This document discusses special interest tourism. It begins by outlining what the presentation will cover, including the location and nature of special interest activities and identifying various categories. It then lists and provides brief descriptions of a range of special interest tourism categories, such as regional, cultural, heritage, rural, educational, cycle, indigenous, health, environmental, food/wine, cruise, festival, and seniors tourism. It notes that these categories often overlap and provides an example. It concludes by signaling it will look more closely at "dark tourism".

1. Special Interest Tourism 1
Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed

2. What is this presentation about?
• Investigating the location of special
interest tourism
• The nature of the activities involved
• Identifying a range of special interest
tourism categories
• Beginning to analyse the motives
of people interested in ‘dark tourism’
Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed

3. A range of special interest tourist categories
• Regional Tourism – Growth in interest in
travel to regions of the UK and the major
cities within regions, supported by
upgrading of transport links and
attractions.
• Cultural Tourism - Turning visits to arts,
sports and other events into a weekend
stay or centre-piece of a holiday
Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed

4. A range of special interest tourist categories
• Heritage Tourism - Impact of Lottery
funding to upgrade existing heritage sites
and create visitor attractions at new
locations. Growing interest in the heritage
of industrial age in Britain, as we fully
embrace the post-industrial era.
• Rural Tourism – See activity on Tourism
in the Countryside.
Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed

5. A range of special interest tourist categories
• Educational Tourism – for example, learn
a language in the country where it is spoken.
• Cycle Tourism – Integrating transport links to
enable people to tour further afield on their (or
hired) bicycles.
• Aboriginal Cultures and Indigenous Tourism -
Greater recognition and respect for ancient
cultures has spread even as defence of these
cultures in some cases has lessened.
Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed

6. A range of special interest tourist categories
• Travelling for Health – The growth and
re-birth of spa and health resorts.
Personal well-being becomes the focal
point of the tourism experience.
• Environmental Tourism - ‘Green’ holiday
locations and activities include
environmentally-friendly forms of travel
as well as visitor locations offering ‘green’
experiences.
Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed

7. A range of special interest tourist categories
• Wine and Food Tourism - Food and wine
festivals, journeys through wine and food
producing areas. Travel and activity form
part of the entire holiday experience.
• The Cruise Experience - This sector
has seen rapid growth in the past
twenty years.
Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed

8. A range of special interest tourist categories
• Festivals and Events Tourism - Celebrating
global, national and regional festivals and events.
Cultural and religious festivals especially popular,
for example pilgrimage to the Hajj.
• Seniors Tourism - Boosted by increased life
expectancy in the developed world and by a
general rise in affluence of some senior citizens,
the market for ‘grey’ tourism is expanding.
Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed

9. Points to Remember
• These categories overlap in many cases.
• Cycle tourism may involve aspects of
‘green’ tourism, rural tourism, travelling for
health and wine and food tourism.
• It’s helpful to be able to imagine a range
of special interest tourism categories,
though.
• One of these that we shall look at now is
‘dark tourism’. See the Activity for more.
Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed