Butler's model describes the typical life cycle of a tourist resort, beginning with discovery by few tourists, leading to growth as word spreads, success as it becomes widely known, problems as it becomes too popular for some, and then either decline if issues are not addressed or new growth through regeneration that attracts new visitors.

1. How do tourist resorts
change over time ?

2. Butler’s Model
New growth
Problems !
Success
Decline
Growth
Discovery

3. Discovery
1. The place gets very few tourists.
2. Someone discovers it, and tells a few other friends
how good it is.
3. They start to go to the place as well.
4. Services: shops, cafes, hotels etc. start to open up
because people are staying there in enough
numbers for local people to earn money.
5. Some local people stop what they were doing
before.

4. Growth
1. More people find out about the place.
2. It starts to get mentioned in articles, brochures and
tourist guides.
3. This means that even more people visit.
4. More shops and hotels open.
5. The roads to the resort get busier.

5. Success
1. Everyone now knows about the resort.
2. People move to the resort in search of work.
3. During the tourist season, the place is full of
people, and hotels are full.
4. Local people are now mostly employed in tourism
rather than the jobs they used to have.
5. Some local people will begin to feel that the
tourists are starting to be in ‘control’.
6. Traffic problems start to occur on busy days, with
car parks filling up early in the day.

6. Problems !
1. The place gets so popular that some people
stop going there. They will say “it’s too busy”
or “it’s not what it used to be like…”
2. Local people will complain that they are being
ignored and that tourists get priority.
3. People start going to other places.
4. Some of the shops and hotels close down.
5. Some people stay away because it is so busy,
and look for somewhere ‘quieter’ or ‘prettier’
or ‘more like the real….’

7. 2 possibilities from here:
a) Decline
b) New growth

8. a) Decline
1. The place starts to get run down.
2. Shops shut down, and charity shops move in.
3. Out of season, many hotels start to be used to house
homeless people and people on benefits as a way of
making a bit of money.
4. The place begins to get a ‘reputation’….
5. People stay away

9. b) New growth
1. New money starts to come into the resort.
2. Some of the older hotels are regenerated and attract new
shops to the area.
3. Cafes reopen on the High Street
4. People start to return to the resort out of season.
5. There is a new ‘buzz’ about the place.
6. Jobs start to be created.
7. A whole new crowd of visitors starts to come regularly to the
resort.
8. Newspapers start to write articles about the place again.

10. b) New growth
1. New money starts to come into the resort.
2. Some of the older hotels are regenerated and attract new
shops to the area.
3. Cafes reopen on the High Street
4. People start to return to the resort out of season.
5. There is a new ‘buzz’ about the place.
6. Jobs start to be created.
7. A whole new crowd of visitors starts to come regularly to the
resort.
8. Newspapers start to write articles about the place again.