The simulation of tourist environments: Methodological perspectives for enhancing tourism research

Abstract

Tourism researchers, immersed in a text based academic culture and not imbued with a strong tradition of methodological innovation, have not grasped the opportunity to improve the validity of certain types of research through the visual presentation of environmental settings. The present paper outlines some strengths of the environmental simulation methodology as it is employed in consumer studies, architecture, planning and environmental psychology research. These strengths include the ability to explore environments which have yet to be built or modified, the chance to enhance our understanding of visitor responses offsite and the possibility of working with situations which might pose real world ethical issues. There are encouraging preliminary analyses of the correspondence between environmental simulations, in particular photographic simulations, and on-site visits. The potential for tourism researchers to use these techniques lies in studies of large scale projects and their potential impacts, evaluating regional plans and strategies for tourism development, assessing facility modification and construction and assisting public sector decision making for settings such as national parks and world heritage areas. Tourism researchers are encouraged to develop their skills in environmental simulation studies in order to assist operators and managers construct customer sensitive sustainable tourist settings.