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Die Europaeischen Gemeinschaften und die Mittelmeer laender
BOOK REVIEW
characterized as a hybrid theory since it borrows from other dlsophnes such as economics, psychology, e t c , m order to explain urban phenomena and spattal relationships Fmally. planning techmques are a set of analy~lc tools to be used m tackhng special problems and the choice of the appropriate techmque depends on the tvpe of problem, local condmons and needs The authors deserve credit for the excellent graphic presentation of their matertal which makes the book a pleasant reading experience However. for a non-graphtc oriented reader, perhaps there is an over dependence on the media About 2/3 of the space m the book is taken up by tllustratlons Although the concept of recvchng described m the book apphes to all types of human settlements, there ;s an emphasts on areas which depend on the tourist trade One of the mam reasons for that ~s that tourists are attracted by h~stoncal environments and one of the tourist development objectwes ~s to preserve such an atmosphere A conflict Is created between the htstonc preservatmn effort and the need to provide accommodatmn and other services that tourists demand The book poses questions such as "Can change and preservatmn happen simultaneously?" and "Will the new development be compatible with its setting 9'' and offer practical methods for solving them through destgn The authors wonder " W h e t h e r or not one should create a 'Dlsneyland' kind of atmosphere, or whether one should rehabihtate and reconstruct bufldmgs of a particular period as faithfully as possible and design and construct structures that answer new needs m scale and rhythm harmomously wtth the old" (p 207) These quesuons are faced by those interested m the study of tourism Among the useful thmgs that the book offers are some interesting data collectmn procedures used m three study projects These include a cmzens' questmnnatre m the Ne,xburyport study, a merchants' and shoppers' interview m the Gardiner project and a setup for mdwldual interviews m the Harvard Square study. In conclusmn, the book makes a contnbutmn through Its graphic presentatmn, pnmardy to the layperson, of some very Important xssues regarding the city's future _-- Z
DIE EUROPAEISCHEN GEMEINSCHAFTEN UND DIE MITTELMEER LAENDER Randolf Regul (pubhsher). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, (Herchenbachstrasse 25, D-7570 Baden-Baden, West Germany), 1977. 279 pp Dr LotharA Kreck Director of Hotel and Restaurant Adrnmlstratmn Washington State Unlversfly, USA
In his book Dte Europaeschen Gememschaften und die Mtttelmeer Laender, Regul, pubhsher as well as author, asked five scholars (Mahmoud Allaya, Wolf-Ruedlger Boehnmg, Jacques Chabert, Manfred Mueller, and Norbert Vanhove), to contribute their thoughts to a dlscussmn on the " 'behavior' of the European ANNALS OF" TOURISM RESEARCH Jan/Mar 78
173
TOURISM IN REVIEW
Commumty toward the Mediterranean nations," to help explam the structure of the relationship between the two European regions. The pubhsher/author admitted that this presented certain difficulties m hght of the sheer amount of possible issues, m addition to presenting the material m a digesUble form The selection of topics seemed to have been succesful, however, most of the presented subjects, although pertinent and contributary to the overall goal of the book, are not of primary mterest to the readership of Annals and therefore are not discussed here. In general, the level of presentation was sufficiently high to mamtam continued interest. Most of the articles were well supported. When reading Allaya's article dealing with the migration of labor from the Mediterranean nations to Europe, especially to France, BRD (West Germany), Belgium and Switzerland, one was left with the impression that employment of foreign workers in the tourism industry ts of little significance. I felt that at least three if not all four countrtes are important recewers of foreign tourists and employ slgmficant numbers of foreign workers. I am not quite certain why the stattsUcs presented for the BRD dealt only with manufacturing industries and made no mention of the hospitality sector. Other discussion points also seemed to lack completeness For example, the BRD is left out of the four European countries recewmg foreign workers (p. 143). This reviewer knows that the BRD does employ foretgn workers from the regton under discussion. Further, in point 7.2 (p. 164) Belgium is left out, and m point 9 (p. 172) Switzerland is left out. Again, the reviewer does not know from what the incompleteness resulted. However, if there were no stattstlcs available it would be advisable to say so instead of creating questmns m the reader's mind Vanhove's discussion centered around tourism and the balance of payment of the European Common Market and the Mediterranean nations. As such, his contribution was of primary interest to the readers of Annals The study made clear once more the difficulties one faces comparing tourism stattstics (e.g. arrwals, expenditures) among natmns because of differences m defimtlons and reporting practices The author clearly brought out a point which Is sometimes missing m slmdar wrmngs the effects of currency black markets. Since these transactions are not reportable, distortions of statistics occur frequently. Furthermore, Vanhove made an interesting statement by saying that tourism attractions (e.g beaches, sunshine) can be considered as "raw materials" which for little addmonal funds can be made available for tourists, and that the posslbdlty of these "raw materials" being depleted at any time is hmlted or even nonexlstmg I feel that Vanhove's statement should have been modified These "raw materials" can easily become "depleted" by large numbers of tourists I know of cases where the Umted States Park Serwce had to estabhsh dady quotas for the number of tourists to use trails m certain mountains m Cahforma With this action the Park Service tried to prevent what the author said cannot happen There were two points which should be mentioned. It would help the reader if more defimtlons were presented (e g Netto-Relsemtensltaet, Brutto-Relsemtensltaet) Also, one is left wondering how some of the conclusions have been reached based on the material presented up to the point when conclusmns were actually stated ( e g p. 2 2 8 a l s o p 230) In all, a very worthwhde effort by the pubhsher to treat certain complex aspects of an important relationship among geo-pohtlcal umts m Europe L~
1"74
ANNALS OF TOURISM RESEARCH Jan/Mar 78
characterized as a hybrid theory since it borrows from other dlsophnes such as economics, psychology, e t c , m order to explain urban phenomena and spattal relationships Fmally. planning techmques are a set of analy~lc tools to be used m tackhng special problems and the choice of the appropriate techmque depends on the tvpe of problem, local condmons and needs The authors deserve credit for the excellent graphic presentation of their matertal which makes the book a pleasant reading experience However. for a non-graphtc oriented reader, perhaps there is an over dependence on the media About 2/3 of the space m the book is taken up by tllustratlons Although the concept of recvchng described m the book apphes to all types of human settlements, there ;s an emphasts on areas which depend on the tourist trade One of the mam reasons for that ~s that tourists are attracted by h~stoncal environments and one of the tourist development objectwes ~s to preserve such an atmosphere A conflict Is created between the htstonc preservatmn effort and the need to provide accommodatmn and other services that tourists demand The book poses questions such as "Can change and preservatmn happen simultaneously?" and "Will the new development be compatible with its setting 9'' and offer practical methods for solving them through destgn The authors wonder " W h e t h e r or not one should create a 'Dlsneyland' kind of atmosphere, or whether one should rehabihtate and reconstruct bufldmgs of a particular period as faithfully as possible and design and construct structures that answer new needs m scale and rhythm harmomously wtth the old" (p 207) These quesuons are faced by those interested m the study of tourism Among the useful thmgs that the book offers are some interesting data collectmn procedures used m three study projects These include a cmzens' questmnnatre m the Ne,xburyport study, a merchants' and shoppers' interview m the Gardiner project and a setup for mdwldual interviews m the Harvard Square study. In conclusmn, the book makes a contnbutmn through Its graphic presentatmn, pnmardy to the layperson, of some very Important xssues regarding the city's future _-- Z
DIE EUROPAEISCHEN GEMEINSCHAFTEN UND DIE MITTELMEER LAENDER Randolf Regul (pubhsher). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, (Herchenbachstrasse 25, D-7570 Baden-Baden, West Germany), 1977. 279 pp Dr LotharA Kreck Director of Hotel and Restaurant Adrnmlstratmn Washington State Unlversfly, USA
In his book Dte Europaeschen Gememschaften und die Mtttelmeer Laender, Regul, pubhsher as well as author, asked five scholars (Mahmoud Allaya, Wolf-Ruedlger Boehnmg, Jacques Chabert, Manfred Mueller, and Norbert Vanhove), to contribute their thoughts to a dlscussmn on the " 'behavior' of the European ANNALS OF" TOURISM RESEARCH Jan/Mar 78
173
TOURISM IN REVIEW
Commumty toward the Mediterranean nations," to help explam the structure of the relationship between the two European regions. The pubhsher/author admitted that this presented certain difficulties m hght of the sheer amount of possible issues, m addition to presenting the material m a digesUble form The selection of topics seemed to have been succesful, however, most of the presented subjects, although pertinent and contributary to the overall goal of the book, are not of primary mterest to the readership of Annals and therefore are not discussed here. In general, the level of presentation was sufficiently high to mamtam continued interest. Most of the articles were well supported. When reading Allaya's article dealing with the migration of labor from the Mediterranean nations to Europe, especially to France, BRD (West Germany), Belgium and Switzerland, one was left with the impression that employment of foreign workers in the tourism industry ts of little significance. I felt that at least three if not all four countrtes are important recewers of foreign tourists and employ slgmficant numbers of foreign workers. I am not quite certain why the stattsUcs presented for the BRD dealt only with manufacturing industries and made no mention of the hospitality sector. Other discussion points also seemed to lack completeness For example, the BRD is left out of the four European countries recewmg foreign workers (p. 143). This reviewer knows that the BRD does employ foretgn workers from the regton under discussion. Further, in point 7.2 (p. 164) Belgium is left out, and m point 9 (p. 172) Switzerland is left out. Again, the reviewer does not know from what the incompleteness resulted. However, if there were no stattstlcs available it would be advisable to say so instead of creating questmns m the reader's mind Vanhove's discussion centered around tourism and the balance of payment of the European Common Market and the Mediterranean nations. As such, his contribution was of primary interest to the readers of Annals The study made clear once more the difficulties one faces comparing tourism stattstics (e.g. arrwals, expenditures) among natmns because of differences m defimtlons and reporting practices The author clearly brought out a point which Is sometimes missing m slmdar wrmngs the effects of currency black markets. Since these transactions are not reportable, distortions of statistics occur frequently. Furthermore, Vanhove made an interesting statement by saying that tourism attractions (e.g beaches, sunshine) can be considered as "raw materials" which for little addmonal funds can be made available for tourists, and that the posslbdlty of these "raw materials" being depleted at any time is hmlted or even nonexlstmg I feel that Vanhove's statement should have been modified These "raw materials" can easily become "depleted" by large numbers of tourists I know of cases where the Umted States Park Serwce had to estabhsh dady quotas for the number of tourists to use trails m certain mountains m Cahforma With this action the Park Service tried to prevent what the author said cannot happen There were two points which should be mentioned. It would help the reader if more defimtlons were presented (e g Netto-Relsemtensltaet, Brutto-Relsemtensltaet) Also, one is left wondering how some of the conclusions have been reached based on the material presented up to the point when conclusmns were actually stated ( e g p. 2 2 8 a l s o p 230) In all, a very worthwhde effort by the pubhsher to treat certain complex aspects of an important relationship among geo-pohtlcal umts m Europe L~
1"74
ANNALS OF TOURISM RESEARCH Jan/Mar 78