Information for Travel and Tourism Students This is a special feature for Travel and Tourism and Leisure and Recreation students. The information provided here is broken down into four sections: Appeal and Popularity, Location and Access, Design and Technology, and Operation and Management. |  |
Dartmoor National Park is a natural visitor attraction which can be compared with a built visitor attraction. To help you with your study we will attempt to provide links to pages on the web site to help you answer your questions where they are relevant to Dartmoor National Park. Most of the answers you are looking for are available through this web site or can be found in our Dartmoor Visitor publication, which is available by post from the High Moorland Visitor Centre 01822 890414 or by calling in at one of our Information Centres.
You need to be aware that this task is not easy because you will not be comparing like for like - comparing Dartmoor's vast area with a built attraction is not a fair comparison. For example, built visitor attractions are normally enclosed sites, charging for entry and trying to attract as many visitors as possible whereas Dartmoor is a National Park covering 368 square miles with many access points; there is no charge for entry. There are other differences as well - you will need to use the information provided in the links to find them out.
UK National Parks are large areas of countryside, designated for the quality of their landscape. The National Park Authority is a form of local government, which has certain responsibilities within the area of the National Park. The National Park Authority does not usually own the land (although small areas may be in Authority ownership). The area covers thousands of homes, farms and businesses. It is debatable how much of the landscape is truly natural, human activity has been going on for thousands of years, in the form of farming, settlement and industry.
The National Parks differ from most built visitor attractions in that our first purpose is to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage as well as the second purpose which is to promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the area by the public. The National Park Authority also has to foster the economic and social well being of the local community.
As you can see, marketing and attracting more visitors is not always a good thing, especially if it conflicts with our first purpose of conservation.
