With Reference to Located, Examine the Problems Associated with the Increasing Use of Rural Areas for Recreation and Tourism (25)

With reference to located, examine the problems associated with the increasing use of rural areas for recreation and tourism (25)

Rural areas are being used significantly more due to recreation and tourism due to counterurbanisation. This is affecting the social, economic and environmental factors of rural villages. Tourism changes businesses and creates more environmental problems such as pollution as well as causing house prices to rise tremendously. The influx of people from cities causes these problems. An example of this is West Oxfordshire where the house prices are high and the jobs are seasonal.

One of the main problems of tourism in rural areas is the parks in the town is becoming increasingly overcrowded, this causes many problems. The first effect is that the paths are all becoming eroded and this does not just cause cost issues but is also a management problem. All this erosion makes it hard for locals to access the park on bikes and horses as well as disabled people. There is also the problem that this attraction has made the average house price in the area significantly more therefore more houses are being built around the park. Although there are  many negatives impacts to this park the Wytham woods owned by Oxford university controls its visitor access so there's less pressure for development and less negative impact upon the environment.

Another negative impact of Recreation and Leisure in a rural community is the amount of tourism it brings in. An example of this is Shotover country park in  West Oxfordshire. This park attracts more than 600,000 tourists a year into the area. Some of this land is owned by Oxford university however it is mainly controlled by Oxford city council. One of the main problems with this attraction is that most tourists arrive by car or bus. This causes congestion on the small country roads and makes it extremely difficult for locals to go about their everyday life.  Also all the extra cars on the road means...