Taking the Exit Route: Extending the Tourism Area Life Cycle Model

The Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) model (Butler, 1980) is one of the most robust and widely used conceptual and managerial frameworks to be employed in the tourism area. It has been subject to extensive scrutiny, application and criticism and this debate shows little sign of decreasing. In most respects, the model has stood up well to application and detractors. This paper presents two additional theoretical extensions to the TALC, based on the notion that there are situations where choice or necessity may lead a destination either to abandon its traditional product and market dependencies in favour of an entirely fresh start (linking this strategy to Handy's (1994) Sigmoid curves from the marketing area). Alternatively, destinations may choose to leave tourism aside entirely as part of its economic development portfolio. Some examples are briefly presented but the extensions to the TALC demand more extensive case testing through further research.