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494 region
Commercial business realities dictate that the
pursuit of recycling policies for their own sake, even
as a gesture to guest relations, is difficult to justify.
Recyclables are seen as components of the waste
stream which have a value. In the absence of an
adequate and accessible market for reprocessing
recycled materials and satisfactory returns, support
for recycling will always be qualified. Legislation
which mandates this action should also require
longer term performance-based contracts for
recycling operators and stable prices. As the
technology improves and the quality of recycled
material is upgraded, a stronger market should
develop for the use of recyclables in the tourism
industry. This trend should be strengthened by the
emergence of a more environmentally aware and
demanding guest clientele seeking a greener
tourism product �see environment; green tourism).
region
JOHN J. PIGRAM, AUSTRALIA
The concept of the region is fundamental in
geography and is of particular value in gaining
an understanding of the special nature of different
places and areas, especially to help with decision
making in planning. It is a classificatory device
used to differentiate one area from another
according to the presence within the bounded area
of selected criteria and characteristics. The principal
features of a region are its defining boundary,
its internal common characteristics, and the degree
of difference between those characteristics inside
and beyond the boundaries. The purpose of
defining the region is to create a differentiated
area which is amenable to planning and development,
to organisation and government, and
to study and analysis. The complexity of the region
will be determined by the nature and scope of the
characteristics used to secure the desired level of
homogeneity.
There are two basic types of region. A formal
region is defined by the presence of characteristics
such as natural phenomena, particular flora or
fauna, weather or climatic conditions. A functional
region is defined for organisational purposes such
as governmental jurisdiction, professional or trading,
or for the convenience of recognising spatial
interaction or linkages in economic activity and
trade. The criteria or characteristics used to define
regions may be physical/natural �such as mountainous
areas, river catchments), cultural/social �such
as territory occupied by particular tribal groups,
collections of people with consistent socioeconomic
characteristics or ethnicity), economic �such as
shared trading relationships, or a dominant form of
economic activity such as mining), political �such as
a nation/country, an electoral division, or an
association of countries), any combination of such
characteristics, or the qualities of image, identity
or attractiveness.
In the case of tourism, regions may be defined
for convenience of marketing, organising and
planning, or to give a spatial reference to tourism
infrastructure development. For economic feasibility
studies, a region may be defined as the
hinterland or catchment area for potential users of
a resort, recreational shopping centre or sports
venue �see also sport, recreational; sports
tourism); and a region may be used as the spatial
frame of reference for the consideration of the
geographical extent of environmental impacts of
particular tourism developments.
See also: destination; regional organisation
Further reading
Gunn, C.A. �1994) Tourism Planning, Washington,
DC: Taylor and Francis. �Chapter 5 examines
some of the spatial patterns and criteria for
defining tourism regions.)
Smith, S.L.J. �1989) Tourism Analysis, Harlow:
Longman Scientific and Technical. �Chapter 7
examines some principles of regionalisation and
describes a number of regional analytical
techniques.)
regional organisation
MICHAEL FAGENCE, AUSTRALIA
A regional tourism organisation is a governmental
or non-governmental entity responsible for tourism
and which represents a specific geographic area