What’ the connection?

Learning objective – To study the growth of the tourist industry, TOURISM Learning objective – To study the growth of the tourist industry, Learning outcomes - To explain the social, economic and political factors affecting the growth of tourism.

What is tourism and how has it grown? Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes". Tourism has become a popular global leisure activity. In 2010, there were over 940 million international tourist arrivals worldwide, representing a growth of 6.6% when compared to 2009. This is set to rise to a massive 1.6 billion by 2020. In most countries domestic tourism (people going on holiday in their own country) is between 4 and 5 times greater than international tourism. International tourism receipts grew to $919billion (€693 billion) in 2010, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 4.7% . Caribbean countries get half their income from tourism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism#Most-visited_countries_by_international_tourist_arrivals TASK: Use the data to describe the changes in international tourism in recent years. Compare this table with the one on page 274 of your text book.

The global growth in tourist numbers. The growth of Egypts tourist industry:

Why such rapid growth? Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and is vital in both HIC and especially LICs. Why? Use page 275 to answer this, use terms like infrastructure and GDP. Give examples of places where tourism is important. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/tourism/tourism_trends_rev1.shtml

Reasons behind the trend in tourism There are many factors that help explain the growth in tourism: 1. Social and economic factors: More affluence - since 1950 people have become more wealthy. There is more disposable income. Most families have 2 working parents, rather than 1. More leisure time - people have paid holidays from work (on average from 2 weeks in the fifties to 4-6 weeks per year today). Also people who are retired remain active for longer and life expectancy has risen, so there are more older people. Their pensions are relatively good.There is also a trend to take more than one holiday in a year. Greater awareness - through advertising or television programmes people are more aware of how and where they can spend their free time. 2. Improvements in technology: More car ownership - more families own a car. This gives greater freedom to choose when and where to spend time. Internet has made booking easier. Travelling today is much quicker. Motorways and aircraft have helped reduce the time it takes to get to different countries. Travelling by air has become more accessible as you can book on line and choose more budget options. In 2008 there was a rapid rise in oil prices and this meant flights became more expensive, so people took domestic holidays to save money. 3. Expansion of holiday choice: in the past seaside holidays and package holidays were the most popular. The industry is seeing more people look at ecotourism and more unusual holiday destinations such as Alaska are expanding.

Explain why tourism has increased in the last 50 years. (3) More leisure time; more disposable income; advertising; faster / cheaper transport; easy border control (e.g. within the EU); paid holidays Social could include – increase in leisure time because of increased holiday entitlement, early retirement. Economic could include – greater wealth, transport developments. Explain the social and economic reasons for the growth in tourism. (3) e.g. social: increase in leisure time due to greater holiday entitlement (1) and a shorter working week (1) e.g. economic: more disposable income due to smaller family sizes (1) and dual income families (1) and the introduction of the minimum wage (1)

How far do we go? 1.Domestic:tourist’s own country, 2. Short-haul: reached by an air flight of les than 3 hours, 3. Long-haul : further away, such as Kenya, Jamaica.

Where do we go? British take 52 million domestic holidays each year, 47 million short-haul and 13 million long-haul flights. London is the top UK destination-half of all the money tourists spend is spent here. (£19million) Top overseas destination is Spain (a third of the 60 million visits that the British make abroad each year), twice as many as to France (second most popular destination for us). The USA is Britains favourite long-haul destination (5% of Britons holidaying abroad go there).

Quick recap: SOCIAL FACTORS: 1. Increase in leisure time, why? 2. Developments in communications and IT, give examples, 3. Product development, fashion and expectations. ECONOMIC FACTORS: 1. Greater wealth, 2. Currency exchange rates, 3. Developments in transport. POLITICAL FACTORS: 1. Relaxation of boundaries, give examples. Why is Cuba still more difficult than most?