Tourism is the short-term movement of people to places away from where they live and work, normally for pleasure but also for business.
A tourist is someone who travels, for work or pleasure, and stays away from home for at least one night.
If the person visits somewhere away from their home area but does not stay overnight they are called a day-tripper.
Trends (increase or decrease, rapid or gradual change, differences and similarities between areas)
Examples (e.g. How many tourists visited Europe in 1980? Make sure you include figures as marks are often reserved for use of data)
Anomalies (these are things that don’t fit the pattern/trends - if there are any)
Other important definitions...
Short haul flights cover short distances, last less than 3 hours and tend to be within a continent (e.g.. UK to Germany).
Long haul flights cover much longer distances, last at least 7 hours and tend to cross continents (e.g.. UK to Brazil). Ignore the definition in the textbook as it is incorrect!
Low cost airlines tend to fly short-haul routes because the seats are quite cramped and food is not served. This would not be acceptable to long-haul passengers!
Gap-year travel has become more and more popular with students between their A-levels and university and after university courses. Companies such as STA travel have developed to take advantage of this trend.
The increase in the number of low-cost (budget) airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet has made it cheaper to fly. These no-frills airlines offer a basic service but at a very cheap price.
People have much more leisure time now that in the past. In the 1950s, half of the UK's working population had only one week's holiday or less each year.-employees now get more paid holiday than they used to.
In addition, modern houses have lots of time-saving devices - eg. washing machines, dishwashers- which means that people have more time at weekends to take short breaks.
People are retiring earlier, giving them more time to travel.
The growth of the internet has encouraged travel as people are able to look at information about destinations online and book their flights / accommodation / packages from the comfort of their home.
Most families now own at least one car - this is a major development of the 20th century and is shown in the graph below. Car ownership has meant that people can easily travel within their local area and they can also drive to nearby countries (eg. using ferries or the Channel Tunnel to reach mainland Europe from the UK).
In general, people are much wealthier now that they have been in the past. This means they have more disposable income to spend on luxuries such as holidays.
There has been much more advertising of holiday destinations in recent years. This is sometimes direct (eg. on websites, brochures) and sometimes indirect (eg. holiday programmes on the TV; showing destinations in films or on TV programmes encourages people to visit them).
Reasons for growth...
Social / Economic or commercial (business)/ Transport or technological
T.E.ACan you describe the changes in car ownership in Britain from 1951-2008?
Explain why the number of European and American tourists travelling to places like Brazil has increased in recent years. (6 marks)
Typical 6 mark answer:
“Technology means that people know more about Brazil and that it is advertised more effectively. The internet and television allow travellers to find out about distant places and to research and compare holidays quickly and easily. Therefore, this may lead to a growth of long haul destinations such as Brazil.
Bigger planes and the building of more airports means that travel is easier and quicker. There are airports in places such as Manaus and Natal. This means that it is possible to travel quickly to places which would once have taken much longer to get to.”
Odd one out?
