The distinctiveness of the urban-rural fringe as a tourism venue, which merits recognition of exurban tourism as a distinct subfield, is based on a unique product amalgam that includes theme parks, tourist shopping villages, near-urban protected areas, factory outlet malls, golf courses and touring. In addition, the market is characterised by blurred tourist/non-tourist distinctions, a weak accommodation sector and extremely high visitation levels at some sites. It is argued that the urban-rural fringe is an inherently unstable area characterised by a variant of the standard destination life cycle confined to the late involvement, development and consolidations stages, and paralleling comparable volatile stages within the broader urban life cycle.