1. Tourism Life Cycle – The Butler Curve
Impacts of Travel and Tourism

2. Tourist Area Life Cycle (Butler’s Curve - 1980)
Exploration
involvement
Development
Consolidation
Stagnation
Decline
Rejuvenation

3. Butler’s Curve (1980)
Number of tourists
Exploration
Time

4. Exploration characterised by small numbers of tourists adventurous
visit “new” places
attracted by some unique feature
few tourist facilities  reliance on local facilities
high level of contact between tourist & host
small impact on the host community.

5. Butler’s Curve (1980)
Time
Number of tourists
Exploration
Involvement

6. Involvement local residents begin to provide facilities for tourists
high degree of contact between tourists & locals
locals may start to change usual patterns to accommodate tourists
pressure on local government to provide more & better facilities for tourists.

7. Butler’s Curve (1980) Number of tourists Development Involvement
Time
Number of tourists
Exploration
Involvement
Development

8. Development
tourism market: well-defined because of promotion at tourist generating areas
local control of facilities & development of tourism starts to decline
international organisations take root (Holiday Inn, Hilton)
physical nature of resort changes (not universally accepted)
number of tourists approaches (or exceeds) local population (take notice at this point, can start to see negative impacts)
type of tourist  mainstream, conservative

9. Butler’s Curve (1980) Consolidation Number of tourists Development
Time
Number of tourists
Exploration
Involvement
Development
Consolidation

10. Consolidation
rate of increase of tourist arrivals starts to decline (even though absolute numbers may still grow).
number of tourists now exceeds local population
marketing & promotion well developed
market is almost saturated, therefore new development/building slows down
growing discontent among host population

11. Butler’s Curve (1980) Stagnation Consolidation Number of tourists
Time
Number of tourists
Exploration
Involvement
Development
Consolidation
Stagnation

12. Stagnation
peak number of visitors has been reached (carrying capacity)
environmental, social & economic problems (beach erosion, local businesses sold, dissatisfaction with locals)
area is not as popular with tourists (beach is dirty, crowded, not enough parking)
original features which attracted tourists in the first place will have been supplemented by new “attractions”. (theme parks, museums, bungee jumping, something that wasn’t there before)

13. Butler’s Curve (1980) Stagnation Consolidation Number of tourists
Time
Number of tourists
Exploration
Involvement
Development
Consolidation
Stagnation
Decline
Immediate decline

14. Immediate Decline & Decline
immediate decline: an abrupt death of the resort
decline: a more gradual decline, where number of visitors gradually tapers off
infrastructure changes (hotels converted to condominiums because not enough visitors)
local population begins to buy tourist facilities because of affordability

15. Butler’s Curve (1980) Stagnation Consolidation Number of tourists
Rejuvenation
Time
Number of tourists
Exploration
Involvement
Development
Immediate decline
Decline
Consolidation
Stagnation
Reduced growth
Stabilisation

16. Stabilisation, Reduced Growth & Rejuvenation
Stabilisation: the area stabilises and changes very little over time
Reduced growth: the area continues to grow but at a reduced rate of growth
Rejuvenation: can take place in 2 ways:
building a new attraction
taking advantage of previously untapped resources.
Strong government or corporation involvement

17. Butler’s Curve (1980) Stagnation Consolidation Number of tourists
Time
Number of tourists
Exploration
Involvement
Development
Immediate decline
Decline
Stabilisation
Reduced growth
Rejuvenation
Consolidation
Stagnation
Critical range of elements of capacity

18. Critical Range of Elements of Capacity
This is the stage when carrying capacities become critical (cc has been reached)
can be exceeded or managed
Tourism Carrying Capacity: The number of visitors that an area can accommodate before negative impacts occur, either in the physical environment, the psychological attitude of the tourists, or the social acceptance level of the hosts.