Establishing Influence Areas of Attractions in Rural Destinations

This research provides a critical approach to the assessment and evaluation of traditional administratively based tourism destinations. It suggests the abandonment of tourist destinations understood as all-inclusive administratively defined areas, readjusting to a more flexible model tied to tourists’ travel patterns. Given the centrality of attractions, the flows that attractions are able to generate from neighbouring accommodation hubs explains an important share of the way a destination is consumed. Based on three rural case studies, this research investigates within-destination travel patterns, focusing on the relationship between accommodation hubs and attractions as represented by visitor flows. The graphical representation of flows enables, firstly, the identification of influence areas of attractions which traverse administrative boundaries and overlap with those of other attractions, and secondly, the factors affecting the influence areas of attractions. Finally the application of a distance decay curve approach clarifies the relationship between accommodations and the visiting of attractions.