The Recreation Geography of South Asia

Abstract

rT nHE study of recreation geography in developing countries has heretofore been understood mainly as the study of these countries as fields for the recreation of the inhabitants of developed countries-and understandably so, since tourism is seen as a valuable earner of badly needed foreign exchange. Little study has as yet been directed toward the recreational habits and needs of the developing countries themselves, though vigorous and growing recreation movements can be observed in most of them. The impact of these movements on the landscape, though usually slight as yet, will certainly become more obvious as standards of living rise. This paper describes and attempts to analyze a certain range of these phenomena. Two approaches to such a task are possible; to study individual cases in depth or to study the variations in the phenomena less intensively over as broad an area as possible. Valuable synthesis can be expected to emerge from an eventual combination of the two. Since I have recently enjoyed the opportunity of visiting a broad band of countries in South Asia, I have adopted the extensive approach and aspire to gain in comprehensiveness what I miss in depth, hoping at the same time to encourage and perhaps to stimulate detailed local research.