Community

Abstract

The notion of community impinges on leisure, recreation, and tourism in a variety of ways. For example, the term is used to denote local groups of people who are hosts to visitors and upon whom the social, economic, and environmental impacts of visitors, both positive and negative, are acute. Community can also be used as a term to describe groups that are bound together by common interests. Sporting clubs and other recreational groups are examples of this. Many writers have remarked that the term 'community' has a high level of use and a low level of meaning, with some authorities citing over ninety different definitions for the term (see Walmsley and Lewis 1994). Despite this variability, there are features that are common to most definitions. Generally speaking, interpretations of the term can be thought of as falling into one of four types.