Tourism: should I choose it?

What will I learn?

How will I be assessed?

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Tourism sectors, subsectors and the tourism system

1. What the tourism industry is, and why it behaves as a system Tourism is not one industry in the way that mining or wine-making is. It is a cluster of businesses and agencies that share one thing: their customers are people travelling outside their usual environment. A motel, a regional airline, a winery cellar door, a booking website and a state tourism commission all sell to the same traveller, so the subject outline describes tourism as an industry structured into sectors, subsectors, and tourism associations or government agencies that operates as a system . A system is a set of parts that depend on each other, so a change in one part produces changes elsewhere. When an airline cuts its weekly flights to a regional town, the airline loses no customers it could not replace, but the motel loses guests, the tour operator cancels departures and the café roster shrinks. This is why exam questions so often ask you to explain the effect of one change on two or more named sectors : the examiners are testing whether you can trace the chain of dependence, not just name a sector. Three ideas carry most of the marks in this topic: Classification : placing a business in the correct sector and subsector (a caravan park is accommodation; a guided kayak tour is attractions and activities; a coach transfer is transport). Interdependence : showing how demand in one sector creates demand in another, because a tourist needs to travel, sleep, eat and do something. Regulation and support : recognising that associations and governments sit around the commercial sectors, setting rules, marketing destinations and building infrastructure. Keep the word tourism industry for the whole system and sector for a group of businesses supplying the same type of product. Using these words precisely

Original practice question: All sources and data in this question are original constructed practice material, not real statistics. Source 1 shows results of a survey of international visitors to the Flinders Ranges. Survey item (constructed data) Germany (n = 410) United States (n = 385) First visit to Australia 38% 61% Travelling as a couple 52% 34% Travelling with children 8% 27% Self-drive (hire car or campervan) 71% 29% Joined at least one guided tour 22% 58% Average nights in the region 6.4 2.9 Rated Aboriginal cultural experiences "very important" 46% 49% With reference to Source 1, describe the similarities and differences between German and United States visitors to the region. (6 marks)

This is ATARMAxxing’s original sample learning material. It is not an official assessment task or a prediction of your school’s workload.

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