51. Social forces and the evolution of tourism: A historical framework of urban change.
- Author
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Spirou, Costas
- Subjects
URBAN tourism ,DEINDUSTRIALIZATION ,SUBURBANIZATION ,ECONOMIC development ,CULTURAL policy - Abstract
This paper focuses on the conditions that gave rise to tourism as a tool of urban economic development. By the 1960s and 1970s, an emerging economy of recreation and tourism was gaining steam as many manufacturing city centers were undergoing significant fiscal stress and social deterioration due to suburbanization and deindustrialization. In an effort to reverse the tide, American cities began to embrace a new strategy, most visible in the last three decades, focusing on urban reimaging through the utilization of cultural strategies to improve urban identity and translate that image into economic development opportunities and growth. Sport, entertainment and tourism proved central to this new, culturally based policy agenda. Museums, festivals, revamped public spaces, tourism hubs, sports stadiums, theatre districts, ethnic precincts, convention centers and even urban beautification programs are some of the infrastructural and related tools utilized to advance this new strategic direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
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