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To cite the chapter: Sanz-Ibáñez, C., Wilson, J., & Anton Clavé, S. (2016). Moments as Catalysts for
Change in Tourism Destinations’ Evolutionary Paths. In P. Brouder, S. Anton Clavé, A. Gill, and D.
Ioannides (Eds.) Tourism Destination Evolution (in press). Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN: 978-1-4724-
5399-0.
CHAPTER FIVE
Moments as Catalysts for Change in Tourism Destinations’ Evolutionary Paths
Cinta Sanz-Ibáñez, Julie Wilson and Salvador Anton Clavé
Extended abstract
This chapter identifies and explores the notion of moments as a possible lens through which
to understand more clearly the processes underlying destinations’ evolutionary change. This
notion – which allows the building of an exploratory conceptual framework – relates to the
different ways in which local destinations evolve according to the occurrence of specific
inflection points at which a given evolutionary trajectory of a destination shifts in direction.
Furthermore, this moments lens permits analysis of the evolution of tourism destinations as
places, rather than focusing on the evolution of tourism in destinations, going beyond the
domain of traditional lifecycle-based models.
This framework derives from the path metaphor in evolutionary economic geography –
particularly in relation to the ideas of path dependence, path creation and path plasticity – and
is linked to recent developments in urban social geography such as the cultural political
economy approach. The various possible dimensions of moments in which destinations’ paths
are forced to shift in another direction – i.e. pre-moment scapes, triggers, impacts and post-
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moment scapes – are examined, as are the possible discourses that might surround these shifts
in real-world tourism evolution situations.
To illustrate the scope and potential of the moments conceptual framework for tourism
evolutionary destination studies, we apply it to a well-documented case study of a major
Mediterranean coastal theme park development – PortAventura – situated on Catalonia's
Costa Daurada. This case suggests that a focus on selective moments is useful in
understanding how change is produced instead of only evaluating the end results of path
dependence, path creation or path plasticity.
In conclusion, the moments conceptual framework is proposed in this chapter as an
opportunity to examine the trajectory of a tourism destination at any scale and at any point in
time, as well as the evolutionary changes that might take place in other types of productive
spaces. As a consequence, the direction in which this idea shifts the debate on tourism
destination evolution will be of interest within both evolutionary economic geography and
tourism geography.
Keywords: Evolutionary economic geography, tourism destination evolution, moments,
policy, tourism geography, path dependence, path plasticity, path creation.
Introduction
Studies on the evolution of destinations are well established (e.g., Butler 2006a, 2006b,
2014), although research focused on analysing how and why destinations change over time as
well as the long-term effects of leading policies and agency of the processes of change are
arguably more scarce (Saarinen 2004). Even less researched are the specific moments at
which destinations’ economic paths are forced to shift direction, be this through the creation
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of new paths or the appearance of a more subtle incremental change over time. Indeed, as
Gale and Botterill (2005: 159) argue in a critique of traditional lifecycle approaches, ‘the
critical incidents that mark the transition from one stage to the next [in destination evolution]
are poorly defined and often difficult to substantiate empirically’. This chapter focuses on the
potential for moments as a conceptual framework in examining how destinations evolve over
time and as a viable alternative to traditional lifecycle-based models.
Interpretation of this field of research as representing a path metaphor may hold some
answers in this respect. Here we use the term path metaphor in a collective sense to refer to
the range of concepts framed by the idea of economic paths, such as path dependence, path
shaping, path creation or path plasticity. This metaphor has been increasingly employed by
regional economists and economic geographers when analysing the long term dynamics of
regions and industries (Boschma and Martin 2010) and, more recently, of tourism
destinations (Brouder 2014; Sanz-Ibáñez and Anton Clavé 2014) . Related to moments as key
components of the evolutionary path of a destination, evolutionary approaches to tourism
have mainly focused the attention on studying responses given by destination stakeholders to
incidents along the lines of triggering events, critical events or shocks with a notable impact –
either positive or negative – on destinations’ trajectories (e.g., Ritchie, Crotts, Zehrer, and
Volsky 2013). Nevertheless, recent developments in urban social geography such as the
cultural political economy approach (Ribera-Fumaz 2009; Sum and Jessop 2013) have started
to examine the root causes of urban socio-economic change through a new lens including
cultural aspects, policies, and agencies (Moulaert, Martinelli, Gonzalez, and Swyngedouw
2007), which should also be fruitful when analysing the dynamics of destinations. Drawing
upon this work we define moments as path-shaping evolutionary inflection points that cause a
destination’s path (trajectory) to shift in direction and focus.
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This chapter examines the role and nature of such moments in the tourism evolution
process, in terms of how paths are shaped by their occurrence(s). Focusing in the first
instance on the context of moments in evolutionary economic geography via a review of
previous research, the chapter then proposes a conceptual framework for understanding the
moments as inflection points in path shaping via the main discourses associated with their
effects on tourism destinations. In order to illustrate the framework’s potential for
understanding how destinations change over time, a key moment in the evolution of
Catalonia’s central Costa Daurada – the opening of the PortAventura theme park in the mid-
1990s – is examined by applying the conceptual framework relating to moments in
interpreting this key event. Finally, the chapter offers some useful directions for future
research and draws some conclusions on the capacity and potential for the framework’s
application in tourism destination contexts.
The path metaphor in tourism evolutionary approaches
In the context of tourism geography, a fledging yet promising line of research has recently
begun to focus on the translation of recent economic geography approaches – hitherto used to
analyse the evolution of industrial districts, clusters and other localized forms of
specialization (Boschma and Frenken 2006; Boschma and Martin 2007, 2010) – to increase
understanding of how and why tourism destinations evolve over time (Brouder 2014; Sanz-
Ibáñez and Anton Clavé 2014).
The work published so far presents some seminal reflections and exploratory case
studies that are generally sound in theoretical and empirical terms, while highlighting the
potential of applying notions such as co-evolution (Brouder and Fullerton, 2014; Ma and
Hassink 2013; Randelli, Romei, and Tortora 2014), resilience (Ioannides and Alebaki 2014;
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Lew 2013; Mariotti and Zirulia 2014), survival (Brouder and Eriksson 2013), complexity
(Meekes 2014), path dependence (Bramwell and Cox 2009; Ma and Hassink 2013, 2014;
Williams 2013), path creation (Gill and Williams 2011, 2014) or path plasticity (Anton Clavé
and Wilson 2013; Halkier and Therkelsen 2013).
The path metaphor – encompassing the path dependence concept, as well as the
different notions therein that represent diverse alternative evolutionary trajectories such as
path creation and path plasticity – has been the most recurrent within evolutionary economic
geography (EEG). This established analogy between paths and evolutionary processes
assumes that destinations are constantly in-the-making, permitting an approach which
displays distinctive powerful forms of interpreting the nuanced, local-specific dynamics of
tourist places over time. Indeed, the analogy emphasizes the significant role of both
stakeholder agency and selective / spontaneous incidents in unlocking tourism places from
stagnation and avoiding decline. This presents an opportunity with which to address these
issues from a non-deterministic perspective – a common criticism of traditional lifecycle
approaches –, which may help to focus on analysing the evolving qualities of tourist places
(Equipe MIT, 2002) instead of the analysis of tourism in places (e.g. Butler 1980; Plog 1973;
Prideaux 2004).
The domain of the path metaphor can be used to understand the unexpected ways in
which destinations can depart from their historical legacies and structures in the same sense
that Bramwell (2011) mentions the concept of path shaping. First, it includes the translation
of the path dependence concept – directly associated with place dependence (Martin and
Sunley 2006). This notion, following the work of Ma and Hassink (2013, 2014) in the
tourism context, emphasizes the role of history – that is, pre-existing conditions, as well as
the past events and decisions – and geography – understood as the contextual specificities of
each destination in social, economic and environmental terms – in influencing development
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paths. However, path dependence is not only a force constraining destination dynamics that
leads to political, cognitive or functional lock-in processes (see, for instance, the extensive
debate on this issue in Bathelt and Glückler 2003; Grabher 2005; Hassink 2005; Martin
2010). Nor is it a force that generates inevitable downgrading or down-scaling effects or even
path destruction in tourism places, which would suppose the complete abandonment of the
tourism activity. Instead, breaking with existing dependent paths can enable the definition of
new pathways of development by transforming the current model of tourism, improving
destination competitiveness and sustainability and/or enhancing the performance of firms,
which might ultimately be associated with growth and upgrading or up-scaling processes
(Gereffi 1999).
Along these lines, and without underestimating the central role of path dependence as a
useful mechanism to explain change and the configuration of evolutionary trajectories
(Strambach and Halkier 2013), there are other powerful notions that might elucidate the well-
documented emergent, continually transforming and essentially contingent nature of
destinations’ evolutionary trajectories (Agarwal 2012). For instance, Gill and Williams
(2011, 2014) took the notion of path creation (Garud and Karnøe 2001) as an explanatory
framework for both the deliberated and agency-driven processes adopted in the case of
Whistler, British Columbia, to increase the sustainability of the resort while adopting a highly
responsive global strategy. Alternatively, Halkier and Therkelsen (2013), from a path
plasticity perspective (Strambach and Halkier 2013; Strambach 2010), emphasized the
possibility of incremental innovations within established institutional settings as sources of
readjustment enabling destinations to remain dynamic in the long run.
Complementarily, other tourism geographers studying the long-term dynamics of
mature destinations labelled such effects with diverse terminologies that might also be taken
into account in building up the path metaphor. This is the case of Agarwal (2002) when
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applying the concept of restructuring to destination change processes or Anton Clavé (2012),
who categorized three different types of destinations according to the (re) development
strategies implemented by decision-makers: the reactives, who adopted policies of renewal,
differentiation, heritage preservation, image improvement and maintenance of tourism
activity; the creatives, who made innovative use of potential attractions and value innovation
processes generated by their own residents and visitors; and finally, the transitives, who
intensified their residential functions by incorporating more permanent urban services and
making a transition towards the urban condition (Harvey 1989) as fully-fledged urban places,
having previously evolved only as tourism resorts (see also Anton Clavé and Wilson 2012).
In parallel, similar proposals emphasizing the role of (pro)active policy intervention
and institutions as a tool to favour regional resilience and develop new growth and
development pathways have emerged recently within the field of EEG that could be applied
to tourism places. Asheim, Bugge, Coenen, and Herstad (2013), for example, introduced the
notions of path renewal as a process characterized by regional branching into new
technological trajectories – and path extension – associated with the strengthening of existing
industries by incremental process innovations geared to securing higher productivity. Others
have analysed processes of downgrading/downscaling of destinations or even the
abandonment of tourism as an industrial activity (Baum 1998). In this vein, Clivaz et
al.(2014) introduce the concept of abyss to describe the total collapse of the tourism sector in
a place without any economic alternative. Using the concept of tourist capital of resorts, the
latter authors also discuss how collective agency can even suppose a metamorphic dynamic
in relation to the conversion of resorts into urban places (op cit). In addition, in a third
dimension of their threefold typology (beyond the possible outcomes of abyss and
metamorphosis), Clivaz et al. (2014) refer to relay as the capacity of a resort to keep its
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touristic attractiveness. All in all, based on Martin and Sunley's (2006: 408) claims, we argue
that the path metaphor might be regarded as a heuristic approach,
wherein the process of economic evolution could be understood as an ongoing, never-
ending interplay of path dependence, path creation, [path plasticity] and path
destruction that occurs as actors in different arenas reproduce, mindfully deviate
from, and transform existing socio-economic-technological structures, socio-
economic practices and development paths.
In the context of the research conducted under the umbrella of the path metaphor, the
specific catalysts for change – i.e. the incidents, events or decisions with an impact on
destinations’ evolutionary trajectories – have generated a significant body of research using
different but related terminologies. Baggio and Sainaghi (2011), employing a complex
systems lens, pointed out the effects of natural or anthropogenic, external or internal
triggering events in challenging existing structures and the current states of destinations and
even move them to a new (non-permanent) order. Similarly, Ritchie et a.l (2013) emphasized
the spillover effects of crisis-related events – either crises, which they consider are caused by
lack of management and anticipation, or disasters, which can only be responded to in
retrospect – and demonstrated that such disaster events not only have negative outcomes,
which may be the most salient but also positive ones such as incentives to innovate and
anticipate future similar situations. In the same vein, Mariotti and Zirulia (2014) explored
adaptive (or evolutionary) resilience as enacted by public and private strategies in a local
tourism destination to respond to a negative shock. Hall (2010), dealing with the notion of
crisis events also raises more pertinent insights into this issue.
However, above all, it seems the literature on specific catalysts for change is mostly
oriented towards analysing critical, external and unexpected shocks or events – such as
natural disasters or economic crises – while leaving an uncovered gap, which concerns those
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moments beyond the natural environment and general economic trends, principally social and
cultural ones. Such an issue is reflected increasingly in urban social geography (Bianchi
2012; Moulaert et al 2007; see in particular Sum and Jessop 2013; Ribera-Fumaz 2009, on
cultural political economy), where there is a gradual engagement with the ideas of path
dependence and path creation and concern for inter alia the analysis of selective moments in
urban socio-economic change (Moulaert et al. 2007), policy intervention, institutional change
and key agencies, causing initially-dependent economic paths to shift in a different direction.
These new approaches are opening up new avenues in the tourism research agenda
(Bramwell 2011; Mosedale 2011).
To address these issues, we put forward the notion of moments, conceived of as given
points in time (and space) signalling shifts in the development pathways of tourism places.
We argue that analysis of such moments over the course of destination evolution is a useful
endeavour in addition to studying a given evolutionary trajectory, lifecycle or simply the end
results of path plasticity/creation processes in action. This might be useful in answering more
nuanced questions, for example the one raised by Randelli et al. (2014: 277) in a rural
tourism context when asking: ‘...in an evolutionary scenario, who [is it that] drives the
change?’. This is clearly an important question in EEG and we might add to this who/whom
the question of what drives the change, and when, where and how. In encompassing this
complex vision of triggers for change in evolution and their resultant impacts, the term
moments is seen to be more holistic and multi-faceted than other, more traditional
terminologies. The following section will unravel the thinking behind this new conceptual
framework we propose.
Moments in path shaping trajectories
The aim of this section is to debate how the concept of moments might be useful as a heuristic
device in understanding how destinations evolve as places. The starting point for advancing
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this concept was the question of whether more attention should be paid to what happens at
(and between) the key points of change in the evolutionary trajectory of a destination.
Synonymous with these key points in this sense, moments are proposed as path-shaping
evolutionary inflection points that cause a particular path (trajectory) to shift in direction and
focus, rather like a join-the-dots exercise. In this sense, the moments idea is conceived as a
response to the tendency to only focus on the impact of one key moment (e.g., a shock) in
destination evolution, when perhaps it would be pertinent to conceptualize and contextualize
the various moments or path shifts of any given destination, considering the role and the
components of the before, during and after each moment in their evolutionary trajectory. This
will be discussed and illustrated later in the chapter when analysing the whole course of one
of the key moments of the evolution of the two central Costa Daurada towns where the
PortAventura theme park is located.
Moments as evolutionary inflection points
In differential calculus, an inflection point is a point on a curve at which the curvature or
concavity changes sign from plus to minus or from minus to plus. In considering evolution as
path shaping (Bramwell 2011; Jessop 2008), or even in terms of the impacts and shifts that
might take place caused by the onset of a given moment, the inflection point analogy is a
useful one.
The moments concept is, of course, imbued with multiple meanings and displays
considerable complexity. Clearly, however, each moment is entirely unique in terms of its
characteristics, in that there are a multitude of parameters that they might display and
catalytic or transformative functions that they might perform. Their complex nature also
depends on whether they constitute primarily a causative trigger or a consequential impact,
suggesting that many moments might be binary in nature. Consider, for example, whether
some moments are path-creating, while others are path-plastic in nature, according to their
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eventual effects. In terms of their impacts (or outcomes), these effects might either be
instantaneous like switching a light on or off (creation) or more gradual/incremental, like a
huge ocean liner changing course slowly but surely and then regaining speed (plasticity),
hereby suggesting that there are many dimensions to consider.
Attention will now be turned to the discourses surrounding the moment and the range
of parameters and characteristics that such moments might display. Having established that
moments are probably much more than snapshots of particular significant points in time, we
argue that it is also possible to identify different types of moment depending on their
characteristics, range, scale and orientation. For instance, they might be the result of a
planned initiative or spontaneous, or driven by a top-down or bottom-up process, be
regulatory or resource-based; endogenous or exogenous. Finally, they could engender
different types of change in relation to “pre-lock-in” or “pre-moment” conditions –
recuperation, abandonment, reinforcement, renewal, extension or transition, for example.
The intensity of the moment may also be important, as observed above, with some
being path-creating (more radical) and others path-plastic (more incremental). What seems to
remain clear is that the understanding and narrating of moments requires local context
specificity to prevail. Moulaert et al. (2007: 196) observe (with reference to path dependence
and cultural political economy approaches) a ‘...tendency to overlook the fact that
development is deeply historical, place-specific and embedded within specific and concrete
institutional settings’. They also advocate use of social innovation approaches which, they
argue, give ‘...fuller consideration to the path-dependent and context-bounded nature of urban
development strategies’ (197) (see also Sum and Jessop, 2013), providing further justification
for a more in-depth, nuanced reading of evolutionary trajectories by zoning in on particular
moments therein.
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Discourses of the moments in the path metaphor
Figure 5.1 provides a visualization of the kinds of discourses that might be associated with
the path metaphor in relation to a given moment; it should be read and understood
sequentially from left to right in a timeline manner. Starting on the far left, there is the PRE-
MOMENT SCAPE (taking a conceptual cue from Williams 2013, on scapes and flows and
Van der Duim's 2007, notion of tourismscapes; see also Van der Duim, Ren, and Thór
Jóhannesson 2012). This is the contextual domain in which everything that might have a
bearing on the subsequent nature of the moment is considered; be they pre-conditioning
factors and situations, prior economic, social, environmental, political and cultural conditions
(and tendencies) and indeed, pre-cursor/prior moments (which might be termed secondary or
peripheral moments). Also present are the underlying contextual “impetus” narratives (at
different scales), which relate to the origins of a given moment and which shape the
discourses associated with the subsequent shift in path. These narratives may be hegemonic
or alternative in nature; top-down or more grassroots and the extent of their influence will
ultimately depend on their degree of place-embeddedness in the local context.
Next, our conceptual framework anticipates that at some point within the space and
time context of the pre-moment scape, there will be a TRIGGER incident of some kind. The
second column from the left deals with these triggers and sets out what form they might take
in relation to a given moment. Butler (2014: 218) terms them ‘key agents of change in a
resort that affect the transition process from one stage of development to another’ and argues
that these have not been dealt with to any real extent in tourism research. He also states that it
would be of great value to destinations if it were possible to identify and anticipate situations
and events which might act as triggers to such unrest and stage change in the life cycle (citing
Gale and Botterill 2005).
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For the purposes of our framework, the main dichotomy in relation to the nature of
triggers is whether they are spontaneous or selective (taking a cue from Moulaert et al. 2007).
As outlined above, most previous conceptualizations have only really dealt with the
spontaneous kind, in terms of critical shock-type events, although such spontaneous triggers
need not be so radical in nature. In terms of spontaneous triggers, these may relate to
environmental, economic [fiscal], physical factors or even, to a lesser extent, unexpected
and/or unpredictable outcomes of social, cultural or political processes. Spontaneous triggers
may also be external or internal; endogenous or exogenous and occur at different scales
(local/regional/national/international/global). They may be more structural or relate to agency
and anthropogenic factors, while they may also be catalytic and stimulatory or incapacitating
and debilitating in the first instance.
Selective triggers, by contrast, do not depend on a shock occurrence (although arguably
they may emerge in response to a prior moment based on a spontaneous trigger). More likely
to be based on decisions made, they may relate to structural factors or be agency-driven and
more anthropogenic in nature. Furthermore, despite being selective (hence intentional) they
might still take on an interventionist orientation or perhaps be more incidental or
unintentional (albeit selective). The underlying stimuli for selective triggers might be
regulatory and fiscal [investment]-driven or possibly resource-driven. In terms of policy-
related selective moments, their impetus may be ad-hoc and responsive or more strategic,
coming from endogenous or exogenous forces. In terms of originators, the moment may be
triggered selectively on an institutional level or be individual and/or community-led, while
triggers may also be embedded in the local context or have a more globalizing effect. Finally,
selective triggers may be generated from consensus or having been imposed from the top
down, while the kind of industrial diversification, or variety, they might trigger may be
related or unrelated to the existing economic base (Frenken, Van Oort, and Verburg 2007).
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The central column in Figure 5.1 relates to the characteristics and dimensions of the
actual MOMENT in which the shift in path is caused. The elements that might come into play
at this point in the process are mostly related to the specific characteristics of the inflection
point; the moment in which the path shifts in direction in response to a given trigger or
triggers. Among the most important characteristics are the durability, scale and speed of the
moment in which the shift takes place – ranging from instantaneous/immediate to
prolonged/longer-term; from macro to micro scale (global to local) and rapid, gradual or
incipient (returning to the metaphor of the light switch and the ocean liner discussed above).
By extension, the moment may represent a permanent or temporary catalyst for change (note
that this refers to the nature of the actual point of change, rather than the permanence or
otherwise of the subsequent effects that stem from it – which is discussed later). There is also
the question of whether the moment sets a reversible or irreversible process in motion, as well
as whether the scope of the moment is radical/incremental (and this latter point would
determine whether a moment might be described as path creating or path plastic). Similarly,
the relative intensity of the shift is also a necessary consideration, in terms of whether the
moment represents a more subtle or more intense shift in direction.
The second column from the right deals with discourses surrounding the IMPACTS
that the moment generates once it has happened. If we were to think about impacts as
underlying narratives of moments in path evolution, we might talk about such impacts as
consequential processes leading to path shaping effects and indeed, to new processes. In
conceptualizing the narratives of these impacts as outcomes of a moment (or moments), again
one might distinguish between a number of different characteristics and associated discourses
of change. To begin with, there is the question of whether the resultant impacts have an
overall stabilizing or destabilizing effect post-moment and also whether this results in the
shaping of single path or multiple paths in parallel. Beyond this, there would appear to be a
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dichotomy of impacts – those relating to upgrading/up-scaling effects and those relating to
downgrading/downscaling effects.
Firstly, possible upgrading and upscaling discourses may centre on processes of
renewal, the (selective or forced) recuperation of pre-lock-in economic activities,
reinforcement of existing industrial bases, extension of successful elements, reversal of
problematic elements, transition (which may involve a shift to either related or un-related
variety of the economic base), and of course, innovation in its many possible manifestations.
Conversely, downgrading and/or downscaling impact discourses may stem from processes of
creative destruction (possibly in a ‘slash and burn’, more radical manner following a major
shock), dissolution (a more incremental effect), complete abandonment of existing elements
and finally, the (temporary) suspension of economic elements that have undergone
stagnation. Finally, redevelopment, metamorphosis and restructuring could also represent
new paths, not only for tourism in the destination but for the destination as a fully-fledged
place in its own right (see Anton Clavé and Wilson 2012; Anton Clavé 2012; Clivaz et al.
2014).
[FIGURE 5.1 ABOUT HERE - LANDSCAPE]
The final column of the table (on far right hand side) is that of the POST-MOMENT
SCAPE. This phase relates essentially to longer-term outcomes, which may represent a new
context(s); new economic landscapes evidenced by a clearly identifiable shift in path. There
may be subsequent ‘knock-on’ moments to come in the future and these will not only depend
on the nature of the prior moment (or moments) which shaped them but also on the
geographical and historical local specificity of the place in question. The future paths that
permeate the post-moment scape may also be based on hegemonic narratives or alternative
narratives. Just like in earlier phases, new processes may stem from top-down or grassroots
initiatives or stimuli and the direction they take will depend on their degree of place-
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embeddedness and whether the resultant variety of flows will be related or unrelated to earlier
economic, political, social, cultural and environmental situations. In this sense, the post-
moment scape effectively becomes the pre-moment scape of future moments.
Finally, running beneath the framework are the FLOWS, which pass through the entire
process in a fluid manner, not necessarily in a linear sense, and which almost certainly will
contribute to sending the path shaping process in one direction or another.
It is argued that these different phases as represented by the columns in the framework,
as well as the underlying flows, amount to a more nuanced and complex manner of
understanding the evolution of (tourism) places. Moreover, there is scope for this conceptual
framework – developed in the context of tourism destinations – to be adapted and applied to
other economic landscapes and contexts that have been theorized via the path metaphor, with
the aim of understanding what happens in path shaping terms between two given points of an
evolutionary trajectory. To illustrate the capacity of this framework to explain path shaping
processes centred on a given moment, the moments framework will now be applied to a
specific case – the opening of the PortAventura theme park in Catalonia, on the Western
Mediterranean coast.
Exploring discourses of moments
Anton Clavé (2010) states that since its opening in 1995, the PortAventura theme park has
played a key role in the development of Costa Daurada tourism region, situated in Southern
Catalonia. The two towns in which the Park is located (Salou and Vila-seca) form part of one
of the most visited destinations in the Mediterranean. In 2013, between them they received
more than 2.1 million visitors staying in regulated accommodation that generated more than
9.1 million overnights, as well as the capacity of almost 30,000 second homes. More than a
half million people live in the surrounding area of the theme park, making it the second most
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dynamic economic cluster in Catalonia after the metropolitan area of Barcelona. The area is
home to prominent chemical industries, port operations, tourism and food industry
corporations and activities, and two medium cities, Tarragona and Reus respectively. There
are about 50,000 permanent residents in Salou and Vila-seca which, until the late 1980s,
counted as the same municipality.
The PortAventura theme park was developed in collaboration with both Vila-seca and
Salou, as well as regional public agents. Both towns considered PortAventura (currently
receiving around 3.5 million visitors per year) as the ideal promoter of a new image for the
combined destination and as a tool for the reorganization of the destination’s urban structure
(Anton Clavé 2005). The setting of the Park was planned in the 1980s and its development
was afforded the benefits of a law as regards the concession of available land (more than 825
ha) and possibilities for its expansion.
In applying the moments idea to this case, a chronology of events and the tangible
results of the strategies of management, cooperation and development, promoted both by the
public and by the private sectors, will be explained briefly in order to illustrate how the
opening of PortAventura might be understood as a key moment in the path shaping of the
central Costa Daurada as a tourism destination.
Figure 5.2 illustrates that even though the Park actually opened in 1995, the pre-
conditioning contextual domain in which the PortAventura inauguration takes place, the
PRE-MOMENT SCAPE, can be traced back to the beginning of the 1980s. Studies clearly
reveal a lock-in situation for tourism activity in the area during the 1980s (Anton Clavé
1997a). One of the main reasons was the loss of appeal and competitiveness of the destination
faced with the emergence of other newer, alternative coastal resorts, as well as the new range
of demand trends and tourism motivations seen in the 1980s. Other local problems
exacerbating the lack of competitiveness for the tourism sector in the area included the
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proximity of a large scale and intensive petrochemical industry located nearby and the
extension of the industrial and commercial Port of Tarragona. Add to this the considerable
pollution associated with the Port that affected the beach and the water supply problems for
the whole area, which influenced negatively the quality of life of the local population as well
as the day-to-day economic activities of the many industries located in the area.
Nevertheless, thanks to a collective envisioning of the conditions underlying these
social, economic, cultural and environmental tendencies, several actions and strategies were
undertaken, both to ensure the economic viability of the area (including a major water
transfer from the nearby river Ebro, about 80 km south of the area) and, in the specific case of
the tourism industry, to rejuvenate the tourism product in the area. During the 1980s, with
healthier municipal public finances, a promising economic outlook and greater collaboration
between private initiative and the municipal institution, initiatives were taken within the
tourism sector with the aim of promoting new hotel developments and the creation of
recreational facilities as means of renewing the destination’s amenities (Ros Santasusana
2012). These initial actions were accompanied by urban restructuring and public
infrastructural improvements. These might be understood as prior actions trying to generate
some path plasticity to combat the rigidity of the existing pathway that was heading towards a
lock-in situation. In fact, an increasing level of public involvement can be identified since the
1980s, years before PortAventura was even planned.
[FIGURE 5.2 ABOUT HERE - PORTRAIT]
The moments conceptual framework anticipates the existence of TRIGGER incidents
that were spontaneous and/or selective - that is, not dependent on a shock occurrence but
related to structural factors or agency-driven. Among the spontaneous factors in this case are
Walt Disney World’s plans to create a theme park in Catalonia during the 1980s before
eventually deciding to locate their European park in Paris. Local and regional stakeholders
19
considered the area to be a serious candidate for the location of the European Disney park and
the decision of the company to locate it in Paris stimulated the idea that having a top tourism
attraction could be a catalyst for releasing the place from its lock-in. Secondly, it was the
availability of enough well-located land ready for developing a new concept of recreational
and tourist activity, which stemmed from a conflictive process of negotiating the new urban
plan for the area during the 1980s. Due to this, the approval of the plan was delayed and the
more than 825 ha area where the future Park would be located remained available without
any specific development purpose designated. Finally, coinciding chronologically with the
decision to situate the Park in the area, the separation of Salou, the richest and more tourism-
oriented part of the former municipality of Vila-seca i Salou, and the 1989 creation of two
new local administrations also represented a strong trigger. Although spontaneous, in the
sense that these factors were not driven with a theme park development objective in mind, all
of three were triggers that created the conditions, following a process of incidental
intervention, both endogenous and exogenous in impetus, that left a specific environment
ready for the creation of PortAventura (see also Campa and Veses 2012; Oliveras 2012; and
Ros Santasusana 2012 for more detail).
In terms of selective triggers, there was the political will on the part of the Catalan
Government and of the local municipal administrations of Vila-seca (and after the separation,
Salou) to respond to the need to transform an outdated model of tourism and leisure that was
hegemonic in Catalonia during the 1980s. This political will also led to the implementation of
a novel legal framework for both Spain and Europe, which gave an incentive to develop and
regulate a theme park in a manner that, at that time, was relatively groundbreaking (Anton
Clavé 1997b). Besides the theme park, hotels, residences, shopping centres and golf and other
sport areas were also envisaged, as well as the creation of the Vila-seca i Salou Tourism and
Leisure Centre Consortium, an inter-administrative tool developed as a response to the
20
separation of Salou in order to manage and regulate the development of the Park and the
complementary commercial, recreational, sporting, hotel and residential activities that were
planned around it (Fuentes and Rodríguez 2012).
On 2nd May 1995, PortAventura in its present guise was officially opened to the
general public. This event can be understood as a symbolic representation of the actual
MOMENT in which the shift in path is caused for the central Costa Daurada. The
characteristics and dimensions of the Park are the direct result of and the response to the
spontaneous and selective triggers which had played a prior role. Additionally, we must
mention the initial choice of the US company Anheuser Busch as the developer of the project
in 1989, plus the several setbacks and challenges such as the separation of Salou, the
negotiations with landowners and also the strategies of new players that entered as new
developers between 1989 and 1995, such as the Grand Tibidabo Corporation, the utilities
company FECSA, the Catalan savings bank (La Caixa), and the British group Pearson.
Furthermore, there was the new legal framework enacted to determine the development
course of the project. Since then, PortAventura has been undergoing a phase of expansion
which is heading in the direction of transforming the initial Park into a larger tourism and
leisure complex by developing new concepts and generating wider opportunities for the
economy of the area, as well as conditioning the whole urban and spatial pattern of the local
and regional area where the Park is located.
New players have since entered into the management of the project, most notably
Universal Studios (between 1998 and 2004), the Italian group Bonomi (part of Invest
Industrial and currently the main stakeholder) (in 2009) and the US investment fund KKR (in
2013). New attractions have been developed within the Park since 1998, including a new
waterpark, four 500-room hotels, a Beach Club located on the sea front, three golf courses
with 45 holes and a Convention Centre. The most important factors in the case of
21
PortAventura as a key moment in the recent path shaping of Salou and Vila-seca, as well as
in Catalonia in general, are its durability (around a 20-year span of creating new conditions
for tourism development activity), scale (both local and regional) and speed (a sustained and
long term gradual process of creating innovations and adding new components to the tourism
and leisure value chain generated in the area). This represents an ongoing catalyst for change
that has set an irreversible incremental process in motion, which can be described as path
plastic and whose impacts, as we will see in the next section, lead to the upgrading/upscaling
of the whole destination and also foster the destinations’ transformation into a fully-fledged
urban places, rather than just resorts.
As Campa and Veses (2012) describe, the Costa Daurada (as well as both Vila-seca and
Salou therein and indeed, the whole of Catalonia), has not been unaffected by the large influx
of visitors to PortAventura over the past 20 years. The most relevant IMPACTS are of course
related to the upgrading/upscaling in the tourism sector, including the reconfiguration of the
dominant demand markets to the area and the increasing quality of supply markets and, as a
consequence, the increasing profitability of the industry. Other than this, PortAventura has
generated diverse and multiple paths in parallel, according to the characteristics and prior
path dependency of each specific place which falls under the influence of the Park. In fact,
differences can be observed and differential co-evolution processes are visible between the
two different municipalities where the Park is located and also in comparison to other local
destinations and surrounding places that fall under the Park’s sphere of influence too. The
two core municipalities are dependent on their respective public and private strategies held by
institutions and stakeholders to take advantage of and respond to the opportunities created by
the Park development and as such, their current situations are not the same, even if the path
shaping moment for both of them was exactly the same. For example, it has been documented
that Vila-seca constitutes an example of the implementation of a successful public-private
22
partnership, enabling the creation of a cluster of high quality hotels (Duro 2012). As a result,
in 2013 Vila-seca had a RevPar (revenue per available room) of almost 80€ during the
summer period, achieving sixth position in a ranking of the 53 more outstanding coastal
tourism destinations in Spain, while Salou’s RevPar was only 63.35€, achieving 23rd position
in the same ranking.
More generally, the PortAventura project has clearly stimulated the economy of
Southern Catalonia by boosting not only the creation of new hotels or new shopping centres
and recreational activities in the area and shifting the demand profile towards a more affluent
and family-oriented appeal, but it has also accelerated the development of major transport
infrastructure (new dual-carriageways, a new terminal at Reus airport, the AVE high speed
train link, among others), as well as the expansion of new unrelated activities and technical
and knowledge services, plus new commodity suppliers, linked to the development of the
Park . In the latter sense, the Park has also been committed to an initiative creating the
University School of Tourism and Leisure at the Rovira i Virgili University (now the Faculty
of Tourism and Geography) and the Tourism Observatory of the Costa Daurada, launched at
the beginning of the 2000s. Interestingly, PortAventura has managed to achieve a level of
brand and product visibility only attainable by very few projects and even some of its iconic
rides, like Dragon Khan for example, have become a part of everyday parlance, part of the
symbolic effects of theme parks as quality tags for specific places, as analysed by Zukin
(1991).
More specifically, environmental concerns have been already taken into account by
Park managers and the Park has been a champion of corporate environmental awareness. An
Environmental Committee was set up from the outset and the good practices implemented
have filtered through the rest of the company, the rest of the industry and even to other
industrial sectors that realize the importance of a clean and unpolluted environment in order
23
the ensure the quality of life of the resident population and the wellbeing of visitors.
Additionally, PortAventura has become a company that promotes actions related with its
immediate social environment (see Campa and Veses 2012 for examples).
PortAventura is arguably a key component of the new economic landscape of Southern
Catalonia in terms of shaping the POST-MOMENT SCAPE in the destination. Firstly, it
should be emphasized that PortAventura has brought about a major change in the Costa
Daurada’s leisure and tourism model, and to a lesser extent (but equally noteworthy) in that
of the rest of Catalonia and even that of Spain. Future paths of the area are visibly shaped by
the characteristics and dimensions of the post-moment path shaped by PortAventura, which
in turn is modelling the geographical and historical local specificity of the place. The
moments conceptual framework maintains that future paths may be based on hegemonic
narratives or alternative narratives and new processes both from the top-down or at grassroots
levels with the aim of configuring new moments triggered themselves by the creation of
PortAventura. In this sense, future achievements will depend (as with the configuration of
PortAventura’s current scape) on the dimensions, characteristics and scale of new events yet
to occur and on the discussion and debate held by society directly or through their political
representatives. The current shift towards an increasingly diversified economy, the
intensification of the urban and residential function of the tourism destination, and the
increasing awareness about future possible paths among residents are new components of the
post-moment scape created directly by the opening of PortAventura. With regard to this, for
instance, new social debate in the area is of utmost interest. In particular, the question of how
and to what extent new entertainment developments proposed for the wider entertainment
complex where PortAventura is located (which include casino-based gaming and other
shopping and hotel developments) fit or not with the currently hegemonic narrative of the
place as a tourist destination for family holidays, having adopted PortAventura as an iconic
24
symbol (see Anton Clavé and Baron Yelles 2014). Results will depend in this case (as will
results related to other industrial sectors in the area) on the degree of place-embeddedness of
the new projects and, as stated in earlier sections, on the resultant variety of flows and their
relationships with earlier economic, political, social, cultural and environmental situations. In
this sense, the post-moment scape created by PortAventura becomes the pre-moment scape of
future moments.
FLOWS running beneath the entire process illustrate that evolution is not just based on
the dimensions and characteristics of processes but, fundamentally, on the inherent policies,
instruments, initiatives and programmes that both private and public stakeholders develop in
the context of one specific moment. Flows include culture, knowledge, capital, labour,
demand markets, global players, tactical approaches, social debates and political short and
long termism. One fundamental issue here, thus, is that the transformation of destinations
stems from responses by local systems to the needs brought about by global market changes,
having many implications for the management of destinations as multi-sectorial regional and
local spaces.
All in all, the case of PortAventura highlights the usefulness of analysing how flows
materialize in specific contextual scapes, and the question of how moments are triggered (and
become triggers themselves) is fundamental in helping to explain the development of
moments whose impacts will shape the future of one specific destination. Depending on the
nature of the place, the power of such flows and the dimension, characteristics, range and
scale of the moment, they can have clear effects, due to their direct and indirect impacts, on
the path shaping of the destination and even on the creation of a new unrelated (and perhaps
more urban) variety, as Clivaz et al (2012) or Anton Clavé (2012) argue when affirming that
resorts do not always necessarily remain as resorts forever.
25
Conclusions
In this chapter we have presented a conceptual framework of moments that draws upon
evolutionary economic geography approaches in order to aid understanding of how the
trajectory of a given place (in this case, a destination) is shaped, within a geographical and
historical conjuncture, via the specific events that affect their dynamics. The framework is
intended as an heuristic device that focuses attention on moments as complex, context-bound
processes that include several marked elements therein: pre- and post-scapes, triggers and
impacts.
We argue that the moments concept has scope to go beyond the domain of other
constructs such as, for example, the Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC), which as Gale and
Botterill (2005) note is a resort model and hence less applicable to urban industrial and rural
areas that have turned to tourism for the purposes of economic (re)development or to
restructured resorts. As it is derived in a non-deterministic vein and not limited to being a
resort ‘model’ in any sense, the moments conceptual framework has the potential to address
various shortcomings of the TALC by, for example, not defining the shape of a “global”
evolutionary curve as applicable to all tourism places and instead, allowing analysis of
individual places according to their own specific trajectories and key moments therein.
Furthermore, the moments framework allows analysis of the evolution of tourism destinations
as places, rather than focusing on the evolution of tourism in destinations, as the TALC does.
Indeed, in principle the framework could be applied to any place and any industrial sector and
so it is more flexible and transferable not only as a theoretical concept but also as a planning
tool for understanding how and why places transform.
All in all, we have used the conceptual framework presented in this chapter to
understand what might trigger key moments in the evolutionary path shaping of places, as
well as the associated how, why, when and where of the idea. As a result, upgrading,
26
conversion and downgrading impacts have been identified, entrenching the moments idea
within various conceptual notions. Some of these originally developed from outside the
evolutionary economic geography domain, but nonetheless have considerable utility in
understanding the trigger effects of a given evolutionary path, path dependence, contextuality
and human agency (Sanz-Ibáñez and Anton Clavé 2014), in terms of tourism performance
evolution but also in terms of the transformation of (tourism) places.
Furthermore, path shaping impacts can unfold as path creation or path plasticity, which
in turn creates new conditions defining the post-moment scape that, in a long term approach,
may become the new pre-moment scape when new triggers of change start to act and new
decisions are taken by stakeholders in the place. The dimension, scope, range and
characteristics of flows of capital, knowledge, culture, labour, tendencies and demand
markets will determine the specific response, or the characteristic moment of a given
destination to the triggers that emerge in any historically given scape. In this sense,
geography matters – as the role of spatial scale, historical embeddedness and political
advocacy are key – as well as the relationship to pre-lock-in conditions, that is, inertial
movement such as recuperation, abandonment, reinforcement, corrective, compensatory and
resilience-building responses play central a role (plus, future research on this topic might also
bear in mind the possibility that path shaping moments in some circumstances may have the
effect of actually reinforcing prior path dependence).
We have argued that triggers and impacts are grounded in contextual environments that
we term pre and post condition scapes, which following Moulaert et al. (2007: 203),
‘challenge established governance, discourse and projects and the extent to which they can
lead to further and wider alternative social action’. This is obviously affected by the specific
historical and geographical context of any local destination at any given moment, according
to the inertia effects of its own past and present conditions. In this sense, we highlight the key
27
role that a certain moment can have in the shaping of markedly (even if subtly) different
paths for different destinations. This allows recognition of the co-evolutionary nature of long-
term destination transformation change and how past decisions affect the capacity of response
and influence for the future with regard to a specific key moment in the path shaping process.
Additionally, the conceptual framework presented in this chapter allows the integration
of several perspectives that are supported by an increasing body of both theoretical and
empirical multi-disciplinary research on the evolution of destinations from the outside the
core of evolutionary economic geography (and even including some conventional life cycle-
related analysis). Moreover, the framework holds resonance with recent developments in
urban social geography such as the cultural political economy approach (CPE) (Ribera-
Fumaz 2009; Sum and Jessop 2013) to theorizing pathways in urban development. This is of
utmost interest insofar as one of the very foundations of the moments framework is the
recognition of the ‘urbanizing’ nature of many forms of tourism developments and
destinations or, at least, the path towards a fledging urban condition of many tourism places
(Anton Clavé 2012). In this vein, we support Clivaz et al’s (2014: 21) interpretation of the
different resort trajectories as uneven and engaging differently constituted touristic capital as
well as the conversion of this capital into other forms of capital seems an important step for a
more thorough analysis and explanation of what happens to tourist resorts over a long period.
To demonstrate the utility of moments as an idea, we have drawn upon longitudinal
empirical research undertaken on the effects of having situated the PortAventura theme park
in a specific location on the central Costa Daurada destination and how this moment might be
understood over the course of two whole decades of introducing innovations, development of
changes and creation of unrelated paths in the planning and everyday reality of area, with a
focus on the role of local and global stakeholders therein. This case demonstrates that a
moments lens is appropriate and useful in understanding how change is produced instead of
28
only evaluating the end results of path plasticity or path creation trajectories. It also
demonstrates that a focus on positive moments as well as on negative, critical shocks may be
applied.
In conclusion, beyond its specific application in this chapter, the moments conceptual
framework is arguably broadly transferable, being adaptable to examine any aspect of
tourism destination dynamics at any scale from the local to the global and at any period of
time, allowing an integrated understanding of the succession of moments that can shape the
trajectory of a destination. We maintain that the basic premises of the framework proposed
here offer the opportunity to develop this idea according to the needs of other industrial and
activity contexts, in terms of future research potential. The direction in which this idea shifts
the debate on tourism evolution will be of interest within both evolutionary economic
geography and tourism geographies.
29
FIGURES
Figure 5.1 Discourses of the moments in tourism destination evolution. Source: Authors’ design.
30
Figure 5.2 PortAventura as a moment in the evolution of the central Costa Daurada. Source:
Authors’ design.
31
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