Tourism Area Life Cycle: The Validity, Application and Value of the Conceptual Model With Reference to the Republic of Malta

Abstract

This paper focuses on the application of the tourism area life cycle model to a specific
tourism destination. The case study destination of the Maltese Islands is used to decipher the
level to which the model mirrors tourism development in an Island nation. Through the
attainment of various data both qualitative and quantitative it has emerged that tourism in the
Maltese Islands is highly diverse and multifaceted. Internal dynamics and perhaps more
pervasively external influences have impacted heavily on the progression and direction of
tourism development in the Islands. The context in which Malta initially emerged as a
tourism destination, that is, as a post colonial nation has been instrumental in the
development of tourism. Over reliance and dependence on a British market lead to premature
stagnation and decline of the industry in the 1980’s, a time of economic recession in the U.K.
More recent analysis of tourism perceptions and statistics suggests Malta now attracts a range
of market segments that engage in a mix of activities attributed to all tourist typologies. Mass
market tourism and niche tourism categories operate within the same arena. The simplicity
and static nature of Butler’s model (1980) fails to successfully acknowledge major
mechanisms of impact on the tourism stages. External factors such as tourism marketing have
a resounding effect on the transition between stages and equally the type of tourist that
arrives in the Maltese Islands. Local settings such as the two party political system and
government policy inevitably also determine to an extent development of tourism in Malta.