Stage 2 Tourism Subject Outline (2TOS20, accredited from 2011, reissued for 2025)
School assessment is 70% of the Stage 2 Tourism result: Assessment Type 1 Folio (20%, at least two critical analysis assessments of secondary sources), Assessment Type 2 Practical Activity (25%, at least two activities using primary sources, usually beyond the classroom) and Assessment Type 3 Investigation (25%, one individual investigation of a tourism trend, development or issue, up to 1500 words or 10 minutes). Assessment Type 4 Examination is the external component, 30% of the result: a 130-minute online examination (e-exam) in which you interpret, compare and analyse sources (articles, data, promotional material, models, photographs and video) based on the three themes. There is no separate reading time; the 2026 timetable lists Tourism in blue (e-exam), not red. The 2025 Subject Assessment Advice describes Part A: Short Responses (50 marks, four questions with lettered parts, each on its own sources) and Part B: Extended Responses (30 marks, three questions on one shared source set: an analysis with a judgement, an evaluation of sources or a model, and three justified recommendations). Every question is compulsory. The result is a grade from A+ to E- against the performance standards.
Past papers on this subject span more than one subject outline. Papers written under an older one still work as practice, but the topics they test have changed — the index labels every paper with the subject outline it was set under.
Stage 2 Tourism Subject Outline (accredited from 2011, reissued to 2025) · 2011–present
The topics, one by one
Each area below lists the concepts named in the subject outline, what the SACE Board exam asks of them, and the mistake that most often costs marks.
- Theme 1 — Operations and Structures of the Tourism Industry
- Theme 2 — Travellers' Motivations and Perceptions, and the Interaction of Host Community and Visitor
- Theme 3 — Planning for and Managing Sustainable Tourism
- Source analysis, data and extended response
Area 1 of 4
Theme 1 — Operations and Structures of the Tourism Industry
How the industry is organised and how it behaves as a system: sectors and subsectors (transport, accommodation, attractions and activities, hospitality, tour operation and distribution, events and MICE), how they depend on and collaborate with each other through packages and joint marketing, and the role of local, state and federal governments and other organisations in regulation, infrastructure, marketing and funding. It also covers the economics of tourism (revenue, employment, the multiplier effect, leakage, seasonality), the types of tourism from mass to niche and special interest, and the nature of tourism employment.
What the subject outline lists under this area · 6 points
- Tourism sectors, subsectors and the tourism system
- Collaboration and packages between sectors
- Roles of governments and organisations; regulation
- Economic impacts, multiplier effect, leakage and seasonality
- Mass, niche and special interest tourism
- Employment, labour shortages and external shocks
What the exam asks
Recent papers asked students to explain how employment in named sectors changed when cruise ships stopped visiting a Pacific nation, how sectors could collaborate through package deals, the economic benefits and multiplier effect of a major football event, the state government's role in that event, and the economic effects of an interest-rate rise and falling international visitation on a national economy.
Where marks go missing
Writing about 'the economy' or 'businesses' instead of naming tourism sectors, and listing benefits without explaining how money moves. Markers rewarded students who named the accommodation, hospitality and attraction sectors and quoted figures from the source; one 2025 part told students not to discuss the multiplier model, and students who did lost the marks.
Area 2 of 4
Theme 2 — Travellers' Motivations and Perceptions, and the Interaction of Host Community and Visitor
Who tourists are and why they travel: definitions of tourist and tourism, push and pull factors, needs and expectations, market segmentation and consumer behaviour, and Plog's model of tourist types. The second half examines what happens when visitors and hosts meet: Doxey's Irridex, sociocultural impacts such as commodification, staged authenticity and the demonstration effect, cultural sustainability, and responsible tourism, including greenwashing by businesses and veneer environmentalism by tourists.
What the subject outline lists under this area · 6 points
- Definitions of tourist and tourism
- Push and pull factors
- Plog's model of tourist types
- Market segmentation and targeted campaigns
- Doxey's Irridex and sociocultural impacts
- Responsible tourism, greenwashing and veneer environmentalism
What the exam asks
Each paper from 2023 to 2025 applied Plog's model or Doxey's Irridex to a source, and 2024 and 2025 also asked for the model's limitations; other parts asked for push and pull factors of working holiday makers or regenerative travellers, comparisons of two visitor markets and the campaigns aimed at them, and why a community would want to prevent cultural commodification.
Where marks go missing
Confusing push factors (reasons within the traveller or home situation) with pull factors (destination attributes), and naming a Plog category or Irridex stage without evidence from the source. A limitation must be explained in the context given (for example, that a community is not homogeneous), not recited.
Area 3 of 4
Theme 3 — Planning for and Managing Sustainable Tourism
Sustainability seen through three interconnected aspects (economic, sociocultural, environmental) and the Triple Bottom Line; generational and intergenerational sustainability through long-term planning; the Butler Sequence and carrying capacity; methods of managing tourism such as site hardening, zoning, permits and caps, levies, codes of conduct and education; Indigenous perspectives, country and cultural sustainability; and the implications of mass tourism and preferred futures.
What the subject outline lists under this area · 5 points
- Sustainability and the Triple Bottom Line
- The Butler Sequence and carrying capacity
- Environmental impacts and management methods
- Indigenous perspectives and cultural sustainability
- Evaluating strategies and justified recommendations for stakeholders
What the exam asks
Part B Question 7 has asked for three justified recommendations every year (protecting a resort from greenwashing, protecting Antarctica, protecting whale sharks in the Maldives). Other parts placed Kakadu National Park on the Butler Sequence, linked glamping to rejuvenation, evaluated a festival's sustainability, evaluated a tourism tax, and asked for the usefulness and limitations of the Butler Sequence for Antarctica.
Where marks go missing
Recommendations that ignore the context (boardwalks and hotels in Antarctica), repeat the same idea three times, or are listed without justification from the sources. When asked for usefulness and limitations of a model, many students simply described the stages instead.
2 real SACE Board questions indexed on this area →
Area 4 of 4
Source analysis, data and extended response
The skills that every exam question uses: quoting specific figures from tables and surveys, comparing groups and calculating simple percentages or changes, evaluating sources for validity, bias and accuracy, treating video sources as evidence, following command words, and writing structured extended responses with tourism terminology.
What the exam asks
Question 1 in 2024 and 2025 opened with data parts rewarding specific percentages. Question 6 asked students to evaluate two sources for validity and bias in 2023 and 2025 and was the least successful question in both years.
Where marks go missing
Describing a source's content instead of judging its validity and bias; misusing 'bias' and 'biased'; ignoring the video source; not giving a final judgement where 'analyse' or 'evaluate' is asked.
Common questions
How long is the Tourism exam and is there reading time?
It is a 130-minute online examination. The 2026 timetable prints Tourism in blue (e-exam), not red, so there is no separate reading time; Thursday 12 November 2026 from 1.30 pm South Australian time.
How many marks is the Tourism exam?
The 2025 Subject Assessment Advice gives Part A: Short Responses 50 marks and Part B: Extended Responses 30 marks, so 80 marks. The 2023 and 2024 Advice describe the same two parts but do not print totals, and no 2026 specification has been published.
Which tourism models do I need to know?
The outline names Plog's model of tourist types, the Butler Sequence, the Triple Bottom Line and other approaches to sustainability, the Multiplier Effect and Doxey's Irridex, and says the list is not restricted to these. Recent papers printed Plog, Doxey and Butler as sources, asked you to apply them, and in 2024 and 2025 asked for their limitations too.
Is there any choice in the exam?
No. All four Part A questions and all three Part B questions are compulsory.
Are there video sources?
Yes. The e-exam has included an audio-visual source every year since 2022. Markers say many students ignore it; treat it exactly like a written source and quote or refer to it as evidence. In this hub, videos are replaced by labelled original transcripts.
Do I need to do calculations?
The outline lists numeracy skills such as percentages, visitor data, budgets and exchange rates, and data questions in 2024 and 2025 rewarded quoting and comparing specific figures. Practise reading tables, calculating percentages and changes, and showing working. The documents reviewed do not say whether a calculator is allowed, so check with your school.
Does the multiple-choice practice reflect the real paper?
No. The real exam has no multiple-choice section; the multiple-choice items here are quick revision checks.