Development of tourist typology and image of the area in the Lake District, UK and Rheinsteig (Hiking Trail), Germany

Content

1 Introduction

2 Methods

3 Background
3.1.1 Lake District -General Information
3.1.2 History of Tourism in the Area
3.1.3 Rheinsteig -General Information
3.1.4 History of Tourism in the Area

4 Results
4.1.1 Burkart and Medlik, 1974
4.1.2 Plog´s Model
4.1.3 Butler´s Model

5 Conclusions and discussion

6 References

Figure/table list

Table 1, Tourist Numbers by Category of Visitor (millions) from 2000-2008 (Cumbria Tourism 2000-2008)

Figure 1, Location of the Lake District National Park (Trembath, C., & Tennstedt, K., 2006).

Figure 2 Historical timeline of tourism development within the Lake District

Figure 3: Historical timeline of tourism development in the area around today’s Rheinsteig

Figure 6 Location of the Rheinsteig and Lake District on Butler’s Model

1 Introduction

The aim of this report is to compare the history of tourism in two areas and show how tourist typology and image has changed over time. The areas chosen are the Lake District in the UK and the Rheinsteig Hiking Trail in Germany. These areas were chosen due to nationality of the authors and their personal knowledge of the areas.

Understanding the image of an area and the tourist typology is important in understanding why destinations rise and fall in popularity over time. Numerous models have been created to attempt to define and predict the evolution of tourism including Butler’s model of evolution of tourist areas and Plog’s psychographic scale. This report aims to evaluate whether these models can be used to define the tourist typology within the areas selected and to show how it has developed over time.

2 Methods

Data concerning the general information for the Lake District such as the yearly number of tourists and lengths of stay were taken from two reports provided by the Cumbria Tourism Board. The first report concerns Cumbria Tourism, Tourism Volume and Value from 2000-2008 and the second is a visitor survey from 2006.

The Rheinsteig could not be taken separately as a destination, since it uses the existing infrastructure of the Rhein valley and is closely connected to its history and the evolved attractions. It was also not possible to gather enough data on the Rheinsteig itself, since its initiation is only five years ago. Information concerning the Rheinsteig region was mainly taken from research material of the German Hiking Institute (Deutsches Wander Institut) run by Dr. rer. nat. Rainer Brämer of the Institute of educational science (Institut für Erziehungswissenschaft) at Philipps-University in Marburg, Germany. The institute has focused on research concerning hiking since 1992. As the Rheinsteig Hiking Trail was only established in 2005, the information used pre-2005 was obtained mainly from comparative studies on similar hiking trails such as the Rheinsteig. Post-2005 papers include the study area of the Rheinsteig. Frank Gallas, manager of the Rheinsteig-Bureau, supplied further statistical information collected by the Rheinsteig-Bureau as well as estimations.

The historical timelines of the Lake District and the Rheinsteig were created by the author’s using the information obtained via the tourist boards of the areas and the internet.

3 Background

3.1.1 Lake District -General Information

The Lake District National Park is located in the north west of England in the county of Cumbria (Figure 1). The national park has a total area of 2,292 km2 and was established in 1951. The popularity of the area comes from its nature and geology. It is a mountainous region with U-shaped valleys resulting from periods of glaciations which ended approximately 15,000 years ago and includes England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike and numerous mere’s and lakes. Due to a high average yearly rainfall the area can be boggy but the surrounding countryside is general made up of moorland, heather and bracken. In 2008 the county of Cumbria had 15.3 million visitors of which 8.3 million visitors visited the Lake District National Park itself.

Figure 1, Location of the Lake District National Park (Trembath, C., & Tennstedt, K., 2006).

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Table 1, Tourist Numbers by Category of Visitor (millions) from 2000-2008 (Cumbria Tourism 2000-2008).

Between 2000 and 2008, the number of visitors has remained relatively stable (Table 1) with a slight increase after 2003. The Lake District area was hit hard by the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak and the result was a decrease of visitors in that year.

Surveys from 2006 show that over 91 % of visitors to the Cumbria region come from within the UK itself with only 9% coming from countries such as Australia, North America and from within Europe (Trembath & Tennstedt, 2006). Efforts are being made to attract more foreign visitors to the region. This strategy has been assisted by the increase in heritage tourism in the area and the use of popular media-induced tourism within the UK (Iwashita, 2006). The main types of accommodation used within the national park where self-catering, camping and guest houses. The average length of stay within National Park was 7 nights (Trembath & Tennstedt, 2006).

In 2008, 496,000 people lived within the Cumbria area in the towns of Copeland, Carlisle, Allerdale, Eden, Barrow in Furness and South Lakeland (Cumbria Intelligence Observatory, 2010). Tourism is rapidly taking over as the main source of income for the region and brought in 1.17 billion pounds to the local economy (Cumbria Tourism 2000-2008). Previously sheep farming and agriculture had been the main industry for the region.

The main image of the area is one of nature (open areas, hiking and camping) and culture (heritage sites, restaurants). The area is associated with a number of famous authors such as Arthur Ransom and Beatrix Potter. A growing number of tourists visit the Lake District to see Beatrix Potter’s family home, Hill top and to see the lakes that inspired Arthur Ransom. The region has also benefited from the increasing awareness in the media of the image of the British countryside and population in films such as Harry Potter and the Full Monty (Iwashita, 2006). One of the main tourist attractions of the area and the UK’s second most popular charging tourist attraction is the Windermere Lake Steamer (Wikipedia, Lake District, 2010).

3.1.2 History of Tourism in the Area

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Figure 2 Historical timeline of tourism development within the Lake District

At the start of the 16th Century the Lake District was mainly visited by the very rich and exploring academics. Large summer mansions were built which employed the local population during the summer season. Popularity with travellers grew towards the end of the 18th century, and the first guide book to the area was written by Father Thomas West in 1778. With increasing numbers of visitors, more visitor infrastructure was put in place. Examples include the viewpoint stations set up for tourists which gave the best views of the landscape at popular sites.

At the start of the Napoleonic wars the popularity of the “Grand Tour” to Europe declined and travellers were forced to look for alternative destinations within Britain itself. This was also the start of the period of romanticism of nature in the area started by William Wordsworth when he wrote “Guide to the Lakes” in 1810. In 1847 the railway was opened to Kendal and Windermere and local tourists began to flock to the Lakes. The new railway allowed the working population from the surrounding towns and cities to escape the pollution on day trips and enjoy the open space and beauty of the area.

Tourism grew gradually in the area throughout the 18th and 19th Century but the area continued to be visited mostly by people from the surrounding towns and cities. It is not until the 20th Century that overseas tourism has begun to grow. In 1952 Alfred Wainwright published the “Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells”. The book provides detailed information on 214 peaks within the Lake District and is still used to this day by hiking visitors to the area. Due to the increasing numbers of tourist and growing environmental problems in the area, the Lake District National Park was created in 1951, with the first park ranger being hired 10 years after the creation. In the 20th Century, emphasise is increasingly being put on sustainable tourism and protecting the unique cultural and natural heritage of the area as concerns grow about the environmental damage that tourism is causing in the area.

In 2006 it was decided to proceed with a bid for World Heritage Status for the National Park on the basis of its natural and cultural history which according to the applicants “have inspired great thinkers and encouraged positive, social and environmental changes since the 18th Century” (Lake District World Heritage Project, 2010) .

3.1.3 Rheinsteig -General Information

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^[1] http://www.bmub.bund.de/fileadmin/bmu-import/files/bilder/allgemein/image/jpeg/deutschlandkarte_naturparke.jpg

^[2] http://www.meintrekking.de/assets/images/0/karte_rheinsteig-c7ce5620.gif