Unit 10 Tourism
Part I Warming up
1. Size of international tourism (1999)
Tourism clearly counts as one of the most remarkable economic and social phenomena of the last century. It undoubtedly will keep this position for the century to come. Every year a bigger portion of the world population takes part in tourism activity and for the majority of countries tourism has developed as one of the most dynamic and fastest growing sectors of economy.
n International tourist arrivals: 664 million
n Increase over the previous year: 4.5%
n International tourist receipts: US$455 billion
n Increase over the previous year: 3.1%
n Average receipts per arrival: US$685
2. International tourism by means of transport (1999)
Data for the last decade show that air and road transport are, by far, the means of transport most widely used by international tourists.
n Air transport: 43%
n Road transport: 42%
n Rail transport: 7%
n Sea transport: 8%
3. International tourism by purpose of visit (1998)
n Leisure, recreation, holidays: 62%
n Business travel: 18%
n Visiting friends and relatives, for health treatment, etc.: 20%
In the last ten years especially, the share of this last category has been rising. This increase has basically detracted from the share of total trips made for leisure, recreation and holiday purposes, the share ascribed to travel for business and professional purposes having remained relatively stable.
4. WTO long-term forecast tourism 2020 Vision
Tourism 2020 Vision is the World Tourism Organization's long-term forecast and assessment of the development of tourism up to the first 20 years of the new millennium.
-- International arrivals: 1.56 billion
a. Intra-regional travelers: 1.18 billion
b. Long-haul travelers: 0.38 billion
-- Top three receiving regions:
a. Europe: 717 million
Percentage of world arrivals in 2020: 46%
b. East Asia and the Pacific: 397 million
Percentage of world arrivals in 2020: 25%
c. Americas: 282 million
Percentage of world arrivals in 2020: 18%
-- World average growth per year: 4.1%
-- Growth in East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa per year: ~5%
Tapescript:
1. Size of international tourism
Tourism clearly counts as one of the most remarkable economic and social phenomena of the last century. It undoubtedly will keep this position for the century to come. Every year a bigger portion of the world population takes part in tourism activity and for the majority of countries tourism has developed as one of the most dynamic and fastest growing sectors of economy.
World tourism has traditionally been measured in International Tourist Arrivals and International Tourist Receipts. According to preliminary results for 1999 the number of international tourists traveling in the world reached 664 million, an increase of 4.5 percent over the previous year. Receipts from international tourism rose by an estimated 3.1 percent in 1999 to reach US $455 billion. This means that worldwide the average receipts per arrival amounts to US $685.
2. International tourism by means of transport
Data for the last decade show that air and road transport are, by far, the means of transport most widely used by international tourists. In 1999, air transport represented 43 percent of the total and road transport 42 percent. Rail transport accounts for 7 percent and sea transport for 8 percent. Over time a clear trend can be observed of a slow but steady increase of air transport at the expense of road transport.
3. International tourism by purpose of visit
According to figures up to 1998, leisure, recreation and holidays still represent the main purpose of visit, accounting for 62 percent. Business travel accounts for 18 percent of the total, the remaining 20 percent being represented by other motives, for example, visiting friends and relatives, for health treatment and other.
In the last ten years especially, the share of this last category has been rising. This increase has basically detracted from the share of total trips made for leisure, recreation and holiday purposes, the share ascribed to travel for business and professional purposes having remained relatively stable.
4. WTO long-term forecast tourism 2020 Vision
Tourism 2020 Vision is the World Tourism Organization's long-term forecast and assessment of the development of tourism up to the first 20 years of the new millennium.
WTO's Tourism 2020 Vision forecasts that international arrivals are expected to reach over 1.56 billion by the year 2020. Of these worldwide arrivals in 2020, 1.18 billion will be intra-regional and 0.38 billion will be long-haul travelers.
The total tourist arrivals by region shows that by 2020 the top three receiving regions will be Europe (717 million tourists), East Asia and the Pacific (397 million), and the Americas (282 million), followed by Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa are forecasted to record growth at a rate of over 5 percent per year compared to the world average of 4.1 percent.
Europe will maintain the highest percentage of world arrivals, although there will be a decline from 60 percent in 1995 to 46 percent in 2020. By 2010 the Americas will lose its number two position to the East Asia and the Pacific region which will receive 25 percent of world arrivals in 2020 with the Americas decreasing from 19 percent in 1995 to 18 percent in 2020.
Part II Tourism in Europe
A.

Place Problem(s) Cause(s)
Lake District Footpaths becoming Too many walkers
trenches
Sistine Chapel Frescoes being Breath and body heat
damaged

Notre Dame Floor being eroded Too many visitors
Stonework rotting Exhaust fumes from buses
Alpine resorts Trees being killed Pollution from cars
landslides
Tapescript:
The footpaths in the' Lake District have become trenches. The frescoes in the Sistine Chapel are being damaged by the breath and body heat of spectators. A hundred and eight people enter Notre Dame every minute: their feet are eroding the floor and the buses that bring them there are rotting the stonework with exhaust fumes. Pollution from cars queuing to get to Alpine resorts is killing the trees and causing landslides. In 1987 they had to close Venice one day because it was too full. In 1963 forty-four people went down the Colorado River on a raft; now there are a thousand trips a day.
B1
1. What is the current situation and the outlook of world tourism?
2. Why would Europe be a travelers' paradise?
3. How can we know that Germany is among the leading generating countries in tourism?
4. What kind of impact would the introduction of the Euro have on tourism in both the participating countries and the countries outside of Europe?
B2
1. What's the number of international arrivals last year?
613 million
2. What's the number of international receipts in foreign currency last year?
$448 billion
3. How many international tourists and business travelers will there be by the year 2020 according to WTO's prediction?
1.6 billion every year
4. Why will Europe be a travelers' paradise according to the speaker?
Because of the introduction of the Euro / elimination of exchange fees
5. How many German tourist arrivals are recorded annually everywhere throughout the world?
Some 77 million
6. How many foreign visitors did Germany receive last year?
16.5 million
7. Why won't the Euro be a revolution?
EU countries are already operating in a single market.
8. Why will the Euro be a plus?
a. The market will become more transparent.
b. The market will be more stable.
9. Why does the speaker say that the Euro area will be the world's tourism force?
It'll gain the upper hand over the U.S. in all respects.
Tapescript:
Tourism is the world's leading foreign exchange earner. The industry set new records last year with 613 million international visitor arrivals. They were spending 448 billion dollars in foreign currency and there will be more. The World Tourism Organization predicts that by the year 2020, there will be 1.6 billion international tourists and business travelers every year. That will be about a quarter of the world's population on the move. And after that, the organization says, international arrivals will double every 20 years. Add in the Euro, which will effectively eliminate exchange fees in one of the world's most traveled continents, and Europe will be a travelers' paradise.
Last year, Germany virtually equaled the U. S.A. among the leading generating countries. Obviously, for Germany's balance of payments, this is an especially weighty item of expenditure. But besides the fact that some 77 million German tourist arrivals are recorded annually everywhere throughout the world and that they are the main customers for many destinations, Germany's also an important tourist destination. Last year, in addition to domestic tourists, Germany received sixteen and a half million foreign visitors, which just goes to show that this industry creates many jobs and has already contributed significantly to the economic renewal of the eastern German states. Now with the major economic and monetary event just round the corner (and) the introduction of the Euro, not only Germany but all the other countries of the Euro zone stand to benefit.
"(For both) the consumer and the operators the Euro will not be a revolution but a plus." Not a revolution because they're already operating in a single market, and within the single market, they can operate, invest, buy and sell in all the countries that are member states of the European Union, not just those .that'll participate in the single currency. It'll be a plus for two reasons. One, the market will become more transparent. And one will be in the position to compare one's own situation with that (of) one's competitor( 's) who may be located in a different part of the Euro zone. The market will also be more stable because there'll be no longer any competitive devaluation of one's national currency against the other's. At the same time, it will be easy to work and to travel.
"... many different opinions: I personally think that it will be good. Because until now, until you have the.., the Euro in effect, which will be in 2002, I believe, that you have the money that you can touch so far you still have to change money. If you want to give tips, use your credit card, or whatever, you have to change money. And that costs you because banks or other facilities charge you an exchange rate. And this we will not have within the counties that are participating in the Euro. And I think that's a very positive effect. It might be something like 3, 4, or 5% more money for people traveling and that's a lot of money."
So does that mean in effect that the introduction of the Euro will lead to an expansion of tourism within the participating countries?
"I think it definitely will. But still countries outside of Europe will not suffer because they are destinations that are attracting Germans and people want to travel to places that they like. And just because of the Euro, I don't think the overall travel patterns will change a lot."
So in the final analysis, the Euro area will be the world's leading tourism force. It'll gain the upper hand over the U.S. in all respects, owing to the amount of foreign earnings, the surplus of the tourism balance with respect to the rest of the world, and the volume of external tourism generated. And on a more bilateral level, the Euro area will over-take its main competitor, the U. S., in visitor as well as monetary firms.
Part III Pole to Pole 2000
Duration of the expedition: 10 months
Participants of the expedition:
n Number of participants: 8
n Age: Between 20 and 25
n From which countries? France, South Africa, Korea, Japan, Argentina, Canada, and the United States
Some activities during the expedition:
n Helping clean up rivers in Yukon Valley
n Assisting the homeless in New York City
n Planting trees
n Giving presentations to more than 4,500 students throughout North America
Comments and remarks from some of the participants:
n "It was a pretty bizarre environment for me to be in."
n "They've come here with a passion and a will to succeed and are proving (them) every single day."
n "That is the way to succeed and you break down those boundaries, because you can believe that your human potential is far greater than you're really aware of."
n "I think my biggest challenge is to keep the same passion and the same enthusiasm that I had at the beginning."
Tapescript.
Eight young people from seven different countries are participating in a journey they will never forget. "Pole to Pole 2000" began in April at the North Pole, with its participants traveling by bicycle, skis, kayaks, and on foot, until they reached the South Pole in ten months. Robin Rupli reports on the journey that mixes high adventure with volunteerism and fostering environmental and humanitarian awareness around the world.
The hardest part so far, concedes the Pole-to-Pole team, has been the North Pole. In April, after six weeks of training, eight young men and women between the ages of 20 and 25, of varying backgrounds and physical abilities, set out to travel the first 750 kilometers skiing across ice in temperatures of minus-thirty-seven degrees Celsius. They were stalked by polar bears and occasionally had to climb over ice that had buckled up into ridges ten meters high.
"And so, some days the team did three kilometers (a mile and a half) in eight hours of travel. So it was very stressful, but actually the team at that point was doing amazingly well. They regarded it as a huge playground and had a lot of fun with it."
Team leader and founder of Pole to Pole, Martyn Williams has been leading adventure expeditions for thirty years and is the first man in the world to lead successful expeditions to the North and South Poles and Mt Everest.
"And I've really seen how people on those expeditions have incredible ability and that our human potential is far more than we think it is. I've seen people, whether it's school kids or adults, do just amazing things once they set their minds to it. And I've also seen the state of the planet and how it's changing really rapidly. And so I thought, what can I do to combine those, my two insights, to make a difference?"
In four months, the Pole-to-Pole team, whose members come from France, South Africa, Korea, Japan, Argentina, Canada and the United States, have helped clean up rivers in the Yukon Valley, assisted the homeless in New York City, planted thousands of trees, and given presentations to more than 4,500 students throughout North America. At a dinner honoring the team during their recent stop in Washington, Devlin Fogg, a wilderness guide from South Africa, talked about some of the adjustments he had to make.
"So here, this bushman arrives in Canada and I left home and it was thirty degrees Celsius and the sun was shining and I got to Canada and it was minus ten and it was the coldest I've ever been in. And it was the most snow I've .ever seen and it was a pretty bizarre environment for me to be in. But I didn't want to set any boundaries on myself, even though I knew in a month's time I would have to go and ski 450 miles, never having been on a pair of skis before."
So how did you get over that?
"Well, for me, it was about having a passion and a will to succeed. And that I think is a common element that you'll find in all of the team is that they've come here with a passion and a will to succeed and are proving (them) every single day, and as we have, to even get this far, that, that is the way to succeed and you break down those boundaries, because you can believe that your human potential is far greater than you're really aware of."
Mercedes Rosauer, a biology student from Argentina, says she also faced many personal challenges when she decided to apply for the Pole-to-Pole adventure.
"For me, it was very risky at the beginning that I leave my home, leave my work, leave my dream, leave my family, leave my boyfriend to come here for nine months to share with eight different people, different backgrounds. Now that I'm here, I'm so proud. I'm delighted. I think my biggest challenge is to keep the same passion and the same enthusiasm that I had at the beginning. But it's the most rewarding experience I know."