SESSION 2: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION
2.1 TOURISM:
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a popular global leisure activity.
Tourism is vital for many countries, such as France, Egypt, Greece, Lebanon, Israel, United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy,and Thailand, and many island nations, such as The Bahamas, Fiji, Maldives, Philippines and the Seychelles, due to the large intake of money for businesses with their goods and services and the opportunity for employment in the service industries associated with tourism. These service industries include transportation services, such as airlines, cruise ships and taxicabs, hospitality services, such as accommodations, including hotels and resorts, and entertainment venues, such as amusement parks, casinos, shopping malls, music venues and theatres.
The World Tourism Organization reports the following ten countries as the most visited by the number of international travellers. When compared to 2009, China surpassed Spain to become the third most visited country. Most of the top visited countries continue to be on the European continent, followed by a growing number of Asian countries.
RANK - COUNTRY - REGIONAL MARKET - INTERNATIONAL TOURIST ARRIVALS 2010
1 France Europe 76.8 million
2 United States North America 59.7 million
3 China Asia 55.7 million
4 Spain Europe 52.7 million
5 Italy Europe 43.6 million
6 United Kingdom Europe 28.1 million
7 Turkey Europe 27.0 million
8 Germany Europe 26.9 million
9 Malaysia Asia 24.6 million
10 Mexico North America 22.4 million
Wealthy people have always traveled to distant parts of the world, to see great buildings, works of art, learn new languages, experience new cultures and to taste different cuisines. Long ago, at the time of the Roman Republic, places such as Baiae were popular coastal resorts for the rich. The word tourism was used by 1811 and tourist by 1840. In 1936, the League of Nations defined foreign tourist as "someone traveling abroad for at least twenty-four hours". Its successor, the United Nations, amended this definition in 1945, by including a maximum stay of six months.
Mass tourism could only have developed with the improvements in technology, allowing the transport of large numbers of people in a short space of time to places of leisure interest, so that greater numbers of people could begin to enjoy the benefits of leisure time.
There have been a few setbacks in tourism, such as the September 11 attacks and terrorist threats to tourist destinations, such as in Bali and several European cities. Also, on December 26, 2004, a tsunami, caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, hit the Asian countries on the Indian Ocean, including the Maldives. Thousands of lives were lost and many tourists died. This, together with the vast clean-up operation in place, has stopped or severely hampered tourism to the area.
"Sustainable tourism is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems." (World Tourism Organization)
Doom tourism, also known as "Tourism of Doom," or "Last Chance Tourism" this emerging trend involves traveling to places that are environmentally or otherwise threatened (the ice caps of Mount Kilimanjaro, the melting glaciers of Patagonia, The coral of the Great Barrier Reef) before it is too late. This type of tourism is believed to be on the rise. Some see the trend as related to sustainable tourism or ecotourism due to the fact that a number of these tourist destinations are considered threatened by environmental factors such as global warming, overpopulation or climate change. Others worry that travel to many of these threatened locations increases an individual’s carbon footprint and only hastens problems threatened locations are already facing.
One emerging area of special interest has been identified as "dark" tourism. This type of tourism involves visits to "dark" sites, such as battlegrounds, scenes of horrific crimes or acts of genocide, for example: concentration camps. Dark tourism remains a small market, driven by varied motivations, such as mourning, remembrance, education, macabre curiosity or even entertainment.
2.2 DISCUSSION: After reading this information about tourism , here are some questions you can try asking yourself before you come to our discussion on Wednesday:
1. Is there anything you would like to add to the definition of tourism?
2. Spain is the fourth on the list of most visited countries, how does this help the Spanish economy?
3. What type of tourism does Spain have? What attracts tourist in Spain?
4. Do you like the type of tourism Spain has or would you like to change it in any way?
5. Do you think Spain has good politics on the way it deals with tourism?
6. Why do you think China has surpassed Spain and has become the third most visited country?
7. What is your idea of mass tourism? Do you think countries can avoid mass tourism?
8. Have any terrorist attacks in Spain affected tourism in any way?
9. 'Sustainable tourism' is an expression politicians use a lot, do you really think this is possible in Spain or in other places with mass tourism? How?
10. Did you know about 'Doom tourism'? What do you think of this type of tourism? Have you ever practised it?
11. In certain places dark tourism is a fact, like for example when you visit Berlin. Also some holidays to certain cities include visiting their cemeteries. What do you think of this type of tourism?
12.What motivates you when you decide to visit a city or a foreign country,
a) see great buildings
b) see works of art
c) learn new languages
d) experience new cultures
e) taste diferrent cuisines
f) enjoy the weather and landscape
g) others
13. Have you ever been to Greece? If so, what did you like best? Was there anything you didn´t like? If not, would you like to go there on holiday?
14. What are the things that attract you most from Greece?
a) Myth
b) History
c) Tradition
d) Greek diet
e) Its islands: sand, sea, sun...
f) Ancient heritage
15. Greece is a Mediterranean country, do you think it´s similar in customs to the rest of Mediterranean countries like Italy and Spain?
16. How can bankruptcy in Greece affect the rest of economies like the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Italian one?
PREPARING A DISCUSSION IS FUNDAMENTAL:
THIS MUST BE DONE IN TWO DIRECTIONS:
FIRST, YOU NEED TO LEARN NEW VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO USE FOR THE DISCUSSION.
SECONDLY, YOU HAVE TO PREPARE THE TOPIC BY LOOKING UP INFORMATION IN THE INTERNET, BOOKS, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS.
THIS WAY YOU WILL FEEL MUCH MORE CONFIDENT AND AT THE SAME TIME YOU WILL HAVE MUCH MORE TO TALK ABOUT.
FINAL TASK:
HERE IS ONE FINAL TASK THAT YOU MAY DO IN ORDER TO COVER THE FOUR SKILLS YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON WHEN LEARNING A LANGUAGE: LISTENING, READING, SPEAKING AND WRITING.
Write a composition and leave it in the blog as a comment to Session 2, I will edit it in the blog so that everybody can learn from other people´s opinions. Choose one of these two options:
