Spatial Patterns Essay

1043 Words5 Pages
Geography Extended Response Describe the nature, spatial patterns and future directions of an economic activity that you have studied. Introduction Tourism is a major, highly complex economic activity. Tourism is a service industry (part of the tertiary sector) involving the removal of a person from their normal habitat to another location for a period of time sufficient to involve a financial exchange for the purpose of leisure and recreation. Tourism (domestic and international) is the largest industry in the world. The World Tourism Organisation predicts that the numbers of people travelling internationally will grow to 1.6 billion by 2010. Many factors explain the nature, spatial patterns and future directions of tourism. Some of these factors are outlined below. Nature of Tourism Tourism involves all the activities that contribute to a tourists travel. It involves the consumption of a wide range of goods and services such as transport, accommodation, entertainment, souvenir retailers, restaurants, travel agents etc. Tourism thus generates a mass of productive activity, employment and income. As an industry tourism operates 24/7. It may have seasonal variations (for example beach locations are more popular in summer and ski resorts in winter). It is a labour intensive industry that employs people at all skill levels (eg maids in hotels, travel agents, pilots, tour guides). In most countries there are few trade barriers to entry into the tourism industry. Small businesses predominate but there is growing investment by large companies (eg hotel chains, world wide tour operators). Tourism has developed as a major global productive activity. This has been made possible by advances in technology. For example transport is now relatively cheaper and therefore more people can afford to travel. Global tourism took off in
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