New Directions in the Growth of Tourism Employment?: Propositions of the 1980s

In a variety of European national contexts, the geography of tourist development turns heavily on relative spending by residents at home, by residents abroad, and by foreign visitors. Unpublished GB data for ‘tourism-related employment’, 1981–89, are employed to test the hypothesis that there has been a spread of activity from coastal resorts to many other types of area, particularly, as per the government emphasis, demonstrating the potential of urban tourism. Traditional coastal resorts are found to be identified with relative decline, but the growth of tourism employment in the cities is somewhat smaller still; analyses of museum and recreation employment show a decline of city employment, which offsets significant job increases in hotels and catering. Otherwise, there are elements of ‘urban-rural’ drift, with the growth of leisure jobs (which are indistinguishable from tourism) reflecting the growth both of resident population and of visitor attractions, which both generate car-based outings to successively less urban types of area.