1. The Tertiary Sector (Service Sector)
The tertiary sector is the largest economic sector in MEDCs. It includes a lot of services, such as healthcare, trade, transport and tourism. 1

2. Active population by economic sector in 2010 (Table 1)

3. Characteristics of tertiary sector activities
Heterogeneous
Impossible to store
Close to the consumer
Less mechanisation
Expanding, but unequal distribution 3

4. Classification of tertiary sector activities (Table 2)4

5. Healthcare: A basic public service
Healthcare in LEDCs
LEDCs are often unable to offer even basic healthcare services → infectious diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria
Healthcare in MEDCs
MEDCs use scientific and technological advances to fight illness 5

6. HIV/AIDS in MEDCs and LEDCs6

7. Transport services → move people and goods from one place to another
→ 3 main types:
Air transport (people and lightweight, perishable or valuable goods)
Land: roads, trains, high-speed rail
Maritime transport (long-distance transport of goods: oil, cereals, minerals, etc.) 7

8. Transport Services: Air Transport (Table 3)8

9. Transport Services – Maritime Transport
More than 90% of worldtrade is made by maritime transport
Since 1990, maritime trade has grown by an average of 3,6% per year
Very low price: To ship a container from Hong Kong to Hamburg costs about as much as the transportation of the same container by truck from Hamburg to Munich! 9

10. Tourism – Worldwide (Table 4)10

11. Tourism – Tourists in Spain 2009 (Table 5)11

12. The effects of Tourism
Positive effects
Negative effects
Income from tourism is usually greater than the income from the export of a few raw materials
Raised prices
Help ecnomy with creating new jobs (hotels, entertainment, guides,...)
May create poorly-paid, temporary, unskilled jobs; often only during the tourist season
Profits can be used to improve local housing, schools, hospitals, water supplies,...)
Hotels, airports and roads spoil the visual appearance and create noise, air pollution and litter (Catalonia is one of the places with the most hotel rooms and apartments for tourists!)
Possibility to learn about other cultures and languages
Usually only 10-20% of the income received from tourists stays in the country, because most hotels are foreign-owned and profits go overseas
Local cultures and traditions are destroyed (prostitution, crime, drugs, drunkenness) 12

13. Trade → the buying and selling of goods
→ 2 main types: domestic trade and international trade
Domestic trade
International trade
Wholesale
export
Retail
import 13