Page 170 - Tourism The International Business

8. Developing tourism

Motels offer room accommodations only. As a result, their room rates are less expensive. Motels are found
primarily at roadside or heavy traffic areas in places that have a high volume of visitors who stay a short period of
time.

Resort hotels are located to take advantage of natural or developed recreational attractions. Rooms are large and
of high quality. Many amenities are offered as guests tend to stay longer; many resorts are in remote locations.
Often a guest service director is appointed to organize an activities program.
Condominiums and apartment hotels have been developed to provide full apartment-type living facilities. Such
properties appeal to families and small groups.
Other facilities might be recreational vehicle parks, campgrounds, pensions, or bed-and-breakfast homes,
hostels, and even houseboats. The type of accommodation developed, as noted above, will depend upon the type of

tourist being attracted.
Other support industries. Support industries are all the services, goods, or activities required by tourists.
They tend to be highly fragmented. Examples of these businesses are:
• local or day tours • retail shops
• art galleries • restaurants
• night clubs • museums
• recreational facilities • movie theaters

• handicraft studios • spectator sports
• festivals • laundries
• pharmacies • gas stations
Note that many of these examples are businesses that are used by both residents and tourists alike. In fact, the

development of tourism may encourage the development of facilities that would not otherwise be available to
residents.
Opportunities for support services fall into two areas: impulse or entertainment purchases, or staple items or
requirements. The former is pleasure-related and includes such things as tours, festivals and museums. The latter is
subsistence-related and includes such things as gas stations, pharmacies and restaurants. It is important that a
certain amount of integration occur between both types. People attending a festival will require some place to eat,
for example.
The number and type of facilities must be appropriate to the number and type of expected visitors. High-income
tourists will wish to shop in high-quality stores. The type of retail store in Aspen, Colorado is much different from

that at Coney Island in New York. Typically, facilities are clustered. Restaurants with different themes or retail
stores selling different merchandise, when placed in close proximity, attract a mass of visitors because of the
number of different facilities available.
The number, quality and type of support facilities can be controlled through two techniques: zoning and
operating regulations enforced by law, and ownership control through the leasing of facilities to entrepreneurs.
Many areas have had great success through controlling a large facility and leasing portions of it to individual
entrepreneurs. In this way a particular theme can be established for the area. Control might be extended to such

things as:
• height restrictions for buildings

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