow of money that is
earned in one place and spends in another.
 FORMS OF TOURISM
The geographical components of tourism, allied to
the idea of scale and tourist flows, combine to
create a wide variety of different forms of tourism
that we can categorise according to:
type of destination;
the characteristics of the tourism system;
the market;
the distance travelled.
 the
FORMS OF TOURISM
type of characteristics of the market; the distance
destination; the tourism travelled.
system
Domestic tourism Can distinguish the Can express this in Long-haul
embraces those following types of terms of the purpose tourism; taken to
travelling within tourism: of the visit: be journeys of over
their own country Rural Tourism Holiday tourism; 3000 kilometres
International Focused On The the purpose of the Short-haul
tourism comprises Countryside; visit is leisure or tourism; comprises
those who travel to Urban Tourism recreation. journeys below that
a country other than Focused On Towns Common-interest distance
that in which they And Cities; tourism comprises
normally live. Spa Tourism those travelling with
Inbound tourism is Travel For Health a purpose shared by
an international And Wellness, those visited at the
tourists either as Traditionally Based destination, such as
non-residents On Water Sources visiting friends and
With Therapeutic relatives, or for
travelling in a given reasons of religion,
Properties;
country, health or education.
Heritage
constituting. Business and
Tourism;
Outbound tourism is professional
Cultural
residents of a Tourism; tourism includes
particular country Sport Tourism those attending
travelling abroad to Concerned With trade fairs, associate
other countries. Spectators or corporate
Travelling To Sports conferences and
Events As Well As those participating
The Participants; in incentive travel
schemes.
Ecotourism
Based On Nature.
 Conclusion
Leisure has come to be accepted as a measure of free time, while
recreation is seen as the activities undertaken during that time.
Tourism is usually seen as a distinctive form of recreation involving a stay
away from home, often involving long distance travel, but it also includes
travel for business or other purposes.
The geography of travel and tourism focuses on three key concepts:
(i) Tourism is a system comprising tourist-generating areas, tourist-
receiving areas and transit routes.
(ii) We can consider tourism at a variety of scales, from the global to
the local, depending on the level of detail required.
(iii) Tourist flows are the spatial interaction that is generated between
the components of the tourism system at different scales. Understanding
these flows is fundamental to the geography of tourism, and this includes
push and pull factors, and the methods of measuring tourism.
We can distinguish different forms of tourism, based on the destination,
the various components of the tourism system, the market, purpose of
visit, the distance travelled, and not least, the nature of the tourists
themselves. These all deliver distinctive types of tourist experience.