Travel Geography

UNIT 1:TRAVEL GEOGRAPHY AND ITS ROLE IN TOURISM

An Overview of Geography

The science of geography is likely the oldest of all sciences. Geography is the answer to the question that the earliest humans asked, "What's over there?" Exploration and the discovery of new places, new cultures, and new ideas have always been basic components of geography.

Thus, geography is often called the "mother of all sciences" as studying other people and other places led to other scientific fields such as biology, anthropology, geology, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, among others. (See other Definitions of Geography)

Definitions of Geography

Many famous geographers and non-geographers have attempted to define the discipline in a few short words. The concept of geography has also changed throughout the ages, making a definition for such a dynamic and all-encompassing subject difficult.

"To provide accurate, orderly, and rational description and interpretation of the variable character of the earth surface." - Richard Hartshorne, 1959

"Geography is fundamentally the regional or chorological science of the surface of the earth." - Robert E. Dickinson, 1969

"Geography is the study of the patterns and processes of human (built) and environmental (natural) landscapes, where landscapes comprise real (objective) and perceived (subjective) space." - Gregg Wassmansdorf, 1995

Divisions of Geography

Today, geography is commonly divided into two major branches - 1) cultural geography (also called human geography) and 2) physical geography.

The Basics of Cultural   Geography

Cultural geography is the branch of geography dealing with human culture and its impact on the earth. Cultural geographers study languages, religion, foods, building styles, urban areas, agriculture, transportation systems, politics, economies, population and demographics, and more. Cultural geography is the study of the many cultural aspects found throughout the world and how they relate to the spaces and places where they originate and then travel as people continually move across various areas.

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Objectives: Define and identify the divisions of geography Understand the importance of travel geography Discuss the relationship between tourists and tourism system Identify and explore the major geographical and geological features

Travel Geography

Some of the main cultural phenomena studied in cultural geography include language, religion, different economic and governmental structures, art, music, and other cultural aspects that explain how and/or why people function as they do in the areas in which they live. Globalization is also becoming increasingly important to this field as it is allowing these specific aspects of culture to easily travel across the globe.

Cultural landscapes are also important because they link culture to the physical environments in which people live. This is vital because it can either limit or nurture the development of various aspects of culture. For instance, people living in a rural area are often more culturally tied to the natural environment around them than those living in a large metropolitan area.

Today, cultural geography is still practiced and more specialized fields within it such as feminist geography, children's geography, tourism studies, urban geography, the geography of sexuality and space, and political geography have developed to further aid in the study of cultural practices and human activities as they relate spatially to the world.

The Basics of Physical   Geography

Physical geography is the branch of geography dealing with the natural features of the earth, the home of humans.

Physical geography looks at the water, air, animals, and land of the planet earth (i.e. everything that is part of the four spheres - the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere.) Physical geography is closely related to geography's sister science - geology - but physical geography focuses more on the landscapes at the surface of the earth and not what is inside our planet.

Physical geography encompasses the geographic tradition known as the Earth Sciences Tradition. Physical geographers look at the landscapes, surface processes, and climate of the earth - all of the activity found in the four spheres (the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere) of our planet.

Physical geography consists of many diverse elements. These include: the study of the earth's interaction with the sun, seasons, the composition of the atmosphere, atmospheric pressure and wind, storms and climatic disturbances, climate zones, microclimates, hydrologic cycle, soils, rivers and streams, flora and fauna, weathering, erosion, natural hazards, deserts, glaciers and ice sheets, coastal terrain, ecosystems, and so very much more.

Knowing about the physical geography of the planet is important for every serious student of the planet because the natural processes of the earth (which is what the study of physical geography encompasses) affect the distribution of resources, the conditions of human settlement, and have resulted in a plethora of varied impacts to human populations throughout the millennia. Since the earth is the only home to humans, by studying our planet, we humans and residents of the planet earth can be better informed to help take care of our only home.

Other key areas of geography include regional geography (which involves the in-depth study and knowledge of a particular region and its cultural as well as its physical characteristics) and geographic technologies like GIS (geographic information systems) and GPS (global positioning system).

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Travel Geography

Travel Geography

Tourism Geography is the study of travel and tourism, as an industry and as a social and cultural activity. Tourism geography covers a wide range of interests including the environmental impact of tourism, the geographies of tourism and leisure economies, answering tourism industry and management concerns and the sociology of tourism and locations of tourism.

Tourism geography is that branch of science which deals with the study of travel and its impact on places.

Importance of Travel Geography

Geography is fundamental to the study of tourism, because tourism is geographical in nature. Tourism occurs in places, it involves movement and activities between places and it is an activity in which both place characteristics and personal self-identities are formed, through the relationships that are created among places, landscapes and people. Physical geography provides the essential background, against which tourism places are created and environmental impacts and concerns are major issues, that must be considered in managing the development of tourism places.

The approaches to study will differ according to the varying concerns. Much tourism management literature remains quantitative in methodology and considers tourism as consisting of the places of tourist origin (or tourist generating areas), tourist destinations (or places of tourism supply) and the relationship (connections) between origin and destination places, which includes transportation routes, business relationships and traveler motivations. Recent developments in Human geography have resulted in approaches such as those from cultural geography, which take more theoretically diverse approaches to tourism, including a sociology of tourism, which extends beyond tourism as an isolated, exceptional activity and considering how travel fits into the everyday lives and how tourism is not only a consumptive of places, but also produces the sense of place at a destination.

Tourist and Tourism

What is Tourism?

There is no single definition of tourism that is universally accepted. WTO, Madrid, Spain, is a specialized agency of the United Nations. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism as

“Activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.”

Branches of tourism:

Inbound international tourism: visits to a country by nonresidents of that country. Outbound international tourism: visits by the residents of a country to other countries. Domestic tourism: visits by residents within their own country. Internal tourism: domestic + inbound international

(Visits by residents and non-residents within a country.) National tourism: domestic + outbound international

(Visits by the residents of a country within their own country and to other countries.)

E.g.. China: Inbound-domestic-outbound

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Travel Geography

How about tourism industry?

Many businesses and other types of tourism organizations offer complementary rather than competing products and services. An airline, hotel, restaurant, travel agency, and attraction do not compete with each other. They complement each other and combine to offer visitors a satisfying vacation or business trip.

The input and output can not be clearly identified. Besides there is no single industry code for tourism under the North American

Industry Classification System (NAICS) Macroeconomists point out that the recognition of tourism as an industry can lead to

double counting because standard industry classifications fully account for all elements of the economy without finding it necessary or appropriate to recognize tourism.

Unlike other industries that are defined by the products and services they produce (the supply side), the tourism industry is defined from a demand side perspective.

A tourism industry supplies products and services to tourists. The Tourism Industry is defined as individuals, businesses & organizations that are

working to provide product & services (including information) to tourists. They include those that work in transportation, lodging, entertainment and food &

beverage.

Tourist System

Visitor1. Tourist2. Excursionist

A visitor is defined as 'any person traveling to a place other than that of his/her usual environment for less than twelve months and whose main purpose of trip is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited'.

Tourist: temporary visitor staying at least 24 hours in the country visited and the purpose of whose journey can be classified under one of the following headings.

leisure (creation, holiday, health, study, religion, and sports) business, family, mission, meeting.

Excursionist: temporary visitor staying less than 24 hours in the country visited (including travelers on cruises) - Also called Day Tourist or Day Excursionist.

Classification of Travelers

1. Tourists in international technical definitions.2. Excursionists in international technical definitions.3. Travelers whose trips are shorter than those that qualify for travel and tourism; e.g., under

50 miles (80 km) from home.4. Students traveling between home and school only -- other travel of students is within scope

of travel and tourism.

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Travel Geography

5. All persons moving to a new place of residence including all one-way travelers, such as emigrants, immigrants, refugees, domestic migrants, and nomads.

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Travel Geography

Relationship among tourism, tourism industry, and tourist

Tourism process developed by Chau (1977). He described the tourist as the demand, the travel industry as the supply, and attractions as the tourist product and summarized the interrelate process as the subject, means, and objective of tourism.

Gunn in his book, tourism planning (1979), referred to a “tourism fundamental system” involving five components: tourist, transportation, attractions, services-facilities, and information-direction.

Leiper (1979) involved five basic elements in his system: tourists, generating regions, transit routes, destination regions, and a tourist industry operating within physical, cultural, social, economic, political, and technological environments.

The reasons for using a systems approach for study of tourism:

To emphasize the interdependency in tourism ; the tourism system is like a spider’s web – touch one part are felt throughout the system. For a student beginning to study tourism, it is important to get “the bigger picture” right away. The tourism system model framework provides a more comprehensive view of tourism: it captures “the big picture”.

The second reason is because of the open system nature of tourism. Tourism system is dynamic and constantly changing. New concepts are always arriving in tourism, such as ecotourism, TSA.

The third reason is the complexity and variety in all aspect of tourism. For example, there are thousands of specialized tours and packages available for travelers today.

Major Geographical and Geological Features

Going by the physical map of the world, the total land area on the surface of the world is around 148,647,000 square kilometers. The highest elevation point in the world is the Mount Everest peak (8,850 meter) of the Himalayan Range and the lowest point is the Dead Sea (-411 meters). In a physical world map, the following topographical features can be seen.

Mountains: Mountains are one of the most prominent of the earth's landforms. A mountain is a large landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area and usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill.

Some of the world's greatest mountain ranges include the Rockies and the Appalachians in North America, the Andes in South America, the Atlas Mountains and Drakensberge Mountain Range in Africa, the Alps, the Carpathian Mountains in Europe, the Himalayas, the Urals, the Caucasus, the Elburz, Altay, Kunlun and the Zagros mountain ranges in Asia, and the Great Dividing Range in Australia. Some of the most prominent highlands that one can locate in world maps are Guiana Highlands and the Brazilian Highlands in South America, the Ethiopian Highlands in Africa, and the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats in India.

Mountain characteristics:Tall mountains reach into the colder layers of the atmosphere. They are consequently subject to glaciation, and erosion through frost action. Such processes produce the peak shape. Some mountains have glacial lakes, created by melting glaciers; for example, there are an estimated 3,000

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Travel Geography

glacial lakes in Bhutan. Mountains can be eroded and weathered, altering their characteristics over time.

Mountains are generally colder than their surrounding lowlands due to the way that the sun heats the surface of the Earth. Practically all the heat at the surface of the Earth comes from the sun, in the form of solar energy. The sun's radiation is absorbed by land and sea, whence the heat is transferred into the air.

Mountains are generally less preferable for human habitation than lowlands; the weather is often harsher, and there is little level ground suitable for agriculture. The decreasing atmospheric pressure means that less oxygen is available for breathing, and there is less protection against solar radiation (UV).

Many mountains and mountain ranges throughout the world have been left in their natural state, and are today primarily used for recreation, while others are used for logging, mining, grazing, or see little use. Some mountains offer spectacular views from their summits, while others are densely wooded. Summit accessibility is affected by height, steepness, latitude, terrain, weather. Roads, ski lifts, or aerial tramways allow access. Hiking, backpacking, mountaineering, rock climbing, ice climbing, downhill skiing, and snowboarding are recreational activities enjoyed on mountains. Mountains that support heavy recreational use (especially downhill skiing) are often the locations of mountain resorts.

Mountains are made up of earth and rock materials. The outermost layer of the Earth or the Earth's crust is composed of seven primary plates. When two plates move or collide with each other, vast land areas are uplifted, forming mountains.

Plateaus: Plateaus are also prominent landforms and are generally flat land areas, but with an altitude. Plateaus are normally bounded by an escarpment on all sides and some are also surrounded by mountains. Some of the most famous plateaus of the world as depicted in the physical map of the world are the Mexican Plateau, Tibetan Plateau, Central Siberian Plateau, and the Kimberley Plateau in Australia.

Plateaus characteristics:Plateau,  extensive area of flat upland usually bounded by an escarpment on all sides but sometimes enclosed by mountains. The essential criteria for plateaus are low relative relief and some altitude. Plateaus are extensive, and together with enclosed basins they cover about 45 percent of the Earth’s land surface. Although plateaus stand at higher elevation than surrounding terrain, they differ from mountain ranges in that they are remarkably flat.

Plains: Plain lands form another important physical landform on the earth's surface. Physical Map of World represents the different Plains and river valleys on the earth's surface including the Great Plains and the Coastal Plain of North America, the Northern European Plains, the West Siberian Plain, the Indus Valley, the Gangetic Plain and the Brahmaputra Valley in India, the North China Plain, and the Nullarbor Plain in Australia.

Plain characteristics:Plains have three main characteristics - they are found on land, they have rolling areas, and they are low in elevation. They are areas of low relief. Plains do not have hills or mountains. An example of a plain is the Great Plains of the Central United States of America.

Deserts: A desert is a vast land area that is extremely dry with little or no vegetation. Some definitions of a desert also include areas that are too cold to support any vegetation such as frigid or

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Travel Geography

polar areas. The World Physical Map shows the location of some of the world's largest deserts including the Sahara, Kalahari and Namib deserts in Africa, the Arabian Desert, the Thar Desert, the Gobi Desert and the Takla Makan Desert in Asia, the Sonoran Desert in North America, the Atacama Desert in South America, and the Simpson Desert and the Great Sandy Desert in Australia.

Desert characteristics:Sand covers only about 20 percent of the Earth's deserts. Most of the sand is in sand sheets and sand seas--vast regions of undulating dunes resembling ocean waves "frozen" in an instant of time. Nearly 50 percent of desert surfaces are plains where eolian deflation--removal of fine-grained material by the wind--has exposed loose gravels consisting predominantly of pebbles but with occasional cobbles.

The remaining surfaces of arid lands are composed of exposed bedrock outcrops, desert soils, and fluvial deposits including alluvial fans, playas, desert lakes, and oases. Bedrock outcrops commonly occur as small mountains surrounded by extensive erosional plains. Oases are vegetated areas moistened by springs, wells, or by irrigation. Many are artificial. Oases are often the only places in deserts that support crops and permanent habitation.

Underground channels carry water from nearby mountains into the Turpan Depression of China. If the channels were not covered, the water would evaporate quickly when it reached the hot, dry desert land.

Oceans and Seas: The Physical Map of the World shows the earth's oceans and the adjacent seas, gulfs and bays. Some of them include the Pacific Ocean encompassing the Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea, the Atlantic Ocean encompassing the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Baffin Bay, the Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea, and the Indian Ocean encompassing the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Andaman Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, and the Great Australian Bight.

Ocean and Seas characteristics:Around most continents are shallow seas that cover gently sloping areas called continental shelves. These reach depths of about 650 feet (200 m). The continental shelves end at the steeper continental slopes, which lead down to the deepest parts of the ocean.

Beyond the continental slope is the abyss. The abyss contains plains, long mountains ranges called ocean ridges, isolated mountains called seamounts, and ocean trenches which are the deepest parts of the oceans. In the centers of some ocean ridges are long rift valleys, where Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common. Some volcanoes that rise from the ridges appear above the surface as islands.

The sedimentary rocks that exist on the ocean bottom are much younger than any similar rocks found on the continents. The cores of mud and rock brought back by deep-sea drilling ships vary greatly in age, but no deposits from the ocean floor seem to be more than about 200 million years old. This makes oceanic crust very young compared with the continents, which contain rocks up to about 4 billion years old.

Rivers: The main accessible sources of fresh water on the earth's surface are the rivers and the lakes. Some of the most important rivers of the world including the Mississippi and the Missouri in North America, the Amazon and the Orinoco in South America, the Nile, the Niger, the Congo and

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Travel Geography

the Zambezi in Africa, the Danube, the Dniester, the Dnieper and the Volga in Europe, the Euphrates, the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Hwang Ho, the Yangtse Kiang, the Amur and the Mekong in Asia, and the Murray and Darling rivers in Australia.Rivers characteristics:A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including stream, creek, brook, rivulet, tributary and rill. Rivers are part of the hydrological cycle. Water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through a drainage basin from surface runoff and other sources such as groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of stored water in natural ice and snowpacks (e.g., from glaciers).

The water in a river is usually confined to a channel, made up of a stream bed between banks. In larger rivers there is also a wider floodplain shaped by flood-waters over-topping the channel. Flood plains may be very wide in relation to the size of the river channel. This distinction between river channel and floodplain can be blurred especially in urban areas where the floodplain of a river channel can become greatly developed by housing and industry.

The term upriver refers to the direction leading to the source of the river, which is against the direction of flow. Likewise, the term downriver describes the direction towards the mouth of the river, in which the current flows

Lakes: The prominent lakes and inland seas include the Great Lakes of America including, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Superior, Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, Lake Titicaca in South America, Lake Chad, Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi in Africa, the Black Sea in Europe, the Caspian Sea and Lake Baikal in Asia and Lake Eyre in Australia.

Lakes characteristics:A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land apart from a river, stream, or other form of moving water that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which are usually flowing. However most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams.

Natural lakes are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them.

Many lakes are artificial and are constructed for industrial or agricultural use, for hydro-electric power generation or domestic water supply, or for aesthetic or recreational purposes.

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Travel Geography

UNIT 2:INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL DESTINATIONS

What is Destinations?

Destination is a place to which a person is travelling or a thing is sent. Tourist destination is a city, town, or other area that is dependant to a significant extent on the revenues accruing from tourism. It may contain one or more tourist attractions and possibly some “tourist traps”.

Tourist attractions

A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities. Some examples include historical places, monuments, zoos, aquaria, museums and art galleries, botanical gardens, buildings and structures (e.g., castles, libraries, former prisons, skyscrapers, bridges), national parks and forests, theme parks and carnivals, living history museums, ethnic enclave communities, historic trains and cultural events. Many tourist attractions are also landmarks.

Tourist attractions are also created to capitalise on legends such as a supposed UFO crash site near Roswell, New Mexico and the alleged Loch Ness monster sightings in Scotland. Ghost sightings also make tourist attractions.

Ethnic communities may become tourist attractions, such as Chinatowns in the United States and the black British neighborhood of Brixton in London, England.

In the US, owners and marketers of attractions advertise tourist attractions on billboards along the side of highways and roadways, especially in remote areas. Tourist attractions often provide free promotional brochures and flyers in information centres, fast food restaurants, hotel and motel rooms or lobbies, and rest areas.

While some tourist attractions provide visitors a memorable experience for a reasonable admission charge or even for free, others can have a tendency to be of low quality and to overprice their goods and services (such as admission, food, and souvenirs) in order to profit from tourists excessively. Such places are commonly known as tourist traps.

Novelty attraction

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Objectives: Explain the concept of destination Outline the major destinations and attractions in the world Identify the countries of the world and their general tourism profiles including climate,

capital cities, bordering countries, and etc. Understand the roles of UNESCO

Travel Geography

Novelty attractions are oddities such as the "biggest ball of twine" in Cawker City, Kansas, the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, or Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska where old cars serve in the place of stones in a replica of Stonehenge. Novelty attractions are not limited to the American Midwest, but are part of Midwestern culture.

Tourist traps

A tourist trap is an establishment, or group of establishments, that has been created with the aim of attracting tourists and their money. Tourist traps will typically provide services, entertainment, souvenirs and other products for tourists to purchase.

While the term may have negative connotations for some, such establishments may be viewed by tourists as fun and interesting diversions.

Major Destination in the World

Top Ten Country of Destination by Regions in 2011

International tourist arrivals by country of destination 2011

Rank Country International tourist arrivals1  France 76.80 million2  United States 60.88 million3  China 55.67 million4  Spain 52.68 million5  Italy 43.63 million6  United Kingdom 28.13 million7  Turkey 27.00 million8  Germany 26.88 million9  Malaysia 24.58 million10  Mexico 22.40 million

Africa

Rank Country International tourist arrivals1  Morocco 9.29 million2  South Africa 8.07 million3  Tunisia 6.95 million4  Zimbabwe 2.24 million5  Mozambique 2.22 million (2009)6  Algeria 1.91 million (2009)7  Botswana 1.55 million (2009)8  Nigeria 1.41 million (2009)9  Kenya 1.39 million (2009)10  Namibia 0.98 million (2009)

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Travel Geography

Middle East

Rank Country International tourist arrivals1  Egypt 14.05 million2  Saudi Arabia 10.85 million3  Syria 8.55 million4  United Arab Emirates 7.43 million5  Bahrain 4.94 million (2007)6  Jordan 4.00 million7  Israel[note 2] 3.5 million8  Lebanon 2.17 million9  Qatar 1.66 million (2009)10  Oman 1.52 million (2009)Notes

1. Africa and the Middle East are classified together as one region by the UNWTO.2. Israel is classified under the "Southern/Mediter. Eu." subregion by the UNWTO.

The Americas

Rank Country International tourist arrivals1  United States 59.75 million2  Mexico 22.40 million3  Canada 16.10 million4  Argentina 5.29 million5  Brazil 5.16 million6  Dominican Republic 4.13 million7  Puerto Rico 3.68 million8  Chile 2.77 million9  Cuba 2.51 million10  Colombia 2.39 million

Asia and the Pacific

Rank Country International tourist arrivals1  China 55.67 million2  Malaysia 24.58 million3  Hong Kong 20.09 million4  Thailand 15.84 million5  Macau 11.93 million6  Singapore 9.16 million7  South Korea 8.80 million8  Japan 8.61 million9  Indonesia 7.00 million

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Travel Geography

Rank Country International tourist arrivals10  Australia 5.89 million

Europe

Rank Country International tourist arrivals1  France 76.80 million2  Spain 52.68 million3  Italy 43.63 million4  United Kingdom 28.13 million5  Turkey[note 1] 27.00 million6  Germany 26.88 million7  Austria 22.00 million8  Ukraine 21.20 million9  Russia 20.27 million10  Greece 15.01 millionNotes

1. Turkey is classified under the "Southern/Mediter. Eu." subregion by the UNWTO.

Major Attractions in the World

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The historian Herodotus (484 – ca. 425 BCE), and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca. 305 – 240 BCE) at the Museum of Alexandria, made early lists of seven wonders but their writings have not survived, except as references. The seven wonders included:

Great Pyramid of Giza Hanging Gardens of Babylon Statue of Zeus at Olympia Temple of Artemis at Ephesus Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus Colossus of Rhodes Lighthouse of Alexandria

The list known today was compiled in the Middle Ages—by which time many of the sites were no longer in existence. Today, the only ancient world wonder that still exists is the Great Pyramid of Giza.

New Seven Wonders of the World

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Travel Geography

Wonder Date of construction LocationGreat Wall of China Since 7th century BC ChinaPetra c.100 BCE JordanChrist the Redeemer Opened October 12, 1931 BrazilMachu Picchu c.1450 CE PeruChichen Itza c.600 CE MexicoColosseum Completed 80 CE ItalyTaj Mahal Completed c.1648 CE IndiaGreat Pyramid of Giza (Honorary Candidate) Completed c.2560 BCE Egypt

Seven Wonders of the Modern World

Wonder Date started Date finished Location

Channel Tunnel December 1, 1987 May 6, 1994 Strait of Dover, between the

United Kingdom and France

CN Tower February 6, 1973

June 26, 1976, tallest freestanding structure in the world 1976–2007. Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Empire State Building

January 22, 1930

May 1, 1931, Tallest structure in the world 1931–1967. First building with 100+ stories.

New York, NY, U.S.

Golden Gate Bridge

January 5, 1933 May 27, 1937

Golden Gate Strait, north of San Francisco, California, U.S.

Itaipu Dam January 1970 May 5, 1984 Paraná River, between Brazil and Paraguay

Delta Works/ Zuiderzee Works 1920 May 10, 1997 Netherlands

Panama Canal January 1, 1880 January 7, 1914 Isthmus of Panama

Seven Natural Wonders of the World

Similar to the other lists of wonders, there is no consensus on a list of seven natural wonders of the world, and there has been debate over how large the list should be. One of the many existing lists was compiled by CNN:

Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia Harbor of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Mount Everest, Himalaya, International Border Nepal-China Aurora (a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and

Antarctic) regions) Parícutin volcano, Mexico Victoria Falls, Southern Africa, between Zambia and Zimbabwe

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance. The list is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by

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Travel Geography

the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 states parties which are elected by their General Assembly.

The program catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity. Under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The programme was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, which was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on November 16, 1972. Since then, 189 states parties have ratified the convention.

As of 2011, 936 sites are listed: 725 cultural, 183 natural, and 28 mixed properties, in 153 States Parties. Italy is home to the greatest number of World Heritage Sites to date with 47 sites inscribed on the list. UNESCO references each World Heritage Site with an identification number; but new inscriptions often include previous sites now listed as part of larger descriptions. As a result, the identification numbers exceed 1200 even though there are fewer on the list.

While each World Heritage Site remains part of the legal territory of the state wherein the site is located, UNESCO considers it in the interest of the international community to preserve each site.

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists:

The Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage are established by UNESCO aiming to ensure the better protection of important intangible cultural heritages worldwide and the awareness of their significance. Through a compendium of the different oral and intangible treasures of humankind worldwide, the program aims to draw attention to the importance of safeguarding intangible heritage, which has been identified by UNESCO as an essential component and a repository of cultural diversity and creative expression.

The programme currently compiles two lists. The longer Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity comprises cultural "practices and expressions [that] help demonstrate the diversity of this heritage and raise awareness about its importance." The shorter List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding is composed of those cultural elements that concerned communities and countries consider require urgent measures to keep them alive.

Note: Please refer Internet for the full list of World Heritage Site

Activity:Have a look at the world map, identify the continents of the world and determine which countries include in which continents. After that, explore each of the countries’ general tourism profiles including their climates, capital cities, currencies, bordering countries, international airports, as well as their landmarks and major attractions.(Refer to Appendix A)

UNIT 3:RESOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM

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Objectives: Explain the landform landscape and identify the different types of landform Explore the environmental importance and impact of coastal development Discuss the main resources in tourism including wildlife resources, nature resources and

man-made resources Understand about protected landscape and the role of WCPA

Travel Geography

Landform Landscape

Landform

A landform in the earth sciences and geology sub-fields, comprises a geomorphological unit, and is largely defined by its surface form and location in the landscape, as part of the terrain, and as such, is typically an element of topography. Landform is the any recognizable naturally formed surface feature of the earth. Landforms have a characteristic shape and can include such large features as plains, plateaus,mountains,valleys as well as small features such as hills, canyons and eskers. Landform elements also include seascape and oceanic waterbody interface features such as bays, peninsulas, seas and so forth, including sub-aqueous terrain features such as submersed mountain ranges, volcanoes, and the great ocean basins.

Physical characteristics

Landforms are categorised by characteristic physical attributes such as elevation, slope, orientation, stratification, rock exposure, and soil type.

Gross physical features or landforms include intuitive elements such as berms, mounds, hills, ridges, cliffs, valleys, rivers, peninsulas and numerous other structural and size-scaled (i.e. ponds vs. lakes, hills vs. mountains) elements including various kinds of inland and oceanic waterbodies and sub-surface features.

Hierarchy of classes

Oceans and continents exemplify the highest-order landforms. Landform elements are parts of a high-order landforms that can be further identified and systematically given a cohesive definition such as hill-tops, shoulders, saddles, foreslopes and backslopes.

Some generic landform elements including: pits, peaks, channels, ridges, passes, pools and plains, may be extracted from a digital elevation model using some automated techniques where the data has been gathered by modern satellites and stereoscopic aerial surveillance cameras. Terrain (or relief) is the third or vertical dimension of land surface. Topography is the study of terrain, although the word is often used as a synonym for relief itself. When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used. In cartography, many different techniques are used to describe relief, including contour lines and TIN (Triangulated irregular network).*

Landforms do not include man-made features, such as canals, ports and many harbors; and geographic features, such as deserts, forests, grasslands, and impact craters.Terrain

Terrain is used as a general term in physical geography, referring to the lie of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientation of terrain features. Terrain affects surface water flow and distribution. Over a large area, it can affect weather and climate patterns.

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* Differences between topography and cartography:Topography Cartography

Topography is a field of planetary science comprising the study of surface shape and features of the Earth and other observable astronomical objects including planets, moons, and asteroids. It is also the description of such surface shapes and features (especially their depiction in maps).

The topography of an area can also mean the surface shape and features themselves.In a broader sense, topography is concerned with local detail in general, including not only relief but also vegetative and artificial features, and even local history and culture.

Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.

Modern cartography is closely integrated with geographic information science (GIScience) and constitutes many theoretical and practical foundations of geographic information systems.

* List of landforms:Type of landforms Characteristics

Aeolian landformsAeolian landforms are features of the Earth's surface produced by either the erosive or constructive action of the wind.

Coastal and oceanic landforms See: Ocean and sea (Unit 1)

Erosion landforms

Landforms produced by erosion and weathering usually occur in coastal or fluvial environments. Erosion is the process by which soil and rock are removed from the Earth's surface by natural processes such as wind or water flow, and then transported and deposited in other locations.

Fluvial landforms

Fluvial is a term used in geography and Earth science to refer to the processes associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluvioglacial is used.

Lacustrine landforms See: Lake (Unit 1)

Mountain and glacial landforms

Glacial landforms are those created by the action of glaciers. Most of today's glacial landforms were created by the movement of large ice sheets during the Quaternary glaciations. Some areas, like Fennoscandia and the southern Andes, have extensive occurrences of glacial landforms; other areas, such as the Sahara, display very old fossil glacial landforms.

Slope landforms See: Plateau and plain (Unit 1)

Volcanic landforms

A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or crust, which allows hot magma, volcanic ash and gases to escape from below the surface.

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A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs. Both the terms coast and coastal are often used to describe a geographic location or region; for example, New Zealand's West Coast, or the East and West Coasts of the United States.

A pelagic coast refers to a coast which fronts the open ocean, as opposed to a more sheltered coast in a gulf or bay. A shore, on the other hand, can refer to parts of the land which adjoin any large body of water, including oceans (sea shore) and lakes (lake shore). Similarly, the somewhat related term "bank" refers to the land alongside or sloping down to a river (riverbank) or to a body of water smaller than a lake. "Bank" is also used in some parts of the world to refer to an artificial ridge of earth intended to retain the water of a river or pond. In other places this may be called a levee.

Environmental importance

The coast and its adjacent areas on and off shore is an important part of a local ecosystem as the mixture of fresh water and salt water in estuaries provides many nutrients for marine life. Salt marshes and beaches also support a diversity of plants, animals, and insects crucial to the food chain.The high level of biodiversity creates a high level of biological activity, which has attracted human activity for thousands of years.

Human impacts

Human uses of coasts

An increasing part the global population inhabits coastal regions. Many of the world's major cities have been built on or near good harbors and have port facilities. Jurisdictions that are landlocked have achieved port status by such measures such as building canals.

The coast is a crucial frontier that nations typically defended against military invaders, smugglers and illegal migrants. Fixed Coastal defenses have long been erected in many nations and coastal countries typically have a navy and some form of coast guard.

Coasts, especially those with beaches and warm water are an important draw for tourists. In many island nations such as those of the Mediterranean, South Pacific and Caribbean, tourism is central to the economy. Coasts are popular destinations because of recreational activities such as swimming, fishing, surfing, boating, and sunbathing. Growth management can be a challenge for coastal local authorities who often struggle to provide the infrastructure required by new residents.

Threats to a coast

Coasts also face many environmental challenges relating to human-induced impacts. The human influence on climate change is thought to be a contributing factor of an accelerated trend in sea level rise which threatens coastal habitat.Pollution can occur from a number of sources: garbage and industrial debris, the transportation of petroleum in tankers, increasing the probability of large oil spills, small oil spills created by large and small vessels, which flush bilge water into the ocean.

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Fishing has diminished due to habitat degradation, overfishing, trawling, bycatch and climate change. Since the growth of global fishing enterprises after the 1950s, intensive fishing has gone from a few concentrated areas to encompass nearly all fisheries. The scraping of the ocean floor in bottom dragging is devastating to coral, sponges and other long-lived species that do not recover quickly. This destruction alters the functioning of the ecosystem and can permanently alter species composition and biodiversity. Bycatch, the capture of unintended species in the course of fishing, is typically returned the ocean only to die from injuries or exposure. Bycatch represents approximately ¼ of all marine catch. In the case of shrimp capture, the bycatch is five times larger than the shrimp caught.

Also, the melting arctic ice will cause sea rise which will flood costal areas.

Coastal management

In some jurisdictions the terms sea defense and coastal protection are used to mean, respectively, defense against flooding and erosion. The term coastal defence is the more traditional term, but coastal management has become more popular as the field has expanded to include techniques that allow erosion to claim land.

Current challenges in coastal management

The coastal zone is a dynamic area of natural change and of increasing human use. They occupy less than 15% of the Earth's land surface; yet accommodate more than 50% of the world population (it is estimated that 3.1 billion people live within 200 kilometres from the sea). With three-quarters of the world population expected to reside in the coastal zone by 2025, human activities originating from this small land area will impose an inordinate amount of pressures on the global system. Coastal zones contain rich resources to produce goods and services and are home to most commercial and industrial activities. Shore protection consists up to the 50's of interposing a static structure between the sea and the land to prevent erosion and or flooding, and it has a long history.

From that period new technical or friendly policies have been developed to preserve the environment when possible. Is already important where there are extensive low-lying areas that require protection. For instance: Venice, New Orleans, Nagara river in Japan, Holland, Caspian Sea Protection against the sea level rise in the 21st century will be especially important, as sea level rise is currently accelerating. This will be a challenge to coastal management, since seawalls and breakwaters are generally expensive to construct, and the costs to build protection in the face of sea-level rise would be enormous.

Changes on sea level have a direct adaptative response from beaches and coastal systems, as we can see in the succession of a lowering sea level. When the sea level rises, coastal sediments are in part pushed up by wave and tide energy, so sea-level rise processes have a component of sediment transport landwards. This results in a dynamic model of rise effects with a continuous sediment displacement that is not compatible with static models where coastline change is only based on topographic data.

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Planning approaches

There are five generic strategies for coastal defense: Inaction leading to eventual abandonment , involving no protection, is cheap and expedient.

The coast takes care of itself and coastal facilities are abandoned to coastal erosion, with either gradual landward retreat or evacuation and resettlement elsewhere.

Managed retreat or realignment , which plans for retreat and adopts engineering solutions that recognize natural processes of adjustment, and identifies a new line of defense where to construct new defenses

Hold the line , shoreline protection, whereby seawalls are constructed around the coastlines Move seawards , this happens by constructing new defenses seaward the original ones Limited intervention , accommodation, by which adjustments are made to be able to cope

with inundation, raising coastal land and buildings vertically

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Wildlife Resources

Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative.

Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, forests, rain forests, plains, grasslands, and other areas including the most developed urban sites, all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human factors, most scientists agree that wildlife around the world is impacted by human activities.

Humans have historically tended to separate civilization from wildlife in a number of ways including the legal, social, and moral sense. This has been a reason for debate throughout recorded history. Religions have often declared certain animals to be sacred, and in modern times concern for the natural environment has provoked activists to protest the exploitation of wildlife for human benefit or entertainment.

Major threats to wildlife can be categorized as below: Habitat loss : Fewer natural wildlife habitat areas remain each year. Moreover, the habitat

that remains has often been degraded to bear little resemblance to the wild areas which existed in the past.

Climate change : Because many types of plants and animals have specific habitat requirements, climate change could cause disastrous loss of wildlife species. A slight insect are harmed and disturbed. Plants and wildlife are sensitive to moisture change so, they will be harmed by any change in moisture level.

Pesticides and toxic chemical : Widely used, making the environment toxic to certain plants, insects, and rodents.

Unregulated Hunting and poaching : Unregulated hunting and poaching causes a major threat to wildlife. Along with this, mismanagement of forest department and forest guards triggers this problem.

Natural phenomena : Floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, lightning, forest fires. Pollution : Pollutants released into the environment are ingested by a wide variety of

organisms. Over-exploitation of resources : Exploitation of wild populations for food has resulted in

population crashes (over-fishing, for example). Accidental deaths : Car collisions, air collisions (birds), collisions with ships (whales), etc.

* Based on the degree of threat rating on them, they could be classified as:Classification Characteristics

Endangered species

Their numbers have been reduced to a critical level pushing them to near extinction. They may become extinct very shortly. Example; snow leopard, red panda and Asian elephant.

Vurnerable species

Their population is still abundant but their habitat is adversely affected. They may become endangered if their habitat continues to be affected. Example; leopand and golden langur.

Rare species

They are such species – whose population is very thinly populated on a wide geographical area – affecting their natural reproduction. Example; Indian desert cat and wild yak.

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Wildlife management

Wildlife management attempts to balance the needs of wildlife with the needs of people using the best available science. Wildlife conservation aims to halt the loss in the earths biodiversity by taking into consideration ecological principles such as carrying capacity, disturbance and succession and environmental conditions such as physical geography, pedology and hydrology with the aim of balancing the needs of wildlife with the needs of people. Most wildlife biologists are concerned with the preservation and improvement of habitats although reinstatement is increasingly being used. Techniques can include reforestation, pest control, nitrification and denitrification, irrigation, coppicing and hedge laying.

Types of wildlife management

There are two general types of wildlife management: Manipulative management acts on a population, either changing its numbers by direct means

or influencing numbers by the indirect means of altering food supply, habitat, density of predators, or prevalence of disease.

Custodial management is preventive or protective. The aim is to minimize external influences on the population and its habitat. It is appropriate in a national park where one of the stated goals is to protect ecological processes. It is also appropriate for conservation of a threatened species where the threat is of external origin rather than being intrinsic to the system.

Wildlife conservation

Wildlife conservation is a practice in which people attempt to protect endangered plant and animal species, along with their habitats. The goal of wildlife conservation is to ensure that nature will be around for future generations to enjoy, and to recognize the importance of wildlife and wilderness lands to humans. Many nations have government agencies dedicated to wildlife conservation which help to implement policies designed to protect wildlife, and numerous independent nonprofit organizations also promote various wildlife conservation causes.

Wildlife conservation has become an increasingly important practice due to the negative effects of human activity on wildlife. The science of conservation biology plays a part in wildlife conservation. The ethic of conservation and lobbying by conservationists has made it an important environmental issue.

Types of conservation:1. Ex-situ conservation means literally, "off-site conservation". It is the process of protecting

an endangered species of plant or animal outside of its natural habitat; for example, by removing part of the population from a threatened habitat and placing it in a new location, which may be a wild area or within the care of humans.

2. In-situ conservation is on-site conservation or the conservation of genetic resources in natural populations of plant or animal species, such as forest genetic resources in natural populations of tree species. It is the process of protecting an endangered plant or animal species in its natural habitat, either by protecting or cleaning up the habitat itself, or by defending the species from predators.

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Man-made Resources versus Nature Resources

A man-made resource is a resource that has been created through the acts of humans. For example, bleach is a man-made resource. It does not exist in nature (in any significant quantity), and is produced and consumed by humans.

A natural resource is a resource that exists naturally. It might also be defined as a resource which man did not create (i.e. not man-made). For example, coal is a natural resource. It only exists in nature, and it is consumed by humans.

Some resources are both. For example, forests can be both natural and man-made resources. Forests that were planted by humans are man-made resources, while forests that were not planted by humans are natural resources. Baking soda is another example of a man-made or natural resource. Most baking soda is made by humans from other materials, but baking soda can also be mined from the ground in certain locations.

Natural Resources

Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems. Natural resources are derived from the environment. Some of them are essential for our survival while most are used for satisfying our wants. Natural resources may be further classified in different ways.

Natural resources are materials and components (something that can be used) that can be found within the environment. Every man-made product is composed of natural resources (at its fundamental level). A natural resource may exist as a separate entity such as fresh water, and air, as well as a living organism such as a fish, or it may exist in an alternate form which must be processed to obtain the resource such as metal ores, oil, and most forms of energy.

There are very few resources that are considered inexhaustible (will not run out in foreseeable future) – these are solar radiation, geothermal energy, and air (though access to clean air may not be). The vast majority of resources are however exhaustible, which means they have a finite quantity, and can be depleted if managed improperly. The natural resources are materials, which living organisms can take from nature for sustaining their life or any components of the natural environment that can be utilized by man to promote his welfare is considered as natural resources.

Management

Natural resource management refers to the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations (stewardship).

Natural resource management deals with managing the way in which people and natural landscapes interact. It brings together land use planning, water management, biodiversity conservation, and the future sustainability of industries like agriculture, mining, tourism, fisheries and forestry. It recognises that people and their livelihoods rely on the health and productivity of our landscapes, and their actions as stewards of the land play a critical role in maintaining this health and productivity. Natural resource management is also congruent with the concept of sustainable development, a scientific principle that forms a basis for sustainable global land management and environmental governance to conserve and preserve natural resources.

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Protected landscape/seascape

A protected area where the interaction of people and nature over time has produced an area of distinct character with significant, ecological, biological, cultural and scenic value – and where safeguarding the integrity of this interaction is vital to protect and sustain the area and its associated nature conservation and other values.

Thinking on protected areas is undergoing a fundamental shift. Whereas protected areas were once planned against people, now it is recognized that they need to be planned with local people, and often for and by them as well. Where once the emphasis was on setting places aside, we now look to develop linkages between strictly protected core areas and the areas around; economic links which benefit local people, and physical links, via ecological corridors, to provide more space for species and natural processes.

The use of the protected landscape approach has many benefits. By including working landscapes taht are rich in biodiversity, and demonstrate sustainable use of natural resources, the protected areas estate can be extended. Protected landscapes can also reinforce more strictly protected areas by surrounding them and linking them with landscape managed for conservation and sustainable use. They can help to conserve both wild and agricultural biodiversity, and to conserve human history alongside nature. They can support and reward stewardship of natural resources, sustain rural economies, and help communities resist pressures from outside which could undermine their way of life.

World Commission on Protected Areas

The World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is the world's premier network of protected area expertise. It is administered by IUCN's Programme on Protected Areas and has over 1,400 members, spanning 140 countries.

WCPA works by helping governments and others plan protected areas and integrate them into all sectors; by providing strategic advice to policy makers; by strengthening capacity and investment in protected areas; and by convening the diverse constituency of protected area stakeholders to address challenging issues.

WCPA's MissionPromote the establishment and effective management of a world-wide representative network of terrestrial and marine protected areas as an integral contribution to IUCN's mission.

WCPA's Objectives help governments and others plan protected areas and integrate them into all sectors, through

provision of strategic advice to policy makers; strengthen capacity and effectiveness of protected areas managers, through provision of

guidance, tools and information and a vehicle for networking; increase investment in protected areas, by persuading public and corporate donors of their

value; and Enhance WCPA's capacity to implement its programmed, including through co-operation

with IUCN members and partners.

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UNIT 4: THE APPEAL OF TOURISM DESTINATIONS

The Factors that Establish Destinations

The success of a tourism destination in its approach to destination management can be influenced by a wide range of factors. As a dynamic and complex industry, destination managers need to be continually monitoring, reviewing and evaluating tourism performance and management strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of tourism in the destination. The strategic planning and ongoing management for a destination will contribute to the continuous improvement and success of a tourism destination.

Destinations are dynamic places characterised by complex sets of relations between community members, business interests and government. In this context, no two destinations are the same. Any number of conditions, such as destination size/scale, geography, climate, local economic conditions, social and cultural values, political orientations, tourist perceptions and movements combine to produce different issues and outcomes. Destinations can therefore exist at multiple scales from local to international. They can be defined as geographical locations; clusters of attractions, services, activities and infrastructure; politicaladministrative units; or social, cultural, economic or spatial constructs, or any combination of these perspectives.

Destinations are also characterised by different combinations of natural, built and human resources, receive different levels of support from governments, and have different capacities to innovate, compete and differentiate. It is therefore difficult to draw lessons about good or best practice from the literature because practice also requires local knowledge and an understanding of political sensitivities which are often embedded within specific destination contexts. It is therefore important that destination researchers and destination planning and management practitioners have a well formed appreciation for the complexity of destinations, how they are imagined and perceived, and how they are defined by different stakeholders and markets.

Successful destinations are also founded on effective and sustainable planning and management. Good destination planning and management must adopt an approach whereby sustainable destination management, development and marketing practices are regarded as being inter-related and equally valued. More recently, with increasing realization of the vulnerability of many destinations to environmental crises, market downturns and increased international competition, there has been a strengthening commitment to a balanced approach to destination planning and management. Good tourism destination planning and management should therefore be underpinned by sustainable tourism development, good governance and good marketing. Furthermore assigning a ‘one size fits all’ strategy for effective planning and management of tourism destinations is not appropriate.

Historical and cultural factors

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Objectives: Understand the primary factors that establish destinations Explore the historical and cultural factors in tourism Identify and discuss the different types of tourists State and explain the different types of tourism Discuss about sporting and urban facilities

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Definitions

Cultural Tourism : Tourism, the principal purpose of which is to share and enjoy physical and intangible heritage and culture, including landscapes, buildings, collections, the arts, identity, tradition and language.

Historic towns and cities : Historic places and areas, including villages, small towns, cities and parts of larger urban areas with significant cultural and heritage assets.

Sustainability : The Guidelines are based on the Bruntland Commission definition of sustainable development, as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

Tourism and Historic Towns – Issues

Tourism is not new to historic places and much of their history was built around it and it continues to support them by:

Generating economic value Supporting investment in heritage assets Supporting local facilities and services Sustaining local traditions, events and products.

Yet the impact of tourism can pose problems for historic places, for example damage to both the sense of place and cultural identity. In practice tourism means different things to different places: for some it is an aspiration, for others it is a challenge to be managed. It is also important to consider the potential of different destinations, which will vary from place to place.

Historic places need to consider seven key issues in developing a more sustainable approach to cultural tourism.

1. Defining the product The historic place product includes, culture, heritage, attractions and facilities. The elements must both work individually and come together as a coherent whole to maximise the benefit to the place and provide a unique tourist experience.

2. Physical and Social Impacts Many historic places are comparatively small and large numbers of visitors can result in congestion, wear and tear, disturbance and a sense of displacement for local people. Adapting a historic place to the demands of the 21st century can bring the fear of physical change; however, regeneration working with tourism can often find valuable new uses for historic buildings.

3. Retaining Distinctiveness Historic towns and cities offer local distinctiveness and a strong sense of place and they need to retain these qualities if they are to be successful in attracting high value tourism. Properly managed tourism can help local people to understand and value what is distinctive about their place.

4. Resources and Climate Change

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Cultural tourism cannot afford to ignore its potential impacts on resources, the wider environment and climate change. However, there is an opportunity for business and destinations to develop more environmentally friendly products and practices.

5. Optimise Benefits Historic places face the challenge of trying to optimise the benefits of tourism, for example, by attracting inward investment. What most historic places will seek is discerning, high spending visitors staying longer throughout the year.

6. Competition Europe’s historic places face global competition; they cannot afford to be complacent and they need to understand how the markets are changing. Delivering a high quality experience to overseas and domestic visitors is central to remaining competitive.

7. Support and Funding Despite the importance of tourism it often has a low political priority. The consequence is that many historic places receive insufficient resources to ensure product quality and distinctiveness and establish proactive destination management.

Principles for Sustainable Cultural Tourism

The principles set out below reflect common themes that emerge from this assessment and should guide an integrated approach to sustainable cultural tourism. The principles of sustainable cultural tourism are that:

1. Climate change is a critical global issue and priority should be given to forms of cultural tourism that reduce carbon emissions, conserve rare and precious resources, in particular water and energy, and avoid waste production.

2. Municipalities should attach an intrinsic value to the culture and heritage of historic towns and cities over and above their importance as tourism assets.

3. Authenticity, distinctiveness and the rights and beliefs of local cultures should be respected and underpin approaches to cultural tourism.

4. Tourism is an economically important activity and cultural tourism should contribute to an overall programme of sustainable development.

5. Cultural and heritage assets should be conserved and cultural tourism should contribute to achieving this.

6. The needs of the local community are critical and cultural tourism should be agreed and owned by the host community and the aspirations for it communicated to visitors.

7. Equity is important to long term sustainability and cultural tourism should aim to provide benefits equitably to the local community.

8. Effective management and development requires coordinated action and all local stakeholders, including municipal governments, local communities and businesses, must be involved in the development of cultural tourism.

9. Cultural tourism must respond to the needs of visitors and aim to deliver a high quality visitor experience.

10. The impact of tourism should be reflected in prices to consumers and producers, prices reflecting the real cost to society and the environment.

11. Cultural tourism will be built around more sustainable transport to, within and from the destination.

12. The management and development of cultural tourism should be responsive to change.

The complexity of cultural tourism and places means that it will rarely be possible to comply with all of the principles. It is a matter of balance and each place must seek the position that is right for

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it. Taking the issues underlying these principles, a structured approach to sustainable cultural tourism can be defined by considering:

Visitors – their needs, aspirations and wellbeing Industry – the need for tourism businesses to be profitable Community – respecting the values and quality of life of the local people Environment – conserving cultural and physical environments

Types of Cultural Tourists

1. Purposeful cultural tourist (high centrality/deep experience) learning about the other's culture or heritage is a major reason for visiting a destination and this type of cultural tourist has a deep cultural experience;

2. Sightseeing cultural tourist (high centrality/shallow experience) learning about the other's culture or heritage is a major reason for visiting a destination, but this type of tourist has a more shallow, entertainment-orientated experience;

3. The casual cultural tourist (modest centrality/shallow experience) cultural tourism reasons play a limited role in the decision to visit a destination and this type of cultural tourist engages the destination in a shallow manner;

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4. The incidental cultural tourist (low centrality/shallow experience) cultural tourism plays little or no meaningful role in the destination decision-making process, but while at the destination, the person will participate in cultural tourism activities, having a shallow experience;

5. The serendipitous cultural tourist (low centrality/deep experience) cultural tourism plays little or no role in the decision to visit a destination, but while there this type of cultural tourist visits cultural attractions and ends up having a deep experience.

Other Types of Cultural Tourists

1. One group, the smallest, consists of persons "greatly motivated" by culture - - people who travel to a city or region specifically because of its cultural opportunities, such as museums, cultural festivals and theatre, representing perhaps 15% of the total non-resident pleasure travel market.

2. The second group is persons motivated "in part" by culture, persons who travel both because of the cultural opportunities and, say, to visit friends or relatives or to relax by a lake. This group represents about 30% of the market.

3. The third group, representing about 20% of the market, is people for whom culture is an "adjunct" to another more important motivation. That is, the main motivation for choosing to visit might be for hiking, but while there, visitors will plan to include cultural opportunities in evenings.

4. The fourth group, also about 20% of the market, is what we refer to as the "accidental cultural tourist" - - people traveling to the region who do not intend to go to a cultural attraction or event but find, for example, that the friends or relatives they have visited bring them along, or that the cultural opportunity is close to their hotel, or that they “stumble” into an arts festival.

Other Types of Tourists

Business and professional tourists

1. Business tourist : travel is related to business and the world of work. MESE which stands for meetings, exhibitions and special events. These are all part of the business world. All major cities have conference centers that cater for the needs of business tourists. An example of a business tourist would be a salesman who travels to another city to attend a trade show and promote the products he sells.

2. Education tourists : travel to attend a place of learning in another town, city, or country, in order to study for or improve a qualification. They may also be people that attend workshops to learn new skills or improve existing ones. A clinic nurse who travels to another province to attend a workshop about infectious diseases is an example of an educational tourist.

3. Incentive tourists : are people who are rewarded in the form of a company paid holiday for their hard work, or for achieving goals set by their company. This incentive to travel motivates employees to work harder, improves work relationships, and builds team spirit. A salesman who receives a holiday package for achieving the most sales in the company is an example of an incentive tourist.

4. Health or medical tourist : travel because they want to visit a holiday spa, needs medical special treatment that is only available away from home, undergo procedures that are cheaper in another country, or are recovering from an illness in a healthier climate. Many tourist come from oversees countries to South Africa to have plastic surgery.

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Leisure and holiday tourists

1. Adventure tourist : want an unusual and exciting experience. They want to participate in activities that may be dangerous, such as rock climbing, river rafting, skydiving, shark cave diving and bungee jumping.

2. Cultural tourist : want to experience different cultures, such as San rock art, or cultural related festivals such as the National Art Festival in Grahams-town, or the International Jazz Festival in Cape Town. They would also want to experience the World Heritage Sites in the country.

3. Eco-tourists : travel to experience nature such as traveling to Bonita Gardens in Bloemfontein South Africa

4. Leisure tourist : want to rest and relax and have a break from the usual routine Examples of this type of tourism are a cruise on a cruise liner, a trip on a Blue train, attending a special music special music performance or relaxing on the beach.

5. Religious tourist : want to see and experience places of religious importance. There are many religious destinations in the world such as the Hajj in Mecca, Jerusalem in Israel, Varanasi in India, and the Vatican in Rome. During Easter the largest Christian pilgrimage to Zion City, Moria, Limpopo, takes place. More than a million pilgrims travel to Moria to every Easter.

6. Shopping tourist : travel to shopping malls, shopping centres, factory shops, crafts market, festivals, and touring shopping routes such as the Midlands in KwaZulu-Natal. Their main purpose is to buy items.

7. Special interest tourist (SIT) : have particular interest such as bird watching, food and wine, flowers, fishing during the Sardine Run, or attending the Cape Town Book Fair.

8. Sport and recreation tourist : participate in or watch sporting events. Popular events include the Soccer World Cup, Wimbledon Tennis Championship, Comrades Marathon, and Fisher River Canoe Marathon. Surfing, mountain climbing, cricket, swimming, golf and tennis are popular sports.

Tourists travelling to Visit Friends and Relatives

Tourist visiting friends and relatives (VFR) want to stay in contact with friends and relatives and travel away from home to visit them. These tourists may travel to attend a wedding, funeral, or birthday celebration of friends or relatives.

Youth tourists

1. Backpacking or youth tourist : generally have little luggage, are on a budget, want to experience adventure and excitement, tend to travel independently, enjoy meeting other traveler, and have flexible travel schedules. A group of young tourists on a weekend walking tour in the mountains, or a student touring around the country by bus are examples of this group of tourist.

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2. Gap year travelers : do not study further or enter job opportunity after school, instead they take break called a gap year. They travel, work and earn money, learn new skills or do volunteer work in another country. During this time they gain skills and life experience before starting tertiary education. These young people are also known as “gappers”.

Nature-based Tourism

Nature-based tourism is any activity that relies on experiences directly related to natural attractions including ecotourism, adventure tourism, wildlife tourism, extractive tourism (for example fishing and gold panning), and nature retreats. It covers a diverse range of experiences, attractions and activities. Alternately used with ecotourism.

From the standpoint of conservation, nature-based tourism provides incentives for local communities and landowners to conserve wildlife habitats upon which the industry depends – it promotes conservation by placing an increased value on remaining natural areas. As nature tourism becomes more important to the local economy, communities have additional incentive to conserve their remaining natural areas for wildlife and wildlife enthusiasts.

Dimensions of nature-based tourism

Understanding Diversity in Nature-based Tourism

It should be clear that nature-based tourists are not homogeneous and management agencies which act as though tourists are all alike create many problems for both tourists and themselves. In classifying the range of tourists and operations which might be encompassed by the term 'nature tourism' it is apparent that there are many dimensions in which variation might occur.

those activities (experiences) dependent on nature; those activities (experiences) enhanced by nature; and those activities (experiences) for which the natural setting is incidental.

For example, people seeking to observe animals in the wild (e.g. Hornbills) require natural environment (e.g. Khao Yai National Park) to enjoy their experience. Such birdwatching is clearly dependent on nature and that dependency is the basis of successful tour operators. Camping is an activity frequently enhanced by nature - people usually prefer to camp in a forest rather than a

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quarry. Preferences like this do depend upon nature but the activity might be possible with equal satisfaction for some users without a purely natural setting. If a person's primary interest is a cooling swim then the setting may be incidental, and relatively unimportant assuming the water is unpolluted! It is also true that there may be many activities which are ruined or at least degraded by nature - for example the presence of ants at a picnic or sharks at a beach.

The above table is a first approximation of some useful dimensions, divided into broad categories of experience, style and location. These will be of particular use in designing research programs or management plans and for most of these dimensions little is known.

An example might help illustrate the concepts outlined. 1. One class of nature-based tourism includes 'highly dedicated specialist birders', a market

which is already well developed and expanding and can involve considerable cash flow (Valentine, 1984; Vardaman, 1982). Such birders ('twitchers' in some parts of the world - cf. Oddle, 1980) are frequently impatient with the presence of lesser skilled individuals and desire small group sizes of birders with a comparable experience base. Satisfaction comes almost entirely from nature observations, or related activities.

2. By contrast a 'nature club tour group' would probably tolerate a wider variety of skills; would not focus simply on birds; and would be comfortable with a larger group and more variable individuals.

3. A third example might be nonspecialist tourists whose interest is in 'seeing somewhere different from home'. These 'exotica' tourists may also have an interest in nature and typically make up a high proportion of visitors to nature destinations accessible by road (e.g. national park front country). Satisfaction for this group comes mainly from the relatively superficial interaction with nature and the sense of discovery associated with it.

These three examples illustrate a further point: that the impacts of the experience on both the participant and the environment will vary depending upon the dimensions outline.

Issues and Prospects for Nature-based Tourism

1. Social Carrying Capacity The dimensions listed draw attention to the possible characteristics of nature-based tourists. The nature-oriented tourist tends to perceive crowding as a problem, not tolerating large numbers of other nature-related tourists. The implications of this are clear – such nature-based tourism must be low volume and will have limited prospects for growth. It will also need very careful management if it is to be sustainable.

2. Environmental Carrying Capacity Virtually every environment has the capacity to support nature-based tourism and there is growing interest in appraising the specific prospects in almost every country; partly due to a perception that this may well be a more sustainable form of tourism than any other. For example, in a discussion of the values of tropical rainforest it has been claimed that the tourist potential of rainforest equals that of the east African game parks and gives detailed accounts of central and southern American prospects, many of which focus on rainforest. To a large extent the rainforest national parks of Costa Rica are the driving force behind tourism in that country.

3. Economic Impacts Peak nature experiences are extremely valuable and may command high willingness to pay values. For these kinds of naturebased tourism, the 'threshold' or 'excluvist' approach adopted by Bhutan may be valuable. That country imposed a national

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quota of 2,400 visitors per annum, required US$200 per day per person expenditure and has minimal leakage of its 'rarity value' dollars.

4. Political and Management Issues For many people the first example of nature tourism which springs to mind is the African wildlife safari. Such tourism may be seen as the 'soft' version of the big game safaris of earlier eras with cameras replacing rifles. In recent years one of the motivations for nations to nominate areas for World Heritage Listing has been a perceived link between that designation and the attraction of international ecotourists.

Problems of Nature-based Tourism

1. Environmental Impacts Many of these can be collectively identified as the need for high quality management. For example, an expression employed by United States Fish and Wildlife Service is 'non-consumptive wildlife use', which might imply no threat to the wildlife. Unfortunately, unintended negative effects of wildlife watchers have been well documented throughout the world. Apart from this aspect, there is the more complex issue of environmental degradation. Both the ecological and experiential domains need careful study if nature-based tourism is to be sustainable.

2. Community and Social Impacts Another dimension of concern is the impact on local communities. Nature-based tourism is sometimes viewed with resentment by local people, especially in developing countries where the tourists tend to be affluent and not local while the local people may be very poor.

3. Leakage of Benefits 'little of that [tourism] money directly benefits the local populations surrounding the park' thereby leading to resentment, in this case exacerbated by a lack of resources to purchase the necessary bus to join the tourism industry and made more irksome for the people by a government-required permit to enter the landthey havepreviously always used. In developing countries in particular, there will be a need for novel skills amongst the local communities if they are to benefit from nature tourists. In principle, at least, nature-based tourism should perform well as a 'community tourism' candidate but in practice much local, regional and national skill will be needed.

Strategies for Developing Nature-based Tourism

Ecological Sustainable Development

National parks and other protected areas form the basic resource for nature based tourism throughout most of the world. One of the motives for international support to nature-based tourism is its potential to assist in nature conservation.

It can only achieve this if certain conditions are met: a clear sustained and adequate benefit to the local community from the nature-based tourism

venture; a clear link between the tourist choice of destination and locally protected nature; and appropriate local management and skills to provide satisfaction to both the visitors and the

local community.Even where state-owned and managed' national parks are the' primary resource, it seems likely that a similar set of conditions would add sustainability to nature-based tourism. Returning to the parameters of nature-based tourism identified earlier, it is not possible to espouse any particular combination of location, style and experience as a preferred model.

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Travel Geography

However, local communities and national governments will need to consider the implications of their choices very carefully. The unfortunate reality is that there are few properly documented case studies of nature-based tourism successes or failures which may help design new ventures. There are no doubt many potentially successful designs of nature-based tourism and different regions may benefit from a wide range of options, depending very much on local social and natural environments.

Special Interest Tourism

Special Interest Tourism Overview

Special interest tourism refers to tourists, usually in small group tours, who are traveling to learn about and experience particular specific features related to an area. Special interest tourism can focus on a wide range of features from cultural manifestations of dance, music, fine arts, handicraft, architecture, and traditional ways of life, unusual economic activities, archaeology and history, as well as aspects of nature to those related to the tourists’ professional interests. Special interest tourism does not require large-scale or even greatly expensive development of facilities and infrastructure. However, careful organization, knowledgeable guide services, some integrated transportation facilities and services, and at least basic accommodation and catering facilities are essential.

Special interest tourism also known as serious leisure ~ leisure where participants are able to find personal fulfillment, enhance their identity and express themselves, as opposed to casual or un-serious leisure, can be defined as:

“A form of tourism which involves consumers whose holiday choice is inspired by specific motivations and whose level of satisfaction is determined by the experience they pursue”(www.download-it.org/)

“Travel for people who are going somewhere because they have a particular interest that can be pursued in a particular region or at a particular destination”

Definition by World Tourism Organization (WTO), 1985

“Specialized tourism involving group or individual tours by people who wish to develop certain interests and visits sites and places connected with a specific subject. Generally speaking, the people concerned exercise the same profession or have a common hobby”.

Developing Special Interest Tourism

In the case of every country there are a few sectors of tourism where the possibilities of developing SIT are greater as compared to other sectors. Growth of facilities and services is an area that is contingent to several other factors as well as the initiatives taken by individual or group entrepreneurs. Four (4) major components of market that will deserve a careful analysis and assessment:

Image and accessible options Safety and security options Quality of the product and service Offer novelty of experiences as an attractor

Novelty ~ “The quality of being new. It is also refers to something novel; which is striking, original or unusual”. Some important modes are:

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Novelty resulting from a variation introduced in the special interest activity Special interest activity experienced at a novel location Novelty resulting from the social environment/ambience

As with all other service-oriented industries, quality concerns determine the tourism potential too in a major way. Yet the nature of quality services is both tangible and intangible and the latter mostly runs outside of the purview of any quantifiable analyses. The case of SIT is somewhat different as the concerns of quality here may be achieved through experiential dimensions.

Four (4) components for quality in special interest tourism Rewarding travel experience Enriching travel experience Adventuresome travel experience Learning experience

Together they are called REAL travel

Types of Special Interest Tourism

The development of the special interest tourism which includes;

Outdoor pursuits - Dedicated to the promotion of physical activities, wellness and a deeper meaning and understanding of nature through experience-based outdoor, adventure and environmental education. There are also often means activities done in nature away from civilization such as hiking, hunting, backpacking and canoeing

Adventure activities - Generally an outdoor activity of sport, which involves elements of daring and risks. Physical fitness is generally a pre-conditions to participate in adventure sport activities, for example mountaineering, rock climbing and white-water rafting

Cultural events - The practice of traveling to experience historic and cultural attractions to learn about a community’s heritage in an enjoyable and educational way. Example of cultural appeals are music and dance, foods and drinks, and fine arts and architectural.

Archaeological tours - An alternative form of cultural tourism, which aims to promote the passion for historical-archaeology and the conservation of historical sites. Include all types of products associated with public archaeological promotion; example: Visit to archaeological sites, and reenactment of historical occurrence

Educational trips - Tourists activities undertaken by those who are undertaking an overnight vacation and those who are undertaking an excursion for whom education and learning is a primary secondary part of their trip, i.e. exchange students program and international practicum training

Sports competition - All forms of active and passive involvement in sporting activity, participated in casually or in an organized way for non-commercial or business/commercial reasons, that necessitate travel away from home or work locality. Example London 2012

Spiritual interest - In religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a shrine of importance to a person’s beliefs and faith. Examples: Muslim pilgrimage at Makkah and Buddha’s birthplace at Lumbini, Nepal

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There is one unlisted type that increasingly becoming a form of tourism that is attracting interest from academic researchers and the industry: the “dark tourism” – involving travel to sites associated with death and suffering such as sites of disasters (natural or man-made), castles and battlefields, and prisons now open to the public.

Other types of Special Interest Tourism; Aboriginal tourism Urban tourism Gastronomy tourism Cruise tourism Medical tourism

Rural Tourism

Rural Tourism Overview

Definition: Any form of tourism that showcases the rural life, art, culture and heritage at rural locations, thereby benefiting the local community economically and socially as well as enabling interaction between the tourists and the locals for a more enriching tourism experience can be termed as rural tourism.

Rural tourism is essentially an activity which takes place in the countryside. It is multi-faceted and may entail farm/agricultural tourism, cultural tourism, nature tourism,

adventure tourism, and eco-tourism. As against conventional tourism, rural tourism has certain typical characteristics like; it is

experience oriented, the locations are sparsely populated, it is predominantly in natural environment, it meshes with seasonality and local events and is based on preservation of culture heritage and traditions.

Rural tourism focuses on participating in a rural lifestyle. It can be a variant of ecotourism. Any village can be a tourist attraction, and many villagers are very hospitable. Agriculture is becoming highly mechanized and therefore requires less manual labor. This is causing economic pressure on some villages, leading to an exodus of young people to urban areas. There is however, a segment of urban population that is interested to visit the rural areas and understand their perspective. This segment has been rapidly growing in the past decade and has led to rural tourism becoming a good business prospect.

Expressions of Rural tourism, agro tourism, and village tourism are used many times as synonyms by experts and developers. This fact can be explained with the diverse activities of the area. Countryside hospitality is more or less connected to the agribusiness and this marketing product consists of accommodation services, catering and leisure time services. Generally businesses of rural tourism were initiated by civil associations. Rural tourism connects tourism products. Rural tourism connects areas of rural leisure activities. Therefore the rural tourism, based on the rural circumstances, is a type of tourism which can be combined with the elements of cultural and active tourism (e. g.: horse riding and hiking).

Physical characteristics that will appeal to tourists seeking a rural tourism, generally fall into the following categories:

1. scenic value - including mountains, seashores, lakes, islands, rivers, and special interest scenery such as wetlands, native bush, geological features;

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3. cultural assets - including historic buildings, towns, settlements, historic sites and other cultural experience opportunities, other ethnic heritage;

4. agricultural/horticultural/forestry assets - farm systems and activities e.g. sheep rearing, cattle rearing, interesting crops, flowers etc;

5. Special facilities for sporting activities - including hunting, fishing, skiing, trekking, walking, etc.

Economic impact of rural tourism

Positive Economic Impact Create employment especially for the

rural youth. Income level will rise. Generate foreign exchange With the rise of income other measure

of community like education, health etc will rise.

The price of the land will rise, etc

Negative Economic Impact The rural people can be exploited. The rural people have to depend on

the urban entrepreneur, so the benefit may not reach them.

The urban investor will take away most of the profit.

Food, drink and necessary products will be imported from outside and not produced locally.

The entertainment tax will go to the government the local people will not get the benefit, etc

Environmental impact

Positive Environmental Impact Infrastructure development will lead

to healthy tourism. The impact of rural environment can

improve the state of body and mind. Help in create and maintain the natural

park. Learn the importance of preservation

of natural resources. They will learn to develop healthy

environment with proper sanitation, roads, electricity, telecommunication, etc.

Negative Environmental Impact Development of infrastructure may

distort the natural beauty. Tourist activities like trekking and

camping can cause environmental pollution.

Huge number of visitors may exploit the natural resources

Hunting can affect the wild life population.

Natural ecology will be disturbed, etc

Socio-cultural impact

Positive Socio-cultural Impact Education and health of the rural

community will improve. Provide higher standard of living or

the rural people.

Cultural understanding through fairs and festivals.

Exchange of cultural beneficial for both.

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Foreign tourist will bring cultural change faster

demand for education will increase, etc

Negative Socio-cultural Impact Can create disharmony in

development

Modernization can affect their traditional values and cultural practices.

Traditional products will be replace by modern products

Traditional houses are replaced by modern buildings.

Can increase the rate of crime, etc

Urban Facilities and Sporting Events

Sporting events

Sport is all forms of competitive physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Hundreds of sports exist, from those requiring only two participants, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals.

Sports are usually governed by a set of rules or customs, which serve to ensure fair competition, and allow consistent adjudication of the winner. Winning can by determined by physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first, or by the determination of judges who are scoring elements of the sporting performance, including objective or subjective measures such as technical performance or artistic impression.

In organised sport, records of performance are often kept, and for popular sports, this information may be widely announced or reported in sport news. In addition, sport is a major source of entertainment for non-participants, with spectator sports drawing large crowds to venues, and reaching wider audiences through sports broadcasting.

Spectator involvement

The competition element of sport, along with the aesthetic appeal of some sports, result in the popularity of people attending to watch sport being played. This has led to the specific phenomenon of spectator sport.

Both amateur and professional sports attract spectators, both in person at the sport venue, and through broadcast mediums including radio, television and internet broadcast. Both attendance in person and viewing remotely can incur a sometimes substantial charge, such as an entrance ticket, or pay-per-view television broadcast.

Audience

Since the establishment of the Olympics, most serial multi-sport events have been organized for specific audiences and participating countries or communities. These affiliations include:

regional , such as the East Asian Games and the South American Games political , such as the Spartakiad and the GANEFO

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historic or historicultural roots , such as the Commonwealth Games (for members of the Commonwealth of Nations) and the Jeux de la Francophonie (for members of La Francophonie)

ethnocultural or ethnoreligious , such as the Pan-Armenian Games (for ethnic communities of Armenians both in Armenia and in other countries) and the Maccabiah Games (for communities of Jews of both ethnic and religious origins)

religious , such as the Islamic Solidarity Games and the previously mentioned Maccabiah Games

occupational , such as the Military World Games, the World Police and Fire Games and the Universiade

physical disabilities , such as the Paralympics, the Deaflympics and the Special Olympics World Games

human age , such as the World Masters Games, Commonwealth Youth Games and the Senior Olympics

gender and sexual orientation , such as the Women's Islamic Games and the Gay Games

Sports facilities and urban redevelopment

Sports facilities will continue to be an integral part of a city's downtown redevelopment efforts. A key element to the success of these efforts was the retention of or attraction of people to the downtown area for longer than just the work week. Sports facilities and other types of entertainment venues help keep workers downtown for evening events and to bring them back downtown on weekends and holidays.

As cities continue to struggle with revitalization of their urban areas they will continue to look to sports facilities as a key player in achieving success. Local leaders must also be attentive to the needs of their community and negotiate agreements with the teams that ensure both long term use of these facilities by the teams and that these facilities will be an integral part of the redevelopment effort.

In the end, to effectively use sports facilities for redevelopment, local officials must keep these points in mind:

1. Develop a plan in advance for a new facility. 2. Understand what is realistically within and what is beyond the city's means.3. Identify the best sites for a sports facility from the perspective of redevelopment of the

entire area. Be sure to pick the most favorable sites, and not only those that are cheaper or more easily attainable.

4. Ensure that the facility is designed so that it complements the surrounding area and is not a fortress impenetrable from the community.

The public interest in redevelopment, neighborhood revitalization, historic preservation, and a return to the downtown area has coincided with the boom in the development of new sports facilities. While the boom may have initially been ignited by the change in the economics of the sports business, it has been fueled and nurtured by the desire of communities to have a place that they can be proud of and enjoy. Working together, the local government, the community and the sports team can create a facility that serves a variety of needs and fulfills these needs for everyone.Urban Facilities

Tourism Infrastructures and Ecologic Anthropy

Tourism does offer an important alternative form of economic activity, it must be seen as only one component of a larger series of development initiatives within any economic system. That is not to

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say that tourism in selected circumstances cannot be the major source of income and jobs in a community or region, but rather that the impact and role of tourism will vary.

International tourism can be interpreted as a channel of globalization, which reveals its fundamental characteristics: polarisation on a global scale and the historicity of spatial disparities. Tourism is also one of the possible trajectories for the integration of places into global sphere. Revealed and constructed by tourism, some places in the world have achieved a position in the global hierarchy. Tourism and heritage are often linked as show the correlations with Unesco's World heritage list and the number of international tourist visitors.

The potential economic benefits of tourism development include: 1) Increased resources for the protection and conservation of natural and cultural heritage

resources; 2) Increased income and improved standard of living from tourist expenditures; 3) Increased induced income from tourism expenditures; 4) New employment opportunities;5) Increased community visibility leading to other economic development opportunities;6) New induced employment opportunities; 7) Increased tax base; 8) Improved infrastructure and facilities; 9) Development of local handicrafts.

Attract tourism revenues and investment in infrastructures is influenced by a complex number of characteristics, such as:

1) Political constraints and incentives (attractiveness of the taxation policies regarding local and foreign investment and imports);

2) The resources and conveniences offered (attractions, transportation, access, hospitality, medical and other services, pricing etc.);

3) Market characteristics (visitor tastes and preferences, disposable income, propensity to travel, proximity to destination etc.);

4) Political stability; 5) The ability of the destination to market and promote itself effectively.

For planning and management purposes, transportation infrastructure in the region can be seen as comprising transports means:

1) International air services and international airports; 2) Domestic air services; 3) Land transport systems and routes; 4) Water transport.

Tourism 'hardware' include: 1) Water supply, sewage, telecommunications, roads, power generation; 2) New and/or refurbished tourism accommodation (hotels, integrated resorts, guesthouses, and

camping sites); 3) Specialized ethnic or regional restaurants as the expectations of tourists expand; 4) Transport facilities (airports, ports, harbours, road systems and car parks); 5) Transport vehicles (motor vehicles, ferries, other maritime vessels, aircraft, helicopters and

bicycles); 6) Visitor attractions, natural attractions, cultural attractions and recreational facilities.

The tourist area can be defined as a set of towns places and sites that are culminating points of/or stopovers on itineraries in loops formed by the movement of tourists. By highlighting these loops

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Travel Geography

and the way in which they have appeared in places that give them meaning, according to the practices of the various stakeholders in tourism, it is possible to analyse the gradual structuring and dynamics of this area.

Site Planning

Groups 3 kinds of services: 1) Primary tourist facilities and services (accommodation / hotels, restaurants and travel and

tour services); 2) Secondary tourist facilities and services (shopping, recreation, entertainment and visitor

information services); 3) Tertiary tourist facilities and services (health services and care, emergency and safety

services, financial services and personal services).

Major constraints are such as: 1) Air transportation; 2) Basic infrastructure services; 3) Suitable accommodation facilities; 4) Recreational facilities (including secondary tourism); 5) Promotion and marketing; 6) Support services and industries.

Private Investments may be in: 1) Accommodation (from major hotels andintegrated resorts to small, modest and low-cost

accommodation, and accommodation with indigenous communities); 2) Ancillary services (restaurants, bars, entertainment, shopping and transport); 3) Support services (travel brokering, visitor advice and professional services); 4) Tourism enterprises (diving, snorkelling, fishing, sailing and visits to historical sites".

To size the investment 3 parameters are needed: 1) Estimate of current visitation;2) Estimate of expenditures per visitor; and 3) An input–output model to calculate the total effects.

There are several potential biases with visitor intercept samples. For example with cross-sectional questionnaire, 2 biases are that those who visit recreation sites more frequently and those who stay longer are more likely to be sampled due to their extended presence.

Planning in tourism is also about momentum and event without heavy fixed infrastructures as in: Arts and crafts festivals are common occurrences. These festivals, lasting for a day, a week end or a week, are a combination of art, entertainment, and concessions, and are often held outdoors along a seashore, riverfront, in a city park, or on a pedestrian mall. The artists at these festivals generate income by selling their works. The festivals themselves, though often non-profit, generate revenues through concession sales. The revenues cover the cost of opening and operating the festival. It is important that festivals of this nature operate in an efficient manner to cover their costs.

Infrastructures

Information for analysis of infrastructure ecological settlement, can include the following: 1) Geological Survey: topographic maps, geologic quadrangles, hydrologic atlases, surface

water discharge records, groundwater availability maps and water quality data. 2) Soil conservation, soil survey maps.

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3) Agricultural and Conservation Service: aerial photographs. 4) Environmental Service: wildlife habitats, and endangered and threatened species, recreation

facilities and visitation. 5) Sea, climate and coastal services: climatic conditions and surveys. 6) Statistics and demographics: regional and local demographics. 7) on or off-post conditions.

Off-post conditions include geographic location, regional and local transportation systems, local land use, regional and local socio-economic conditions, local laws and regulations, climate, and public and private sector recreation facilities and programs.

On-post conditions include elements of both the natural and manmade environment such as geology, soils, topography, hydrology, vegetation, fish and wildlife, aesthetic qualities, archeological and historic sites, circulation, utilities, existing recreation facilities, pollution, and dangerous or hazardous areas.

The process could follow the principles:

Principle 1: Define the local and regional approach in concrete terms. Start with an inventory of the state of play and a collective diagnosis to define the issues and a shared vision of the territory and the project. The local approach puts the principle into action, starting with the identification of the human resources concerned here and over there. Principle 2: Tap into the human resources. Upstream, they are the source of knowledge (Southern and Northern expertise), the intercultural approach, exchanges, cooperation and partnerships. Downstream, they are the strategy’s beneficiaries: inhabitants, institutional and economic players, and consumers. They are naturally vital to the entire sustainable development process.

Principle 3: Put sustainable development into practice at the local and global space (level), time (pace), cultural, social, economic and environmental considerations tie in with or overlap the considerations of the responsible tourism players industry wide.

Principle 4: Consider all types of tourism objectively conventional, mass tourism and quality tourism could evolve, converge and improve their local and global sustainable development results. The cross-cutting nature of tourism facilitates the model value of voluntary engagements by the profession.

Principle 5: Polish the model value. This is vital to ownership in the territories and the pilot operations and beyond. Its tools are qualitative and quantitative evaluation, credibility and compelling examples and knowledge sharing through information and training. In all cases, exemplarity stems from a clear and pragmatic vision of the possible.

Principle 6: Be pragmatic. Defining the strategy means first and foremost to grasp the opportunities, be responsive and prioritise effectiveness. Pragmatism is the principle of common sense underlying the local and regional approach.

UNIT 5:CLIMATIC IMPORTANCE FOR TOURISM

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Objectives: Understand and discuss the general concept of climate Identify the different types of climate for different parts of the world Explore the relationship between climate and tourism development Discuss the types and scales of natural disaster and its impact toward tourism industry

Travel Geography

What is climate?

Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods. Climate can be contrasted to weather, which is the present condition of these elements and their variations over shorter periods.

A region's climate is generated by the climate system, which has five components: atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, land surface, and biosphere.

The climate of a location is affected by its latitude, terrain, and altitude, as well as nearby water bodies and their currents. Climates can be classified according to the average and the typical ranges of different variables, most commonly temperature and precipitation.

What is weather?

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate is the term for the average atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time. When used without qualification, "weather" is understood to be the weather of Earth.

Weather is driven by density (temperature and moisture) differences between one place and another. These differences can occur due to the sun angle at any particular spot, which varies by latitude from the tropics. The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the jet stream. Weather systems in the mid-latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow.

Climate elements

1. Temperature - The climate element which has greatest influence on tourist activity & the type of clothing worn. Suitability of the activities to the weather at a particular place. For example, water sports are essentially warm weather activities. Air and humidity affect the weather.

2. Sunshine - The effect of sunshine is particularly important at the seaside. The safe length of exposure to the sun will depend on the holiday-maker’s skin type and the strength of suntan preparations. Skiers and mountain climbers at high altitudes risk sunburn since the air is clear and sunlight reflected from snow and bare rock. The growing incidence of skin cancer was worrying health authorities, and sunbathing will loose its popularity.

3. Wind - Influenced in their direction and strength by the gradient between high and low pressure areas, by the Earth’s rotation, and topography. Knowledge of the winds is essential for the sailors. The effects of winds are;

a. Sea breezes, more comfortable temperature b. Frostbite, strong wind and low temperature.

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The wind-chill factor, the major constraint on outdoor recreations

4. Precipitation - Various forms of precipitation; rain, hail (water ice/stones), sleet (mix of snow and rain/frozen rain) and snow. Can be seen as the constraint for activities, but depends on its intensity, duration, and seasonal distribution. (“wet” and “dry” seasons) Snow can be an expensive hazard for transport, or as a valuable recreational resource. It contributes to winter sports activities, which benefits to remote mountain communities, but also led to environmental degradation.

5. Air Quality - The monitoring of air quality is increasingly crucial. Environmental issues & pollutions;

a. Emission of sulphur dioxide from “smock-stack” industries. b. Smog, or severe air pollution are particularly common in regions, which inhibit air

movement. c. The unpleasant cocktail of gases poisons the air, reducing the visibility, blighting

vegetation, eroding historical monuments and threatening the health of people. d. Acid rains have degraded forests and lakes.

Air Quality also could affect outdoor activities a. Seen as unhealthy threatb. Reduces visibility.

Types of climate

The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Russian German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936. Later, German climatologist Rudolf Geiger collaborated with Köppen on changes to the classification system, which is thus sometimes referred to as the Köppen–Geiger climate classification system.

The system is based on the concept that native vegetation is the best expression of climate. Thus, climate zone boundaries have been selected with vegetation distribution in mind. It combines average annual and monthly temperatures and precipitation, and the seasonality of precipitation.

The Köppen climate classification scheme divides climates into five main groups, each having several types and subtypes.

GROUP A: Tropical/mega thermal climates

Tropical climates are characterized by constant high temperature (at sea level and low elevations) — all twelve months of the year have average temperatures of 18 °C (64 °F) or higher. They are subdivided as follows:

Tropical rainforest climate - All twelve months have average precipitation of at least 60 mm (2.4 in). These climates usually occur within 5–10° latitude of the equator. In some eastern-coast areas, they may extend to as much as 25° away from the equator. This climate is dominated by the Doldrums Low Pressure System all year round, and therefore has no natural seasons.

o Examples: Belém, Brazil Hilo, Hawaii, United States Singapore

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Tropical monsoon climate - This type of climate, most common in South America, results from the monsoon winds which change direction according to the seasons. This climate has a driest month (which nearly always occurs at or soon after the "winter" solstice for that side of the equator) with rainfall less than 60 mm, but more than (100 − [total annual precipitation {mm}/25]).

o Examples: Cairns, Queensland, Australia Conakry, Guinea Chittagong, Bangladesh

Tropical wet and dry or savanna climate - These climates have a pronounced dry season, with the driest month having precipitation less than 60 mm and also less than (100 − [total annual precipitation {mm}/25]).

o Examples: Jakarta, Indonesia Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

GROUP B: Dry (arid and semiarid) climates

These climates are characterized by the fact that precipitation is less than potential evapotranspiration. The threshold is determined as follows:

To find the precipitation threshold (in millimeters), multiply the average annual temperature in °C by 20, then add 280 if 70% or more of the total precipitation is in the high-sun half of the year (April through September in the Northern Hemisphere, or October through March in the Southern), or 140 if 30%–70% of the total precipitation is received during the applicable period, or 0 if less than 30% of the total precipitation is so received.

Desert areas situated along the west coasts of continents at tropical or near-tropical locations are characterized by cooler temperatures than encountered elsewhere at comparable latitudes (due to the nearby presence of cold ocean currents) and frequent fog and low clouds, despite the fact that these places rank among the driest on earth in terms of actual precipitation received.

o Examples: Albacete, Spain Konya, Turkey Kabul, Afghanistan

GROUP C: Temperate/meso-thermal climates

These climates have an average temperature above 10 °C (50 °F) in their warmest months (April to September in northern hemisphere), and a coldest month average between −3 °C (27 °F) and 18 °C (64 °F). Group C climates are subdivided as follows:

Dry-summer subtropical or Mediterranean climates - These climates usually occur on the western sides of continents between the latitudes of 30° and 45°. These climates are in the polar front region in winter, and thus have moderate temperatures and changeable, rainy weather. Summers are hot and dry, due to the domination of the subtropical high pressure systems, except in the immediate coastal areas, where summers are milder due to the nearby presence of cold ocean currents that may bring fog but prevent rain.

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o Examples: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Agrinion, Greece Antalya, Turkey

Humid subtropical climates - These climates usually occur in the interiors of continents, or on their east coasts, mainly in the high 20s and 30s latitude (although they may occur as far north as 45°N in Europe, as is the case in Crimea). Unlike the Mediterranean climates, the summers are generally humid (not so much in Europe) due to unstable tropical air masses or localized convection, or onshore tradewinds. In eastern Asia, winters can be dry (and colder than other places at a corresponding latitude) because of the Siberian high pressure system, and summers very humid and wet due to the Southwest Asian monsoonal influence.

o Examples: Milan, Italy Naha, Japan Busan, South Korea

Maritime Temperate climates or Oceanic climates - climates usually occur on the western sides of continents between the latitudes of 45° and 55°; they are typically situated immediately poleward of the Mediterranean climates, although in Australia and extreme southern Africa this climate is found immediately poleward of the humid subtropical climate, and at a somewhat lower latitude. In western Europe, this climate occurs in coastal areas up to 63°N latitude in Norway. These climates are dominated all year round by the polar front, leading to changeable, often overcast weather. Summers are cool due to cool ocean currents, but winters are milder than other climates in similar latitudes but usually very cloudy.

o Examples: London, England, United Kingdom Hamburg, Germany Bergen, Norway

Maritime Subarctic climates or Subpolar Oceanic climates - These climates occur poleward of the Maritime Temperate climates, and are confined either to narrow coastal strips on the western poleward margins of the continents, or, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, to islands off such coasts.

o Examples: Monte Dinero, Argentina Reykjavík, Iceland Tórshavn, Faroe Islands

GROUP D: Continental/micro-thermal climate

These climates have an average temperature above 10 °C (50 °F) in their warmest months, and a coldest month average below −3 °C (or 0 °C in some versions, as noted previously). These usually occur in the interiors of continents, or on their east coasts, north of 40° North latitude. In the Southern Hemisphere, Group D climates are extremely rare due to the smaller land masses in the middle latitudes and the almost complete absence of land between 40°-60° South latitude, existing only in some highland locations.Group D climates are subdivided as follows:

Hot Summer Continental climates - climates usually occur in the high 30s and low 40s latitudes, with a qualifying average temperature in the warmest month of >22°C. In Europe

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these climates tend to be much drier than in North America. In eastern Asia Dwa climates extend further south due to the influence of the Siberian high pressure system, which also causes winters there to be dry, and summers can be very wet because of monsoon circulation.

o Examples: Santaquin, Utah, United States Beijing, China Pyongyang, North Korea

Warm Summer Continental or Hemiboreal climates - climates are immediately north of Hot Summer Continental climates, generally in the high 40s and low 50s in latitude in North America and Asia, and also in central and eastern Europe and Russia, between the Maritime Temperate and Continental Subarctic climates, where it extends up to high 50s and even lowest 60 degrees latitude.

o Examples: Växjö, Sweden Vladivostok, Russia Kars, Turkey

Continental Subarctic or Boreal ( taiga ) climates - climates occur poleward of the other Group D climates, mostly in the 50s and low 60s North latitude, although it might occur as far north as 70° latitude.

o Examples: Murmansk, Russia Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norway Luleå, Sweden

Continental Subarctic climates with extremely severe winters - Places with this climate have the temperature in their coldest month lower than −38 °C (−36 °F) these climates occur only in eastern Siberia. The names of some of the places that have this climate — most notably Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon — have become veritable synonyms for extreme, severe winter cold.

GROUP E: Polar climates

These climates are characterized by average temperatures below 10 °C (50 °F) in all twelve months of the year:

Tundra climate - Warmest month has an average temperature between 0 °C (32 °F) and 10 °C (50 °F). These climates occur on the northern edges of the North American and Eurasian landmasses, and on nearby islands. It also occurs on some islands near the Antarctic Convergence.

o Examples: Provideniya, Russia Nuuk, Greenland Vardø, Norway

Ice Cap climate - All twelve months have average temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F). This climate is dominant in Antarctica (e.g., Scott Base) and in inner Greenland (e.g., Eismitte or North Ice).

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Climate change

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions, or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions (i.e., more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change is caused by factors that include oceanic processes (such as oceanic circulation), variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions, and human-induced alterations of the natural world; these latter effects are currently causing global warming, and "climate change" is often used to describe human-specific impacts.

Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models. Borehole temperature profiles, ice cores, floral and faunal records, glacial and periglacial processes, stable isotope and other sediment analyses, and sea level records serve to provide a climate record that spans the geologic past. More recent data are provided by the instrumental record. Physically-based general circulation models are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data, make future projections, and link causes and effects in climate change.

Climates and Tourism

Climate and weather are important criteria for choosing a tourism destination and can determine the appeal of a location in absolute terms or relative to other destinations. Tourism is one of the biggest of all industries powering economies of several nations. Foreign visitors spend around U.S $500 billions on travel, hotels, meals and other items in foreign countries. This represents roughly 10% of all international trade and 5% of total global economic output. International tourism is nearly four times as large as global steel.

Small Island States (SIS) and low-lying areas, especially in the tropics, with their warm climates and the sun and sea are preferred destinations for tourists. While, tourism account for about 6% of the total economy of Thailand and France, and 7% in Malaysia, its represents as much as 50% in Bali, 60% in the Bahamas, 80% in Seychelles and 90% in the Maldives.

All these economies could collapse – some immediately, others gradually – because of certain obvious and less obvious reasons. Taken on a global basis, several reasons could cause the tourism industry to collapse – a world cataclysm such as war but also an upheaval in the global climate system. Regionally or locally, an insane environmental situation, conducive to the proliferation of diseases, would trigger negative signals for the tourism industry. So when the issue of climate is addressed, it is assumed that it encompasses the environment as well.

Weather & Tourism

Weather and climate are increasingly being recognized as valuable resources by all stakeholders. It is an important member of the equation used to solve socio-economic problems and for planning purposes.

Weather is the day-to-day variation of atmospheric conditions. Such information is vital for planning the daily activities of the tourist who will want to make the best of his/her time. Hotels have both indoor and outdoor activities. While artificial indoor conditions can be created to make the tourist comfortable, outdoor conditions must be taken as they come.Tourists travel with one and the same aim: relaxation. This is achieved through sightseeing, cultural and sport activities. But as far as the SIS is concerned, tourists travel in quest of sand, sun and the sea. Just as necessary physical infrastructures must be in place to welcome the tourist, similarly National Hydrometeorological Services (NMHS) must ensure that proper information are prepared

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and delivered to keep all stakeholders in the tourist industry well informed of weather and climatic conditions.

Different activities have different requirements. Dinner by the poolside or a wedding under multitude of stars of a tropical night is definitely what any body would prefer to the congested atmosphere of even the best restaurant. Such activities are most of the time weather-dependent. One may not visualize the fact that any human body who can afford it will insist on services that he/she would not insist on at home even at the same cost. Change in environment and circumstances make the person feel different. The tourist, therefore, must be made to feel at ease at all times.

Rain, wind, dust storm and fog disturb outdoor activities and occurrence of such events must be predicted and communicated to the hotels well in advance to enable them to take precautionary measures. A single casualty as a result of extreme weather may be bad publicity for the country and for the industry. Tropical cyclones may render the industry extremely vulnerable and therefore must be predicted well in advance to allow for safety measures to be put in place.

With the realization that global climate change is on the march, another calamity needs to be added: increase in temperature and in UV-radiation. Hence, the strong relationships between weather and climate; and tourism and health are emerging as an important and completely new scientific issue.

Below are parameters and their importance for the comfort and safety of the tourist:

1. Temperature : This may appear simple but is vital as the traveler may often be subject to sudden change of up to 30-35 degrees coming from high latitudes to the warmth of the tropics. The body requires time to adjust to such abrupt changes.

2. Intensity of Radiation : Sometimes even though the temperature may be bearable, the radiation type and intensity at certain time of the day may be harmful because of the fragility of the skin, the eye and other body parts. Intense UV-B radiation, most particularly, is to be avoided else may lead to skin cancer and eye cataract.

3. Reflected radiation : Often tourists on the beach consider themselves protected under large umbrellas. Such may not be the case as equally intense radiation, capable of roasting the skin and likely to cause severe eye damage, is reflected by the sand. Salty water, added to it, makes it an ideal formula for getting sun-burnt.

4. Wind : Although slow winds are always welcome in the warm climates, it becomes a nuisance for outdoor activities above a certain speed. Its direction too is important considering that a soothing sea-breeze is pleasant at some time. However, this may not be the case at other times such winds may add to the discomfort of people especially as sea breezes are often laden with moisture –another source of discomfort.

5. Humidity : High humidity is never welcome in warm climates. Already elevated temperatures combined with high relative humidity values may produce an uncomfortable atmosphere. More and more NMHS are considering apparent temperature as an important factor for the health of populations. Annex 1 provides an idea of the effect of temperature and humidity. For example, a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius combined with a relative humidity of 80% is equivalent to a temperature of 38 degrees. Exposure to such temperatures may lead to dehydration and even fatality.

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6. Tropical Cyclones : Tropical cyclones can be traumatizing. The fury of hurricane winds and other associated weather can greatly add to the discomfort and feeling of insecurity of the tourists most of whom are not accustomed to the phenomenon.

Water sports, snorkeling and fishing are among the favorites of most people and more so of tourists. However, there are several parameters linked to these which need to be carefully considered and predicted by NMHSs. Storm surges can be extremely dangerous even to the most able swimmer. Waves those are slightly higher than normal has to be predicted and communicated to those responsible for the safety of tourists at sea.

Climate & Tourism

Climate is defined as the average atmospheric conditions taken over a long (usually months, seasons, years or decades) period of time. The emerging ability of scientists t predict future climatic events have been developed as powerful tools to assist planning and management for all economic and societal activities. At the beginning, climate prediction was considered very useful to the agricultural community but gradually it is becoming well established for other sectors such as energy, health and tourist.

Climate prediction has become possible as a result of:

The emergence of powerful computers capable of handling large volumes of data and having the capability of solving complex mathematical models.

Better understanding of the climate system which comprises of the atmosphere, the cryosphere, the biosphere, the land and the oceans.

The emergence of well-tested climate indices which assist the climate community to predict the future using well-established rules based on long periods of observations.

The importance of climate and weather to tourism

Climate and weather are important factors in tourists’ decision making and also influence the successful operation of tourism businesses. More specifically, climate is defined as the prevailing condition observed as a long term average in a location. In contrast, weather is the manifestation of climate at a specific point in time and place.

So, while tourists might expect certain climatic conditions when they travel to a place, they will experience the actual weather, which might deviate quite substantially from the average conditions. Hence, in the first place tourists and tourism businesses are likely to be affected by weather conditions, although in the long term these will follow systematic changes as projected under different climate change scenarios. For example, surface and sea temperatures are generally forecast to increase, rain patterns will change with some areas becoming wetter and others driers, and the occurrence of extreme events is likely to increase. For this reason, tourist destinations will benefit from understanding potential climatic changes in their area and how they might impact on their operations.

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Tourism demand and climate

Climatic conditions influence destination choice and as a result national and global tourist flows. They also are important factors in tourists’ satisfaction and activity participation, as well as safety.

Even though most tourism demand studies focus on economic variables, climate has been identified as a key driver for tourism and an important destination attribute. Climate is either the main tourism resource, for example in the case of beach destinations, or it acts as a facilitator that makes tourism activities possible and enjoyable. The importance of climatic attributes for tourist destinations is reflected in advertising materials as well as destination image construction.

Example: While Barbadoes sells ‘good weather’ with a money-back guarantee , other destinations have learned to turn potential disadvantages into successful niches. Tarifa in Spain has capitalised on its frequent and intense wind (unfavourable for beach tourism) to become a mecca for windsurfing.

Tourists’ motivation of experiencing a certain climate has been confirmed in tourism demand studies, for example in Germany, the UK and Canada. These studies show that besides destination choice, climate is also an important factor for the timing of travel. Seasonality has been described as one of the main challenges of tourism’s viability. Tourism’s seasonality is not only driven by climatic conditions at the destination and tourists’ home countries, but also by institutional factors such as school holidays.

There has been a longstanding desire to capture or assess the climatic suitability of a potential or existing tourist destination. Factors that seem to be important include climatic elements such as temperature, wind chill effects, humidity and radiation. Other measures, such as wind speed or snow depth may also be important for specific recreational activities.

Besides climatic conditions at tourist destinations, the climate in tourists’ home countries was also found to be very important. Unfavourable climate or poor weather conditions, either in the year of travel or the previous year, act as a push factor for tourists to travel to warmer and drier locations. A warmer than average summer of 1ºC was found to increase domestic tourism expenditure in Canada by 4% . A recent study of European households found that a better climate in the region of residence is related to a higher probability of travelling domestically, whereas poor conditions increase the chance of international travel.

Tourists’ weather experience

Weather conditions experienced by tourists at the destination are important for many reasons. Foremost, weather allows for an activity to be undertaken, or likewise may act as an inhibitor to participation.

For example, wind speeds over 15 km/h were found to be detrimental to fishing or water skiing, whereas motor boating could be undertaken up to wind speeds of 50 km/h. Weather will also influence how enjoyable an experience is and therefore tourists’ satisfaction is likely to be at least partly weather dependent. Finally, tourists’ safety can depend on the weather for example in relation to heatwaves, extreme wind events or avalanches.

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Weather conditions are not always ideal and there are different behaviours a tourist can display that indicate how comfortable they are and to what extent they are able or willing to adapt. The on-site behaviour by tourists can be categorised as follows:

1. Avoid areas of unfavourable weather- or climate determined conditions (e.g., move from sun to shade)

2. Change activity to suit weather conditions (e.g. swim more/less)3. Use structural or mechanical aids (e.g. umbrellas or wind breaks)4. Adjust thermal insulation of body (clothing)5. Adopt passive acceptance.

Weather and Climate Information

Given the importance of climate to tourists in their decision making as well as holiday experience one would expect that tourists actively seek climatic information. Different types of information are required at different stages of the trip planning process. For example, climatic information (i.e. expected conditions) is useful in advance of the trip. German tourists reported that they would inform themselves about the climate of their destination before departing (73%) or even before booking (42%). In contrast, once at the destinations tourists will find actual weather forecasts more important than climatic averages (Figure 3).

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Destination management and climate change

The exposure to climatic events will be exacerbated by climate change, although there are also opportunities due to potentially more favourable conditions in the future. It is therefore not surprising that increasing attention has been paid to how climate change might affect tourist destinations and how these can adapt to minimise risks and maximise opportunities.

The range of impacts and their implications for tourism have been summarised in a comprehensive report by UNWTO, UNEP and WMO (2008) (Table 1). Climate change will impact on tourism in three ways:

1. as a result of gradual changes such as temperature or sea level rise; 2. due to increased numbers of extreme events such as high winds and 3. as a result of wider environmental changes that alter the resource base of tourism, for

example limited water availability or changing ecosystems.

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The Type and Scale of Natural Disasters

What is natural disaster?

A natural disaster is the effect of the earth's natural hazards, for example flood, tornado, hurricane, volcanic eruption, earthquake, heatwave, or landslide. They can lead to financial, environmental or human losses. The resulting loss depends on the vulnerability of the affected population to resist the hazard, also called their resilience. If these disasters continue it would be a great danger for the earth.

This understanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability." Thus a natural hazard will not result in a natural disaster in areas without vulnerability, e.g. strong earthquakes in uninhabited areas. The term natural has consequently been disputed because the events simply are not hazards or disasters without human involvement. A concrete example of the division between a natural hazard and a natural disaster is that the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was a disaster, whereas earthquakes are a hazard.

Types of natural disaster

Geological disasters

1. Avalanches An avalanche (also called a snowslide or snowslip) is a sudden, drastic flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers, such as loading from new snow or rain, or artificial triggers, such as snowmobilers, explosives or backcountry skiers, overload the snowpack.

The influence of gravity on the accumulated weight of newly fallen incompact snow or on thawing older snow leads to avalanches which may be triggered by earthquakes, gunshots and the movements of animals. Avalanches are most common during winter or spring but glacier movements may cause ice avalanches during summer. Avalanches cause loss of life and can destroy settlements, roads, railways and forests.

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2. Earthquakes An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by vibration, shaking and sometimes displacement of the ground. The vibrations may vary in magnitude.

Earthquakes are caused mostly by slippage within geological faults, but also by other events such as volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear tests. The underground point of origin of the earthquake is called the focus. The point directly above the focus on the surface is called the epicenter.

Earthquakes by themselves rarely kill people or wildlife. It is usually the secondary events that they trigger, such as building collapse, fires, tsunamis (seismic sea waves) and volcanoes that are actually the human disaster. Many of these could possibly be avoided by better construction, safety systems, early warning and evacuation planning.

Some of the most significant earthquakes in recent times include:a. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the third largest earthquake in recorded history,

registering a moment magnitude of 9.1-9.3. The huge tsunamis triggered by this earthquake cost the lives of at least 229,000 people.

b. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami registered a moment magnitude of 9.0. The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami is over 13,000, and over 12,000 people are still missing.

c. The 8.8 magnitude February 27, 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami cost 525 lives.

3. Volcanic eruptions Volcanoes can cause widespread destruction and consequent disaster several ways.

1. The effects include the volcanic eruption itself that may cause harm following the explosion of the volcano or the fall of rock.

2. Second, lava may be produced during the eruption of a volcano. As it leaves the volcano, the lava destroys many buildings and plants it encounters.

3. Third, volcanic ash generally meaning the cooled ash - may form a cloud, and settle thickly in nearby locations. When mixed with water this forms a concrete-like material. In sufficient quantity ash may cause roofs to collapse under its weight but even small quantities will harm humans if inhaled.

Since the ash has the consistency of ground glass it causes abrasion damage to moving parts such as engines. The main killer of humans in the immediate surroundings of a volcanic eruption is the pyroclastic flows, which consist of a cloud of hot volcanic ash which builds up in the air above the volcano and rushes down the slopes when the eruption no longer supports the lifting of the gases. It is believed that Pompeii was destroyed by a pyroclastic flow.

A lahar is a volcanic mudflow or landslide. The 1953 Tangiwai disaster was caused by a lahar, as was the 1985 Armero tragedy in which the town of Armero was buried and an estimated 23,000 people were killed.

Hydrological disasters

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1. Floods A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide.

Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water escapes its usual boundaries. While the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used by man like a village, city or other inhabited area.

Some of the most notable floods include:a. The 1998 Yangtze River Floods, in China, left 14 million people homeless.b. The 2000 Mozambique flood covered much of the country for three weeks, resulting

in thousands of deaths, and leaving the country devastated for years afterward.c. The 2005 Mumbai floods which killed 1094 people.d. The 2010 Pakistan floods, damaged crops and infrastructure, claiming many lives.

Tropical cyclones can result in extensive flooding and storm surge, as happened with:a. Bhola Cyclone, which struck East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1970,b. Typhoon Nina, which struck China in 1975,c. Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans, Louisiana in 2005, andd. Cyclone Yasi, which struck Australia in 2011

2. Limnic eruptions A limnic eruption occurs when a gas, usually CO2, suddenly erupts from deep lake water, posing the threat of suffocating wildlife, livestock and humans. Such an eruption may also cause tsunamis in the lake as the rising gas displaces water. Scientists believe landslides, volcanic activity, or explosions can trigger such an eruption.

To date, only two limnic eruptions have been observed and recorded:a. In 1984, in Cameroon, a limnic eruption in Lake Monoun caused the deaths of 37

nearby residents.b. At nearby Lake Nyos in 1986 a much larger eruption killed between 1,700 and 1,800

people by asphyxiation.

3. Tsunamis A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions (including detonations of underwater nuclear devices), landslides, glacier calvings, meteorite impacts and other disturbances above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. Tsunamis can be caused by undersea earthquakes as the one caused in Ao Nang, Thailand, by the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, or by landslides such as the one which occurred at Lituya Bay, Alaska.

a. Ao Nang, Thailand (2004). The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake created the Boxing Day Tsunami and disaster at this site.

b. On October 26, 2010, a tsunami occurred at Sumatra, Indonesiac. On March 11, 2011, a tsunami occurred near Fukushima, Japan and spread through

the Pacific.

Meteorological disasters

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1. Blizzards Blizzards are severe winter storms characterized by low temperature, strong winds, and heavy snow. The difference between a blizzard and a snow storm is the strength of the wind. To be a considered a blizzard, the storm must have winds in excess of 35 miles per hour, it should reduce the visibility to 1/4 miles, and must last for a prolonged period of 3 hours or more. Ground blizzards require high winds to stir up snow that has already fallen, rather than fresh snowfall. Blizzards have a negative impact on local economics and can terminate the visibility in regions where snowfall is rare. Significant blizzards include:

a. The Great Blizzard of 1888 in the United Statesb. The 2008 Afghanistan blizzardc. The North American blizzard of 1947d. The 1972 Iran blizzard resulted in approximately 4,000 deaths and lasted for 5 to 7

days.

2. Cyclonic storms Cyclone, tropical cyclone, hurricane, and typhoon are different names for the same phenomenon a cyclonic storm system that forms over the oceans. The deadliest hurricane ever was the 1970 Bhola cyclone; the deadliest Atlantic hurricane was the Great Hurricane of 1780 which devastated Martinique, St. Eustatius and Barbados. Another notable hurricane is Hurricane Katrina which devastated the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005.

3. Droughts A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply whether surface or underground water. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region. Although droughts can persist for several years, even a short, intense drought can cause significant damage and harm the local economy.

It is not only lack of rainfall that causes drought. Hot dry winds,very high temperature and evaporation of moisture from the ground can result in conditions of drought. Well-known historical droughts include:

a. In 2006, Sichuan Province China experienced its worst drought in modern times with nearly 8 million people and over 7 million cattle facing water shortages.

b. 12-year drought that was devastating southwest Western Australia, southeast South Australia, Victoria and northern Tasmania was "very severe and without historical precedent".

c. In 2011, the State of Texas lived under a drought emergency declaration for the entire calendar year. The drought caused the Bastrop fires.

4. Hailstorms Hailstorms are rain drops that have formed together into ice. A particularly damaging hailstorm hit Munich, Germany, on July 12, 1984, causing about 2 billion dollars in insurance claims.

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5. Heat waves A Heat Wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather, which may vary accompanied by high humidity. The worst heat wave in recent history was the European Heat Wave of 2003. A summer heat wave in Victoria, Australia, created conditions which fuelled the massive bushfires in 2009. Melbourne experienced three days in a row of temperatures exceeding 40°C with some regional areas sweltering through much higher temperatures.

The bushfires, collectively known as "Black Saturday", were partly the act of arsonists. The 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer resulted in severe heat waves, which killed over 2,000 people. It resulted in hundreds of wildfires which causing widespread air pollution, and burned thousands of square miles of forest.

6. Tornadoes A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider sense, to name any closed low pressure circulation.

Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust.

Well-known historical tornadoes include:a. The Tri-State Tornado of 1925, which killed over 600 people in the United States;b. The Daulatpur-Saturia Tornado of 1989, which killed roughly 1,300 people in

Bangladesh.c. Fires Wildfires are an uncontrolled fire burning in wildland areas. Common causes

include lightning and drought but wildfires may also be started by human negligence or arson. They can be a threat to those in rural areas and also wildlife. Notable cases of wildfires were the 1871 Peshtigo Fire in the United States, which killed at least 1700 people, and the 2009 Victorian bushfires in Australia.

Health disasters

1. Epidemics An epidemic is an outbreak of a contractible disease that spreads at a rapid rate through a human population. A pandemic is an epidemic whose spread is global. There have been many epidemics throughout history, such as Black Death. In the last hundred years, significant pandemics include:

a. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, killing an estimated 50 million people worldwideb. The 1957-58 Asian flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 1 million peoplec. The 1968-69 Hong Kong flu pandemicd. The 2002-3 SARS pandemice. The AIDS pandemic, beginning in 1959f. The H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu) Pandemic 2009-2010

Other diseases that spread more slowly, but are still considered to be global health emergencies by the WHO include:

a. XDR TB, a strain of tuberculosis that is extensively resistant to drug treatmentsb. Malaria, which kills an estimated 1.6 million people each year

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Travel Geography

c. Ebola hemorrhagic fever, which has claimed hundreds of victims in Africa in several outbreaks

Space disasters

1. Impact events An impact event is the collision of a large meteorite, asteroid, comet, or other celestial object with the Earth or another planet. Throughout recorded history, hundreds of minor impact events (and exploding bolides) have been reported, with some occurrences causing deaths, injuries, property damage or other significant localized consequences. One of the largest impact events in modern times was the Tunguska event in June 1908.

2. Solar flares A solar flare is a phenomenon where the sun suddenly releases a great amount of solar radiation, much more than normal. Some known solar flares include:

a. An X20 event on August 16, 1989b. A similar flare on April 2, 2001c. The most powerful flare ever recorded, on November 4, 2003, estimated at between

X40 and X45d. The most powerful flare in the past 500 years is believed to have occurred in

September 1859

3. Gamma ray burst Gamma ray bursts are the most powerful explosions that occur in the universe. They release an enormous amount of energy in milliseconds or as long as ten seconds. They release as much or even more energy than the Sun will in its whole life. Gamma ray bursts are not rare events.

They occur about once every day and are detected by telescopes, both on Earth and in space. Mostly large masses of stars, bigger than the Sun, can produce a GRB. A GRB of distances nearer than 8000 light years may cause a concern to life on Earth. Mainly Wolf-Rayet stars WR 104 can produce GRB. Astronomers do believe that the Ordovician–Silurian extinction, the third most destructive extinction on Earth, might have been due to a GRB.

Factors Affecting Tourism: Natural Disasters

There is a very close link between tourism and natural disasters as in the event of a natural disaster tourism is significantly disrupted and in most cases the industry is destroyed, then requiring development and adjustment. Tourism is an important part of countries’ economy and in less economically developed countries such as those affected by the tsunami, on Boxing Day 2004, the local economy greatly relies upon the industry’s services for the livelihood of its population.

There are several case studies which show the varying effect a natural disaster has on tourism, the following case studies provide information regarding the areas’ location, tourist industry, natural disaster and the industry after the event.

In some cases natural disasters can actually increase tourism. In a strange way, places affected by natural disaster can become tourist hot zones as a place to visit. They often become places of educational and historical interest and many people visit as full holidays, or as a part of another holiday in a proximate area.

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Travel Geography

An example of this would be the small Cornish village of Boscastle. The village witnessed the worst ever flash flood in its history on August 16th 2004. After the flooding, Boscastle was obviously subjected to a lot of media attention. The event was reported throughout the flooding and ever since. This attraction has not only increased public knowledge of the village but also increasing tourist interest.

Another example of a natural disaster which had a massive impact on an area’s tourism is the Boxing Day Tsunami, 2004. Thailand was one of the countries subjected to the tsunami.The tsunami had two main affects on tourism:

1. creating the image the area was unsafe 2. Physical damage to the area (leaving most tourist resorts in ruins.)

In some ways this disaster parallels that of Montserrat, as both are less economically developed countries which suffered a massive decline in tourism but developed the industry to incorporate factors of the disaster they experienced. In the case of Thailand people saw the event on the news and have since chosen to travel to Thailand to see the event for themselves, for example taking taxis to travel to the areas worst hit by the disaster. This type of tourism could be described as disaster tourism, as the industry relies on the curiosity of people regarding the disaster.

The massive affect a natural disaster can have on tourism is related to the negative multiplier effect, which involves the impact of the event spreading through the economy.

It can be seen in the following diagram:

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Natural Disaster

Unemployment in the area affected by the natural disaster increases, the disposable income of locals’ decreases meaning less money is spent in the area

which causes more businesses to decline.

Decline in number of tourists visiting in the area

Decrease in money being spent in the area due to lack of visitors, decrease in general

economy of the area

Businesses suffer due to lack of money generated through tourism, local businesses

close, and larger businesses decline – possibly leading to closure of parts of the

business and job losses.

Government spending increases due to lack of money generated through tax (as less people are

working in the formal sector), combined with the aid needed to recover from the event, government

spending is very high and the area’s economy is at its lowest.

Travel Geography

In conclusion the unpredictability of natural disasters and the tourism industry can have disastrous effects when occurring simultaneously. In general natural disasters have the effect of initially decreasing tourism but destinations affected can then change and allow the industry to adapt to involve the disaster. As countries rely so much on tourism there is a need to regenerate their trade and deal with natural disasters in order to survive.

UNIT 6: INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT MODES AND NETWORKS

The Transport System

The geography of transport systems

Transport systems composed of infrastructures, modes and terminals are so embedded in the socio-economic life of individuals, institutions and corporations that they are often invisible to the consumer.

The unique purpose of transportation is to overcome space, which is shaped by a variety of human and physical constraints such as distance, time, administrative divisions and topography. There would be no transportation without geography and there would be no geography without transportation. The goal of transportation is thus to transform the geographical attributes of freight, people or information, from an origin to a destination, conferring them an added value in the process. The convenience at which this can be done - transportability - varies considerably.

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Objectives: Understand the geography of transport system and its importance Discuss the relationship between transportation system with space and its spatial

organization Identify and explain the different modes of transportation and transportation terminals

and ports Explore the impact of transportation towards economic, socio-economic and

environmental Understand the relationship between transport and international tourism

Travel Geography

Transportability refers to the ease of movement of passengers, freight or information. It is related to transport costs as well as to the attributes of what is being transported (fragility, perishable, price). Political factors can also influence transportability such as laws, regulations, borders and tariffs. When transportability is high, activities are less constrained by distance.

The Importance of Transportation

Transport represents one of the most important human activities worldwide. It is an indispensable component of the economy and plays a major role in spatial relations between locations. Transport creates valuable links between regions and economic activities, between people and the rest of the world.

Transport is a multidimensional activity whose importance is:

1. Historical . Transport modes have played several different historical roles in the rise of civilizations (Egypt, Rome and China), in the development of societies (creation of social structures) and also in national defense (Roman Empire, American road network).

2. Social . Transport modes facilitate access to healthcare, welfare, and cultural or artistic events, thus performing a social service. They shape social interactions by favoring or inhibiting the mobility of people. Transportation thus support and may even shape social structures.

3. Political . Governments play a critical role in transport as sources of investment and as regulators. The political role of transportation is undeniable as governments often subsidize the mobility of their populations (highways, public transit, etc.). While most transport demand relates to economic imperatives, many communication corridors have been constructed for political reasons such as national accessibility or job creation. Transport thus has an impact on nation building and national unity, but it is also a political tool.

4. Economic . The evolution of transport has always been linked to economic development. It is an industry in its own right (car manufacturing, air transport companies, etc.). The transport sector is also an economic factor in the production of goods and services. It contributes to the value-added of economic activities, facilitates economies of scale, influences land (real estate) value and the geographic specialization of regions. Transport is both a factor shaping economic activities, and is also shaped by them.

5. Environmental . Despite the manifest advantages of transport, its environmental consequences are also significant. They include air and water quality, noise level and public health. All decisions relating to transport need to be evaluated taking into account the corresponding environmental costs. Transport is a dominant factor in contemporary environmental issues.

Substantial empirical evidence indicates that the importance of transportation is growing. The following contemporary trends can be identified regarding this issue:

1. Growth of the demand . The last 50 years have seen a considerable growth of the transport demand related to individual (passengers) as well as freight mobility. Recent trends underline an ongoing process of mobility growth, which has led to the

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Travel Geography

multiplication of the number of journeys involving a wide variety of modes that service transport demands.

2. Reduction of costs . Even if several transportation modes are very expensive to own and operate (ships and planes for instance), costs per unit transported have dropped significantly over the last decades. This has made it possible to overcome larger distances and further exploit the comparative advantages of space. As a result, despite the lower costs, the share of transport activities in the economy has remained relatively constant in time.

3. Expansion of infrastructures . The above two trends have obviously extended the requirements for transport infrastructures both quantitatively and qualitatively. Roads, harbors, airports, telecommunication facilities and pipelines have expanded considerably to service new areas and adding capacity to existing networks. Transportation infrastructures are thus a major component of the land use, notably in developed countries.

There are three basic geographical considerations relevant to transport geography:

1. Location . As all activities are located somewhere, each location has its own characteristics conferring a potential supply and/or a demand for resources, products, services or labor. A location will determine the nature, the origin, the destination, the distance and even the possibility of a movement to be realized. For instance, a city provides employment in various sectors of activity in addition to consume resources.

2. Complimentarily . Locations must require exchanging goods, people or information. This

implies that some locations have a surplus while others have a deficit. The only way an equilibrium can reached is by movements between locations having surpluses and locations having demands. For instance, a complimentarily is created between a store (surplus of goods) and its customers (demand of goods).

3. Scale . Movements generated by complimentarily are occurring at different scales, pending the nature of the activity. Scale illustrates how transportation systems are established over local, regional and global geographies. For instance, home-to-work journeys generally have a local or regional scale, while the distribution network of a multinational corporation is most likely to cover several regions of the world.

Transportation and Space

Physical Constraints

Transport geography is concerned with movements that take place over space. The physical features of this space impose major constraints on transportation systems, in terms of what mode can be used, the extent of the service, its costs, capacity and reliability.

Three basic spatial constraints of the terrestrial space can be identified:

1. Topography : Features such as mountains and valleys have strongly influenced the structure of networks, the cost and feasibility of transportation projects. The main land transport infrastructures are built usually where there are the least physical impediments, such as on plains, along valleys, through mountain passes, or when absolutely necessary through the

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Travel Geography

digging of tunnels. Water transport is influenced by water depths and the location of obstacles such as reefs. Coastlines exert an influence on the location of port infrastructure.

Aircraft require airfields of considerable size for take off and landing. Topography can impose a natural convergence of routes that will create a certain degree of centrality and may assist a location in becoming a trade center as a collector and distributor of goods. Topography can complicate, postpone or prevent the activities of the transport industry.

2. Hydrology : The properties, distribution and circulation of water play an important role in the transport industry. Maritime transport is influenced greatly by the availability of navigable channels through rivers, lakes and shallow seas. Several rivers such as the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, the Rhine, the Mekong or the Yangtze are important navigable routes into the heart of continents and historically have been the focus of human activities that have taken advantage of the transport opportunities.

Port sites are also highly influenced by the physical attributes of the site where natural features (bays, sand bars, and fjords) protect port installations. Since it is at these installations that traffic is transshipped, the location of ports is a dominant element in the structure of maritime networks. Where barriers exist, such as narrows, rapids, or land breaks, water transport can only overcome these obstacles with heavy investments in canals or dredging. Conversely waterways serve as barriers to land transportation necessitating the construction of bridges, tunnels and detours etc.

3. Climate : Its major components include temperature, wind and precipitation. Their impacts on transportation modes and infrastructure range from negligible to severe. Freight and passenger movement can seriously be curtailed by hazardous conditions such as snow, heavy rainfall, ice or fog. Air transportation is particularly vulnerable to weather disruptions, particularly during winter when a snow storm can create cascading effects. Jet streams are also a major physical component that international air carriers must take into consideration.

For an aircraft, the speed of wind can affect travel costs. When the wind is pushing the airplane towards its destination, it can reduce flight time up to several hours for intercontinental flights. Climate is also an influence over transportation networks by influencing construction and maintenance costs. Even volcanic eruptions can have an impact as it was the case in 2010 when a volcanic eruption in Iceland released large amounts of ashes in the atmosphere which forced the closing of most airports in northwestern Europe as well as many transatlantic flights out of concern that the ash could damage jet engines

Transport and Spatial Organization

The Spatial Organization of Transportation

Spatial organization relies on two dimensions. The first relates to spatial differentiation where attributes such as location, size and density are illustrative of the distribution inequalities of a phenomena. The second relates to spatial interactions where attributes such as origins, destinations, and flows are also illustrative of inequalities. Transportation not only favors economic development but also has an impact on the spatial organization. Throughout history, transport networks have structured space at different scales. Space shapes transport as much as transport shapes space, which is a salient example of the reciprocity of transport and its geography.

This reciprocity can be articulated over two points:

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Travel Geography

Reciprocity in location . This relationship concerns the transport system itself. Since the transport system is composed of nodes and links as well as the flows they are supporting, the spatial organization of this system is a core defining component of the spatial structure. Even if streets are not the city, they are shaping its organization in terms of locations and relations. The same apply for maritime shipping networks, which are not international trade, but reflect the spatial organization of the global economy.

Reciprocity in mobility . This relationship concerns activities that are all dependent on transportation at one level or another. Since every single activity is based on a level of mobility, the relationship they have with transportation is reflected in their spatial organization. While a small retail activity is conditioned by local accessibility from which it draws its customers, a large manufacturing plant relies on accessibility to global freight distribution for its inputs as well as its outputs.

Global Spatial Organization

The patterns of globalization have created a growth in spatial flows (trade) and increased interdependencies. Telecommunications, maritime transport and air transport, because of their scale of service, support the majority of global flows.

The nature and spatial structure of these flows can be considered from two major perspectives that seek to explain global differences in growth and accessibility:

1. Core / periphery . This basic representation assumes that the global spatial organization favors a few core areas that grow faster than the periphery. Differential growth creates acute inequalities in levels of development. For instance, global migration flows are illustrative of different levels of economic development. Transportation is thus perceived as a factor of polarization and unequal development. From this perspective, parts of the global economy are gaining, because they are more accessible, while other are marginalized and bound to dependency. However, this trend can be reversed if international transport costs are significantly reduced. This is evidenced by the substantial growth of many Pacific Asian countries that have opted for an export oriented strategy which requires good access to global freight distribution. Consequently, the core / periphery relationship is flexible and relative.

2. Poles . Transportation is perceived as a factor of articulation in the global economy where the circulation of passengers and freight is regulated by poles corresponding to a high level of accumulation of transport infrastructures, distribution and economic activities. These poles are subject to centrifugal and centripetal forces that have favored geographical concentration of some activities and the dispersion of others. The global economy is thus based on the backbone of freight distribution, which in turn relies on networks established to support its flows and on nodes that are regulating the flows within networks. Networks, particularly those concerning maritime shipping and air transportation, are flexible entities that change with the ebb and flows of commerce while nodes are locations fixed within their own regional geography.

The global spatial organization is a priori conditioned by its nodality. Global flows are handled by gateways and hubs, each of which account for a significant share of the flows of people, freight and information.

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Travel Geography

1. Gateway . A location offering accessibility to a large system of circulation of freight and passengers. Gateways reap the advantage of a favorable physical location such as highway junctions, the confluence of rivers, a good port site, and have been the object of a significant accumulation of transport infrastructures such as terminals and their links. A gateway is commonly an origin, a destination and a point of transit. It generally commands the entrance to and the exit from its catchments area. In other words, it is a pivotal point for the entrance and the exit in a region, a country, or a continent and often requires intermodal transfers.

2. Hub . A central point for the collection, sorting, transshipment and distribution of goods for a particular area. This concept comes from a term used in air transport for passengers as well as for freight and describes collection and distribution through a single point such as the “Hub and Spoke” concept.

Transportation Modes: An Overview

A Diversity of Modes

Transport modes are the means by which people and freight achieve mobility. They fall into one of three basic types, depending on over what surface they travel – land (road, rail and pipelines), water (shipping), and air.

Each mode is characterized by a set of technical, operational and commercial characteristics:

1. Road transportation 2. Rail transportation 3. Pipelines 4. Maritime transportation 5. Air transportation 6. Intermodal transportation 7. Telecommunications.

Road Transportation

Road transportation is the mode that has expanded the most over the last 50 years, both for passengers and freight transportation. This is the result of growth of the loading capacity of vehicle and an adaptation of vehicle to freight (e.g. perishables, fuel, construction materials, etc.) or passengers (e.g. school bus) demand for speed, autonomy and flexibility. New types of problems, such as a significant growth of fuel consumption, increasing environmental externalities, traffic congestion and a multiplication of road accidents have also emerged

All road transport modes have limited potential to achieve economies of scale. This is due to size and weight constraints imposed by governments and also by the technical and economic limits of engines. In most jurisdictions, trucks and busses have specific weight and length restrictions which are imposed for safety reasons. In addition, there are serious limits on the traction capacities of cars, buses and trucks because of the considerable increases in energy consumption that accompany increases in the vehicle weight. For these reasons the carrying capacities of individual road vehicles are limited.

Rail Transportation and Rail Line

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Travel Geography

Rail transport systems dramatically improved travel time as well as the possibility to offer reliable schedules that could be included in the planning of economic activities such as production and distribution. The coherence of economic activities and social interactions was thus substantially improved.

Rail transportation is characterized by a high level of economic and territorial control since most rail companies are operating in situation of monopoly, as in Europe, or oligopoly, as in North America. Operating a rail system involves using regular (scheduled), but rigid, services. Rail transportation, like roads, has an important relationship with space, since it is the transport mode the most constrained by the physiography.

Maritime Transportation

Maritime transportation, similar to land and air modes, operates on its own space, which is at the same time geographical by its physical attributes, strategic by its control and commercial by its usage. While geographical considerations tend to be constant in time, strategic and especially commercial considerations are much more dynamic. The physiographic of maritime transportation is composed of two major elements, which are rivers and oceans. The notion of maritime transportation rests on the existence of regular itineraries, better known as maritime routes.

Maritime routes - Corridors of a few kilometers in width trying to avoid the discontinuities of land transport by linking ports, the main elements of the maritime / land interface. Maritime routes are a function of obligatory points of passage, which are strategic places, of physical constraints (coasts, winds, marine currents, depth, reefs, and ice) and of political borders. As a result, maritime routes draw arcs on the earth water surface as intercontinental maritime transportation tries to follow the great circle distance.

Air Transport

It is through increasingly long-haul nonstop services among an ever wider set of city-pairs rather than through increased aircraft speeds that air transportation continues to "shrink the world". Today, commercial aircraft are now capable of making trips of up to 18 hours in duration. Such ultra-long-range flights servicing the world's metropolises are both a response and a driver for globalization. The same capacity of air transportation to dramatically lower the cost (friction) of distance has, of course, been instrumental in fostering economic globalization, albeit in a highly uneven fashion.

Relatively inexpensive air transport has also been crucial to the growth of tourism. It is no coincidence, for instance, that the five major Disney theme parks are all located near one of the world’s thirty busiest airports: Disneyworld near Orlando International Airport, Disneyland near Los Angeles International Airport, Euro Disney near Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Tokyo Disneyland near Tokyo-Haneda, and the newest park in Hong Kong which shares Lantau island with the most expensive airport in history.

Theoretically, air transport enjoys greater freedom of route choice than most other modes. Yet while it is true that the mode is less restricted than land transport to specific rights of way, it is nevertheless much more constrained than what might be supposed. Early in the history of aviation, physical obstacles such as the Rocky Mountains and the great gap of the North Atlantic limited the articulation of air transport networks. While those limitations have fallen, physical geography still affects the geography of intercity air transportation.

Aircraft seek, for instance, to exploit (or avoid) upper atmospheric winds, in particular the jet stream, to enhance speed and reduce fuel consumption. Volcanic eruptions may also impede air

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Travel Geography

travel by releasing ash in the atmosphere, which can damage and even shot down turbofan engines. Such occurrences are however rare and punctual, with the exception of April 2010 when a volcanic eruption in Iceland forced the closing down of airports in most of Europe as well as several North Atlantic routes. This represented the largest natural disruption of air travel in history.

Yet the limitations that structure air transportation are mainly human creations.

1. First, in the interest of air safety, air traffic is channeled along specific corridors so that only a relatively small portion of the sky is in use. Jetway 554, for example, which passes from high over the Michigan-Indiana state line towards Jamestown, New York via Southern Ontario, accommodates flights from many different cities in the West and Midwest bound for the Northeast, with nonstop city-pairs such as San Diego-Boston, Chicago-Albany, Phoenix-Providence, and Los Angeles-Hartford.

2. Strategic and political factors have also influenced route choice. For example, the flights of South African Airways were not allowed to over-fly many African nations during the apartheid period, and Cubana Airlines has been routinely prohibited from over-flying the US. Even more significant was the opening up of Siberian airspace to Western airlines after the Cold War. The new freedom permitted more direct routes not only between cities like London and Tokyo or New York and Hong Kong but also between transpacific city pairs like Vancouver-Beijing. Few large areas of airspace forbidden to carriers on political grounds remain. However, the intervention of the state in airline networks remains pervasive.

3. Geographically, a key outcome of airline deregulation has been the emergence of hub-and-spoke networks centered on major airport where a single carrier is often dominant. Such networks existed before deregulation to some degree, but the Civil Aeronautics Board hampered the expansion of airlines and the rationalization of networks. Hub-and-spoke systems rely on the usage of an intermediate airport hub. They can either connect a domestic (or regional) air system if the market is large enough (e.g. United States, China, European Union) or international systems through longitudinal (e.g. Dubai, Reykjavik) or latitudinal (Panama City) intermediacy. An important aspect of an intermediate hub concerns maintaining the schedule integrity since the majority of passengers are using connecting flights. Airports that are prone to delays due to congestion are not effective hubs since they compromise the schedule integrity.

Intermodal Transportation

From a functional and operational perspective, two components are involved in intermodalism: Intermodal transportation . The movements of passengers or freight from one mode of

transport to another, commonly taking place at a terminal specifically designed for such a purpose.

Transmodal transportation . The movements of passengers or freight within the same mode of transport. Although "pure" transmodal transportation rarely exists and an intermodal operation is often required (e.g. ship to dockside to ship), the purpose is to insure continuity within the same modal network.

Thus, transportation systems having several modes can be considered from two different conceptual perspectives:

Intermodal Transportation Network . A logistically linked system using two or more transport modes with a single rate. Modes are having common handling characteristics, permitting freight (or people) to be transferred between modes during a movement between

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Travel Geography

an origin and a destination. For freight, it also implies that the cargo does not need to be handled, just the load unit such as a pallet or a container.

Multimodal Transportation Network . A sequence of transport modes offering connections between a set of origins and destinations. However, these connections imply that the load unit needs to be changed, which is common for bulk transportation.

Transportation Terminals

All spatial flows, with the exception of personal vehicular and pedestrian trips, involve movements between terminals. With these two exceptions, all the transport modes require assembly and distribution of their traffic, both passenger and freight. For example, passengers have to go to bus terminals and airports first in order to reach their final destinations, and freight has to be consolidated at a port or a rail yard before onward shipment. Terminals are, therefore, essential links in transportation chains.

The Nature of Transport Terminals

Terminal - Any location where freight and passengers either originates, terminates, or is handled in the transportation process. Terminals are central and intermediate locations in the movements of passengers and freight. They often require specific facilities and equipment to accommodate the traffic they handle.

Terminals may be points of interchange within the same modal system and which insure a continuity of the flows. This is particularly the case for modern air and port operations. Terminals, however, are also very important points of transfer between modes. Buses and cars deliver people to airports, trucks haul freight to rail terminals, and rail brings freight to docks for loading on ships. One of the main attributes of transport terminals, international and regional alike, is their convergence function. They are indeed obligatory points of passage having invested on their geographical location which is generally intermediate to commercial flows. Thus, transport terminals are either created by the centrality or the intermediacy of their respective locations. In some cases, large transport terminals, particularly ports, confer the status of gateway or hub to their location since they become obligatory points of transit between different segments of the transport system.

Three major attributes are linked with the importance and the performance of transport terminals: Location . The major locational factor of a transport terminal is obviously to serve a large

concentration of population and/or industrial activities, representing a terminal's market area. Specific terminals have specific locational constraints, such as port and airport sites. New transport terminals tend to be located outside central areas to avoid high land costs and congestion.

Accessibility . Accessibility to other terminals (at the local, regional and global scale) as well as how well the terminal is linked to the regional transport system is of importance. For instance, a maritime terminal has little relevance if it is efficiently handling maritime traffic but is poorly connected to its market areas through an inland transport system (rail, road or barge).

Infrastructure . The main function of a terminal is to handle and transship freight or passengers since modes and passengers or cargo are physically separated. They have a nominal capacity which is related to the amount of land they occupy and their level of technological, labor and managerial intensity. Infrastructure considerations are consequently

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Travel Geography

important as they must accommodate current traffic and anticipate future trends and also technological and logistical changes.

The Relative Location of Terminals

Although the term "terminal" implies an end, a final destination, because they are transfer points terminals in fact are typically intermediate locations in the global flows of passengers and freight. Spatial relationships between terminals are a vital element in competition, particularly for ports and rail terminals, and Geographers have developed a number of concepts to explore these locational features.

One of particular interest concerns the function of centrality and intermediacy performed by transport terminals.

Centrality - Focus on the terminal as a point of origin and destination of traffic. Thus, centrality is linked with the generation and attraction of movements, which are related to the nature and the level of economic activities within the vicinity of the concerned terminal. The function of centrality also involves a significant amount of intermodal activities.

Intermediacy - Focus on the terminal as an intermediate point in the flows of passengers or freight. This term is applied to the frequent occurrence of places gaining advantage because they are between other places. The ability to exploit transshipment has been an important feature of many terminals.

Port Terminals

Ports are points of convergence between two domains of freight circulation (sometimes passengers); the land and maritime domains. The term port comes from the Latin portus, which means gate or gateway. Ports are bound by the need to serve ships, and so access to navigable water has been historically the most important site consideration.

Considering the operational characteristics of maritime transportation, the location of ports is constrained to a limited array of sites, mostly defined by geography. Most ports, especially those that are ancient, owe their initial emergence to their site as the great majority of harbors are taking advantage of a natural coastline or a natural site along a river.

Many port sites are constrained by: Maritime access . Refers to the physical capacity of the site to accommodate ship operations.

It includes the tidal range, which is the difference between the high and low tide, as normal ship operations cannot handle variations of more than 3 meters. Channel and berth depths are also very important to accommodate modern cargo ships.

Maritime interface . Indicates the amount of space that is available to support maritime access, namely the amount of shoreline that has good maritime access. This attribute is very important since ports are linear entities. Even if a port site has an excellent maritime access, namely deep water waterways, there may not be enough land available to guarantee its future development and expansion.

Infrastructures and equipment . The site, to be efficiently used, must have infrastructures such as piers, basins, stacking or storage areas, warehouses, and equipment such as cranes, all of which involving high levels of capital investment. In turn, these infrastructures consume land which must be available to insure port expansion. Keeping up with the

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Travel Geography

investment requirements of modern port operations has become a challenge for many ports, particularly in light of containerization which requires substantial amounts of terminal space to operate.

Land access . Access from the port to industrial complexes and markets insure its growth and importance. This requires efficient inland distribution systems, such as fluvial, rail (mainly for containers) and road transportation. The land access to ports located in densely populated areas is facing increasing congestion. For instance, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach invested massively to develop the Alameda rail corridor in an attempt to promote inland access and reduce truck congestion.

Rail Terminals

The use of the transport capacity offered by rail transportation requires purposely designed terminals where passengers can embark and disembark and where freight can be transferred. Rail terminals, while not quite as space-extensive as airports and ports, suffer less from site constraints.

This involves two major issues: Location . An important distinction concerning rail terminals concerns passengers and

freight terminals, which commonly involve very different locations. Passenger terminals tend to occupy central locations and are commonly the defining element of urban centrality while freight terminals have seen a growing separation from central locations, with new facilities often built in an exurban location, particularly for high speed train stations.

Setting . Because of the linear characteristic of the mode they serve, rail terminals are dominantly rectangular shaped facilities. Their capacity is a function of the number of track spurs available, which is a characteristic difficult to change once the terminal has been built. Individually rail terminals may not be as extensive as airports or ports, but cumulatively the area of all the rail sites in a city may exceed those of the other modes. For example, in Chicago the combined area of rail freight yards exceeds that of the airports.

Airport Terminals

The rapid expansion of air passengers and air freight flows fostered by globalization has made everything about the world’s great airports bigger. They are bigger in the volumes of traffic they handle, their sizes and the distances that separate them from the cities they serve, their costs and economic impacts, their environmental consequences, and the political controversies they engender.Suburbanization in general is one big reason it has become more difficult to place major airports with each passing decade. Local site requirements are extremely important for air terminals as its two major components, the airfields and the terminals.

Airport site location involves a wide variety of considerations: Air transportation forecast demand . Forecasted demand strongly affects the number and

length of runways and the size of airport terminals, and therefore the physical size of the airport itself. Larger aircraft generally require longer runways. For example, about 3,300 meters (10,000 feet) are required for a 747 to takeoff.

Runway configuration . About 30 to 60 movements (landings and takeoffs) per hour are possible on a commercial runway depending on the type of plane and weather conditions. Landings take about 60 seconds for the plane to touch down and clear the runway while takeoffs take between 40 to 60 seconds. However, where runways intersect, capacity is

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Travel Geography

significantly reduced and this type of configuration is considered obsolete for modern airport operations. Thus, the trend for the largest airports is to have parallel runways permitting simultaneous takeoffs and landings. Parallel runway configurations generally demand more space than crossing runways.

Altitude . At higher altitude, a longer runway is required to achieve the same lift because the air density is lower.

Meteorological conditions . Local variations in precipitation, prevailing wind, visibility, etc. must be taken in to account. Oakland’s less fogbound airport has gained some business, especially from low-cost carriers, at the expense of San Francisco International.

Topography . The land upon which runways is built must be flat, with no more than a 1 percent slope. Hilly land can be flattened and swampy land filled, of course, but at a cost.

Environmental considerations . Airports have significant effects on local waterways, wildlife, and air quality. An important aspect of London-Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 project is the diversion of two rivers around the site.

Adjacent land uses . Concerns about noise and other airport impacts have encouraged the setting aside of buffer areas much larger than runways and the supporting terminals, taxiways, and other infrastructure would require. The new Denver International Airport, for instance, occupies a parcel of land twice the size of Manhattan. In other cases, such as Dun Huang in China, specific geographical constraints had to be respected, namely that the airport could not consume scarce agricultural land.

Local accessibility . At the same time, however, an airport must be accessible to the communities it serves, making its location relative to highways and passenger rail lines (both intercity and metro) important. The integration of airports with passenger rail (e.g. Charles de Gaulle, Schipol, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, New York) is intended to link the airport terminal with the regional market it serves, thus reinforcing its function as a pole in the regional economy.

Obstructions . Beyond the airport perimeter, the proximity of mountains, hills, and/or heavily built-up areas (as in the case of Hong Kong’s old airport at Kai Tak) complicates airport operations. If approach corridors pass over residential zones, pressures can emerge to restrict operating hours.

Other airports . Nearby airports, especially in the same metropolitan area, may limit the available airspace and constrain new airport operations. This is particularly the case in New York where the respective airspace of three major airports, John F. Kennedy, Newark and LaGuardia, are impeding one-another.

The increasing physical size of airports and the difficulty of fitting in with neighboring land uses have encouraged the development of airports at increasingly remote locations. Indeed, the more recently an airport was constructed, the more likely it is to be located far from the center of the metropolitan area it services.

Types of Transport Impacts

The relationship between transportation and economic development is difficult to formally establish and has been debated for many years. Its complexity lies in the variety of possible impacts:

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Travel Geography

Timing of the development varies as the impacts of transportation can precede, occur during or take place after economic development. The lag, concomitant and lead impacts make it difficult to separate the specific contributions of transport to development. Each case study appears to be specific to a set of timing circumstances that are difficult to replicate elsewhere.

Types of impacts vary considerably. The spectrum of impacts range from the positive through the permissive to the negative. In some cases transportation impacts can promote, in others they may hinder economic development in a region. In many cases, few, if any, direct linkages could be clearly established.

Economic impact

The major impacts of transport on economic processes can be categorized as follows.

Geographic specialization . Improvements in transportation and communication favor a process of geographical specialization that increases productivity and spatial interactions. An economic entity tends to produce goods and services with the most appropriate combination of capital, labor, and raw materials. A given area will thus tend to specialize in the production of goods and services for which it has the greatest advantages (or the least disadvantages) compared to other areas as long as appropriate transport is available for trade.

Large scale production . An efficient transport system offering cost, time and reliability advantages permits goods to be transported over longer distances. This facilitates mass production through economies of scale because larger markets can be accessed. The concept of “just-in-time” has further expanded the productivity of production and distribution with benefits such as lower inventory levels and better responses to shifting market conditions. Thus, the more efficient transportation becomes, the larger the markets that can be serviced and the larger the scale of production.

Increased competition . When transport is efficient, the potential market for a given product (or service) increases, and so does competition. A wider array of goods and services becomes available to consumers through competition which tends to reduce costs and promote quality and innovation. Globalization has clearly been associated with a competitive environment that spans the world.

Increased land value . Land which is adjacent or serviced by good transport services generally has greater value due to the utility it confers to many activities. In some cases, the opposite can be true if related to residential activities. Land located near airports and highways, near noise and pollution sources, will thus suffer from corresponding diminishing land value.

Socioeconomic Impacts

While many of the economic impacts of transportation are positive, there are also significant negative impacts that are assumed by individuals or by the society in one way or another. Among the most significant are:

Mobility gaps . Since mobility is one of the fundamental components of the economic benefits of transportation, its variations are likely to have substantial impacts on the opportunities of individuals. Mobility needs do not always coincide due to several factors,

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Travel Geography

namely the lack of income, lack of time, lack of means and the lack of access. People’s mobility and transport demands thus depend on their socioeconomic situation.

Costs differences . Locations that have low levels of accessibility, such as landlocked

countries, tend to have higher costs for many goods (sometimes basic necessities such as food) as most have to be imported, often over long distances. The resulting higher transport costs inhibit the competitiveness of such locations and limits opportunities.

Congestion . With the increased use of transport systems, it has become increasingly common for parts of the network to be used above design capacity. Congestion is the outcome of such a situation with its associated costs, delays and waste of energy. Distribution systems that rely upon on-time deliveries are particularly susceptible to congestion.

Accidents . The use of transport modes and infrastructure is never entirely safe. Every motorized vehicle contains an element of danger and nuisance. Due to human errors and various forms of physical failures (mechanical or infrastructural) injuries, damages and even death occur. Accidents tend to be proportional to the intensity of use of transport infrastructures which means the more traffic the higher the probability for an accident to occur. They have important socioeconomic impacts including healthcare, insurance, damage to property and the loss of life. The respective level of safety depends on the mode of transport and the speed at which an accident occurs.

Environmental impact

The emission of pollutants related to transport activities has a wide range of environmental consequences that have to be assumed by the society, more specifically on four elements:

Air quality . Atmospheric emissions from pollutants produced transportation, especially by the internal combustion engine, are associated with air pollution and, arguably, global climate change. Some pollutants (NOx, CO, O3, VOC, etc.) can produce respiratory troubles and aggravate cardiovascular illnesses. In urban regions, about 50% of all air pollution emanates from automobile traffic.

Noise . A major irritant, noise can impact on human health and most often human welfare. Noise can be manifested in three levels depending on emissions intensity; psychological disturbances (perturbations, displeasure), functional disturbances (sleep disorders, loss of work productivity, speech interference) or physiological disturbances (health issues such as fatigue, and hearing damage). Noise and vibration associated with trains, trucks, and planes in the vicinity of airports are major irritants.

Water quality . Accidental and nominal runoff of pollutants from transport such as oil spills, are sources of contamination for both surface water and groundwater.

Land takes . Transport is a large consumer of space when all of its supporting infrastructure and equipment are considered. Furthermore, the planning associated with these structures does not always consider aesthetic values as is often the case in the construction of urban highways. These visual impacts have adverse consequences on the quality of life of nearby residents.

International Tourism and Transport

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Travel Geography

The expansion of international tourism has a large impact on the discipline of transport geography. As of 2010, 877 million international tourist receipts were accounted for, representing more than 10% of the global population. Tourism dominantly takes place inEurope and North America. Traveling has always been an important feature of society. First the explorers traveled the world to learn more about geographical regions, potential markets and to exploit resources. As time moved on an as transportation became more reliable, traveling became a mundane activity taking place in an organized environment; tourism. In the modern world, traveling is more centered around the annual holidays and can be fairly well predicted.

Tourism, as an economic activity, is characterized by a high level of elasticity. As transport costs are significant for international transportation, demand is strongly influenced by cost fluctuations. Therefore,transport is the key element in the tourism industry. The demand in international and even national transport infrastructures implies a very large number of people who wants to move in an efficient, fast and inexpensive manner. It requires heavy investments and complex organization. Well organized terminals and intelligently planned schedules are essential in promoting effective transportation facilities for tourists, notably since the industry is growing at a fast rate.

Transport is the cause and the effect of the growth of tourism. To start with, the improved facilities have stimulated tourism, and the expansion of tourism has stimulated transport. Accessibility is the main function behind the basics of tourism transport. In order to access the areas that are mainly aimed, tourists will use any transportation mode. However, air transport is the main mode for international tourism, which normally entails travel over long distances. Growth rates of international air traffic are pegged with growth rates of international tourism.Transport policies and decisions of governments can make a big difference in the destinations available to tourists. One dimension concerns the openness to tourism through travel visa restrictions, which vary substantially depending on the countries of origin of tourists. Unsurprisingly, travellers from developed countries, particularly Europe, are facing the least restrictions while travelers from developing countries are facing a much more stringent array of restrictions. Another dimension concerns the provision of infrastructures. If the public sector does not cope with the demand in terms of transport infrastructures, the tourist industry might be impaired in its development. However, land transport networks in various countries are designed to meet the needs of commercial movements that tourism requires.

"Holiday spenders" usually make enough contribution to the local economy that governments are more than willing to invest in efficient road networks or airport facilities, especially in locations that have limited economic opportunities other than tourism. There are however significant differences in the amount of spending per type of mode, namely between cruise and air transport tourism. Cruise shipping tourism provides much less revenue, with $15 per passengers spent per port of call on average. A significant reason is that cruise lines are capturing as much tourism expenses within their ships as possible (food, beverages, entertainment, shopping).

The main transport modes used are:

Car traveling  is usually an independent mean of transport. The driver decides where, when and how he is going to get to a destination. It is usually cheaper since roads fees are not directly paid but rather from taxes. It is the only transportation mode that does not require transfers, in the sense that the whole journey, from door to door can be achieve without even stopping. Car transport is the dominant mode in world tourism (77% of all journeys), notably because of advantages such as flexibility, price, and independence. Tourists will often rent cars to journey within their destinations, which has triggered an active clustering of car rental companies have emerged adjacent to main transport terminals (airports, train stations) and touristy venues.

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Travel Geography

Coach traveling  uses the same road network as cars. Coaches are well suited for local mass tourism but can be perceived as a nuisance if in too large numbers since they require a large amount of parking space. They can be used for short duration local tours (hours) but also can be set for multi-days journeys where the coach is the conveyance

Rail travel  was the dominant form of mass public transport before the age of the automobile. Even if trains are very fast, the network is not too flexible, pre-established routes have to be followed. The railway network usually reflects more the commercial needs of the national economy then the holiday tourist flow which can make it a second choice as a traveling mode. The railway systems of several countries, notably in Europe, have seen massive investments for long-distance routes and high speed services. Due to the scenery or the amenities provided, rail transportation can also be a touristy destination in itself. Several short rail lines that no longer had commercial potential have been converted for tourism.

Air transport  is by far the most effective transport mode. Notably because of prices, only 12.5% of the tourist travel by plane. But for international travel this share is around 40%. Air transport has revolutionized the geographical aspect of distances; the most remote areas can now be attained, any journey around the world can be measured in terms of hours of traveling. Businesspeople are among the biggest users of airline facilities, but low cost air carriers have attracted a significant market segment.

Cruises  are mainly concentrated towards short sea journeys of about a week. Cruising has become a significant tourist industry; big cruisers are like floating resorts where guests can enjoy luxury and entertainment while moving towards their multiple destinations. This industry is characterized by a high level of market concentration with a few companies, such as Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises who account for about 70% of the market. The impacts of cruising on the local economy are mitigated as the strategy of cruising companies is to retain as much income as possible. This implies that tourists spend most of their money in the cruise ship itself (gift shops, entertainment, casinos, bars, etc.) or on island facilities owned by cruise shipping companies.

The Cruise Industry

The cruise industry sells itineraries, not destinations, implying a greater flexibility in the selection of ports of call. The selection of an itinerary is the outcome of several commercial considerations including potential revenue generation, distance between ports of call (cruise ships can cover 200 nautical miles per night), brand positioning (exotic ports of call for premium services), guest satisfaction (customer oriented industry), economic trends and market research such as evaluating changes in disposable incomes and the demographics of the customer base.

Ships are constantly moving between ports of call and shore leaves are of low duration; 4.3 hours on average in the Caribbean. A standard cruise itinerary is a loop beginning and ending at a hub port (also called a turn port) and typically lasting 7 days with 3 to 5 ports of call depending on their respective proximity. Cruises of 10 to 21 days are also offered but they tend to have lower profit margins as customers are inclined to spend less as the cruise progresses.

Three main types of itineraries can be found:

Perennial . The region covered by the itinerary is serviced throughout the year as the demand remains resilient, which is associated with stable (subtropical) weather conditions as well as stable itineraries. There may be significant seasonal variations in the number of ships

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Travel Geography

deployed but the market remains serviced throughout the year. The Caribbean is the foremost perennial cruise market (summer low season), but the Mediterranean is also serviced year-round with a winter low season.

Seasonal . Weather is the dominant factor explaining seasonality, implying that some regions have a market potential only during a specific period or season. This is particularly the case for Baltic, Norwegian, Alaskan and New England cruises that are serviced during summer months. Inversely, South American and Australian itineraries are serviced during the winter months.

Repositioning . Because of the seasonality of the cruise industry the repositioning of ships between seasons is required. Cruise companies are increasingly using this opportunity to offer customers lower costs cruises for the inconvenience of having to book air travel arrangements for the return trip since the beginning and ending ports of call are not the same. This mainly takes place across the Atlantic as ships move from the winter Caribbean peak season to the summer Mediterranean peak season (and vice-versa). The beginning and the end of the Alaska season are also combined with a Hawaiian cruise as ships get repositioned. Barcelona and Dubai are emerging repositioning hubs since the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean are growing faster than the conventional Caribbean market.

For most customers, a cruise involves two travel segments, the first being air travel to the hub port (with a return trip) and the second is the cruise itself. It is therefore important that the hub port is serviced by a well-connected airport, with significant airlift capacity and which represents in itself a touristic destination. This is the case for Miami, Fort Lauderdale and San Juan that are respectively well connected airports and act as hub ports for Caribbean itineraries. Barcelona and Civitavecchia (near Rome) are major hub ports for the Mediterranean which are well serviced by air transportation.

Cruise ports come into three main categories depending of the role they serve within their regions. They can be a destination port where there are few, if any, excursions taking place outside the port area, a gateway port that mostly serves as a point of embarkation or a balanced port offering a combination of port area amenities as well as inland excursions. Each of these categories implies different development strategies to service the market. 

From a market perspective, the cruise industry has the following unique characteristics usually not found in other segments of the tourism industry:

Supply push strategy  of cruise operators as they aim at ‘creating’ demand simply by providing new capacity (ships) and finding customers to fill them.

Offer itineraries  where the whole is essentially greater than the sums of its parts. Specific regional and cultural experiences can be offered through a combination of sailing time and choice of ports of call.

Expand and capture revenue streams  by offering on board goods and services as well as shore-based excursions.

Adapt to seasonal and fundamental changes  in the demand by repositioning their ships (seasonal) and changing the configuration of their port calls (fundamental). One significant change concerns the rise in fuel prices, which account for 15% of the operational expenses. For instance, Cunard announced in 2012 that it will lengthen the crossing time of its transatlantic cruise by one day, from seven to eight days.

Rethinking the role of transportation

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Travel Geography

Tourism as a client-pleaser industry is in danger of destroying the very environment it promotes. Tourism whose emphasis is on fragile and sensitive areas needs to undergo thorough evaluation to allow for the appropriate level of development, type of activities, and access. Economics play a big role in the whole process.

Tourism as an economically driven industry that draws much of its income from the state of the environment will benefit much when it is run in a sustainable manner. The role governments, NGOs and operators play in the industry is crucial for the appropriate utilization of resources. The importance of including tourism in formulating the national development plan is that resources can be managed in consonance with the policies of the rest of the government agencies.

Environmental issues look different to various peoples. What may be exploitation for one is merely the process of survival for the other. There is a need to look at the problem in context and the role governments play. The stand of the government on the environment as cited is reflective of their values.

Alternative visitor management schemes are being considered to help reduce impacts and save the very environment people are coming from all over to see. What is a pity is the fact that transportation options open to tourists are not necessarily the most sustainable ones.

What makes it more challenging is that these destinations are fragile and sensitive and careful planning has to be done to achieve its goal of conservation.

UNIT 7: TOURISM DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT

Tourist and Tourism

Four Types of Tourists

Tourism transport can be divided in two categories: Independent means of travel ; controlled by individual tourists. Mass travel ; where tourists travel in groups.

When tourism was meanly for the elite, independent means of travel prevailed. However, the emergence of mass tourism, and the significant revenue it provides for local economies, required the setting of mass transportation systems.

Mass tourism can be defined as the act of visiting a destination with large amounts of people at one time, and the study of the effect that large amounts of people can have on a particular destination, or

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Objectives: Identify and explain the different types of tourist, holidays and group of tourism Discuss about motivations for travel Outline the tourism destination development phase including PLC, TALC and the

spatial process Explore the seaside resort development model and the impacts of beach development

towards the host regions

Travel Geography

on a particular destination which has been over-exposed by single tourists having been there repeatedly.

Designations Explanation

Organized mass tourists

This corresponds to the GIT. These people have little or no influence over their travel experience other than to purchase one package or another. They commonly travel in a group, view the destination through the windows of a bus, and remained in a preselected hotels. Shopping in the local market often provides their only contact with the native population

Individual mass touristsThese people are similar to the previous category but have somewhat more control over their itinerary. For instance, they may rent an auto to visit attractions

Explorers

These people fall in the IT classification. They plan their own itineraries and make their own reservations, although they may use a travel agent. They tend to be very sociable people who enjoy interacting with people at the destination

Drifters

These people, the backpacker group, will seldom, if ever be found in a traditional hotel. They may stay at youth hostels with friends or camp out. They tend to mix with lower socio-economic native groups and are commonly found riding third-class rail or bus. Most tend to be young.

Travel characteristics of psychographic types

1. ALLOCENTRIC - tourists who try new things, they don't like things being organized or planned and they do not return to the same destination, they like being adventurous

2. MID-CENTRIC - tourists who go to places that have been popularized by the allocentric, they are not so adventurous, neither are they afraid

3. PSYCHOCENTRIC - tourists who like things being planned and they are afraid to take risks, they often travel to places they are familiar with

Pyschocentrics Midcentrics AllocentricsTourists who like things being planned

They are afraid to take risks

They often travel to places they are familiar with

Tourist who go to places that have been popularized by allocentric

They are not so adventurous, neither are they afraid

Tourists who try new things

They don’t like things being organized or planned

They do not return to the same destination

They like being adventurous

Type of holidays

Beach Holidays - all kinds of people, popular with families, all budgets/prices Spa Resort Holidays - pampering and relaxation breaks- professionals with busy lives, more

commonly women in groups or couples without kids, normally more well off people

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Travel Geography

Activity Holidays - Skiing, Scuba Diving, Hiking etc. active people and sometimes families- a range of prices depending on the activity you're doing

Cultural Holidays - to see monuments, churches, museums etc - typically older people more interested in such things - range of budgets depending on far you go e.g. Venice, Italy is pricey

Exotic Holidays - far flung destinations like, Maldives, Thailand, India etc. to experience different cultures and lifestyles - any age open minded people- normally expensive

Backpacking Holidays - anywhere - across the US/ round the world etc. normally young people on a small budget staying in hostels etc

Cruise Holidays - ship based holidays - anywhere in the world e.g. Caribbean cruise. More commonly older people and often fairly expensive

Camping and Caravanning Holidays - young families tend to enjoy this - small budget.

Other types of holidays: All Inclusive Holidays Exotic beach holidays Safari Holidays Escorted tour holidays Twin-centre & multi-centre holidays Family Holidays World Class luxury holidays Villa holidays with CV Travel Romantic holidays Spa holidays Cruise and train holidays

(For more information on the above, please refer to this website: http://www.kuoni.co.uk/en/)

Groups of tourism

Grey Tourism

Grey Tourism is the term used to refer to the seniors market. The term Senior is usually used to refer to a person aged 60 or over.

Seniors tend to spend a higher percentage of their discretionary income on travel than younger people.

Most seniors budget carefully and are conscious of value for money when travelling. Seniors typically spend more time planning holidays than younger travellers. Seniors are larger consumers of travel information than young people. Seniors are more likely than younger people to travel in off-peak periods. Seniors are more likely than younger travellers to demonstrate brand loyalty, including

using favourite tour guides and choosing holidays based on past travel experiences. Spending time with family and friends, getting a break from routine and visiting places that

have always been of interest are important motivators for senior travellers. Seniors seek reassuring information on available medical facilities, opportunities for

personal assistance and health insurance when travelling

The most popular leisure experiences for senior travellers include: Visiting historical sites Visiting the countryside and natural wilderness Shopping

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Travel Geography

Going on guided tours Visiting beaches, lakes and rivers.

Accommodation Preferences:

Currently, many seniors prefer mid-priced accommodation to budget luxury accommodation. Three-star hotels and motels are popular as they provide home comforts. Mid-priced motel chains enjoy senior patronage as they offer a consistent level of acceptable quality. Facilities:

Ensuite bathrooms are desired by a majority of seniors, especially older seniors and single women.

There is greater demand for accommodation with access and facilities for seniors with disabilities than is currently being offered by accommodation providers.

Availability and proximity of medical assistance is important to some seniors who may be concerned about becoming ill while travelling.

Transport:

Private car and air are the main modes of transport seniors use to travel to their destination. Private car is the most used transport for travel at the destination. Air travel is the most popular way for seniors to cover large distances, but is not always used as price can be a barrier. Very few seniors are aware of special seniors deals available.

The lower cost of coach travel makes it particularly popular among singles and full pensioners. The over 50 segment tends to hire coaches for their trips, often liking to use the same company and the same driver to allow for the development of a level of trust.

Most seniors view rail travel in a positive light. It is seen as an affordable method of transport, provided you book ahead. Seniors appreciate discount offers for rail travel.

Pink tourism

Gay tourism or LGBT tourism is a form of niche tourism marketed to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. They are usually open about their sexual orientation and gender identity but may be more or less open when traveling; for instance they may be closeted at home or if they have come out, may be more discreet in areas known for violence against LGBT people.

The main components of LGBT tourism is for cities and countries wishing to attract LGBT tourists; people looking to travel to LGBT-friendly destinations; people wanting travel with other LGBT people when traveling regardless of the destination and LGBT travelers who are mainly concerned with cultural and safety issues. The slang term gaycation has come to imply a version of a vacation that includes a pronounced aspect of LGBT culture, either in the journey or destination.

Gay travel destinations:

Gay travel destinations are popular among practitioners of gay tourism because they usually have permissive or liberal attitudes towards gays, feature a prominent gay infrastructure (bars, businesses, restaurants, hotels, nightlife, entertainment, media, organisations, etc.), the opportunity to socialize with other gays, and the feeling that one can relax safely among other gay people.

Gay travel destinations are often large cities, although not exclusively, and often coincide with the existence of gay neighborhoods. These municipalities and their tourism bureaus often work actively

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Travel Geography

to develop their reputations as places for gays to travel to, commonly by aligning themselves to local gay organisations. Travel analysts state that the existence of a core gay friendly population is often the primary catalyst for the development of a gay-friendly tourist destination.

Gay tourism might also coincide with special gay events such as annual gay pride parades, gay neighborhood festivals and such gay community gatherings as gay chorus festivals and concerts, gay square dance conventions, gay sports meets such as Gay Games, World Outgames or EuroGames and conferences of national and international gay organisations. Gay tourism blossoms during these peak periods.

Wildlife tourism

Wildlife tourism can be an eco and animal friendly tourism, usually showing animals in their natural habitat. Wildlife tourism, in its simplest sense, is watching wild animals in their natural habitat. Wildlife tourism is an important part of the tourism industries in many countries including many African and South American countries, Australia, India, Canada, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Maldives among many. It has experienced a dramatic and rapid growth in recent years

Wildlife tourism can be broadly defined as trips to destinations with the main purpose of visit being to observe the local fauna. This therefore implies that wildlife tourism includes other niche markets such as bird watching and the exploration of marine life (such as whale watching).

Brief Profile of Consumers:

Wildlife tourists are some of the most diverse of any niche market. They range from the experienced specialists who like to seek “virgin” places that remain relatively undiscovered, to the inexperienced tourist travelling on a package to one of Africa’s well-known game reserves.

Across this spectrum, consumers vary considerably in age, gender, and socioeconomic grouping. Package tourists vary from budget travellers through to those staying in small exclusive lodges or tented camps. However, specialists tend to be independent travellers, who are likely to stay in basic accommodation, and are generally very flexible with their travel arrangements.

Whilst the luxury-end of the package market tends to be the most demanding in terms of infrastructure and services, they also generate the greatest income. These consumers tend to be in the third-age group (50-65 years), often including the early retired.

Main Competing Destinations:

Africa is the market leader and accounts for around one half of all wildlife tourism trips worldwide. The traditional wildlife destinations of South Africa, Kenya, Botswana and Tanzania receive the greatest volume of visitors. However, there are a number of emerging wildlife destinations which demonstrate the desire of consumers to seek out new destinations, in particular these are:

Antarctica (whales, penguins and seals) Bolivia (New World’s largest concentration of large animals such as the Giant River Otter and Jaguar) Finland (particularly Hiidenportti National Park for bears, wolves and lynx)

Other common groups of tourism: Business tourism Family tourism Sports tourism

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Travel Geography

Cultural tourism Rural tourism Youth tourism

Motivations for travel

Motivations for travel and tourism

Knowledge of people's travel motivations and its association with destination selection plays a critical role in predicting future travel patterns.

Tourist motivation can be defined "as the global integrating network of biological and cultural forces which gives value and direction to travel choices, behaviour and experience". According to Seaton (1997) motivation is a state of arousal of a drive or need which impels people to activity in pursuit of goals. Once the goals have been achieved the need subsides and the individual returns to the equilibrium-but only briefly because new motives arise as the last one is satisfied.

Krippendorf (1987), as cited in Seaton (1997) suggests that the motivation of the individual person to travel, to look outside for what he cannot find inside have been largely created by society and shaped by everyday life. People who live in cities, for example, are motivated to travel as tourists to wilderness areas because they need to escape from an artificial, monotonous environment. The adjectives and categorisations of tourists based upon motivations may differ in number, but recurrent themes emerge. For example the need to escape from everyday surroundings for the purpose of relaxation, and discovering new things, places and people are often alluded to.

According to Crompton (1979), as cited in Bello & Etzel (1985), the need for relaxation, exploration, social interaction and enhancement of kinship relationships act as dominant push motives in the vacation decision. Reversely, pull motives are aroused by the destination and include factors like scenic attractions, historical sites. Push factors are thought to establish the desire for travel and pull factors are thought to explain actual destination choice. Seaton (1997) suggests that the push factors include avoidance of work, cultural/social pressures at home. The pull factors include seeking leisure /play, freedom and escape.

Maslow (1943) identified two motivational types: tension-reducing motives; arousal-seeking motives. According to Maslow, there are five needs forming a hierarchy, progressing from the lower to the higher needs. Maslow argued that if the lower needs [physiological {hunger, thirst, rest}, safety {security}, belonging and love {affection, giving and receiving love}] are fulfilled the individual would be motivated by needs of the next level of the hierarchy [esteem {self-esteem and esteem for others}, self-actualisation {personal self-fulfilment}]. For example, although the apparent purpose of a trip may be to visit friends and relatives, the underlying psychological motivation may be a need for belonging and the desire to reunite and reinforce family links.

Tourists motivation to travel

Motivations that cause a person to travel as a tourist should be distinguished from features of the destination. For example, a pleasant climate may be one of the attractions of the tourist destination, but it might be concern for health, or the desire to physical comfort, that may motivate a person to visit that particular tourist spot. Also, different groups of people may visit a single spot with several different motives in mind.

Tourism professionals need to understand tourist motivations in order to decide which facilities they should offer to their customers and be successful in their business.

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Hudman and Hawkins (1989) listed 10 main ones:

1. health, 2. curiosity, 3. sport (participation) 4. sport (watching), 5. pleasure - destinations with a combination of natural resources (such as beaches, mountains,

forests, rivers) and man-made facilities (ski-lifts, swimming pools, hiking paths) attract visitors whose principal holiday purpose is physical activity in any form, from simple walking or fishing to bungee-jumping, or even physical inactivity, such as sunbathing and relaxation,

6. VFR, 7. Professional and business, 8. pursuit of "roots", 9. self-esteem, and 10. Religion.

Tourist motivations can be generally categorized into these four:

1. Physical : These would includeo Rest. For example, many people head to the hills in the summers in India to escape

the heat in the plains.o Recreation and pleasure. Other groups of people may choose a resort in the hills to

enjoy the climate as well as the recreation facilities available there. o Health. People also travel for health reasons. Some take advantage of medical

facilities (medical tourism) in the destination, and others visit spas for rejuvenation. Kerala has several spas offering ayurvedic treatment.

2. Social/cultural o Sports. Sports fans travel long distances to watch their favourite events. Millions also

travel to watch the Olympics. Adventure sports facilities; attract several other tourists to hill stations, sea- and river-side destinations.

o Culture. Other tourists are attracted by the difference in culture, and may want to sample the local food, meet local people, and see local festivals. Tourists also usually like to collect handicrafts unique to an area as mementoes of their visit.

o Religion. Pilgrimage tourism is one of the most important kinds of tourism going by the huge number of people who travel for religious reasons. Tirupati is regarded as the religious shrine which attracts the greatest number of visitors in India.

3. Interpersonal o Visiting friends and family counts as one of biggest reasons people travel.

4. Economic o People travel often for business: Coimbatore and Tirupur may attract businessmen

who deal in clothes, Rajasthan those who want marble. 

Tourism Destination Development

Product Life-cycle

The understanding of a product’s life cycle, can help a company to understand and realize when it is time to introduce and withdraw a product from a market, its position in the market compared to

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competitors, and the product’s success or failure. The product’s life cycle - period usually consists of five major steps or phases. These phases can be split up into smaller ones depending on the product and must be considered when a new product is to be introduced into a market since they dictate the product’s sales performance.

1. Product Development Phase Product development phase begins when a company finds and develops a new product idea. This involves translating various pieces of information and incorporating them into a new product. During the product development phase, sales are zero and revenues are negative. It is the time of spending with absolute no return.

2. Introduction Phase The introduction phase of a product includes the product launch with its requirements to getting it launch in such a way so that it will have maximum impact at the moment of sale. A successful product introduction phase may also result from actions taken by the company prior to the introduction of the product to the market.

3. Growth Phase The growth phase offers the satisfaction of seeing the product take-off in the marketplace. This is the appropriate timing to focus on increasing the market share. A new growing market alerts the competition’s attention. Good coverage in all marketplaces is worthwhile goal throughout the growth phase.

4. Maturity Phase When the market becomes saturated with variations of the basic product, and all competitors are represented in terms of an alternative product, the maturity phase arrives. In this phase market share growth is at the expense of someone else’s business, rather than the growth of the market itself. This period is the period of the highest returns from the product. A company that has achieved its market share goal enjoys the most profitable period, while a company that falls behind its market share goal, must reconsider its marketing positioning into the marketplace.

5. Decline Phase The decision for withdrawing a product seems to be a complex task and there a lot of issues to be resolved before with decide to move it out of the market. Dilemmas such as maintenance, spare part availability, service competitions reaction in filling the market gap are some issues that increase the complexity of the decision process to withdraw a product from the market. Often companies retain a high price policy for the declining products that increase the profit margin and gradually discourage the “few” loyal remaining customers from buying it.

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Resort development model

Tourist Area Life-cycle (TALC)

Hypothetical Evolution of a Tourist Area (Adapted from Miller and Gallucci, 2004) ©2012 World-Point Academy of Tourism Sdn. Bhd. All Rights Reserved.

Sales and profit

Profits

Sales

Time

Growth Decline

Maturity Introduction Product

Development Losses/

investment

0

Travel Geography

1. Exploration – small numbers of visitors attracted by natural beauty characteristics. Tourist numbers are limited. Few tourist facilities exist.

2. Involvement – limited involvement by local residents to provide some facilities for tourists. There is a recognizable ‘tourist season’. There begin to be a definite tourist market.

3. Development – large numbers of tourists arrive. Control passes from the locals to external organizations. Increase in tension between local people and tourists

4. Consolidation – tourism has become a major part of the local economy. Visitors’ numbers star to level off (at a high number). Some older facilities are seen as second-rate

5. Stagnation – peak numbers of tourists have been reached. The resort is no longer considered fashionable.

6. Rejuvenation/decline – attractiveness continue to decline. Visitors are lost to other resorts and destinations. Long term decline will continue unless action is taken to rejuvenate the area and modernize.

Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) model  is that a destination begins as a relatively unknown and visitors initially come in small numbers restricted by lack of access, facilities, and local knowledge, which is labeled as Exploration. As more people discover the destination, the word spreads about its attractions and the amenities are increased and improved (Development). Tourist arrivals then begin to grow rapidly toward some theoretical carrying capacity (Stagnation), which involves social and environmental limits. 

The rise from Exploration to Stagnation often happens very rapidly, as implied by the exponential nature of the growth curve. The possible trajectories indicated by dotted lines A-E are examples of a subset of possible outcomes beyond Stagnation. Examples of things that could cause a destination to follow trajectories A and B toward Rejuvenation are technological developments or infrastructure improvements leading to increased carrying capacity. Examples of things that could cause a destination to follow trajectories C and D are increased congestion and unsustainable development, causing the resources that originally drew visitors to the destination to become corrupted, or no longer exist. The trajectory of most interest to this is trajectory E, which is the likely path of a destination following a disaster or crisis. 

It is also important to point out that the Law of Diminishing Returns could cause a destination to follow trajectories similar to those of C or D, and that the concepts and practices of destination recovery, as applied to destinations recovering from a disaster, could easily be applied to a destination in Decline as a result of the Law of Diminishing Returns. 

Spatial process of tourist development

Bortoun defines the procedures for the tourism spatial development as follows:

First phase: The starting point of tourism development is the existence of a residential region created by the tourist’s production potential, and a potentially remote destination where the tourism has not yet improved.

This process may begin by the Allocentrics (Tourists seeking diversity), the discoverers and or those aimless individuals or the well-to-do elites. They are motivated by the interests, curiosity, educational needs and etc, and they arrange for their own trips by making use of local transportation. As a result of their narrations and announcements, they identify the destination and also they gain fame and by means of a few of tourists who are able to travel they visit; the host society also responds to them by providing some small services.

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Travel Geography

The second phase: If the living standard of people in the region of tourist production (tourism market) is promoted and the welfare is increased among them, the second phase of tourism is started.

During this phase, firstly those who enter feel that some services should be provided in the destination for which different and new potential tourists search - such as the rich tourists or those who are similar to Allocentrics. Therefore, a new product is rendered and the lifecycle of the product begins. The first time, The merchants who are exposed to risk enter into the market. They start working by provision of travel services directly to the destination and reinforcing the existing facilities at the destination, and then, they proceed for selling them to the potential tourists somehow different from the tourists of the first phase. There is limited response on the part of the host community. They directly make use of tourism emotional motivations and they welcome the tourists.

The third phase: The tourism industry starts making novel changes in the destination by developing the first residential-commercial centers for tourism soon.

The tourists of the first phase leave this destination for finding other destinations. Those merchants, who were not exposed to the risk, enter into the market in order to reinforce the existing services and facilities. The speed and scope of development are increasing. The accumulation of tourists who are in search of completely well developed destinations, now are able to travel to such destinations. The speed of tourism growth leads toward immigrating to a tourism destination since

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Travel Geography

the local workforce cannot provide services requested by the tourists. Landlords and the local traders welcome tourism development, however, the majority of the local people are annoyed by such development.

The fourth phase: The destination is well identified among the population of the Midcentric tourism generating region. The destination is totally developed and is distinct from its primary shape.

Its attractions are diversified and the potential for meeting tourism demands of major travelers (Midcentric) grows in an organized manner. A major part of Midcentric tourists are attracted by the second destination and therefore, the first destination loses a portion of tourists for its own benefit. The tourism merchants attempt for the provision of services even with cheaper price in the first destination, while other ones expand their services in the second destination. Coincided with increasing economic potential of people, in the market of tourist, the tourism improves step by step in more distant regions.

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Seaside and tourist resort model

A seaside resort is a resort hotel, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort. Seaside resorts are coastal settlements that have become a destination for visitors by offering opportunities for pleasure, health and wellbeing.

A seaside resort is a coastal settlement, usually with a beach or harbour, that has developed its cultural, natural and built environment characteristics as a result of becoming a destination for visitors. Historically, seaside resorts developed from a desire to improve people’s health, wellbeing and opportunities for pleasure. Visitors were attracted by the offer of an experience different to, and better than, that found at home.

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Travel Geography

Resorts have residential communities too, with inhabitants who appreciate their unique character. They are often interesting, unusual and creative places to live. No two resorts are the same, and all have embraced different elements of the seaside experience. Many have a wealth of historical and public space features (for example bathing houses, piers, promenades, winter and formal gardens), while others major on their natural landscape and marine environment.

Seaside Resorts tend to have the following features: Found on the coast with beaches Close to industrial areas with large populations, with good rail and road links On the sea-front are hotels and entertainments such as pubs and bingo Guest houses are found inland where the land is cheaper to buy Housing found further inland, with industry on the outskirts Caravan, camp-sites and golf courses also on the edge of town, but near the coast Promenades - pedestrians roads along the front of the resort

With the increase in cheap package holidays in the last 30 years many seaside resorts have had to diversify. Many people chose to retire to these resorts, and therefore have an ageing population.

An example of a seaside resort is Blackpool in North West England, which is shown on the map below.

It is similar to the model in every way.

It is different from most other seaside resorts as it continues to be sucessful holiday resort, unlike most British resorts which have looked to other functions.

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Six aspects must be taken into consideration when developing a beach resort:

1. Sea a. Site attractiveness is determined by: air temperature, amount of wind and sun, water

temperatures, currents, tides and waves, ecology, pollution, clarity of water, and possible attractions.

2. Seashore a. Consists of the surface under the water, extending out to a depth of 6 feet.b. Should consist of course sand or sand and pea gravel

3. Beach a. Slope of the beach should be between 2% and 10%, with 5% being the ideal

4. Back beach a. Offers views to both the sea and inlandb. Protection of degradation is a major concern as developers consider future

improvements5. Coastal Stretch

a. Consists of the beach environment between 0.5 and 3 miles from the back beachb. Developers must consider where to place service facilities and access roads

6. Surrounding Countryside a. Natural attractions, the extent of development, surrounding infrastructure, and the

opportunity for excursions all need to be considered

Site Development

In selecting a site for beach development, these elements warrant particular attention:• Access to a permanent or transient seasonal population• Access to major roads• Minimum water temperatures in the upper 60’s during the swimming season • Warm, sunny conditions before and during the season to warm the water and attract

swimmers and sunbathers.

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• Water quality needs to be analyzed before and after development as swimmers will add to the existing bacterial count.

How does tourism damage coastal environment

Massive influxes of tourists, often to a relatively small area, have a huge impact. They add to the pollution, waste, and water needs of the local population, putting local infrastructure and habitats under enormous pressure. For example, 85% of the 1.8 million people who visit Australia's Great Barrier Reef are concentrated in two small areas, Cairns and the Whitsunday Islands, which together have a human population of just 130,000 or so.

Tourist infrastructure

In many areas, massive new tourist developments have been built - including airports, marinas, resorts, and golf courses. Overdevelopment for tourism has the same problems as other coastal developments, but often has a greater impact as the tourist developments are located at or near fragile marine ecosystems. For example:

mangrove forests and seagrass meadows have been removed to create open beaches tourist developments such as piers and other structures have been built directly on top of

coral reefs nesting sites for endangered marine turtles have been destroyed and disturbed by large

numbers of tourists on the beaches

Careless resorts, operators, and tourists

The damage doesn't end with the construction of tourist infrastructure. Some tourist resorts empty their sewage and other wastes directly into water surrounding coral reefs and other sensitive marine habitats. Recreational activities also have a huge impact. For example, careless boating, diving, snorkeling, and fishing have substantially damaged coral reefs in many parts of the world, through people touching reefs, stirring up sediment, and dropping anchors. Marine animals such as whale sharks, seals, dugongs, dolphins, whales, and birds are also disturbed by increased numbers of boats, and by people approaching too closely. Tourism can also add to the consumption of seafood in an area, putting pressure on local fish populations and sometimes contributing to overfishing. Collection of corals, shells, and other marine souvenirs - either by individual tourists, or local people who then sell the souvenirs to tourists - also has a detrimental effect on the local environment.

Cruise ships: Floating towns

The increased popularity of cruise ships has also adversely affected the marine environment. Carrying up to 4,000 passengers and crew, these enormous floating towns are a major source of marine pollution through the dumping of garbage and untreated sewage at sea, and the release of other shipping-related pollutants.

Beach development impacts on host regions

Developed coasts change natural beach processes. Even a single building alters natural movement of wind which can disrupt sand transport, movement of rainwater runoff, and negatively impact plants and animals. Aesthetically, development reduces the quality of visits by tourists and once development begins, more follows. The long history of beach development in Europe and the

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northeastern United States has resulted in heavy modification of, and in some cases total destruction of, natural beaches.

Development on coasts is in grave danger in the coming decades from the combination of sea level rise and storms. When coastal development is built too close to the shore, the results can be devastating as evidenced by recent hurricanes Ike and Katrina in the United States. Developed coastlines need to retreat from the coast to allow the beach to move. Coastlines are dynamic, but buildings are not.

Environmental impacts

Tourism can create great pressure on local resources such as energy, food, land and water that may already be in short supply. According to the Third Assessment of Europe’s environment (EEA, 2003), the direct local impacts of tourism on people and the environment at destinations are strongly affected by concentration in space and time (seasonality).

They result from:

The intensive use of water and land by tourism and leisure facilities. The delivery and use of energy. Changes in the landscape coming from the construction of infrastructure, buildings and

facilities. Air pollution and waste. The compaction and sealing of soils (damage and destruction of vegetation). The disturbance of fauna and local people (for example, by noise).

Impacts on biodiversity

Tourism can cause loss of biodiversity in many ways, e.g. by competing with wildlife for habitat and natural resources. More specifically, negative impacts on biodiversity can be caused by various factors.

Socio-cultural impacts

Change of local identity and values:

Commercialization of local culture : Tourism can turn local culture into commodities when religious traditions, local customs and festivals are reduced to conform to tourist expectations and resulting in what has been called "reconstructed ethnicity"

Standardization : Destinations risk standardization in the process of tourists desires and satisfaction: while landscape, accommodation, food and drinks, etc., must meet the tourists expectation for the new and unfamiliar situation. They must at the same time not be too new or strange because few tourists are actually looking for completely new things. This factor damages the variation and beauty of diverse cultures.

Adaptation to tourist demands : Tourists want to collect souvenirs, arts, crafts, cultural manifestations. In many tourist destinations, craftsmen have responded to the growing demand and have made changes in the design of their products to make them more attractive to the new customers. Cultural erosion may occur in the process of commercializing cultural traditions.

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Economic inequality - between locals and tourists who are spending more than they usually do at home.

Irritation due to tourist behaviour - Tourists often, out of ignorance or carelessness, fail to respect local customs and moral values.

Job level friction - due to a lack of professional training, many low-paid tourism-jobs go to local people while higher-paying and more prestigious managerial jobs go to foreigners or "urbanized" nationals.

Benefits of Sustainable coastal tourism

Economic benefit

The main positive economic impacts of sustainable (coastal) tourism are: contributions to government revenues,foreign exchange earnings, generation of employment and business opportunities.

Contribution to government revenues Government revenues from the tourism sector can be categorised as direct and indirect contributions. Direct contributions are generated by income taxes from tourism and employment due to tourism, tourism businesses and by direct charges on tourists such as ecotax . Indirect contributions derive from taxes and duties on goods and services supplied to tourists, for example, taxes on tickets (or entry passes to any protected areas), souvenirs, alcohol, restaurants, hotels, service of tour operators.

Foreign exchange earnings Tourism expenditures, the export and import of related goods and services generate income to the host economy. Tourism is a main source of foreign exchange earnings for at least 38 % of all countries (World Tourism Organisation).

Employment generation The rapid expansion of international tourism has led to significant employment creation. Tourism can generate jobs directly through hotels, restaurants, taxis, souvenir sales and indirectly through the supply of goods and services needed by tourism-related businesses; for e.g. conducted tour operators.

Contribution to local economies Tourism can be a significant or even an essential part of the local economy. As environment is a basic component of the tourism industry’s assets, tourism revenues are often used to measure the economic value of protected areas. The positive side of informal or unreported employment is that the money is returned to the local economy and has a great multiplier effect as it is spent over and over again.

Direct financial contributions to nature protection

Tourism can contribute directly to the conservation of sensitive areas and habitats. Revenue from park-entrance fees and similar sources can be allocated specifically to pay for the protection and management of environmentally sensitive areas.

Competitive advantage More and more tour operators take an active approach towards sustainability. Not only because consumers expect them to do so but also because they are aware that intact

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destinations are essential for the long term survival of the tourism industry. More and more tour operators prefer to work with suppliers who act in a sustainable manner, e.g. saving water and energy, respecting the local culture and supporting the well being of local communities.

Environmental Management and Planning benefits

Sound and efficient environmental management of tourism facilities and especially hotels (e.g.water and energy saving measures, waste minimization, use of environmentally friendly material) can decrease the environmental impact of tourism. Planning helps to make choices between the conflicting interests of industry and tourism, in order to find ways to make them compatible.

Socio-cultural benefits

Tourism as a force for peace Travelling brings people into contact with each other. As sustainable tourism has an educational element it can foster understanding between people and cultures and provide cultural exchange between guests and hosts. This increases the chances for people to develop mutual sympathy, tolerance and understanding and to reduce prejudices and promote the sense of global brotherhood.

Strengthening communities Sustainable Coastal Tourism can add to the vitality of communities in many ways. For e.g. events and festivals of the local communities where they have been the primary participants and spectators. Local people can also increase their influence on tourism development, as well as improve their jobs and earnings prospects through tourism-related professional training and development of business and organizational skills.

Revitalization of culture and traditions Sustainable Tourism can also improve the preservation and transmission of cultural and historical traditions. Contributing to the conservation and sustainable management of natural resources can bring usually the chance to protect local heritage or to revitalize native cultures, for instance by regenerating traditional arts and crafts.

Encouragement social involvement and pride In some situations, tourism also helps to raise local awareness concerning the financial value of natural and cultural sites. It can stimulate a feeling of pride in local and national heritage and interest in its conservation.

Benefits for the tourists of Sustainable Tourism The benefits of sustainable tourism for visitors are plenty: they can enjoy unspoiled nature and landscapes, environmental quality of goods or services(clean air and water), a healthy community with low crime rate, thriving and authentic local culture and traditions.

UNIT 8: PATTERNS OF WORLD TOURISM

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Objectives: Understand the general patterns of world tourism including the domestic and

international tourists flow Identify and explore the world geographical units and division of world regions by core

and periphery Discuss the differences and interrelationship of core and periphery world regions

Travel Geography

Patterns of world tourism

General patterns of world tourism

Tourism is one of the biggest and fastest growing industries in the world. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in 2008, international tourist arrivals reached 924 million. By the year 2010 international arrivals worldwide are expected to reach 1 billion. If domestic tourists are added to the above figure, total tourist arrivals can well be over 3 billion.

Tourism activity gives birth to both spatial and seasonal concentrations. Based on the intensity or quality of tourism, the concept of seasonal concentration describes the unevenness or fluctuation during the course of a year, with the ‘season’ including (at least one) peak period which is caused by two basic elements, one “natural” and one “institutionalized”. The natural aspect of seasonality is related with natural phenomena such us rainfall, sunlight, temperature etc. and the seasons of the year, while the institutionalized element refers to social factors and policies concerning specific customs and legislated vacations, impacting dramatically productivity, employment, cash flows but also infrastructure and environmental consequences, with huge demans particularly in the summer period.

However, tourism consumption patterns do change. Tourism demand trends since the mid-80’s reflect the increasing diversity of interests of the late-modern leisure society with the emergence of Special Interest Tourism (SIT) revealing the new values which include ‘increased importance of outdoor activities, awareness of ecological problems, educational advances, aesthetic judgment and improvement of self and society.

What is the profile of this customer? Nearly half of all international tourist arrivals are motivated by leisure, recreation and holidays (51%) (data for 2008). Business travel accounted for some 15%, and 27% represented travel for other purposes, such as visiting friends and relatives, religious reasons/pilgrimages, health treatment, etc. The rebound of tourism activities will reveal the trend of increased specialization among travellers, which will be seeking personalized, unique experiences, in terms of adventure, culture, history, archaeology, bird watching, diving and interaction with local people which represent a shift from escapism to enrichment.

Four directional flows of domestic tourists

Domestic tourism is more difficult to track than international tourism as it occurs within the country of residence and thus does not involve the crossing of international borders at entry points into a country, where visitors are counted.

Four directional flows of domestic (within the country of residence) tourists are: North East South West

International tourists flows

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International tourist flows have become one of the most important components within the total assemblage of social and economic transactions among countries of the contemporary world. Simply in term sof absolute volume of movement and monetary exchange, the growth of tourism is most impressive.

Tourist flows is about the tourist movements between two areas; with the destination area containing a surplus of a commodity (ex. tourist attraction) and the generating area having a deficit, or demand for that commodity. The regular patterns of tourist flows, which do not occur randomly but follow certain rules and are influenced by a variety of push and pull factors .

Push factors Mainly concerned with the stage of economic development in the generating area, including the factors as levels of affluence, mobility and holiday entitlement. Economic development may cause the pressure of life will provide the “push” to engage in tourism. An unfavourable climate will also provide a strong impetus to travel.

Pull factors Include accessibility, and the attractions and amenities of the destination area. The relative cost of the visit is important, as is the marketing and promotion of the receiving area.

A number of attempts have been made to explain the factors that affect tourist flows and to provide rules governing the magnitude of flows between regions

1. Williams and Zelinsky (1970) Selected 14 countries that had relatively stable tourist flows over a few years, which accounted for the bulk of the world’s tourist traffic. A number of factors that helped to explain these flows:

Distances between countries (the greater the distance, the smaller the volume of flow).

International connectivity (shared business or cultural ties between countries). The general attractiveness of one country for another.

2. The gravity model It based on two main factors that influence flows:

The push and pull factors which generate flows , and the model states that the larger the “mass” of the pushing or pulling regions, the greater the flow between them.

The restraining factor , which based on the distance between the origin and the destination of the flow.

The time and cost involved in travel act to reduce the flows with distance. Known as the friction of distance .

Measuring tourist flows

The measurement of both international and domestic flows has been introduced by the national governments and international organizations.

Reasons why this statistical of flows is important: To evaluate the magnitude of tourist flows and to monitor any change. This allows projection of future flows and the identification of market trends to be made.

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Act as a base of hard fact to allow tourism planners and developers to operate effectively and plan for the future of tourism.

Both public and private sectors use it as a basis for their marketing.

Measurement of tourist flows can be divided into three main types:

1. Statistics of volume . Give the number of tourists leaving an area or visiting a destination in a given period of time. Provide basic count of the volume of tourist traffic. It also includes the length of stay of the visitors at their destinations.

2. Tourist characteristics . Measure the quality of tourist flows. Include information on types of tourist (sex, age, socioeconomic group) and their behaviour (structure of the trip, attitudes to the destination)

3. Expenditure statistics . Tourist flows have important economic significance for the destination, the generating region, and the transport carriers. Tourism represents a flow of money that is earned in one place and spends in another.

World geographical units

The world can be divided into four functional tourist regions which can be clearly distinguish in terms of tourists activity (both in overall volume and directional flow).

These are:1. Europe and the Mediterranean basin2. North America, plus Mexico and the Carribean3. East Asia and the Pacific, and4. Soth Asia, Middle East, South America, Subsaharan Africa

The above regions are, however, very large and cut across the boundaries of the continents and overlap the division of the world into the economic core and periphery. The world, however, can be subdivided into the following manageable geogrphical units:

1. Europea. the Iberian Peninsula: Spain and Portugalb. the Balkan region: Albania, Greece and former Yugoslaviac. Turkey, Cyprus, Maltad. the Alps: Austria and Swirtzerlande. Central Europe: France, Italy, Benelux and Germanyf. Eastern Europe and the CISg. UK and Irelandh. Northwest Europe: Scandinavia

2. North Africa and Middle East, Subsaharan Africa3. The Americas

a. North Americab. Mexico and Carribeanc. Central and South America

4. Asia and the Pacific regiona. Australia and New Zealandb. the Pacific Islands

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c. East Asiad. South East Asia: the Indian subcontinent

Travel geography plays a crucial role in understanding clearly the distribution of tourism throughout the world and is a key element in planning and marketing a destination.

Role of transport systems

How do transport systems evolve, to link tourist generation regions with the attractions tourists wish to visit. In general, transport routes and systems evolve, (or are planned) to enable three (3) main types of tourist movements to take place:

1. a flow of tourists to the coast2. a flow of tourists to and between urban areas, and3. flow of tourists from the towns to the mountains and countryside

However, on both the national and international scales the overriding influence of the climate imposes a clear directional influence on these: tourists in the Northern Hemisphere tend to travel south, while those in Southern Hemisphere tend to travel north, towards the warmer and summer climates.

Interrelationship of core and periphery

The countries of the world can be divided into two major world regions - the 'core' and the 'periphery.' The core includes major world powers and the countries that contain much of the wealth of the planet. The peripheries are those countries that are not reaping the benefits of global wealth and globalization.

The Core

Core countries control and profit the most from the world system, and thus they are the "core" of the world system. These countries possess the ability to exercise control over other countries or groups of countries with several kinds of power such as, military, economic, and political power.

The United States, Europe, Australia, and Japan are examples of present core countries that have the most power in the world economic system. Core countries have both strong state machinery and a developed national culture.

The 'core' consists of Europe (excluding Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus), the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and Israel. Within this region is where most of the positive characteristics of globalization typically occur: transnational links, modern development (i.e. higher wages, access to healthcare, adequate food/water/shelter), scientific innovation, and increasing economic prosperity. These countries also tend to be highly industrialized and have a rapidly-growing service (tertiary) sector.

The top twenty countries ranked by the United Nations Human Development Index are all in the core. However, of note is the slowing, stagnant, and occasionally declining population growth of these countries.

The opportunities created by these advantages perpetuate a world driven by individuals in the core. People in positions of power and influence around the world are often brought up or educated in the core (nearly 90% of world "leaders" have a degree from a Western university).

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The Periphery

The 'periphery' consists of the countries in the rest of the world: Africa, South America, Asia (excluding Japan and South Korea), and Russia and many of its neighbors. Although some parts of this area exhibit positive development (especially Pacific Rim locations in China), it is generally characterized by extreme poverty and a low standard of living. Health care is non-existent in many places, there is less access to potable water than in the industrialized core, and poor infrastructure engenders slum conditions.

Population is skyrocketing in the periphery because of a number of contributing factors including a limited ability to move and the use of children as means to support a family, among others. (Learn more about Population growth and the demographic transition.)

Many people living in rural areas perceive opportunities in cities and take action to migrate there, even though there are not enough jobs or housing to support them. Over one billion people now live in slum conditions, and the majority of population growth around the world is occurring in the periphery.

The rural-to-urban migration and high birth rates of the periphery are creating both megacities, urban areas with over 8 million people, and hypercities, urban areas with over 20 million people. These cities, such as Mexico City or Manila, have little infrastructure and feature rampant crime, massive unemployment, and a huge informal sector.

Core-Periphery Roots in Colonialism

One idea for how this world structure came about is called the dependency theory. The basic idea behind this is that capitalist countries have exploited the periphery through colonialism and imperialism in the past few centuries. Essentially, raw materials were extracted from the periphery through slave labor, sold to core countries where they would be consumed or manufactured, and then sold back to the periphery. Advocates of this theory believe that the damage done by centuries of exploitation have left these countries so far behind that it is impossible for them to compete in the global market.

Industrialized nations also played a key role in establishing political regimes during post-war reconstruction. English and the Romance languages remain the state languages for many non-European countries long after their foreign colonists have packed up and gone home. This makes it difficult for anyone brought up speaking a local language to assert him or herself in a Eurocentric world. Also, public policy formed by Western ideas may not provide the best solutions for non-Western countries and their problems.

Core-Periphery in Conflict

There are a number of locations that represent the physical separation between the core and periphery. Here are a few:

The growing fence between the U.S. (core) and Mexico (periphery) to prevent the entrance of unauthorized immigrants.

The Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. Air and naval patrols on the waters between Australia and Southeast Asia and between the

EU and North Africa to keep out unwanted immigrants.

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The UN-enforced border separating the Turkish north and Greek south of Cyprus, known as the Green Line.

The core-periphery model is not limited to a global scale, either. Stark contrasts in wages, opportunities, access to health care, etc. among a local or national population are commonplace. The United States, the quintessential beacon for equality, exhibits some of the most obvious examples. U.S. Census Bureau data estimated that the top 5% of wage earners made up roughly one-third of all US income in 2005. For a local perspective, witness the slums of Anacostia whose impoverished citizens live a stone's throw from the grand marble monuments that represent the power and affluence of the Washington D.C.'s central downtown.

While the world may be metaphorically shrinking for the minority in the core, for the majority in the periphery the world maintains a rough and limiting geography.

World economic tourists generation and distribution of affluence

Where do international tourists come from; i.e. which contries and regions of the world generate international tourism, and is there any clear spatial pattern of tourist generation in the world? Why do these countries and regions generate tourism, i.e. what combination of social, economic and political circumstances leads to the development of international (and also domestic) tourism in a country? Has the level of world tourism generation changed over time, i.e. has the performance of the world economy affected the generation of tourism on a world scale? The tourists generation is particularly closely related to economic circumstances, and that tourists generation on a world scale is heavily concentrated in Europe, North America, and to some extent, in the Pacific region. There is a relationship between the performance of the world’s economy and the generation of international tourists travel. This relationship also holds good at the level of the individual country.

A country’s ability to generate tourism is related to its social, political and aconomic character. Each country goes through a clearly defined sequence of phases of tourists generation from Phase 1 when only a tiny elite travel abroad, through Phase 2 and Phase 3 when first mass domestic and then mass outbound (international) tourism develops and through to Phase 4, when finally, the proportion of the population travelling abroad is greater than that holidaying at home. These phases occur in parallel with economic and political change taking place in the country. Different countries of the world are at different stages of economic development and tourists generation.

The countries of the affluent economic core (mainly the continents of Northern Hemisphere) currently generate the vast majority of the world’s international and domestic tourists. Thus, tourist generation on a world scale in heavily concentrated in Europe, North America and to a lesser extent, in the Pacific region. The countries on the economic periphery (essentially the countries of South and South East Asia, Africa, and Central and South America) play a relatively small part in generating world international or domestic tourist traffic.

UNIT 9: THE FUTURE OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

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Objectives: Understand the relationship between information technology and tourism, as well as

virtual reality and virtual travel Identify and explain the types of carrying capacity Explore the destination planning and the good practice guide in planning for tourism Discuss about sustainable and alternative destination development Understand the impact of cultural and ethnic tourism, policies and practices of beach

development, and sustainable and eco-tourism development

Travel Geography

Information technology and tourism

The tourism industry can be seen as one of the first business sectors where business functions are almost exclusively using information and communications technologies (ICT). Information Technology (IT) and ICT has played an important role in the development of tourism. Computerised reservations Systems (CRS) were among the first applications of IT worldwide.

Computer Reservation System (CRS) The technology works by using computers of special kind and leased telephone lines. The travel agent is connected on-line to the central host computer system or CRS. This system contributes to a great extent in increasing sales volume and giving precise information on the availability and selling the products efficiently ensuring substantial profit gain.

Global Distribution System (GDS) GDSs are systems which distribute reservation and information services to sales outlets around the world. Unlike the CRS that used solely by an airline or hotel chain, GDS distribute more than one CRS to users who are usually travel agents. GDSs were formed from several CRSs. Example; Amadeus, Galileo, Abacus, Worldspan and Sabre

Initially, CRS and GDS emerged from the hotel and the airline reservation systems respectively, but meanwhile they also include other tourism relevant products such as holiday packages and other means of transport. They provide the main links to systems of tour operators and travel agents. Given that the internet has become already a primary source of information for planning travel and holidays in the major tourism markets, it is critical for DMOs to achieve a broad distribution of their online product, i.e. their internet portal. The first and most obvious task is to maximise the number of visitors to the destination’s website.

The industry is one of the more successful areas of e-commerce because it is largely consumer oriented and since services and the provision of information is at its centre. Werthner & Klein (1999) suggest tourism is a hybrid industry since even though it is dominated by the provision of information, essentially it is about a physical product. This requires the ‘seamless integration of information and physical service, with flexible configurations of the physical and the informational parts”.

ICT facilitates this integration and enables customisation of tourism products to suit the needs of individuals. Due to changes in consumer behaviour of the tourist the market is becoming more segmented with each potential consumer belonging to a number of market segments simultaneously. Tourist operators need to be aware of these changes and be equipped to respond, or better still, take a proactive approach. The challenge for the tourism operator is the provision of accurate, localised data, increasingly via IT, whilst maintaining a relationship with the tourist. Rather than being just transaction based longer term relationships need to be fostered and IT can play a role in this relationship building.

The Internet and tourism

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The Internet is especially relevant to tourism since it enables knowledge about the consumer or tourist to be gathered, as well as vice versa. This gives ‘rise both to global visibility of destinations and a global merging of market segments’. The use of web-based tourist information systems has grown significantly.

Travel revenues on the Internet have consistently ranked highly in comparison with other goods and services (Kadison, et al., 1998). The reasons cited for this prominence relate to the richness and currency of information provided online and the breadth of the audience as well as the intensity of competition and the emergence of new players with countless web sites supported by efficient transaction support. Online technologies within the tourism industry have significantly impacted oncommunications, transactions and relationships between the various industry operators and with the customer, as well as between regulators and operators.

Clayton and Criscuolo (2002) argue that technology behind the modern information society, particularly by way of the Internet, has bought about four key changes for the way in which business is conducted. These changes, which apply equally to the tourism sector, are:

1. the ability to turn ideas into marketable innovation for a wide range of customers, with reduced buyer search costs and costs of access to markets;

2. increased speed to market and access to new product offerings via the Internet;3. changed processes and the sharing of information within and between organisations; and4. a shift in the balance of power between suppliers and customers due to the increased

availability of information.

Benefits of the Internet

Benefits from IT, particularly the Internet for tourism, are substantial. These benefits are no longer dependent on proprietary information systems as has been the past experience, since the Internet is a commonly available technology. Dogac, et al, (2004) considers the Internet provides many advantages to players in the tourism industry. Some of these benefits are:

1. enhanced level of collaboration between tourism operators, for example, between travel agencies and service providers;

2. pre-arrangements with respective suppliers no longer necessary;3. web service discovery will identify alternatives, enabling holiday packages to be

constructed;4. greater negotiation of service to be purchased and customization of services/activities; and5. generally greater levels of interoperability with internal and external applications.

Virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) allows the user to interact in realistic three-dimensional full immersive situations and environments generated by a computer that responds to human movements. The user can navigate, and interact with the virtual environment and directly manipulate objects within the environments. A virtual environment is a virtual reality application – the cosmos, a landscape, an imaginary space, the inner side of a painting, a city – that allow users to navigate and interact with a three-dimensional, computer-generated environment in real time. It is the user to believe he is in reality, fully immersed in this unique world.

Virtual Reality: Field of Application

1. Arts Virtual reality and emerging technology has revolutionized the traditional concept of perspective visualization of viewpoints, the composition and perception of time and space.

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Moreover, it has generated a rupture with the precedent art forms, allowing the emergence of a new way of making art, a diverse style of creativity and above all, the crystallization of a revolutionary artistic language

2. Cultural heritage Virtual reality is useful for reconstructuring cultural, historical and archaeological sites to stimulate environments and cities which no longer exist. What at the beginning appears as ruins or simple historical structures and barren landscaping can be transformed into animated places – bustling with life and personal experiences

3. Architecture/design Virtual reality presents many interesting features for disciplines such as: architecture and design. It is a valuable visualization tool for: structures, buildings, interior design, habitats, ambiences and environments. It is also a beneficial tool for both planning and design and evaluating the planning and design process with customers. Virtual reality can demonstrate how a planned construction fits into an environment and how it is intended to be built.

Virtual Travel

Virtual tourism, the activity of "visiting" sites of interest over the Internet without having to physically travel to them, can take on many forms. An early form of virtual tourism presents the user with a slideshow or video which explores a limited area, for example, a museum. Some museums offer a 3D graphical interface that allows one to explore the attraction site using simple directional camera controls.

Most of these early efforts met with limited success and didn't really take off for various reasons, among them the limited ability to immerse the user in a believable environment. Tourist can choose to sit at their home office and use various tools and internet and do a virtual travel. Virtual travel agencies on the net which offers a tour through its gallery and offers a great deal of information.For example; free package for a week which can be download. After going through this demo, the user can see the real stuff, if he registers online and pays for it.

Expanding on the concept, some sites now offer free video tours of a city; the user is invited to tour a city on Street View, and at specific points, watch a short user-created video of the place. With Google taking over YouTube, users can easily embed videos hosted on YouTube on the Google Maps service, offering an engrossing interactive environment for the new breed of virtual tourists.

Types of carrying capacity

"Tourism Carrying Capacity" is defined by the World Tourism Organisation as “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”.

Where as Middleton and Hawkins Chamberlain (1997) define it as “the level of human activity an area can accommodate without the area deteriorating, the resident community being adversely affected or the quality of visitors experience declining” what both these definitions pick up on is carrying capacity is the point at which a destination or attraction starts experiencing adverse as a result of the number of visitors.

There are number of different forms of carrying capacity referred to in tourism, however this article will focus on the four most commonly used.

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1. Physical carrying capacity This is the max number that area is actually able to support. In the case of an individual tourist attraction it is the maximum number that can fit on the site at any given time and still allow people to be able to move. This is normally assumed to be around 1m per person.

2. Economic carrying capacity This relates to a level of unacceptable change within the local economy of a tourist destination, it is the extent to which a tourist destination is able to accommodate tourist functions without the loss of local activates, take for example a souvenir store taking the place of a shop selling essential items to the local community. Economic carrying capacity can also be used to describe the point at which the increased revenue brought by tourism development is overtaken by the inflation caused by tourism.

3. Social carrying capacity This relates to the negative socio-cultural related to tourism development. The indicators of when the social carrying capacity has been exceeded are a reduced local tolerance for tourism as described by Doxey’s Index of irritation.Reduced visitor enjoyment and increased crime are also indicators of when the social carrying capacity has been exceeded.

4. Biophysical carrying capacity This deals with the extent to which the natural environment is able to tolerate interference from tourists. This is made more complicated by the fact that because it deals with ecology which is able to regenerate to some extent so in this case the carrying capacity is when the damage exceeds the habitat's ability to regenerate. Environmental carrying capacity is also used with reference to ecological and physical parameters, capacity of resources, ecosystems and infrastructure.

Weaknesses Of Carrying Capacity

The main criticism of carrying capacity is that is fundamentally flawed conceptually and practically. Conceptually, the notion of an inherent carrying capacity assumes a stable and predictable world, a "J-shaped" curve in the relationship between use level and impact, and techno-scientific view of what are essential value judgments.

On the practical level, it is difficult to calculate a maximum number of visitors because this is also dependent on other factors like the way in which the tourists behave ‘a large group of bird Watchers moving through a landscape will have a different impact compared to a similar sized group of school children.’

In the case of natural heritage like national parks, visitor impacts change with seasons. What is important is the acceptability or appropriateness of these impacts, an issue that is largely dependent on social and cultural value systems with science having an input.

Destination planning

There is a clear role for Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) in planning the process, through:

helping local businesses with planning applications monitoring and making submissions to local development frameworks and regional planning

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Working with local planning authorities to promote the economic importance of the tourism industry.

The aim of this section is to provide some context to the planning system, and point to national planning guidance and The Good Practice Guide on Planning for Tourism which can help promote tourism in a local area.

The planning framework

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is responsible for national planning policy. Its aim is to ensure that places and communities will be planned, built and managed in a way which sustains the global, national and local environments. Sustainability has become a key buzzword in the last few years, and promoting the sustainability of projects is a pre-

The policy statement Sustainable Communities: Delivering through planning describes these aims in more detail. There has to be some doubt whether a policy aim of more community involvement and a system that is faster are compatible as objectives. This is particularly true for the leisure and tourism industry where fashions change and the nature of a "plan-led system" finds it difficult to cope with such a fast moving sector.

A plan-led system

It is essential to understand the "plan-led system" under which all planning policy is made. The Planning, Building and the Environment pages of the DCLG website give further details.

Draft plans are produced by local planning authorities as "local development frameworks" and by regional assemblies as "regional spatial strategies".

Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) determine how the planning system helps shape the community, and comprise a series of documents that are drafted, reviewed and revised over a period of approximately three years.

Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs) are prepared by regional planning bodies, except in London where the spatial development strategy is prepared by the Mayor of London. They set the broad planning context for their regions and how they should develop over the next 20 years.

Community involvement is a key policy for the Government. To complement LDFs, every local authority is required to produce a Statement of Community Involvement which gives details of how communities can contribute to, and participate in, the revision of planning documents and consideration of planning applications.

Unless the facility being proposed is seen to be in line with the LDF or RSS, local authorities have no option but to refer the application to a higher authority. This may well be only to the government office in the region, but it could be to the DCLG and may end up with a public inquiry. All this takes time and costs money.

Planning policy guidance notes

The DCLG advises local authorities on its Local Plans and Regional Strategies through a series of Planning Policy Guidance notes (PPGs), which more recently have become Planning Policy Statements (PPSs).

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These PPGs and PPSs have to be taken into account by local and regional authorities when preparing their application. They may also be a "material" consideration in decisions on individual planning applications. "Material" in this sense means that the local authority or planning inspectorate who deals with the appeals process has to take these policies into account when deciding if the application should be approved or turned down.

It is worth taking time to look at relevant PPSs or PPGs. On the whole they are not very long and are fairly easy to read, even for those who are not planning experts.

PPS1: Delivering Sustainable Development

PPS1 gives details of the Government’s objectives for the planning system. It covers:

key principles social cohesion and inclusion protection and enhancement of the environment prudent use of national resources Design and community involvement.

It is the lead PPS under which all other planning policy guidance statements and notes fall.

PPS6: Planning for Town Centres

PPS6 covers planning in town centres, but does not only cover shops. PPS6 mentions specifically at that certain forms of leisure are suitable uses for town centres. Their list shows "leisure, entertainment facilities, and the more intensive sport and recreation uses (including cinemas, restaurants, drive-through restaurants, bars and pubs, night-clubs, casinos, health and fitness centres, indoor bowling centres, and bingo halls)."

There is a real role for DMOs and others at a local level to encourage local authorities to consider sport, leisure and tourism applications under their relevant PPGs or PPSs.

PPS7: Sustainable Development in Rural Areas

PPS7 covers the Government’s planning policy in rural areas includes a specific chapter on Tourism and Leisure which is worth reading. It also covers tourism accommodation.

PPG13: Transport

PPG13 aims to integrate planning and transport policy at a national, regional and local level. It also seeks to encourage more sustainable transport choices.

Amongst its objectives is a desire to "promote accessibility to jobs, shopping leisure facilities and services by public transport, walking and cycling". This will require many applications for leisure and tourism facilities in town centres to have clear plans for how visitors will reach the new facilities and to work with local providers of public transport to see how this can work in practice.

The Good Practice Guide on Planning for Tourism does acknowledge that in some cases private car use will be necessary to access new developments, particularly in rural areas.

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PPG17: Planning for Open Space, Sport and Recreation

PPG17 is one of the older PPGs. It encourages local authorities to undertake audits of existing open space, sport and recreational facilities. Unfortunately few make these assessments which can be frustrating for private sector developers and operators.

The Good Practice Guide on Planning for Tourism

Key elements of the Good Practice Guide are as follows.

Regional and local planning authorities should have regard to this guidance when preparing their local development frameworks and regional spatial strategies and must recognize the diversity of tourism, which covers family holidays, but also shorter visits, weekend breaks and day trips.

The guidance may be a "material consideration" in planning decisions. The guide adopts the World Tourism Organization definition of tourism which makes it

clear that tourism covers not only overseas and domestic tourists, but business tourists, day tourists and all who are away from home.

The guide recognizes the crucial importance of tourism to this country. It contributed £85.6 billion to GDP in 2006; is the UK’s third largest foreign exchange earner after oil and vehicles; contributes circa £11.8 million to the national exchequer in terms of the tax paid by tourists on goods and services; and that every 1% increase in tourism revenue generates £118 million in revenue for the Government. 2.2 millions people – 7.7% of the UK workforce – work in tourism.

The guide addresses the promotion of more sustainable transport but recognizes this may be particularly difficult for some types of tourism projects, or in areas that are poorly served by public transport, and that some developments (e.g. touring sites for caravans) are car dependent.

Tourism can bring broader benefits by being made the focus of regeneration in urban and rural areas. It can offer social and economic benefits bring derelict land and buildings back into use, and cater for visitors to historic buildings, archaeology and landscapes. In rural areas tourism businesses can be the mainstay of the local economy and provide valuable benefits for the local community through the provision of jobs and facilities.

Specific annexes on tourism accommodation and seasonal and holiday occupancy conditions for holiday parks complement the current guidance (Tourism) and are hugely important to these sectors. The accommodation annex recognizes the importance of budget hotel accommodation and the Holiday Occupancy Annex, and the importance of staff accommodation on holiday parks.

Sustainable and alternative destination development

In order to create a tourism industry, on a national, regional or local level, both the natural and man-made environment must be conducive to the development of supporting infrastructure to accommodate tourist demand. The legislative environment and financial commitments must be in place as well. A tourism strategy should be created, providing a tourism management and marketing structure, supporting research and product development and giving attention to risk management. It

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should also set out at protecting the very environment that provides the opportunity, and deal with issues such as environmental protection, heritage issues and limitations of carrying capacity.

The strategy should be aimed at placing the tourism industry in a strengthened position for more holistic development over the long term.

1. A source of sustainable competitive advantage The first logical requirement is the very heart of the industry: the attraction itself, the “raison d’etre”. This may be a natural phenomenon such as a beach or rainforest, a cultural attraction or based on other unique destination characteristics. It may also be a man-made attraction, such as a theme park, for example.

2. A holistic destination approach Tourism development needs to be considered in relation to facilities and infrastructure already existing in any destination. New ventures should be complimentary to existing product and augment an existing destination ‘feel’. As visitors demand more ‘experiential’ tourism, the relevance of the “whole destination” and its ambience will become increasingly important.

3. Critical mass The bigger the attraction base, the broader the appeal to a more diverse cross section of people, the more interest from transport carriers in servicing the destination and so on. Critical mass drives the marketability and connectivity of a tourist destination.

4. Ease of access Cost-efficient access from large cities and medium sized population centers is a fundamental consideration. For regional and rural tourism attractions, ensuring a range of viable transport alternatives to meet target market affordability thresholds is critical to driving the success of any regional venture.

Tourism is a competitive industry, even on a global scale. If access to a destination or attraction is too complicated, time consuming, expensive or not providing adequate capacity, even the most spectacular attraction will remain a secret to most tourists, as they will prefer competitive alternatives. Australia, for example, is considered by many as their most desirable tourist destination. However, relative distance and the associated cost of getting there are providing a significant barrier to most would-be visitors.

5. An existing population base Related to the previous point is the need for a readily available demand base. Tourism attractions and facilities are often not solely developed for tourists, but also to appeal to the broader business and leisure markets existing within or close to the destination. Demand from a captive community helps to moderate seasonality and provides an opportunity to utilize promotion to stimulate consumption within a short timeframe, particularly in the case of accommodation establishments.

6. Political buy in, local support There is a lot to be said for gaining the support of key political influencers, particularly at the local Government level, where most decision-making occurs. Managing the expectations of the local community, gaining their support and keeping all stakeholders informed on the progress of any venture from the very outset should help alleviate conflict. That said, sometimes communities can be ‘parochial’ and sensitive issues need to be managed with great tact and professionalism.

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7. The right financing solution Less debt, more equity – in most instances. This is moving away from debt-led models to some of the more innovative and sustainable models encountered in the late 1990s and early 2000s including mixed-use developments using residential sales of residential units to fund tourism components.

8. Understanding demand fundamentals Understanding the demand fundamentals existing in any given tourist destination aids the modeling of realistic demand and revenue projections. The availability, timely provision and reliability of visitation data will assist financiers, developers, owners and operators in more accurately forecasting performance.

9. Marketing prowess Marketing in tourism can be described as both science and art, or a complex interplay of the two. Developing the right marketing channels; the right contacts; understanding how the tourism distribution and promotion systems work in the regional and national context; taking a unique approach; and persistence. Attaining the mix right in the context of a regional destination and maintaining flexibility in the approach will most certainly drive performance.

10. The right staff As a service based industry, labour and payroll costs are usually one of the highest expenses incurred by tourism businesses. Access to a skilled pool of employees is a vital consideration, particularly in regional areas. Regional ventures need to address the cost of training, importing/attracting skilled professionals from other areas and managing the likely transient flow of casual employees.

The Market Evolution Cycle

Once a tourist destination has commenced development and is maturing, it enters the market evolution cycle. Whether the development is carefully planned or just happened over time, at some point in time the carrying capacity of either the natural or social environment or the infrastructure may be reached. Saturation will occur, and the quality of the tourism product will decline, with a subsequent negative impact on the environment and the local community.

As the quality of the attraction and/or the destination drops, so will the number of tourists visiting it. Their satisfaction level will also decrease or, worse, a less desirable type of tourism will develop.

Typical evidence of this deterioration process includes the following:

deterioration of the natural ecology due to over- development and intensive use; pollution of beaches, lakes, rivers and underground water resulting from improper sewage

and solid waste disposal; visual clutter of poorly designed, intrusive buildings and signs; pedestrian and vehicular congestion and pollution; insufficient capacity of utility services, such as water supply, electric power and

telecommunications during peak use periods; changes in traditional land-use patterns, loss of open space, displacement of residents from

prime land and deterioration of community character; damage to archaeological and historical sites and scenic areas due to over-use or poor

management;

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friction and resentment between the host community and tourists because of over-crowding of the tourism area and pre-emption of amenity features by tourists so that residents cannot enjoy them; and

Social problems including crime, drug abuse and prostitution.

Rejuvenation Strategies

When developments or destinations reach a critical stage of capacity constraints, they may stagnate or begin to decline. However, if appropriate actions are taken, they can also be rejuvenated.

Saturation levels of tourism sites and areas need to be anticipated and appropriate management strategies applied. The three strategies that can be considered separately or in combination are:

increasing the carrying capacity; dispersing the pressure; and Limiting access.

1. Increasing the Carrying Capacity Studies can be undertaken to determine which elements of the environment are reaching saturation and how to increase these particular aspects of capacity. In some - but not all - cases, capacity can be increased.

Some of the management techniques that can be implemented locally to increase capacity are as follows:

expand capacities of utility services such as water supply, sewage and solid waste disposal and telecommunications;

expand capacities of transportation facilities and road services, or limit the use of these facilities, for example by not allowing private car use on congested access roads but providing bus service access from peripheral parking lots;

relocate high-use attraction features closer to access points to reduce transportation demand; disperse tourist attractions and facilities to avoid congestion; replace multiple individual tourist facilities with larger group facilities; create one-way traffic systems to regulate and improve visitor flows; establish new trails and improve existing ones; provide visitor education to modify visitor behaviour; establish strict land use, design and environmental regulations on proposed new

developments; and Take renewal measures to improve existing development.

At regional, state and national levels, action may also be required to improve major support infrastructure such as airports and highways, adopting overall land-use and environmental standards and regulations, and providing grants or special loans to undertake necessary redevelopment in local areas.

2. Relieving Demand Pressure Dispersing the pressure within the tourism area or wider region requires development of new attractions and tourist facility areas and the connecting transportation linkages. This is possible and often desirable, assuming that tourism resources of natural or cultural attractions exist elsewhere or new man-made attractions can feasibly be developed.

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Opening up of new tourism areas not only relieves pressure on existing tourist destinations, but also provides economic benefits of additional income and employment elsewhere. However, opening of new tourism areas requires much public and private investment in facilities and marketing of these new places. Often intervention at the national or regional levels is necessary to develop new destinations.

Another option is to extend the visit season. This technique is used in conjunction with an effort to de-market overused attractions and facilities during their peak season period and to increase marketing efforts for the shoulder and low seasons. This can sometimes be accomplished through pricing policies and other incentive or disincentive techniques. This technique has the additional benefit of spreading out the income from tourism for local residents.

3. Limiting Access An extreme and last-resort measure is to limit access to the number of tourists that can be handled within the carrying capacity levels. Access limitation techniques include the following:

imposing self-limiting measures, such as higher prices on room rates and admission fees; closure of certain places, such as environmentally fragile nature areas at certain times (to

allow time for rejuvenation or during critical periods such as animal breeding seasons); limiting parking, passenger seat availability or another type of transportation capacity; establishing a maximum number of accommodation units (rooms, camping sites, etc.)

allowed in the areas reaching saturation levels; establishing a maximum number of persons to be allowed at certain tourist attraction

features at any given time; re-routing of traffic around tourism centers and allowing only pedestrian access to popular

places; and Prohibiting construction of new facilities through zoning or permit procedures.

Often access limitation is achieved simply when all accommodation is booked or transportation passenger seats are fully reserved during the peak periods. Disappointed tourists will often digress to alternative destinations, thus dispersing pressure.

As a general trend, tourists are tending to take shorter but more frequent vacations throughout the year anyway, thus dispersing tourist use seasonally as well as geographically.

Government support at the macro level, including consolidating tourism organizations into more effective structures, enhancing the quality and quantity of information to guide tourism infrastructure development, product augmentation, diversification and rejuvenation as well as more focused marketing activity should no doubt improve opportunities for tourism (re)development.

However, it takes more than a policy platform to optimize the rate and style of tourism development. Professional planning and development assessments, the passion and commitment of local authorities and the community and the commitment of stakeholders who clearly understand the fundamentals of this unique industry are equally important.

Impacts of cultural and ethnic tourism

Differences Between Ethnic and Cultural Tourism

To many people, these two forms of tourism may appear similar. But they are different in content. It is, therefore, necessary to emphasize the differences between them so as to make you aware that the

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Travel Geography

tourist's interests in both cases may be at variance with each other.

In Ethnic Tourism the tourist is interested to have a direct contact with the local people. He/She wants a first-hand experience with the way of life and cultural artifacts of the people who are being visited. In Cultural Tourism, however, the contact with people is indirect. The tourists's main interest is not direct exposure to and involvement with th6 traditional cultural practices of the locals. It is viewing the culture, not experiencing it. Thus, while in Ethnic Tourism, the tourist seeks more "intimate" and "authentic" contact. In Cultural Tourism, the contact with the indigenous people is not so direct.

Impacts of ethnic and cultural tourism

It is worthwhile to understand the positive as well as negative effects of Ethnic and Cultural Tourism. These are often ignored by the travel trade and policy-makers. However this ignorance can ultimately affect the very destination they promote as ethnic.

Positive effects Negative effectsCultural Revitalization: In many instances, it helps revive the local people's interest and pride in their cultural traditions and values. The homogenising influence of mass media and the hegemenic culture generally tend to push the local folk traditions into oblivion. The onslaught of western culture through films, videos, audios and newspapers force the diverse cultural patterns on to the backstage where they survive merely as occasional ritual expressions.

However, the emphasis is directly on the traditional cultural forms. The tourists seek to observe/participates in the local festivals and other celebrations. The stress is on the peculiarities of local culture as opposed to the imposing dominance of the homogenising culture. All this revives the interest of local people in their own cultural traditions. This stimulation occurs mainly due to the outsiders' interests in their tradition. Thus the uniqueness and importance of their folk traditions are brought to the fore and lead to ethnic pride and ethnic solidarity. Ethnic and cultural revitalisation is, therefore, a result of this process.

This awareness is further developed by a conscious attempt by more advanced members of the local community to re-educate and re-establish pride in traditional skills and values. There occurs a general revival of interest in traditional festivals and fairs, in religious ceremonies, art forms and craft modulation. The Ethnic and Cultural Tourism also contributes

Commoditisation of Ethnic and Cultural Products: The problem starts when the local culture itself is treated as a commodity.

Commoditisation, i.e., the treatment of things in marketable terms, is a general feature of the tourism industry. The travel agents and tour operators, in order to draw more and more tourists, try to turn all the products of local culture into marketable commodities.

Local dresses, toys, potteries, architecture, idols, religious rituals, cultural festivals and feasts are all conceived as saleable things. Advertisements and brochures are issued drawing the tourists' attention to the placing of these cultural artefacts on the counter for sale. The local people are paid to perform and enact for the tourists. The tourists and the local people are turned into buyers and sellers respectively in a competitive cultural market. Even the nuances of life-style are appropriated in tourism packages for sale to the tourists. If this kind of cultural denigration goes on unchecked, it can prove destructive to the local culture and people. The treatment of culture as commodity over which the tourists can claim rights negates the right of the people to their own culture.

The Natives Assume Artificial Behaviour: The Ethnic and Cultural tourist searches, for "authentic" manifestations of local culture since social and cultural changes are always occurring. But what the tourist is looking for may not actually available. The local traditions

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Travel Geography

towards strengthening ethnic and political identities.

popularised among the tourists by brochures and travelogues may actually have undergone some changes. In that case there exists a hiatus between the tourist's desire and real situation.

The local people do not simply serve the tourists. Instead the hosts themselves are "on show". The tourists desire that the locals be presented to them in their ethnic dresses and costumes, perform their ethnic dances, indulge in their ceremonies and organise their festivals for the tourists who can then observe them, photograph and taperecord them, and even participate in local functions.

The tourist's desire to find the "authentic" and "original". The role of the local people as "living spectacle" and the modernising and homogenising influence of the tourists on the locals create a peculiar situation in which the more is the tourist's demand for the "authentic", the more he gets is the staged.

The tourists want to see "unspoiled natives". But the tourists themselves belong to more modern culture. Their dress and their affluence tempt the locals to be like them. Gradually, the local people start imitating the tourists' dress, their manner of speech etc. This makes them less exotic and less interesting

Role of the middlemen

The Ethnic and Cultural Tourism is based on two conpdictory tendencies: the homogenising influence of the modern culture represented both by the mass media and the tourists as opposed to the preservation and presentation of local culture as an authentic product.

The role of the middlemen such as travel agents, tour operators, tourist guides etc. assumes a special significance in this context. Normally these people act purely for their personal gains without giving any thought to the seriousness of the problem. The middlemen, however, can play a positive role by protecting the tourists from unfamiliar circumstances and by facilitating genuine interaction between the tourists and the local people. They can also make the tourists aware of the particular social, economic, political and environmental issues related to travel in a particular area among particular people. More significantly, they can use their sense of discrimination and tell the touriststhat the latter can expect this much from the local people and nothing beyond that.

Policies and practices for beach development

The coast is a dynamic place and its dynamism makes it susceptible to stresses and changes in a number of ways. Because the coast is where the land interacts with the sea, it is open to the action of wind, waves, tides, and currents that not only erode the shore but also can expand it with

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Travel Geography

sedimentary deposits. Storm systems gather energy from the ocean and intensify natural coastal forces with wind, waves, and rain powerful enough to severely damage property and hasten erosiveprocesses. The coast is made more vulnerable to these natural dynamic forces by rising sea level. Although sea level has been steadily rising for centuries, the process may be accelerating because of global warming.

Social and economic forces also bring stresses to coastal areas. Population growth, land development, and resort development are all particularly intense along the coast. Coastal areas are experiencing high growth rates, and the beach is a popular destination for vacations, second homes, and retirement. Property on or near the shore is always in high demand and as a consequence usually expensive.

Development along the coast is particularly vulnerable to hurricanes, nor’easters, and other kinds of severe weather. The 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons hammered Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and other states with tropical weather. The 2005 hurricane season alone was ruinous, recording 2,280 deaths and damage totaling over $100 billion. Nevertheless, trends demonstrate that coastal areas continue to draw people for the many reasons previously stated. The patterns of development along the coast must change or the degradation of these areas—the loss of property, loss of habitat, and loss of life—will continue.

The principles enumerated here promote the idea of shared values—protecting habitat while preserving public open space and maintaining access for everyone.

Ten Principles for Coastal Development

1. Enhance Value by Protecting and Conserving Natural Systems

The best way to protect and conserve natural coastal systems is to allow them full freedom to be dynamic. When the dunes, the channels, the beaches, and their interaction with the wind and the water are not disturbed, they can sustain habitats and fend off erosive forces. Keeping the beach or coastal area in a natural state with open access to the public minimizes disturbance of natural processes.

Thoughtful planning for protection and access preserves the natural systems of the coast while providing a great amenity for the community. When the amenity of the waterfront is shared, the value of that waterfront is distributed in the broader community and the total value is greater.

The ultimate goal is to build in a manner that does away with the need for structural measures or beachfront replenishment; thus, developing inland from the waterfront will reduce public cost and create value. Creating a well-connected system of trails, parks, and open spaces enhances access. This access provides opportunities for the community to use the coastal amenities that improve the quality of life.

2. Identify Natural Hazards and Reduce Vulnerability

When considering developing or redeveloping coastal property, specific vulnerabilities must be identified in the initial site assessment. Vulnerabilities are identified so they can be reduced in the final design of the development. Conservation of land and preservation of

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Travel Geography

ecological systems reduce vulnerability. A strong environmental protection strategy also reduces risk to structures.

3. Apply Comprehensive Assessments to the Region and Site

Begin by identifying the natural systems functioning on the site. Taking an assessment or inventory identifies the natural systems. Because this assessment forms the database for the analysis of the place’s natural systems, using an ecological or natural resources expert to conduct the inventory is important.

The objective is to find an appropriate design framework for the land uses being planned. Mapping those features that have a spatial distribution may be helpful. Ideally, the data are derived from or entered into a geographic information system (GIS). The goal of the inventory process is to become familiar with specific natural features of the place and to see how they interrelate, so that their continued functioning as systems can be accommodated during construction and after completion of the development.

Continue with the assessment by determining how the natural systems function to create a site design that protects and enhances both the natural and built environments. The physical form of the site, the layout of the streets, the orientation of the lots and of the buildings on the lots, and the intended uses and their relation to each other should be planned to balance the natural and constructed elements of the project so that both are protected and enhanced.

4. Lower Risk by Exceeding Standards for Siting and Construction

These practices can be used to build in a way that reduces risk and enhances the resiliency community. Although superior design and construction are critically important, the proper siting of structures can significantly improve the resilience of the community and decrease its vulnerability. Proper siting, however, requires an integrated approach so vulnerability and resilience are considered at the regional, neighborhood, and site levels. Asset exposure can be reduced with a strong environmental protection policy.

5. Adopt Successful Practices from Dynamic Coastal Conditions

Communities can look to one another for guidance concerning which policies and practices are the most effective and which are not. The Association of State Floodplain Managers has written a handbook titled No Adverse Impact in the Coastal Zone that describes how coastal communities can avoid or mitigate adverse impacts from dynamic coastal processes. The handbook details policies, regulations, practices, and services that can provide one of three increasingly effective levels of protection: Basic, Better, and No Adverse Impact.

6. Use Market-Based Incentives to Encourage Appropriate Development

Incentives can encourage developers to locate and cluster coastal development in less vulnerable and more resilient sites. Incentives come in a number of forms: public investment, public/private partnerships for land assembly and financing, preferred treatment for timely regulatory approvals, tax incentives that add to the bottom line, and others. Market-based incentives also can help direct the development toward more environmentally compatible design, for example, with public investments in infrastructure such as water, sewer, and stormwater management. Incentives are also provided by backing off costly hard-edged engineering code requirements that serve only to exacerbate environmental disturbance.

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Travel Geography

Probably the leastexpensive incentive to implement is regulatory - organize the development review process so that good design and siting, as well as good practices for environmental protection, are the path of least resistance to quick project approval.

7. Address Social and Economic Equity Concerns

By clustering compact development, walkable mixed-use neighborhoods can be created that offer the opportunity for a variety of housing types rather than conventional homogeneous subdivisions. Different demographic groups have distinctive needs and desires for housing; furthermore, housing needs and desires change with life-cycle changes, such as when a young family evolves into an empty-nester couple or a child living at home becomes a young adult living on his or her own in the community. A mix of housing opportunities, therefore, helps create not just a one-generation subdivision but a sustainable community that accommodates lifecycle changes and allows people to stay in the community.

8. Balance the Public’s Right of Access and Use with Private Property Rights

The best way to avoid imbalance in public and private rights is to avoid the conflict wherever possible. Where feasible, conflict is easily avoided by making the entire shoreline system a community amenity open to the public, so no private rights exist to be concerned with. This strategy not only avoids the public rights versus private rights conflict but also has the advantages of transferring the value of the waterfront property to the community at large and making preservation of coastal systems and processes easier.

9. Protect Fragile Water Resources on the Coast

Coastal water resources play a critical role in the ecosystem of the coast and determine how well development fits into the coastal environment. Coastal waterways are often estuaries or have important characteristics of estuaries. Technically, an estuary is a semi-enclosed body of water that has a free connection to the sea where seawater mixes with freshwater.

How development affects the balance between recharge and runoff is critically important to both: first, because groundwater is a major source of drinking water in coastal areas; and second, because stormwater runoff from developed areas can degrade delicate estuarine habitats.

One way to reduce the polluting effects of stormwater is to use natural drainage patterns and characteristics. A natural drainage system imitates the runoff of the site in its predevelopment state, substituting surface drainage and infiltration for conventional storm sewer drainage.

Groundwater recharge can be enhanced by using porous paving materials . Crushed stone, gravel, stabilized decomposed granite, and open paving blocks are as durable and practical as asphalt paving, yet minimize runoff from driveways, parking areas, walks, and patios and allow rainwater to infiltrate the ground.

A variety of building practices can also help conserve water , such as using waterconserving appliances and recycling by using graywater and rooftop rainwaterharvesting systems.

Use native plants and drought-tolerant landscaping with drip irrigation to conserve water resources. Landscaping with native plants that are naturally adapted to existing climate, precipitation, and ecological conditions and have minimal need for supplemental irrigation or pesticides conserves water.

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Travel Geography

10. Commit to Stewardship That Will Sustain Coastal Areas

Stewardship means the responsible management of our environment, economy and society for the benefit of present and future generations of people, plants, and animals. The complexity of environmental, economic, and social interactions requires that a good steward enhance and balance all three. Committing to stewardship means planning to sustain and enhance the natural assets of a site while understanding its context in the broader regional system by adopting environmental design strategies that enhance sustainability.

To effectively implement a program of sustainable development, the community must share a vision of its future. This vision involves a strategy for implementation, which includes funding mechanisms (public and private), potential partners (and their responsibilities), and an agenda or time frame for achieving the vision. One way to implement the strategy to achieve the vision is to build partnerships that maximize benefits for the community and the environment.

Public sector entities can leverage and maximize public assets, increase their control over the development process, and create a vibrant built environment. Private sector entities are given greater access to land and receive more support throughout the development process. Coastal development planning and resource protection must consider long-term horizons to meet the needs of future generations. Change is certain, so a need for flexibility exists—plan for anticipated unknowns.

General policy

To discourage development that adversely impacts on the coastal and lakes environment. To discourage development that would result in unacceptable risk to people and property

from wildfire. To maintain and enhance the conservation and recreation values of the foreshore. To provide for new or improved infrastructure in defined locations, including roads, utility

and community services, particularly the provision of reticulated water and sewerage. To ensure development is connected to reticulated sewerage or includes the provision of on-

site effluent disposal which minimises impacts on groundwater.

Ecotourism and sustainable tourism

Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds for ecological conservation, to directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, or to foster respect for different cultures and for human rights.

Generally, ecotourism focuses on volunteering, or "voluntourism", personal growth and environmental sustainability. Ecotourism typically involves travel to destinations where flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the primary attractions. One of the goals of ecotourism is to offer tourists insight into the impact of human beings on the environment, and to foster a greater appreciation of our natural habitats.

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Travel Geography

Responsible ecotourism includes programs that minimize the negative aspects of conventional tourism on the environment and enhance the cultural integrity of local people. Therefore, in addition to evaluating environmental and cultural factors, an integral part of ecotourism is the promotion of recycling, energy efficiency, water conservation, and creation of economic opportunities for local communities. For these reasons, ecotourism often appeals to environmental and social responsibility advocates.

According to the definition and principles of ecotourism established by The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) in 1990, ecotourism is "Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people." (TIES, 1990).

Martha Honey, expands on the TIES definition by describing the seven characteristics of ecotourism, which are:

1. Involves travel to natural destinations 2. Minimizes impact 3. Builds environmental awareness 4. Provides direct financial benefits for conservation 5. Provides financial benefits and empowerment for local people 6. Respects local culture 7. Supports human rights and democratic movements such as:

conservation of biological diversity and cultural diversity through ecosystem protection

promotion of sustainable use of biodiversity, by providing jobs to local populations sharing of socio-economic benefits with local communities and indigenous peoples

by having their informed consent and participation in the management of ecotourism enterprises

tourism to unspoiled natural resources, with minimal impact on the environment being a primary concern.

minimization of tourism's own environmental impact

Benefits of Ecotourism

There are plenty of valid ecotourism businesses, but to qualify, they have to provide long-term benefits to a community and fulfil the following conditions, at the very least.

The benefits of ecotourism activities can: be educational by teaching about local plants and animals give you a deeper understanding of a local culture be spiritually uplifting and bring you closer to nature open you up to new ideas take you off the beaten path help you lose weight! (by getting you on your feet and on your bicycle!)

If your dollars are spent wisely, here are some of the benefits of ecotourism they will reap: money will go back into the community endangered habitats and biodiversity will be conserved people, both local and visitors, will become more aware of the surrounding environmental

wealth providing employment will ensure fewer people leave for the cities poor countries often sell their primary resources to survive - water, trees, minerals,

wildlife... so ecotourism provides them with a decent alternative source of income

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Travel Geography

provide financial incentives that encourage local people to protect their environment

Beware, though, the benefits of ecotourism are touted by plenty of commercial firms that have no business using the word. These 'less honest' businesses, by claiming to be involved in ecotourism, would be guilty of 'greenwashing', pretending to practice ecotourism but focused only on profits.

When the benefits of ecotourism become liabilities, here's what can happen: people may be displaced to build resorts, like the Masai in Kenya population increases may put too much pressure on land, reducing opportunities for local

people to make a living off the land the same can happen if water is diverted from rivers to service tourist resorts overcrowding in tourist venues may actually endanger protected areas, as in the Galapagos

Islands, where too many tourists are visiting; in Tibet, the number of tourists visiting Tibet is higher than the number of Tibetans who actually live in their country

rare species can be endangered - unusual plants can be picked or trampled, vehicles and planes can and do pollute

energy sources can be depleted to accommodate tourist hordes, etc

Sustainable tourism

As more regions and countries develop their tourism industry, it produces significant impacts on natural resources, consumption patterns, pollution and social systems. The need for sustainable/responsible planning and management is imperative for the industry to survive as a whole.

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 - Sustainable tourism is about re-focusing and adapting. A balance must be found between limits and usage so that continuous changing, monitoring and planning ensure that tourism can be managed - This requires thinking long-term (10, 20+ years) and realising that change is often cumulative, gradual and irreversible. Economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development must include the interests of all stakeholders including indigenous people, local communities, visitors, industry and government.

Tourists who promote sustainable tourism are sensitive to these dangers and seek to protect tourist destinations, and to protect tourism as an industry. Sustainable tourists can reduce the impact of tourism in many ways, including:

informing themselves of the culture, politics, and economy of the communities visited anticipating and respecting local cultures, expectations and assumptions contributing to intercultural understanding and tolerance supporting the integrity of local cultures by favoring businesses which conserve cultural

heritage and traditional values supporting local economies by purchasing local goods and participating with small, local

businesses conserving resources by seeking out businesses that are environmentally conscious, and by

using the least possible amount of non-renewable resources

Four Clusters Of Criteria For Sustainable Tourism

1. Community well-being

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Travel Geography

Sustainable tourism development supports and ensures the economic, social and cultural well being of the communities in which tourism takes place. The criteria belonging to this cluster are ranging from the generation of income over the enhancement of local traditions up to the strengthening of participatory processes.

2. Protection of the natural and cultural environment Sustainable tourism allows the use of natural and cultural resources for gaining economic profit while at the same time guaranteeing that these resources are not deteriorated or destroyed. Additionally, tourism is expected to be a driving force with regard to the establishment or the enhancement of nature protection and the maintenance of cultural values.

3. Product quality and tourist satisfaction The quality of tourism products offered by a region is a key factor for the economic success of tourism. It is not only characterised by material criteria like the quality of transport, accommodation and food, but also by non-material criteria like hospitality or the quality of experiences.

4. Management and monitoring To ensure that tourism is developed in a way which is feasible and fulfils the criteria of the first three clusters, adequate management and monitoring must be established. Sustainable tourism development theoretically could be implemented without management and supervision, but in reality is not likely to be ensured without.

Benefits of Sustainable Tourism Development

Helping expand marketing reach by tapping into additional travel motivators, i.e. the desire for more authentic experiences

Enhancing customer loyalty by demonstrating best tourism practices Increasing the appeal of travel itineraries through “special experiences” such as access to

researchers, behind-the-scene tours, or enhanced interactions with local people Improving impact management, helping to ensure the preservation of destinations and

cultures for future generations, which equates to more attractive environments and better products

Providing access to standards recognized as best innovative practices within the travel industry, helping businesses to meet higher standards through continuous improvement

Adding value to local communities’ economies, helping them to safeguards the livelihood of local and indigenous people

©2012 World-Point Academy of Tourism Sdn. Bhd. All Rights Reserved.

APPENDIX A

Activity:Have a look at the world map, identify the continents of the world and determine which countries include in which continents. After that, explore each of the countries’ general tourism profiles including their climates, capital cities, currencies, bordering countries, international airports, as well as their landmarks and major attractions.

AMERICAS

COUNTRY CAPITAL CITY CURRENCY MAJOR CITIES CODES AIRPORTS

NORTH AMERICABERMUDA BM Hamilton Bermudian Dollar* BMD BDA Bermuda naCANADA CA Ottawa Canadian Dollar CAD YEA Edmonton, Alberta

YMQ Montreal, QuebecYTO Toronto, OntarioYWG Winnipeg, ManitobaYYC Calgary, Alberta

YEG Edmonton, Int’l AlbertaYHZ Halifax, Int’l Nova ScotiaYMX Montreal-Mirabel Int’l QuebecYUL Montreal, Dorval Int’l QuebecYVR Vancouver, Int’l British ColumbiaYYZ Toronto, Lester B. Pearson Int’l

GREENLAND GL Nuuk Danish Krone DKK na naMEXICO MX Mexico City Mexican Peso* MXN ACA Acapulco

GDL GuadalajaraPVR Puerto Vallarta

MEX Mexico City, International

ST. PIERRE & MIQUELON PM Saint-Pierre euro EUR na naUNITED STATES US Washington, D. C. US Dollar USD CHI Chicago, Illinois

CLT Charlotte, North CarolinaDCA Washington, Ronald Reagan National District of ColumbiaDTT Detroit, MichiganDTW Detroit, Wayne County MichiganHFD Hartford ConnecticutHOU Houston, TexasIAH Houston, George Bush Intercont.LGA New York, La GuardiaMDW Chicago, MidwayMKC Kansas City, MissouriNYC New YorkORL Orlando, FloridaPDX Portland, OregonRDU Raleigh-Durham, North CarolinaSLC Salt Lake City, UtahWAS Washington, District of Columbia

ANC Anchorage, Ted Stevens Int’lATL Atlanta, Hartsfield Atlanta Int’l AUS Austin, Bergstrom Int’l TexasBDL Hartford, Bradley Int’l Conn.BOS Boston, Logan Int’l Massa.BWI Baltimore/Washington Int’l CLE Cleveland, Hopkins Int’lCMH Columbus, Port Columbus Int’l CVG Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky Int’l OhioDEN Denver, Int’l ColoradoDFW Dallas/Fort Worth, Int’l TexasEWR New York, Newark Liberty Int’l FLL Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood Int’lIAD Washington, Dulles Int’l District of ColumbiaJFK New York, JFK Int’lLAS Las Vegas, McCarran Int’lLAX Los Angeles, InternationalMCI Kansas City, Int’l MissouriMCO Orlando, Int’l Florida

MIA Miami, International FloridaMSP Minneapolis/St. Paul, Int’lMSY New Orleans, Louis Amstrong IntORD Chicago, O’Hare Int’l IllinoisPHL Philadelphia, Int’l PennsylvaniaPHX Phoenix, Sky Harbor Int’l ArizonaPIT Pittsburg, Int’l PennsylvaniaSAN San Diego, Int’l CaliforniaSEA Seattle, Seattle-Tacoma Int’l SFO San Francisco, Int’l CaliforniaSJC San Jose, InternationalSTL St. Louis, Lambert-St. Louis Int’lTPA Tampa, International Florida

CARIBBEANANGUILLA AI The Valley East Carribean Dollar* XCD AXA Anguilla naANTIGUA & BARBUDA AG St. John’s East Carribean Dollar* XCD ANU Antigua naARUBA AW Oranjestad Aruban Guilder AWG AUA Aruba naBAHAMAS BS Nassau Bahamian Dollar* BSD na NAS Nassau, InternationalBARBADOS BB Bridgetown Barbados Dollar* BBD BGI Barbados naBONAIRE BQ - Neth. Antillian Guilder* ANG BON Bonaire

CUR Curacaona

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLAND VG Road Town US Dollar USD EIS Beef Island naCAYMAN ISLANDS KY George Town Cayman Islands

Dollar*KYD GCM Grand Cayman na

CUBA CU Havana Cuban Peso* CUP HAV Havana naDOMINICA DM Roseau East Carribean Dollar* XCD DOM Dominica DCF Dominica, Cane FieldDOMINICAN REPUBLIC DO Santo Domingo Dominican Peso* DOP na naGRENADA GD St. George’s East Carribean Dollar* XCD GND Grenada naGUADELOUPE GP Basse-Terre euro EUR PTP Pointe-a-Pitre naHAITI HT Port-au-Prince Gourde* HTG PAP Port-au-Prince naJAMAICA JM Kingston Jamaican Dollar* JMD MBJ Montego Bay KIN Kingston, Norman Manley Int’lMARTINIQUE MQ Fort-de-France euro EUR FDF Fort de France naMONTSERRAT MS Plymouth; Brades East Carribean Dollar* XCD na naPUERTO RICO PR San Juan US Dollar USD na SJU san Juan, Luis Manoz Marin Int’lSAINT KITTS & NEVIS KN Basseterre East Carribean Dollar* XCD SKB St. Kitts naSAINT LUCIA LC Castries East Carribean Dollar* XCD SLU St. Lucia, George Charles

UVF St. Lucia, Hewanorrana

SAINT VINCENT & THE GRENADINES

VC Kingstown East Carribean Dollar* XCD MQS Mustique na

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO TT Port of Spain Trinidad & Tobago Dollar*

TTD POS Port of Spain na

TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS TC Cockburn Town US Dollar USD GDT Grand Turks naUS VIRGIN ISLANDS VI Charlotte Amalie US Dollar USD na STX Saint Croix, Henry E. Rohlsen

CENTRAL AMERICA

BELIZE BZ Belmopan Belize Dollar* BZD na BZE Belize City, Philip S.W. Goldson Int’lCOSTA RICA CR San Jose Costa Rican Colon* CRC na naEL SALVADOR SV San Salvador El Salavdor Colon* SVC SAL San Salvador naGUATEMALA GT Guatemala City Quetzal* GTQ GUA Guatemala City naHONDURAS HN Tegucigalpa Lempira* HNL TGU Tegucigalpa naNICARAGUA NI Managua Cordoba Oro* NIO MGA Managua naPANAMA PA Panama City Balboa* PAB na PTY Panama City, Tocumen Int’l

SOUTH AMERICAARGENTINA AR Buenos Aires Argentine Peso* ARS BUE Buenos Aires

EZE Buenos Aires, Ministro Pistarinina

BOLIVIA BO La Paz and Sucre Boliviano* BOB LPB La Paz naBRAZIL BR Brasilia Brazilian Real* BRL BSB Brasilia

REC RecifeRIO Rio de JaneiroSAO Sao Paolo

GIG Rio de Janeiro, Int’l/Galeao-Antonio Carlos JobimGRU Sao Paolo, Guarulhos

CHILE CL Santiago Chilean Peso* CLP na SCL Santiago, Arturo Merino BenitezCOLOMBIA CO Bogota Colombian Peso* COP BOG Bogota naECUADOR EC Quito US Dollar USD UIO Quito naFALKLAND ISLANDS FK Port Stanley Falkland Pound FKP na naFRENCH GUIANA GF Cayenne euro EUR CAY Cayenne naGUYANA GY Georgetown Guyana Dollar* GYD GEO Georgetown naPARAGUAY PY Asuncion Guarani* PYG ASU Asuncion naPERU PE Lima Nuevo Sol* PEN LIM Lima naSURINAME SR Paramaribo Surinam Dollar* SRD na PBM Paramaribo, John A PengelURUGUAY UY Montevideo Peso Uruguayo* UYU MVD Montevideo naVENEZUELA VE Caracas Bolivar* VEB CCS Caracas na

AFRICA

COUNTRY CAPITAL CITY CURRENCY MAJOR CITIES CODES AIRPORTS

EASTERN AFRICABURUNDI BI Bujumbura Burundi Franc* BIF BJM Bujumbura naCOMOROS KM Moroni Comoro Franc KMF YVA Moroni HAH Moroni, Int’l Prince Said IbrahimDJIBOUTI DJ Djibouti Djibouti Franc DJF JIB Djibouti naERITREA ER Asmara Nakfa* ERN ASM Asmara naETHIOPIA ET Addis Ababa Ethiopian Birr* ETB ADD Addis Ababa naKENYA KE Nairobi Kenyan Shilling* KES MBA Mombasa NBO Nairobi, Jomo Kenyatta Int’lMADAGASCAR MG Antananarivo Malagasy Franc* MGF na naMALAWI MW Lilongwe Kwacha* MWK LLW Lilongwe naMAURITIUS MU Port Louis Mauritius Rupee MUR MRU Mauritius naMAYOTTE YT Mamoudzou euro EUR na na

MOZAMBIQUE MZ Maputo Metical MZM MPM Maputo naREUNION RE Saint-Denis euro EUR RUN St. Denis de la Reunion naRWANDA RW Kigali Rwanda Franc* RWF KGL Kigali naSEYCHELLES SC Vistoria Seychelles Rupee SCR SEZ Seychelles naSOMALIA SO Mogadishu Somali Shilling* SOS na naTANZANIA TZ Dodoma Tanzania Shilling* TZS DAR Dar-es-Salaam naUGANDA UG Kampala Uganda Shilling* UGX EBB Entebbe naZAMBIA ZM Lusaka Kwacha* ZMK LUN Lusaka na

CENTRAL AFRICAANGOLA AO Luanda Kwanza* AOA LAD Luanda naCAMEROON CM Yaounde CFA Franc XAF DLA Douala naCENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

CF Bangui CFA Franc XAF BGF Bangui na

CHAD TD N’Djamena CFA Franc XAF NDJ Ndjamena naREPUBLIC OF CONGO CG Brazzaville Franc Congolais* CDF BZV Brazzaville naEQUATORIAL GUINEA GQ Malabo CFA Franc XAF na naGABON GA Libreville CFA Franc XAF LBV Libreville naSAO TOME & PRINCIPE ST Sao Tome Dobra* STD TMS Sao Tome na

NORTHERN AFRICAALGERIA DZ Algiers Algerian Dinar DZD ALG Algiers naEGYPT EG Cairo Egyptian Pound EGP CAI Cairo

LXR Luxorna

LIBYA LY Tripoli Libyan Dinar LYD TIP Tripoli naMOROCCO MA Rabat Morroccan Dirham MAD AGA Agadir

CAS CasablancaTNG Tangier

CMN Casablanca, Mohammed V

SUDAN SD Khartoum Sudanese Dinar SDD KRT Khartoum naTUNISIA TN Tunis Tunisian Dinar TND MIR Monastir

TUN Tunisna

SOUTHERN AFRICABOTSWANA BW Gaborone Pula BWP GBE Gaborone naLESOTHO LS Maseru Loti LSL MSU Maseru naZIMBABWE ZW Harare Zimbabwe Dollar* ZWD HRE Harare naNAMIBIA NA Windhoek Namibia Dollar NAD na WDH Windhoek, Hosea Kutako Int.lSOUTH AFRICA ZA Bloenfontein, Cape

Town, PretoriaRand ZAR CPT Cape Town

DUR DurbanJNB Johannesburg, International

SWAZILAND SZ Mbabane Lilangeni SZL MTS Manzini naWESTERN AFRICA

BENIN BJ Port-Novo CFA Franc XAF COO Cotonou naBURKINA FASO BF Ouagadougou CFA Franc XAF OUA Ouagadougou naCAPE VERDE CV Praia Cape Verde Escudo* CVE SID Sal naCOTE D’IVOIRE CI Abidjan CFA Franc XAF ABJ Abidjan naGAMBIA GM Banjul Dalasi* GMD BJL Banjul na

GHANA GH Accra Cedi* GHC ACC Accra naGUINEA GN Conakry Guinea Franc* GNF na naGUINEA-BISSAU GW Bissau CFA Franc XAF na naLIBERIA LR Monrovia Liberian Dollar* LRD MLW Monrovia ROB Monrovia, Roberts Int’lMALI ML Bamako CFA Franc XAF BKO Bamako naMAURITANIA MR Nouakchott Ouguiya MRO NKC Nouakchott naNIGER NE Niamey CFA Franc XAF NIM Niamey naNIGERIA NG Abuja Naira* NGN LOS Lagos naSENEGAL SN Dakar CFA Franc XAF DKR Dakar naSIERRA LEONE SL Freetown Leone* SLL na FNA Freetown, Lungi Int’lTOGO TG Lome CFA Franc XAF LFW Lome na

EUROPE

COUNTRY CAPITAL CITY CURRENCY MAJOR CITIES CODES AIRPORTS

ALBANIA AL Tirana Lek** ALL TIA Tiraha naARMENIA AM Yerevan Armenian Dram* AMD na naAUSTRIA AT Vienna euro EUR GRZ Graz

INN InnsbruckKLU KlagenfurtLNZ LinzSZG SalzburgVIE Vienna

na

AZERBAIJAN AZ Baku Azarbaijanian Manat* AZM BAK Bakau naBELARUS BY Minsk Belarussian Ruble* BYR MSQ Minsk naBELGIUM BE Brussels euro EUR ANR Antwerp

BRU Brusselsna

BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA BA Sarajevo Convertible Mark** BAM SJJ Sarajevo naBULGARIA BG Sofia Lev** BGN SOF Sofia naCROATIA HR Zagreb Kuna** HRK DBV Dubrovnik

ZAG Zagrebna

CYPRUS CY Nicosia Cyprus Pound CYP LCA LarnacaPFO Paphos

na

CZECH REPUBLIC CZ Prague Czech Koruna CZK PRG Prague naDENMARK DK Copenhagen Danish Krone DKK BLL Billund

CPH CopenhagenEBJ Esbjerg

na

ESTONIA EE Tallin Kroon EEK TLL Tallinn naFINLAND FI Helsinki euro EUR HEL Helsinki

TKU Turkuna

FRANCE FR Paris euro EUR BOD BordeauxLIL Lille

CDG Paris, Charles de GaulleTLS Toulouse, Blagnac Int’l

LYS LyonMRS MarseilleNCE NiceNTE NantesORY Paris, OrlyPAR ParisSXB Strasbourg

GEORGIA GE Tbilisi Lari* GEL TBS Tbilisi naGERMANY DE Berlin euro EUR BER Berlin

BRE BremenCGN Cologne, Cologne/Bonn-Konrad AdenauerDRS DresdenDTM DortmundFRA FrankfurtHAJ Hanover HAM HamburgLEJ LeipzigNUE NurembergTXL Berlin, Tegel

DUS Dusseldorf, InternationalMUC Munich, Int’l MunchenSTR Stuttgart, EchterdingenSXF Berlin, SchonefeldTHF Berlin, Tempelhof

GREECE GR Athens euro EUR SKG Thessaloniki ATH Athens, Eleftherios Venizolas International

HUNGARY HU Budapest Forint HUF BUD Budapest naICELAND IS Reykjavik Iceland Krona ISK REK Reykjavik KEF Reykjavik, KeflavikIRELAND IE Dublin euro EUR DUB Dublin

ORK CorkSNN Shannon

na

ITALY IT Rome euro EUR BLQ BolognaFLR FlorenceGOA GenoaLIN Milan, LinateMIL Milan MXP Milan, MalpensaNAP NaplesPSA PisaROM RomeTRN TurinVRN Verona

FCO Rome, Leonardo da VinciVCE Venice, Marco Polo

KAZAKHSTAN KZ Astana Kazakhstan Tenge KZT ALA Almaty naLATVIA LV Riga Latvian Lats LVL RIX Riga naLIECHTENSTEIN LI Vaduz Swiss Franc CHF naLITHUANIA LT Vilnius Litas LTL VNO Vilnius naLUXEMBOURG LU Luxembourg euro EUR LUX Luxembourg naMALTA MT Valetta Maltese Lira MTL MLA Malta naMOLDOVA MD Chisinau Moldovan Leu** MDL KIV Chisinau na

MONACO MC Monaco euro EUR MCM Monte Carlo naNERTHERLANDS NL Amsterdam euro EUR AMS Amsterdam

EIN EindhovenMST MaastrichtRTM Rotterdam

na

NORWAY NO Oslo Norwegian Krone NOK BGO BergenOSL OsloSVG Stavanger

FBU Oslo, Fornebu

POLAND PL Warsaw Zloty* PLN KRK KrakowWAW Warsaw

na

PORTUGAL PT Lisbon euro EUR FAO FaroFNC FunchalLIS Lisbon

na

ROMANIA RO Bucharest Leu** ROL BUH Bucharest OTP Bucharest, Otopeni Int’lRUSSIA RU Moscow US Dollar USD LED St. Petersburg, Pulkovo

MOW MoscowSVO Moscow, Sheremetyevo International

SLOVAKIA SK Bratislava Slovak Koruna SKK BTS Bratislava naSLOVENIA SI Ljubljana Slovenian Tolar** SIT LJU Ljubljana naSPAIN ES Madrid euro EUR ACE Lanzarote

AGP MalagaALC AlicanteBCN BarcelonaBIO BilbaoFUE FuerteventuraGRO GeronaIBZ IbizaLPA Gran CanariaMAD Madrid, BarajasMAH MenorcaPMI Palma de MallorcaSVQ SevilleTCI TenerifeVLC Valencia

SCQ Santiago de CompostelaTFS Tenerife, Sur Reina Sofia

SWEDEN SE Stockholm Swedish Koruna SEK ARN Stockholm, ArlandaGOT Gothenburg, LandvetterJKG JonkopingMMA MalmoMMX Malmo, SturupSTO StockholmVXO Vaxjo

na

SWIRTZERLAND CH Bern Swiss Franc CHF BRN Berne, BelpBSL BasleGVA GenevaZRH Zurich

na

TURKEY TR Ankara Turkish Lira* TRL ADB Izmir na

ANK AnkaraDLM DalamanESB Ankara, EsenbogaIST Istanbul

UKRAINE UA Kiev Hryvnia* UAH IEV Kiev KBP Kiev, Boryspil InternationalUNITED KINGDOM GB London Pound Sterling GBP ABZ Aberdeen

BHX BirminghamBOH BournemouthBRS BristolCWL CardiffEDI EdinburghEMA Nottingham, East MidlandsGCI GuernseyHUY HumbersideJER JerseyLBA Leeds, BradfordLCY London, London CityLGW London, GatwickLON LondonLPL LiverpoolLTN London, Luton MAN ManchesterMME TeessideNCL NewcastleNQT NottinghamNWI NorwichPLH PlymouthSOU SouthamptonSTN London, Stansted

BFS Belfast, InternationalGLA Glasgow, InternationalLHR London, Heathrow

FAROE ISLAND FO Torshavn Danish Krone DKK naGIBRALTAR GI Gibraltar Gibraltar Pound GIP GIB Gibraltar na

ASIA

COUNTRY CAPITAL CITY CURRENCY MAJOR CITIES CODES AIRPORTS

CENTRAL ASIAAFGHANISTAN AF Kabul Afghani* AFN na naIRAN IR Tehran Iranian Rial IRR THR Tehran naKYRGYZSTAN KG Bishkek Som* KGS FRU Bishkek naTAJIKISTAN TJ Dushanbe Somoni* TJS DYU Dushanbe na

TURKMENISTAN TM Ashgabat Turkmenistan Manat* TMM ASB Ashgabat naUZBEKISTAN UZ Tashkent Uzbekistan Sum* UZS TAS Tashkent na

EAST ASIACHINA CN Beijing Yuan Renminbi CNY BJS Beijing

SHA ShanghaiPEK Beijing, Capital

JAPAN JP Tokyo Yen JPY FUK FukuokaKOJ KagoshimaNGO NagoyaOSA OsakaSPK SapporoTYO Tokyo

CTS Sapporo, New ChitoseITM Osaka, ItamiKIX Osaka, Kansai InternationalNRT Tokyo, New Tokyo Int’l Narita

KOREA, NORTH KP Pyongyang North Korean Won KPW FNJ Pyongyang naKOREA, SOUTH KR Seoul Won KRW SEL Seoul ICN Seoul, Incheon Int’lTAIWAN (Chinese Taipei) TW Taipei New Taiwan Dollar TWD na TPE Taipei, Chiang Kai Shek InternationalHONG KONG HK Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR Dollar HKD HKG Hong Kong naMACAU MO Macau Pataca MOP MFM Macau naMONGOLIA MN Ulaanbaatar Tugrik* MNT ULN Ulaanbaatar na

SOUTH ASIABANGLADESH BD Dhaka Taka* BDT DAC Dhaka naBHUTAN BT Thimphu Ngultrum BTN PBH Paro naINDIA IN New Delhi Indian Rupee INR BOM Mumbai

CCU KolkataDEL DelhiMAA ChennaiTRV Thiruvananthapuram

na

MALDIVES MV Male Rufiyaa* MVR MLE Male naNEPAL NP Kathmandu Nepalese Rupee* NPR KTM Kathmandu naPAKISTAN PK Islamabad Pakistan Rupee PKR ISB Islamabad

KHI Karachina

SRI LANKA LK Colombo Sri Lanka Rupee LKR CMB Colombo naSOUTH EAST ASIA

BRUNEI BN Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei Dollar BND BWN Bandar Ser Begawan naCAMBODIA KH Phnom Penh Riel* KHR PNH Phnom Penh naINDONESIA ID Jakarta Rupiah* IDR DPS Denpasar-Bali

JKT JakartaCGK Jakarta, Soekarno-Hatta Int’l

LAOS LA Vientiane Kip* LAK VTE Vientiane naMALAYSIA MY Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Ringgit MYR LGK Langkawi

PEN PenangKUL Kuala Lumpur, International

MYANMAR MM Nya Pyi Taw Kyat MMK RGN Yangon naPHILIPPINES PH Manila Philippine Peso* PHP CEB Cebu MNL Manila, Ninoy Aquino Int’lSINGAPORE SG Singapore Singapore Dollar SGD na SIN Singapore, ChangiTHAILAND TH Bangkok Baht THB BKK Bangkok

CNX Chiang MaiHKT Phuket

na

VIETNAM VN Hanoi Dong* VND na naWEST ASIA

BAHRAIN BH Manama Bahraini Dinar BHD BAH Bahrain naIRAQ IQ Baghdad Iraqi Dinar* IQD na naISRAEL IL Jerusalem New Israeli Sheqel* ILS ETH Elat TLV Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion InternationalJORDAN JO Amman Jordanian Dinar JOD na AMM Amman, Queen Alia Int’lKUWAIT KW Kuwait City Kuwaiti Dinar KWD KWI Kuwait naLEBANON LB Beirut Lebanese Pound LBP BEY Beirut naOMAN OM Muscat Rial Omani OMR MCT Muscat naQATAR QA Doha Qatari Rial QAR DOH Doha naSAUDI ARABIA SA Riyadh Saudi Riyal SAR DMM Dammam

JED JeddahRUH Riyadh

na

SYRIA SY Damascus Syrian Pound SYP DAM Damascus naUNITED ARAB EMIRATES AE Abu Dhabi UAE Dirham AED DXB Dubai

SHJ SharjahAUH Abu Dhabi, Int’l UAE

YEMEN YE Sana’a Yemeni Rial YER SAH Sana’a na

OCEANIA

COUNTRY CAPITAL CITY CURRENCY MAJOR CITIES CODES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS

AUSTRALASIA

AUSTRALIA AU Canberra Australian Dollar AUD

ADL Adelaide South AustraliaBNE Brisbane, QueenslandCBR Canberra, Australian Capital TerrritoryCNS Cairns, QueenslandDRW Darwin, Northern TerritoryHBA Hobart, TasmaniaMEL Melbourne, VictoriaPER Perth, Western Australia

SYD Sydney (Kingsford Smith)

NEW ZEALAND NZ Wellington New Zealand Dollar NZD CHC ChristchurhWLG Wellington

AKL Auckland, International

NORFOLK ISLAND NF Kingston Australian Dollar AUD NLK Norfolk Island naMELANESIA

FIJI FJ Suva Fiji Dollar FJD NAN Nadi naNEW CALEDONIA NC Noumea CFP Franc XPF NOU Noumea, La Tontouta naPAPUA NEW GUINEA PG Port Moresby Kina PGK POM Port Moresby naSOLOMON ISLANDS SB Honiara Solomon Island Dollar SBD HIR Honiara naVANUATU VU Port Vila Vatu VUV VLI Port Villa na

MICRONESIAFEDERATED STATES OF FM Palikir US Dollar USD PNI Pohnpei na

MICRONESIAGUAM GU Hagatna US Dollar USD GUM Guam naKIRIBATI KI South Tarawa Australian Dollar AUD TRW Tarawa naMARSHALL ISLANDS MH Majuro US Dollar USD MAJ Majuro naNAURU NR Yaren Australian Dollar AUD INU Nauru naNORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS MP Saipan US Dollar USD SPN Saipan na

PALAU PW Melekeok US Dollar USD ROR Koror naPOLYNESIA

AMERICAN SAMOA AS Pago Pago, Fagatogo US Dollar USD PPG Pago Pago naCOOK ISLANDS CK Avarua New Zealand Dollar NZD RAR Rarotonga naFRENCH POLYNESIA PF Papeete CFP Franc XPF PPT Papeete naHAWAII US Honolulu US Dollar USD na HNL Honolulu, InternationalNIUE NU Alofi New Zealand Dollar NZD IUE Niue naSAMOA WS Apia Tala WST na APW Apia, Paleolo InternationalTONGA TO Nuku’alofa Pa’anga TOP TBU Tongatapu naTUVALU TV Funafuti Australian Dollar AUD FUN Funafuti naWALLIS & FUTUNA WF Mata-Utu CFP Franc XPF na na

Notes:* These countries also used US Dollar (USD) as their currency exchange. ** These countries also used euro (EUR) as their currency exchange.na – the informations are not available at the time of completing the list