What is the life cycle theory of tourist destination?

If we find out the factors that affect the life span of tourist resorts and make wise decisions, we can achieve the goal of long-term management, thus producing the life cycle theory of tourist resorts. At present, it is recognized and widely used by scholars that the life cycle theory of tourist destination is put forward by Canadian scholar Butler, who synthesized the relevant research results of other scholars and systematically expounded the life cycle theory of tourist destination in 198. Butler believes that the life cycle of a tourist destination is a process of cyclic change, and the tourism development of a place cannot be at the same level forever, but it evolves with time, and the number of tourists increases and decreases from time to time. He uses a nearly S-shaped curve to illustrate the development of a tourist destination in different stages, and divides the evolution and development of a tourist destination into six different stages: exploration stage, participation stage, development stage, consolidation stage, stagnation stage and recovery (or decline) stage.

In addition, according to the decline (recovery) stage of the tourist destination life cycle, different scholars combined with their own research practice, put forward amendments to the Butler model, and pointed out five possible situations in the decline or recovery stage, thus making it more operable. A curve: the deep development is fruitful, which can promote the increase of tourists and the expansion of the market; B curve: the transformation and adjustment on a small scale will continue to protect the attractiveness of resources, and the number of tourists can increase slightly; C curve: adjusting to meet various capacity levels can curb the downward trend of tourists and keep it at a stable level; D curve: excessive use of resources will reduce competitiveness, which will lead to a significant decline in the number of tourists; E-curve: the occurrence of war, plague or other disasters will lead to a sharp decline in the number of tourists. At this time, it is extremely difficult to restore the number of tourists to the original level. If the recession lasts too long, the tourist destination will no longer be attractive to most tourists after the problem is solved (Figure 6-1).