Butler Tourism Lifecycle Model
Butler’s Tourism Lifecycle Model
Butler developed a model which shows how any tourist resort may grow. A resort may start off from being a small, low key, destination. He suggests that all resorts go through the same sort of process.
The seven stages of tourist development
A graph of Butler’s resort life cycle model 1. Exploration - a small number of tourists visit the area. The area is unspoilt and few tourist facilities exist. 2. Involvement - local people start to provide some facilities for tourists. There starts to become a recognised tourist season. 3. Development - the host country starts to develop and advertise the area. The area becomes recognised as a tourist destination. 4. Consolidation - the area continues to attract tourists. The growth in tourist numbers may not be a fast as before. Some tensions develop between the host and the tourists. 5. Stagnation - the facilities for the tourists may decline as they become old and run down. The numbers of tourists may decline too. 6. Rejuvenation - investment and modernisation may occur which leads to improvements and visitor numbers may increase again. 7. Decline - if the resort is not rejuvenated (stage 6) then it will go into decline. People lose their jobs related to tourism. The image of the area suffers.
The Butler model is a generalisation, and so not all resorts will follow this process.
Application of Butler’s Tourism Lifecycle Model to Calafell & Sitges, Spain (MEDC)
Sitges and Calafell are approximately equal-sized settlements lying to the south west of Barcelona. Both rely on tourism as a major source of income and employment and the study aims to compare the relative success of tourism, in its various forms, by employing the Butler Model. 1. SITGES
Sitges - a brief history
Sitges is a town of approximately 25,000 people and is located about 30 km south of Barcelona. Originally occupied by the Romans on a defensive headland looking out to sea, Sitges’ port was used to
Butler developed a model which shows how any tourist resort may grow. A resort may start off from being a small, low key, destination. He suggests that all resorts go through the same sort of process.
The seven stages of tourist development
A graph of Butler’s resort life cycle model 1. Exploration - a small number of tourists visit the area. The area is unspoilt and few tourist facilities exist. 2. Involvement - local people start to provide some facilities for tourists. There starts to become a recognised tourist season. 3. Development - the host country starts to develop and advertise the area. The area becomes recognised as a tourist destination. 4. Consolidation - the area continues to attract tourists. The growth in tourist numbers may not be a fast as before. Some tensions develop between the host and the tourists. 5. Stagnation - the facilities for the tourists may decline as they become old and run down. The numbers of tourists may decline too. 6. Rejuvenation - investment and modernisation may occur which leads to improvements and visitor numbers may increase again. 7. Decline - if the resort is not rejuvenated (stage 6) then it will go into decline. People lose their jobs related to tourism. The image of the area suffers.
The Butler model is a generalisation, and so not all resorts will follow this process.
Application of Butler’s Tourism Lifecycle Model to Calafell & Sitges, Spain (MEDC)
Sitges and Calafell are approximately equal-sized settlements lying to the south west of Barcelona. Both rely on tourism as a major source of income and employment and the study aims to compare the relative success of tourism, in its various forms, by employing the Butler Model. 1. SITGES
Sitges - a brief history
Sitges is a town of approximately 25,000 people and is located about 30 km south of Barcelona. Originally occupied by the Romans on a defensive headland looking out to sea, Sitges’ port was used to