IB GEOGRAPHY

OPTIONAL UNIT
LEISURE, SPORT AND TOURISM

This Unit Looks at

Differences between leisure and tourism
International tourism changes
International sport
Leisure at various scales
National/ regional sport
Tourism at the local scale
Sport and recreation hierarchy
Sustainable tourism

What are the differences between

Leisure, recreation, tourism and sport.
Discuss the influence of accessibility, changes

in technology and affluence upon the growth

of these activities.

Definitions
Carrying capacity
Leisure
Tourism
Sport
Recreation
Resort
Leakage
Primary/ Secondary tourist resources
Ecotourism
Sustainable tourism

Machu Picchu

Carrying capacity
- the maximum number of visitors/participants
that a site/event can satisfy at one time.

Environmental
carrying capacity
- the maximum number before the local
environment becomes damaged.

Perceptual carrying
capacity
- the maximum number before a specific
group of visitors considers the level of impact,
such as noise, to be excesssive.

Leisure
- any freely chosen activity or experience that
takes place in non-work time.

Tourism
- Travel away from home for at least a one
night for the purpose of leisure.

Sport
- A physical activity involving events and
competitions at the national and international
scale with professional participants.

Recreation
- a leisure-time activity undertaken voluntarily
and for enjoyment.

Resort
- A settlement where the primary function is
tourism.

Leakage
- refers to the money that escapes from a
tourist destination and makes its way to other
countries via airline companies, hotel
companies, TNCs, food importers etc.

Primary
tourist/recreational
resources
- the pre-existing attractions for tourism or
recreation (that is, those not built specifically
for the purpose.

Ecotourism
-

Sustainable
tourism
- Tourism that conserves primary tourist
resources and supports the livelihoods and
culture of local people.

Why do people travel?

What has changed?

Airplane ease of access (time-space convergence)
Advertising/ internet
Mass companies
More affluence middle classes
Paid holiday time
Political stability
Infrastructure improvements in LEDCs
Fear today tourism has slowed down? Why?
2011 - 983 million international tourist arrivals worldwide,

with a growth of 4.6% as compared to 940 million in 2010

We are increasingly mobile in the 21st

century, making more and more trips. Our

lives are defined by these trips. Tourism in
its many different guises is central to our
experience as human beings - you cant
get away from it. The Olympics, climate
change, poverty alleviation, sustainable
development, place promotion and
investment all the hot topics relate to
tourism in one way or another. You simply
cant understand the world today without

Rapid growth of
tourism since 1950
mobility
affluence
advertising

media coverage of exotic tourist destinations

mass tourism by TNCs

reduction in cost

improvements to facilities and infrastructure for tourists

Types of tours
Group tours
Packaged tour
Independent tour

Where are the most popular tourist

destinations?
The World Tourism rankings are compiled

by the
United Nations World Tourism Organization
(UNWTO) as part of their World Tourism
Barometer publication, which is released three
times throughout the year

Most popular

LEDCS??

International
tourist
arrivals
(2011)[2]

International
tourist
arrivals
(2010)[2]

Change
(2010 to
2011)

Rank

Country

UNWTO
Region

France

Europe

79.5 million

77.1 million

+3.0%

United States

North America

62.3 million

59.8 million

+4.2%

China

Asia

57.6 million

55.7 million

+3.4%

Spain

Europe

56.7 million

52.7 million

+7.6%

Italy

Europe

46.1 million

43.6 million

+5.7%

Turkey

Asia/Europe

29.3 million

27.0 million

+8.7%

United Kingdom

Europe

29.2 million

28.3 million

+3.2%

Germany

Europe

28.4 million

26.9 million

+5.5%

Malaysia

Asia

24.7 million

24.6 million

+0.6%

10

Mexico

Latin America

23.4 million

23.3 million

+0.5%

Note: see the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer for the full rankings.[2]

2013
Europe

84.7
million

83.0
million

2.0

1.8

North
America

69.8
million

66.7
million

4.7

6.3

Spain

Europe

60.7
million

57.5
million

5.6

2.3

China

Asia

55.7
million

57.7
million

3.5

0.3

Italy

Europe

47.7
million

46.4
million

2.9

0.5

Turkey

Europe

37.8
million

35.7
million

5.9

3.0

German
y

Europe

31.5
million

30.4
million

3.7

7.3

United
Kingdom

Europe

31.2
million

29.3
million

6.4

0.1

Russia

Europe

28.4
million

24.7
million

11.2

13.5

Asia

26.5
million

22.4
million

8.8

9.1

France

United S
tates

10

Thailand

International tourism receipts[edit]

International tourism receipts grew to US$1.159 trillion
(873 billion) in 2011, corresponding to an increase in
real terms of 5.3% from 2012.[5]
The World Tourism Organization reports the following
countries as the top ten tourism earners for the year
2013, with the United States by far the top earner.
Rank

Country

United St
ates

UNWTO
Region[21]

Internatio
nal
tourism
receipts
(2013)[22]

Internatio
nal
tourism
receipts
(2012)[22]

North
America

$139.6
billion

Change
(2012 to
2013)
(%)

Change
(2011 to
2012)
(%)

$126.2
billion

10.6

9.2

10

Turkey

Europe

$27.9
billion

$25.3
billion

6.8

2.4

Spain

Europe

$60.4
billion

$56.3
billion

7.4

6.3

France

Europe

$56.1
billion

$53.6
billion

4.8

2.2

China

Asia

$51.7
billion

$50.0
billion

3.3

3.2

Italy

Europe

$43.9
billion

$41.2
billion

6.6

4.2

Thailand

Asia

$42.1
billion

$33.8
billion

24.4

24.4

Germany

Europe

$41.2
billion

$38.1
billion

8.1

1.9

United K
ingdom

Europe

$40.6
billion

$36.2
billion

12.1

3.3

Australia

Oceania

$30.9
billion

$31.7
billion

2.8

4.5

Hong Kong
, China

Asia

$38.9
billion

$33.1
billion

17.7

16.2

Macau, C
hina

Asia

$51.6
billion

$43.7
billion

18.1

13.7

International tourism expenditure

The World Tourism Organization reports the following countries as the top ten
biggest spenders on international tourism for the year 2013.

Rank

Country

UNWTO
Region
[21]

China

Asia

North
United S
America
tates

Internat
ional
tourism
expendi
ture
(2013)

Internat
ional
tourism
expendi
ture
(2012)

[22]

[22]

Market
Share
(%)

Change
(2012
to
2013)
(%)

$128.6
billion

$102.0
billion

11.1

$86.2
billion

$83.5
billion

7.4

3.3

23.8

German
y

Europe

$85.9
billion

$81.3
billion

7.4

2.3

Russia

Europe

$53.5
billion

$42.8
billion

4.6

28.9

United
Europe
Kingdom

$52.6
billion

$51.3
billion

4.5

3.5

France

Europe

$42.4
billion

$39.1
billion

3.7

4.9

Canada

North
America

$35.2
billion

$35.0
billion

3.0

3.2

Australi
a

Oceania

$28.4
billion

$28.0
billion

2.4

8.8

Italy

Europe

$27.0
billion

$26.4
billion

2.3

1.0

Brazil

South
America

$25.1
billion

$22.2
billion

2.2

12.9

10

The World Tourism Organization reports the following countries as the top ten
biggest spenders on international tourism for the year 2011.

Question block
9A page 368

International
tourism
expenditure
(2011)[2]

Rank

Country

UNWTO
Region

Germany

Europe

$84.3 billion

United States

North America

$79.1 billion

China

Asia

$72.6 billion

Europe

$50.6 billion

Europe

$41.7 billion

United Kingdo
m
France

Canada

North America

$33.0 billion

Russia

Europe

$32.5 billion

Italy

Europe

$28.7 billion

Japan

Asia

$27.2 billion

10

Australia

Oceania

$26.9 billion

Based on air traffic, the MasterCard Global Destination Cities

Index reports the following cities as the top ten most
popular destinations of tourism worldwide in 2014.[23]

Rank

Country
1

London

Bangkok

Paris

UNWTO
Region[21]

International
tourist arrivals
[23]

Europe

18.69 million

Asia

16.42 million

Europe

15.57 million

Singapore

Asia

12.47 million

Dubai

Asia

11.95 million

New York City

North America

11.81 million

Istanbul

Europe

11.60 million

Kuala Lumpur

Asia

10.81 million

Hong Kong

Asia

8.84 million

Seoul

Asia

8.63 million

10

Butlers Model

Butler model
The Butler Model is a model of tourism that represents tourism as the life cycle of a
resort. It depicts tourism as exploitation of a resource. There are

5 stages

and from the 5th stage it either continues rising of falls into a decline.

-Exploration - New land is discovered by a few people, not many people there yet
-Involvement - More people arrive and try to get involved to help develop this
new destination
-Development - This is when a lot of people are trying to build this new
destination, at this point the destination is well habited
-Consolidation - Tourists start to pour into the country to get first impressions

about it
-Stagnation - Large numbers of tourists enter the country in this part of the
model, the Butler model has reached its first peak
Then once it finishes, the model can either go through
-Decline - People have found out that there is a lot of instability and are trying to
leave the country before they are really badly affected by the decline
-Rejuvenation - This is when measures are taken by the government and the
local people to try and reduce the chances of a decline actually happening, if the
measures are successful then the country will continue rising up the Butler model (this
is the second peak)

How do tourist
resorts
change
over time ?

Butlers Model
New growth

Success

Problems !

Decline
Growth

Discovery

Discovery
1.The place gets very few tourists.
2.Someone discovers it, and tells a few
other friends how good it is.
3.They start to go to the place as well.
4.Services: shops, cafes, hotels etc.
start to open up because people are
staying there in enough numbers for
local people to earn money.
5.Some local people stop what they
were doing before.

Growth
1.More people find out about the place.
2.It starts to get mentioned in articles,
brochures and tourist guides.
3.This means that even more people
visit.
4.More shops and hotels open.
5.The roads to the resort get busier.

Success
1.Everyone now knows about the
resort.
2.People move to the resort in search
of work.
3.During the tourist season, the place
is full of people, and hotels are full.
4.Local people are now mostly
employed in tourism rather than the
jobs they used to have.
5.Some local people will begin to feel
that the tourists are starting to be in
control.
6.Traffic problems start to occur on
busy days, with car parks filling up

Problems !
1.The place gets so popular that
some people stop going there.
They will say its too busy or
its not what it used to be
like
2.Local people will complain that
they are being ignored and that
tourists get priority.
3.People start going to other
places.
4.Some of the shops and hotels
close down.
5.Some people stay away because
it is so busy, and look for

2 possibilities from here:

a) Decline
b) New growth

a)
Declin
1.The
e place starts to get run down.

2.Shops shut down, and charity shops move

in.
3.Out of season, many hotels start to be
used to house homeless people and people
on benefits as a way of making a bit of
money.
4.The place begins to get a reputation.
5.People stay away

b) New growth

1.New money starts to come into the resort.

2.Some of the older hotels are regenerated
and attract new shops to the area.
3.Cafes reopen on the High Street
4.People start to return to the resort out of
season.
5.There is a new buzz about the place.
6.Jobs start to be created.
7.A whole new crowd of visitors starts to come
regularly to the resort.
8.Newspapers start to write articles about the

This model is based on

MEDC tourism
as it has to go through all
of the stages.
LEDC's however can be kick
started by
TNC's from MEDC's.

Whereas Butlers Model

describes the carrying
capacity of tourism in an area
when tourism is marketdriven

the Hawkins Model

attempts to take into account
a broader set of factors.

The Hawkins
Model
Shows how the positive attitudes that may exist
between tourists and local residents can change and
become more negative as the threshold of the
carrying capacity is reached.

What can limit an areas tourism

carrying capacity?
Question Block 9B page 370