Why are cities like Singapore an important issue to study within the tourism context?
Studying Singapore as a Urban Tourist destination
Introduction:
Urbanization is a global process, described by Johnston (1981:363) as a ?process by which: first, an increasing proportion of an area's population become concentrated in its statistically defined urban spaces'. (Hall, 2003: 1)
From the past we can see that a number of towns and cities have evolved as important locations for tourism activity. During the renaissance period, a number of educational institutions, health spas and religious centers in Europe attracted a large number of people to urban destinations.
According to law (1993:1)'large cities are arguably the most important type of tourist destination across the world' and yet urban areas have greatly been neglected in the most academic studies of tourism. . (Hall, 2003: 9)
The expansion in unrestricted leisure time and increased standards of living has contributed to the demand of travel. The management of this process had been misunderstood and very limited research has been done towards this endeavor. A notable feature of the pattern of tourist travel is the significance of urban destinations serving as gateways for tourist entry for the country. For example, the development of Bangkok as a tourist destination can be attributed to it being a gateway to a large extent. Since little emphasis has been paid towards tourism research in urban areas, the public sector doesn't see the need to understand the urban tourist and that essentially is the crux of problems of unplanned urban destinations. Many a times, the development is so haphazard that it can have adverse effects to cities. In order to understand why tourist chooses an urban destination re ...