What this lesson teaches
I can describe recent trends in tourism, including globalisation and the growing variety of demand and supply.
Syllabus K226, Topic 2.2, Key Question 1. What are the trends in tourism?
Make a guess
In the late 1960s, the town council of Hondarribia, Spain, ordered its yearly Alarde parade to be staged twice in one day for visitors. How did many residents respond?
- They joined in more, proud of the attention.
- They did not notice much difference.
- Many stopped wanting to take part in it.
Show the answer
Many stopped wanting to take part in it.
The anthropologist Davydd Greenwood reported that a shared ritual had become a show for others. Its meaning to locals fell.
A named place with a date or figure, linked to your point, turns a general answer into a developed one.
This lesson collects the 11 named examples from the lessons in this chapter, so you can revise them in one place. Each one is also a recall card below, so you can save the whole set and review it before an exam.
Changing tourism demand and supply: COVID-19; Home-sharing and budget airlines.
Tourism jobs and income: Singapore's integrated resorts.
Leakage and tourism dependence: All-inclusive resorts; COVID-19 and tourism-dependent islands.
Culture and commodification: Kecak, Bali (from the 1930s); The Alarde, Hondarribia, Spain (late 1960s).
Visitors and residents: Barcelona, 2024; Venice.
Tourism and conservation: Maya Bay, Thailand.
Tourism's environmental impacts: Boracay, 2018.
To use a case, name the place or organisation, give its date or a figure, then say what it shows about the question. One developed case earns more than a list of names.
- COVID-19
- Border closures in 2020 cut international tourist arrivals worldwide by about 70%. Singapore's visitor arrivals fell by 85.7%.
- Home-sharing and budget airlines
- Platforms such as Airbnb and low-cost airlines such as Scoot made travel and places to stay cheaper and easier to find.
- Singapore's integrated resorts
- Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa opened in 2010. They created many jobs in hotels, shops and attractions and helped visitor arrivals reach 19.1 million in 2019.
- All-inclusive resorts
- In foreign-owned all-inclusive resorts, much of what tourists spend goes to overseas companies and imported food, so less stays in the local economy.
- COVID-19 and tourism-dependent islands
- Places that rely heavily on tourism, such as the Maldives and many Caribbean islands, lost much of their income when travel stopped in 2020.
- Kecak, Bali (from the 1930s)
- Kecak grew out of sanghyang, a Balinese trance ritual. In the 1930s, dancer Wayan Limbak and the German painter Walter Spies helped shape it into a Ramayana show with a chanting chorus, staged for Western visitors. Today villages perform it nightly for tourists. It shows a tradition reshaped for sale that is still run and valued by Balinese performers.
- The Alarde, Hondarribia, Spain (late 1960s)
- The Alarde is a yearly parade remembering the town's survival of a siege in 1638. The anthropologist Davydd Greenwood reported that when the town council ordered it to be staged twice in one day for visitors, many residents stopped wanting to take part. A shared ritual had been turned into a show for others, and its meaning to locals fell.
- Barcelona, 2024
- Residents protested against mass tourism, saying rising rents and crowds were pushing locals out. Some sprayed tourists with water pistols.
- Venice
- To manage crowds, Venice began charging some day-trippers an entry fee of 5 euros in 2024.
- Maya Bay, Thailand
- Made famous by a film, the bay was overwhelmed by boats and visitors. It was closed in 2018 so its coral and beach could recover, and reopened in 2022 with limits on visitors.
- Boracay, 2018
- Hotels and restaurants had been releasing sewage into the sea. The island was closed for six months so sewage systems could be fixed.
Step by step
Name it
The place, event or organisation.
Prove it
A date, number or specific fact.
Link it
Say what it shows about the question.
Worked example: From a name to a developed point
Weak: "There are real examples, such as COVID-19." Strong: "Border closures in 2020 cut international tourist arrivals worldwide by about 70%. Singapore's visitor arrivals fell by 85.7%." The strong version gives the place and the evidence, so it can earn a development mark.
Watch out for this
Naming a famous example is enough to earn the mark.
Examiners credit a developed case: a place, a date or figure, and a clear link to the question.
Check your understanding
Which is the strongest way to use a named example in an answer?
- Describe the example in general terms, without a place or figure.
- Give the place, a date or figure, and its link.
- List several example names, with no details.
Show the answer
Give the place, a date or figure, and its link.
Yes. A located, evidenced and linked case is what earns development marks.