Honeypot (geography)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

In geography, a honeypot is a particularly popular visitor attraction within a managed tourist area, such as a national park. They are popular because they have extremely beautiful landscapes and scenery, and often because they are relatively easy to get to. Examples in the United Kingdom include Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District, Bakewell in Derbyshire, Swanage in Dorset, Box Hill on the North Downs of Surrey, Castleton in the Peak District and Malham Cove in the Yorkshire Dales. Larger honeypots outside of the U.K. include the Grand Canyon and the Great Pyramid in Egypt.

Honeypot sites are often encouraged because they concentrate the damage caused by tourists on small sites, making conservation easier in other parts of the managed area. Honeypots can suffer from overcrowding problems including litter, strain on facilities and transport networks, crime and erosion, but are often promoted in order to reduce these problems in other areas. The term originates from bees buzzing around a bee hive and honey^{[citation needed]}.