Case Study of a National Tourist Industry

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Objective: To examine the economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism.

Lesson 1 - The theory. 

a. Click here for the presentation and you will also need to the Tourism and Recreation (Access to Geography series). 

b. Complete all tasks as requested using this framework to record your information.

Case Study - Vietnam 

Objective: To carry out a case study of Vietnam as an example of a national tourist industry

Starter: Get a feeling for Vietnam by watching the Michael Palin video to the right hand side. 
Task 1 - Build up your background knowledge of Vietnam by completing the introductory worksheet below. 

Vietnam Animoto Task (Thanks to Greenfield Geography Wiki) 


ECONOMIC ADVANTAGES
  • It is estimated that the tourism sector employs about 250,000 directly and 500,000 indirectly.
  • In 2006 the tourism industry generated $2.4 billion (3.9%) of GDP. This figure was up from 1.2 billion in 2000.
  • Transport upgrade. Ton Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City and Noi Bai airport in Hanoi have both been rebuilt.
  • Increase in air routes. As well as the state owned airline, Vietnam Airlines other international airlines like, United Airlines, Lufthansa and Air France fly to Vietnam.
  • The Reunification Express (trainline) is also been upgraded along with Highway 1 running the length of the country.

ECONOMIC DISADVANTAGES
  • Economic leakage. Many tourist developments e.g. Sheraton and Hyatt Hotels are partly owned by foreign companies. This means that some profits leak overseas and are not reinvested in Vietnam.
  • Inflation. The increased demand created by tourist can create rapid inflation. The value of land can go up, along with transport and even food.
  • Small businesses find it hard to compete with large TNCs, often causing local businesses to go out of business and increasing economic leakage.
  • Pressure on services. New resorts, restaurants, golf courses, etc. can put a huge strain on the local infrastructure. This can cause congestion, black-outs. etc.
  • Seasonal employment. Like El Salvador, Vietnam has a dry and wet season. Many tourist choose to visit in the dry season, meaning that many people lose their jobs during the wet season.

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ADVANTAGES
  • Important cultural locations like Hue Citadel, My Son and the Temple of Literature are being afforded greater protection as more tourists visit.
  • Some minority cultures are being promoted e.g. Cham and M'Nong. It is possible to visit their villages, sample their food, by their crafts and even try and learn their languages.
  • Tourism is encouraging greater entrepreneurship and improving language skills e.g. tour guides and taxi drivers.
  • New services are built and developed which benefits tourist and local residents alike e.g. golf courses (Song Be) and hospitals (FV Hospital)
  • Money is spent on improving and building museums which protect cultural heritage e.g. War Remnants Museum and Ethnology Museum.
  • Infrastructure improvement like new roads, new water treatment facilities, new electricity plants can be used by tourists and residents alike.

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DISADVANTAGES
  • A big worry in many developing tourist destinations is the growth of sex tourism, especially amongst the recruitment of young boys and girls.
  • Sometimes the tourist industry can outgrow safety regulations and accidents can happen such as the tourist deaths in Halong Bay with the sinking of a tourist boat.
  • Privatisation of land. As tourist resorts are built, beaches and forested areas become privatised reducing access to local residents.
  • Rapid economic development can lead to a polarisation of citizens economic status. The economic divide can cause an increase in crime e.g. bag snatching.
  • Westernisation. The arrival of tourists can cause a decline in local cultures e.g. loss of language, food and clothes.
  • Rural-urban migration. People can be drawn towards areas where investment and growth is taking place. This can lead to core and periphery areas and also rural depopulation.

ENVIRONMENTAL ADVANTAGES
  • Greater protection of the environment. Vietnam is considered a country of biodiversity. It has leopards, elephants, tigers and even the highly endangered Javan Rhino. With tourist interest new national parks are being created e.g. Cat Tien National Park and being protected more.
  • Demining. The growth of tourism has seen areas be de-mined making areas safer for tourists and local residents alike. One de-mining charity operating in Vietnam is MAG.

ENVIRONMENTAL DISADVANTAGES
  • Nearly 80% of international tourists visiting arrive by air. This is going to cause an increase air pollution and contribute to global warming.
  • Tourist development can often lead to deforestation and damage to sand dune systems. Vietnam has seen massive growth along the coast near Mui Ne and Hoi An
  • Pollution. An increase in hotels and tourist facilities can cause water, air, noise, visual and water pollution

POLITICAL ADVANTAGES
  • The government is seeing an improvement in its international standing. Vietnam has recently hosted the APEC summit and became a member of the WTO in 2007.
  • The government will see an increase in tax revenue and a reduction in unemployment.

POLITICAL DISADVANTAGES
  • As more Vietnamese are exposed to Western influences and ideas there might be a greater call for political reform. Vietnam currently has a one party system.
  • The government will have to balance growth with inflation and attempt to ensure that infrastructure development

Your task - In teams of three, you will be creating a 30 second revision video on Animoto showing one of the S.E.E factors and how it relates to tourism in Vietnam.

Instructions: Create an account (Lite Free 30 second videos) - Use your school email address and enter your name/nickname and a password. You're ready to go. 

Task 1 - Images
Choose either Social Cultural, Economic or Environmental (your teacher will do Political) and find 5 images that represent positive and 5 that represent negative. Save these in your My Pictures folder. (there are some pictures to the right which are free to use)

Task 2 - Captions
Write out your captions on a Word document. These will be inserted into the video before or after your images. Your teacher will show you how this works. 

Task 3 - Uploading and YouTube
Upload your images and captions to your video and let Animoto do the rest. Choose some music too for extra effect. Once it has been complete, upload to your YouTube account (IST students, you have one ending with your .eu email address)

Student Animoto Videos 2012 

Case study of eco-tourism

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Objective: To evaluate the strategies designed to manage and sustain the tourist industry.

The market for traditional tourism is still strong, but increasingly people are looking for destinations further and further afield to experience new cultures, traditions and languages. 

Starter: Watch the two 'Idiot Abroad' videos beneath (note strong language) to see the sorts of activities that tourists partake in. 

Background reading - Guardian Online Article May 2012

You will need Integrated Approach' - Waugh and 'Leisure, Recreation and Tourism' - Prosser for these activities.
Ecotourism: Ecotourism is responsible travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas that strive to be low impact and (often) small scale (as an alternative to mass tourism).
Carrying capacity: The maximum number of people that may visit a tourist destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical, economic, socio-cultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors' satisfaction.The IB splits carrying capacity into environmental carrying capacity and perceptual carrying capacity. Environmental carrying capacity is the maximum number of visitors before environmental harm is done. Perceptual carrying capacity is the maximum number of visitors before visitors consider an impact like noise to be excessive.

Credit: Thanks to Greenfield Geography Wiki for this information

Task: Produce a two sided A4 fact sheet about either a sustainable tourism or ecotourism initiative for a location of your choice.  

Use the What? Where? When? Why? Who? approach and try to cover as many of the SEEP +/- as possible. 

Possible examples:
1. Costa Rica - Monteverde Cloud Forest - Link (also see the PDF document to the right hand side) 

2. El Salvador - Link

3. Sarawak, Malaysia - Link (Word Document)

4. Kerala India - Link 
Sustainable tourism: Sustainable tourism is tourism attempting to make a low impact on the environment and local culture, while helping to generate future employment for local people. The aim of sustainable tourism is to ensure that development brings a positive experience for local people, tourism companies and the tourists themselves. Sustainable tourism is not the same as ecotourism.

Tourism as a development strategy

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Objective: To assess the importance of tourism as a development strategy for low-income countries.

Watch the six minute tourism video at the bottom of this page.

We will be focusing on The Gambia for this small unit of work. Click here to be taken to a fact-sheet about tourism and The Gambia.

Task 1. Construct a mind map using the following website using the following titles as 'legs'. Remember, you only need a few words for each.  You will need to sign up to the site, but it is free. Use your school email address.  You may of course complete this by hand - see example completed by S. Rizal at the foot of this page.
 
a. Gambia - Profile
Include population stats, location, GNP, language, literacy rates.

b. Economic Activity
Include foreign debt levels and reason for overdependence, cash crops, tourism.

c. Tourism Background
Include % of GDP, numbers employed, growth rates.

d. Benefits of Tourism in The Gambia
Include the information in Figure 3 - Table - Benefits of Tourism.
 
e. Problems caused by Tourism in The Gambia
Include information on flow of income out of the country, % profit made by the country, wages, skilled jobs.

f. Sustainable Development in The Gambia
Include information on definition of sustainable development, issues in Gambia, unemployment, new initiatives.

g. Aims of Gambia Tourism (Fig 5 on the last page)
Highlight the main aims.

Task 2. Read 'The Gambia: Paradise or Purgatory?
On your copy of the article, highlight and annotate the areas that point towards tourism as being a development strategy for the country. Are there any areas where you can see possible exploitation taking place?

Task 3 - IB Essay style question: 
Western style tourism brings only mimimal advantages to LEDC destinations and widens the development gap even further. To what extent is this statement true? (15). 
  

Introduction to The Gambia
Watch this before completing Task 1.

Example of Student Mind Map -
Thanks to S.Rizal & R. Walker @ IST