Understanding the World of Tourism

1. Introduction

The Assignment Guide should be used in conjunction with the Assignment Brief as its purpose is to provide guidance as to how best to respond to the requirements of the assignment brief.  It also gives an indication of what the marker will be looking for in the piece of work.

Two learning outcomes are addressed within the tasks of the assignment:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the evolution and development of contemporary tourism
• Identify and understand relationships between tourism, the environment, society, culture and the economy

To succeed in the module, you must satisfy all learning outcomes, which in turn means addressing each part of the assignment brief – missing something out will impact your grade negatively.

2. Assignment Guidance

• Essay

“The assignment involves preparing a written essay on your Understanding of the World of Tourism (1,500 words)”.

1. Your whole essay task will be about this issue:

Describe the development of contemporary tourism and discuss its positive and negative economic, environmental and socio-cultural impacts.

1. Begin your research by reading the related pieces of research from the module – your lecturer will have indicated which research is relevant to each of the topics.

1. The remaining research that you carry out needs to provide information for all of the following areas of the essay:
   • What the issues is – including a definition of tourism and the development of contemporary tourism.
   • Economic, environmental impacts and socio-cultural– you need to give positive and negative examples for each utilising examples and other resources. To help- you could use the statistics and case studies you used for assignment 2.

1. The structure of the essay is as follows:

Introduction (150 words) A suggested format would be to create an introduction which defines tourism and the tourism industry and outlines what you will cover in the rest of the essay. The areas of discussion for the rest of the essay include a description of the development of contemporary tourism; the positive and negative economic and environmental impacts of tourism; future impacts and conclusion.

The first section (300 words) should define contemporary tourism and outline its development. Ensure that you adhere to the definition of contemporary tourism.

The second section (300 words) of the essay should identify and discuss the positive and negative economic impacts of tourism. There should be at least two separate impacts detailed (two positive and two negative) and this section should use references and examples to illustrate your points. To help- you could use some of the information you used for assignment 2. Consider referring to the multiplier and leakage effect in this section if relevant.

The third section (300 words) of the essay should identify and discuss the positive and negative environmental impacts of tourism. There should be at least two of each and this section should use references and examples to illustrate your points. To help- you could use some of the information you used for assignment 2. Consider using the concept of sustainability if relevant.

The fourth section (300 words) of the essay should identify and discuss the positive and negative socio-cultural impacts of tourism. There should be at least one of each and this section should use examples to illustrate your points.

Conclusion (150 words) Conclude your essay while covering future economic and environmental, socio-cultural impacts of tourism and recommendations

1. REMEMBER – EVERY STATEMENT/PIECE OF INFORMATION YOU WANT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT MUST COME FROM YOUR RESEARCH AND BE REFERENCED CORRECTLY. Include a minimum of 15 references.

3. Conclusion

This assignment is an essay of 1500 word (+/- 10%). The essay must be in a Microsoft Word document which will be submitted into Turnitin

Please ensure if you do not have the relevant IT skills to be able to create this assignment as one Word document, that you book in with the Academic Support team in advance of the Summative deadline to get the IT help you need.

To ensure that your work has enough research you need to cite from the three core textbooks.  You should aim to find more pieces of research that come from a range of books, websites journals etc.