Tourism, Security and Safety From Theory to Practice

Learning Objectives
■
To develop an understanding of the concept of image.
■
To show how image influences tourists in the process of choosing a holiday
destination.
■
To understand what factors peripheral tourism areas depend on in order to
attract tourists.
■
To be able to explain why tourism areas are vulnerable to any change in per-
ception.
■
To appreciate the effects of different factors created by disaster on different
business locations and types.
■
To explain why peripheral tourism areas are likely to become more dependent
on remaining attractive.
■
To be able to analyze how and why providers’ perception of the effects of dis-
aster may be more severe than the actual effects.
Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the impacts of foot and mouth disease on
peripheral tourist destinations. Our theoretical orientation is that tourists are
attracted to the otherness of peripheral places; that while such places stand as
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different, this conception of difference can rapidly shift from attraction to repul-
sion. Hence peripheral tourism is very vulnerable to shifting perceptions of safety
and risk. In particular, the powerful lens of media portrayal impacts strongly and
indiscriminately on peripheral places. We first outline our conceptual framework,
then report on the role of tourism in the periphery of Scotland, in the Grampian
region, and in the northern periphery of England, the Cumbria region. To develop
our understanding we studied two different areas; Grampian, which was only indi-
rectly affected, and Cumbria, which was directly affected by the presence of the
disease. Our empirical data, collected by survey shows a very uneven effect: by
region as we had expected, but also by type of tourist establishment. Finally we
discuss our findings in the light of our theoretical model.