Indigenous culture and tourism

Domestic and international tourists' experiences will increasingly involve indigenous culture. Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are now participating in the tourism industry in a variety of ways, listed as follows.

• Hosting tourists on cultural tours

• Owning and operating a tourist site or venture

• Selling artworks and designs to tourists and deal­ers in tourist localities

• Working in occupations that demand direct con­tact with the tourists

Some of the locations and types of venture in­volvement of indigenous people are listed in Table 2.6 on page 43.

iii Where did you go for specialised infor­mation, and how easy was it to obtain?

d What impressions did you acquire when vis­iting the place, and did they match your previous expectations?

e How would you describe your trip, and what was its main purpose - relaxation or business, for example?

f Did you keep a diary, and if so, why? Summarise the highlights of your trip or holi­day.

h If you are interested in 'backyard' or 'indig­enous' tourism, explain why.

Figure 2.17 Pamagiri dancers at Rainfore station, Kuranda, Queensland - an Aboriginal tourism venture

Activity 4

a If you, your family or your friends have re­cently visited another place for an extended period, how long did you/they spend there?

b Where did you go for the trip, and was the experience new or have you visited the place/s previously?

c i How did you acquire your perceptions and impressions of the place/s before you left? Hint: Use the sources of infor­mation listed in Table 2.4 on page 41.

ii Did you use any sources not listed in Table 2.4 in order to obtain your infor­mation? If so, what were they?

What is at this place, and why is it there?

What is your perception of a tourist destination or place?

Perceptions of places stem from a variety of experi­ences we have during travels to other locations. Our impressions may be 'clouded' by the fact that we had to travel a great distance in order to get to the des­tination or to various places covered during the holi­day.

Arriving tired after spending twenty-four hours on a plane and passing through many times zones could definitely change our perception of a place (trav­elling west around the globe creates less jet-lag than travelling east), especially when time to complete the chosen itinerary is limited.

We may also experience a great 'cultural shock' when coming from a predominantly Western culture to the totally different culture and environment of another part of the world, such as parts of Asia. Strug­gling with language barriers may be frustrating for many first-time visitors seeking only new experiences and cultural contrasts.

The traveller's background may also influence the acquiring of his/her perceptions or impressions. The experience of well-travelled people or people whose reading about places is wide may be totally different from that of people who are travelling for the first time.

Five young travellers' impressions

Figures 2.18 to 2.22 on pages 43 and 44 feature some impressions acquired by young students travelling overseas.

42

TRAVELLERS OVER TIME

T able 2.6 Some locations and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' involvement in their tourism ventures

Location

Area

The venture's characteristics

Kurrawong

Camp Coorong Brambuk

Bangarra

Dreamtime

Desert Tracks

Tjapukai

Manyallaluk

Umorrduk Safaris Tiwi Tours

Twenty kilometres east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder on the Great Eastern Highway

Near the Coorong National Park, 200 kilometres south east of Adelaide

Gariwerd{\he Grampians) in south-western Victoria

Based in central Sydney

Rockhampton in central Queensland

An area near the South Australia-Northern Territory border and part of South Australia's Pitjantjatjara lands

Kuranda, far-north Queensland

South east of Katherine in the Northern Territory

Western Arnhem Land, 365 kilometres north east of Darwin

Bathurst Island

On an emu farm owned by the local Aboriginal community, eleven staff members are involved in breeding emus, processing emu products, conducting onsite tours and working in retail outlets.

This is a cultural, tourism and education centre that focuses on ecotourism.

The Brambuk Living Cultural Centre established by south western Victoria's five Koori communities provides cultural exhibits and activities for about 100,000 visitors each year.

The Bangarra Dance Theatre is a professional dance company employing twenty-three people to provide many Australian communities with a cultural experience.

The Dreamtime Cultural Centre displays and explains Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and lifestyle, mainly to domestic tourists.

Educational ecotours are provided, and Aboriginal law, culture and lifestyle is taught about.

The Tjapukai Dance Theatre presents dance and theatre to international and domestic tourists from its own theatre complex.

The Manyallaluk community conducts cultural tours, lasting between one day and four days, for both domestic and international tourists.

Umorrduk Safaris guides tours of Aboriginal rock art, culture and wilderness areas for international tourists.

Tiwi Tours offers visitors tours to Bathurst Island in order to experience local community life.

Shaye Manuel

Shaye visited Asia with her family for seven weeks during 1992 when she was eleven years old. Some of her impressions are shared in the poem entitled 'Travel!' in Figure 2.18 below and on page 44.

From Shaye…

Travel

From the alertness of Hong Kong airport as we

stepped off the plane,

To the hustle and bustle of the Underground

Subway

That would "take us around Hong Kong again

and again.

Then again to fly across the great blue' cloud- less sky

To an exotic land called Malaysia. The city; of Kuala Lumpur was a wonderful place to be,

For the sights and places to visit were wonder­ ful things to see.

Next we drive over the sea to the lovely/place Singapore.

Singapore is a tourist's delight —

Shops galore, they're open all night.

Always kept very clean,

Otherwise a fine for $500 is quickly seen.

Figure 2.18 continues.

43

TOURISM

Figure 2.18 (continued)

Across the sky once more we fly to the won­derful land of culture, Indonesia.

Indonesia is a very primitive place,

Full of interest from the human race.

Rice paddies, and devoted farmers,

Water buffaloes and little bananas.

Over the sea in a crammed ferry,

We visit the island called ... BALI.

Bali with its many beaches –

It is a great place to relax, with its calming fea­tures.

Now for the end of my trip -

FrOrri a welcoming drink, now I will sip.

Figure 2.18 Poem

Natalie Sweet

Natalie, a fifteen-year-old Australian student, was asked to comment on which tourist attractions were high­lights when she went to Japan on her first overseas trip - see the comments in Figure 2.19-

From Natalie...

I would consider .all the shrines and temples to be great attractions. The. best one would have tobe the Kinkaku-Ji Temple [Golden Temple] situated on a lake in the city of Kyoto. I found the Seto Ohashi Bridge to be really spectacular. It is near Okayama and is 14 kilmetres long, the longest bridge in the world. The cost of travelling over the bridge one way. - $A150 -.makes it an expensive tourist-activity. I also thought Tokyo Tower was extraordinary because you could see the whole of Tokyo and how huge it really is. I loved Tokyo Disneyland and thought seeing all the exciting cities lit up at night was a tourist attraction in itself.

Figure 2.19 Comments

Junko Araki

Junko was an eighteen-year-old Japanese exchange student visiting Australia for the second time. When asked what her opinion of Australia as a tourist des­tination was, she made the comments in Figure 2.20.

From Junko ...

It is a very relaxed place for Japanese to visit. It has wide-open spaces, excellent beaches and lots of good places for sightseeing. Compared with Japan, there are lots of green areas and animals we have never seen. There are lots of good places for shopping, and the goods are cheaper.

Figure 2.20 Comments

Katherine Mariegaard

Katherine was a seventeen-year-old Danish exchange student visiting Australia for the first time. When asked about how she acquired her impressions of Australia before she visited, she made the comments in Figure 2.21.

From Katherine...

My brother was an exchange student three years ago in Adelaide, and he told me a lot about the country. When they told me I was going to Mount Gambier, I read a lot of books from the library. I bought a book called Facts About Australia.. I contacted my host family before I arrived, and they told me a lot about South Australia.

Figure 2.21 Comments

Anthony Edgcumbe

Anthony was a sixteen-year-old student who travelled to Japan on a school trip during 1993. When asked his opinion about Japan as a tourist destination, he made the comments in Figure 2.22.

From Anthony...

It is a countiy that catered for tourists, and there is a tourist 'smorgasbord'. It has something to offer all tourists, and I recommend it to all Australians... I think Australian tourists are seen as being friendly, being out to have fun and to enjoy their host country.

Figure 2.22 Comments

4 4

TRAVELLERS OVER TIME

Activity 5

a Write about some of your impressions of places you have visited in your local area, your state, other pans of Australia, or over­seas. (Hint: If you have kept a diary high­lighting these experiences, refer to it as a source of information.)

b What interested you in each place you vis­ited, and why did it interest you?

c Categorise the attractions and experiences as part of either the natural (biophysical) or cultural environment.

d i If you took photographs, what were they of?

ii If you collected anything from each place, what was it? e When you returned home, what did you tell other people about the places? (These are your impressions.)

f i Was your experience enjoyable?

ii What alternative arrangements would you make had you the opportunity to visit the same place/s again?

iii Why would you wish to change any aspect of the visit?

When do these events mostly occur?

Who is involved in creating these perceptions? How have perceptions changed over time?

We live in an age of instant and mass information, whereby the world has become exceedingly small and accessible in a way that has never before occurred. The existence of this information and of the transport technology that is directly and indirectly aimed at the tourism industry means that every corner of the globe has the potential to be a tourist site. This did not occur in previous times, because most places were distant and exotic and were never visited by the vast major­ity of people. We will all now become tourists in some way, on either a local or a global scale. In the past, travel and tourism were rare and were for only a select few - mainly rich people.

Tales from the past

Travel has held a fascination for people since the very earliest times. The urge to visit other places arises from a need to explore new places, travel to unknown

ones and seek new experiences. People have always, for various reasons, moved from one place or region to another, so travel is not new. What is new is the phenomenon of tourism as we know and understand it today. Movement, in the form of migration either overseas or a considerable distance from the Euro­pean countries, began several hundred years ago as people moved to the Americas, Australia, New Zea­land and Africa - the 'New World'. Although many other migrations have occurred throughout time - the Chinese, for example, migrated throughout South-East Asia - migrations were to neighbouring regions that were accessible by land or short sea journey.

International tourism, whereby large numbers of people move from continent to continent and region to region, has existed only since World War II. This period has also been one of growth in domestic tour­ism undertaken by large numbers of people. These two phenomena have resulted from availability of increased leisure time, the fact that more people have more leisure time, improvements in education levels, and development of more rapid forms of transport and communication.

One element involved in the growth of tourism has been development of the annual holiday period, or 'recreation leave'. This is, in essence, an aspect of Western civilisation, and in modern times it has led to the fact that every summer, enormous numbers of people migrate to the world's coastal or mountain regions.

Why has tonrtsm become Important?

Tourism has become important for the following reasons.

• It has changed the form, function, uses and con­servation of naairal environments.

• It has led to the formation of tourist areas and the movement of people from place to place.

• In some regions it has altered the population's structure and composition.

• It involves commercial activity that generates employment for a large number of people, in the accommodation, catering, entertainment, transport and souvenir industries and other service indus­tries.

• It is important for a country's economy because it involves export and import of people, money and commodities.

• It changes the structure and characteristics of communities and societies.

Early travel

Over the past 2000 years or more, the growth of travel and tourism has gone through some interesting phases.

4 5

TOURISM

In the area now known as Europe, some of the ear­liest travel records date back to the Roman Empire -31 bc-476 ad. As the Empire expanded across Eu­rope, the roads, significant in number, that the Ro­mans had built for military and commercial purposes facilitated and thereby stimulated travel around Em­pire lands. Maps showing distances between places, and guide books showing itineraries, were published in order to help all travellers. Greece was a favourite destination for Roman travellers, and as Christianity spread during the Empire's later years, people began to undertake journeys to the 'Holy Land' - the former West Palestine, especially Judea.

Travel during early times was not confined to Europe and the Mediterranean region: historical records indicate it was well developed in Asia, par­ticularly China, Japan and India. On his travels dur­ing the fourth century bc, Alexander the Great found well-established roads, resting places and water sup­plies for travellers. In 138 bc, Chang Chien, an impe­rial officer of the Chinese court, reached Syria in the Mediterranean region by travelling with a caravan of more than 100 people. He returned to China carrying detailed accounts of his journeys.

Although travel was occurring in other parts of the world at this time, this was naturally unknown to the people of the rest of the world. In Australia, Aboriginal people were travelling considerable dis­tances in the course of their normal existence, con­tinually searching for food and new water supplies and following rain clouds. Evidence of trading in a wide range of essential goods indicates that move­ment of the world's people was considerable - the peoples of Asia, for example, apparently walked across the Aleutian Islands to North America.

In Europe during the thousand-year period fol­lowing the end of the Roman Empire in the West, travel slowed down as wars swept through the con­tinent, destroying much of the Empire's order. Roads and towns decayed, and the ethnic and social group­ings became very insular in order for people to feel safe.

Pilgrimages

In medieval times, from about the eleventh to the fifteenth century, people travelled on pilgrimages, 'travel' in the modern sense of the word, but it was not comfortable. The pilgrimages undertaken by re­ligiously faithful people exposed many of them to arduous and unfamiliar experiences. These travellers were religious 'believers' in search of discovery, and they had an interest in converting 'unbelievers' and 'pagans' on the way. They visited places such as Canterbury, Rome and the 'Holy Land'.

The Canterbury Tales

Set in the 1380s, William Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is a well-known example of tales of pilgrims on their journeys. In the book extract in Figure 2.23 entitled 'Mutual special interest', Lord Parry (1988, page 7) gives a general description of these journeys as tour­ist tales.

Mutual special interest

A very large group of tourists led by couriers had their journey carefully documented - their pleasures and prejudices reported and recorded - as following their mutual special interest, they took their spring break or holy days going vis­iting with friends and relatives to a religious centre in a building of great architectural merit, while pony trekking through the heart of rural England, eating 'pub grub', drinking 'real ale', taking 'bed and breakfast' at an old inn and entertaining one another with folk tales, songs and dancing at more or less medieval banquets.

Figure 2.23 Book extract

The pilgrimage was a little holiday and social gathering, not unlike some of the tales many of us hear about travel experiences today. Pilgrims spent money, as tourists today might spend it, on food, accommodation, souvenirs and religious relics. Many were also involved in business trips that entailed cultural exchanges and sale of items of trade. Other travellers were soldiers who were religious and mili­tary campaigners. Entertainment provided along the pilgrims' route became a topic of public concern, as essayist Michael Schudson declares in the extract in Figure 2.24 entitled That's entertainment!'.

That's entertainment!

Bordellos were easily available along pilgrim routes. Pilgrimage tended to lose its penitential quality and to become 'worldly and fashionable'. Reformists and satirists attacked pilgrimage and 'began to raise a cry which became louder and louder until it was something like a storm at time "of the Reformation.'"

Figure 2.24 Journal extract

The Crusades

Undertaken between the eleventh and the thirteenth century, the Crusades were 'Holy Wars' initiated by the Pope in order to defend Christendom and the Church. This involved travel, by large numbers of the

46

TRAVELLERS OVER TIME

religious faithful led by various European nobles and monarchs, to places such as Syria, Palestine, Egypt and other parts of the Middle East in order to fight against 'infidels' - mostly Muslims, people of the Is­lamic faith.

Activity 6

a Discuss the statement, 'During Roman and medieval times, travel was very much re­lated to military and religious needs.'

b Find the meaning of terms i to vii as follows.

Terms

i Pilgrimage

ii Penitential (penitence)

iii Satirist

iv Bordello

v Reformation

vi Crusade

vii Infidel

c Why did pilgrimages become one of the re­ligious experiences that was attacked dur­ing the Reformation?

d Religious pilgrimages remain an aspect of all cultures and religious groups today. Using the 'Hindu' example in Table 2.7, copy the table and complete it for each major reli­gious group listed.

The 'Age of Discovery' of travel destinations

This 'Age' arose out of the so-called Renaissance period, and during it, a new philosophy came about in which knowledge and explanation of natural phe­nomena were all-important. Part of the process was the discovery of the rest of the world as we know it today. From the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, many European countries sponsored expeditions of discovery to all parts of the world, in a quest for gold, spices, commercial opportunities and new lands. Religious motives were also significant in this phi­losophy: it was demanded that all 'natives' be con­verted to Christianity. Whether driven by political, religious, commercial, diplomatic or intellectual mo­tives, people in their travels engaged in observation, description, mapping, reading, listening and record­ing with reference to detail about people and places. Their journals, diaries, maps, reports, artistic records and acquired artefacts were the travel records of the time.

Table 2.7 Pilgrimages of the major religious groups

R eligious Country and Time of Travelling Number of group location year from/to pilgrims

H indu Malaysia, Annual Kuala 250,000

Batu Caves Thaipusam Lumpur Festival, January to February

Roman Catholic

Anglican/ Episcopalian

Greek Orthodox

Russian Orthodox

Muslim

Buddhist

Taoist

Juddist

(Others)

Travel from the seventeenth to

the early-twentieth eentnry

The medical profession was largely responsible for the growth of a tourist industry that was based on the idea that mineral waters had healthy and curative properties. Although interest in the idea had begun as far back as Roman British and European times, as evidenced by remains of bath complexes, 'taking the waters' - from mineral springs arising from beneath the earth's crust - became truly important when doc­tors suggested patients go to English locations such as Bath, Tunbridge Wells, Cheltenham, Epsom, Har­rogate and Buxton in order to cure an array of ail­ments. By the end of the eighteenth century, literally hundreds of mineral baths and spas were to be found all over England.

This boom continued in the colonies of the Brit­ish Empire as settlement spread throughout the rest of the world. Australian locations boasting mineral springs include Daylesford in Victoria, Helidon in Queensland and Moree in New South Wales. In the volcanic areas near Rotoma in New Zealand, spa baths are a popular tourist attraction.

47

T O U R I S M

Figure 2.25 A collage of travel-brochure front pages advertising Queensland tourist attractions

48

TRAVELLERS OVER TIME

Figure 2.27 The Adelaide suburb of Glenelg in 1938, showing the entertainment pavilion on the long pier

Sea bathing as a recreational activity undertaken during summer holidays was apparently first evident during the eighteenth century at Scarborough in Eng­land, which already had a mineral spa. Bathing in the sea also gained popularity because the medical pro­fession recommended it for its health and restorative properties. As a result, Brighton's famous beach be­came as popular a health resort as Bath and Tunbridge Wells. The idea spread rapidly to many British coastal locations.

Similar developments took place in Europe, and the colonies followed close behind - sea bathing became extremely popular at Adelaide's Glenelg, Sydney's Bondi and Melbourne's St Kilda. Places such as Blackpool on England's west coast extended the concept of seaside holidays to include a wide range of other recreational and leisure opportunities. Queensland's Gold Coast is Australia's best example of a modern-day coastal resort - it has a large array of holiday and recreational opportunities, such as 'Sea World', 'Dreamworld', Wet 'n' Wild' and 'Movie World' - see Figure 2.25 on page 48. Promenading along the foreshore and piers (jetties) that had been especially built for this purpose became one of the resort holi­day's most important pastimes.

During the eighteenth century it became fashion­able for the members of Europe's upper classes to travel abroad, and this became known as the 'Grand Tour'. By the middle of the century, 20,000 travellers were crossing the English Channel each year. Between 1763 and 1765, it is believed that 40,000 people passed through the French port of Calais, and in 1785, 40,000 English tourists were travelling or resident in Europe.

During the mid-1800s, the introduction of rail­ways made travel much more accessible for all classes of people. Although the Grand Tour continued to be undertaken by members of the wealthy class, it was now undertaken in luxury rail carriages, further afield in Europe and the British Isles. A new phenomenon was that the less wealthy middle-class and working-class people could now go on day trips or short holidays - especially to the coastal resorts, which were extremely popular during the 1870s and the 1880s. This phenomenon became evident in all sections of the European nations' empires. Intracountry, interna­tional and intercontinental railway networks were established throughout North America (United States 1869, Canadian Pacific 1886), Russia (1891-1905), the Indian subcontinent, South-East Asia, and parts of Africa and South America.

Travel in smaller numbers across the sea has al­ways been an aspect of the movement of people. It became especially significant during the nineteenth century when larger and faster sailing ships were developed, and these remained popular until the late 1860s. After that time, steamships that were speedier and more reliable began to predominate. Some of the most popular tourist links were across the Atlan­tic to the United States and Canada, around the Medi­terranean Sea, and, following completion of the Suez Canal in 1882, India, Asia and Australasia.

During the early twentieth century, the 'roman­tic' sea voyage entered a new era when faster ocean liners were developed. Up to the 1960s, these trans­ported millions of people on package holidays, from one continent to another. During wartime, the liners had an important role in transporting troops between continents and countries and in moving many thou­sands of migrants to new homes in the Americas and other destinations - Australia, for example, especially during the 1950s and the 1960s.

Travel during the second half of the twentieth century

The modern era of mass tourism commenced with the advent of longer holidays, increasing affluence, huge growth in car ownership, development of cheap foreign package tours and development of adventure

49

TOURISM

holidays. An even more recent, 1990s trend is development of ecotourism - a form of 'escape' tourism that, among other features, appeals to many people as a means of 'getting away from it all' and offers the attraction of doing rnany things, individually, in families or in small groups. What many people now enjoy is the healthy, rejuvenating aspect of being in beautiful, unspoilt and unique natural or semi-natural surroundings and learning about the people and places in detail.

Package Mislays

A new philosophy of travel and holidaying has thereby grown, leaving the older aspects behind and focus­ing on pre-packaged holidays the ticket price of which incorporates fares, accommodation, meals, transfers and other activities. The holiday habits of millions of people in all types of cultures and countries has been transformed. Overseas travel has been made as cheap as some domestic travel, thereby permitting a great influx of tourists to popular destinations all over the world.

Domestic travel has expanded incredibly, espe­cially because of the enormous increase in car own­ership, whereby many people, particularly in family groups, are enabled to go on touring, camping, cara­vanning and adventure holidays. In order to compete with overseas-travel operators, domestic travel opera­tors offer similar-style package holidays to popular destinations - in most cases, resorts located on the coast. Competition between resorts and tour opera­tors is often so intense, especially during the off-peak seasons, that prices are reduced substantially in or­der to attract greater numbers of people to the des­tinations.

Making fares cheaper facilitates more visits 'back home' for people who have migrated to new coun­tries. This phenomenon is a characteristic of modern-day migration and holidaying because it has the additional advantage that the traveller can stay, at little cost, with friends and relatives who remain in the 'mother country'.

Holiday home§

During the post-war era, the concept of a 'holiday home' or a second home has become significant in the more affluent countries. Evidence of this is found in the western European countries, North America, Australasia and many other world localities. Holiday homes are usually located in the most desirable coastal, mountain and lake regions, although many factors are in operation when the location is being chosen.

For English people, the most favoured locality at present is France's Provence region. In Canada and the United States, many second-home owners choose localities on lakes, of which there are many hundreds, because this enables them to undertake recreational activities such as canoeing, hunting, fishing, sailing and other water sports. In Australia, in coastal loca­tions and along the rivers of the Murray River system, 'shacks' and holiday homes displaying a distinctly local architectural flavour provide a popular weekend-holiday retreat. Some very wealthy people choose snow-ski resorts as the location for their second home, using them in both winter and summer. The impact of these homes has been particularly significant in the most beautiful and desirable mountain regions of the western United States, such as Aspen in Colo­rado.

The annual holiday

The world holiday is derived from the words holy days - days that were usually associated with reli­gious significance or observance. Public holidays as we know them were part of Ancient Roman life whereby everyone took days off in order to feast and frolic.

The annual holiday became a phenomenon during the Industrial Revolution that occurred in the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and that brought drastic social and economic change. Initiated mostly in England, the week/s-long holiday evolved from workers' directly negotiating their holi­days with their employers. The custom of having a holiday during the summer season to coincide with local fairs and feasts arose because summer weather was better, and the idea grew during the nineteenth century. Originally associated with religious celebra­tions such as Easter and Whitsunday, in most coun­tries holidays have evolved to coincide with summer.

Growth of the wealth of the masses has enabled people to take away-from-home holidays at often developed resorts. Travel used to be reasonably lo­calised because it was restricted by people's narrow perception of the world, lack of available transport for long-distance travel, and length of leave people could take - one to two weeks, for example.

The growth of railways and passenger-liner serv­ices that occurred at the end of the nineteenth cen­tury meant that members of the middle classes could holiday at the seaside, in mountains or at resorts that offered spa facilities and/or the opportunity to par­ticipate in winter sports. These comfortably-off mid­dle classes were also attracted to the romantic landscapes of coastal and mountain regions. By the end of the nineteenth century, a million tourists were

50

TRAVELLERS OVER TIME

visiting Switzerland's spectacular and 'healthy' moun­tain areas, travelling there through Europe by train. Train travel in Europe has always been easy, because the countries are relatively small in area and the rail networks are well developed.

With reference to modern travel and longer an­nual holidays, the main factor in determining desti­nation is often the traveller's wealth. In the post-Industrial Revolution or modern age we are constantly bombarded with information about places, by a variety of media and other sources. Time off work - including public holidays, special event holi­days, long-service leave and early retirement - has increased as a consequence of trade unions' fighting for and winning working conditions from their em­ployers. The advent of school holidays and the in­creasing wealth of many communities have meant that holidays have become very much a way of life. In the Western world, in particular, summer holidays are commonly spent at the beach. We have become more worldly, and the variety of holidays available to ev­eryone is astounding.

Activity 7

a Among your family members and friends,conduct a survey on the length of holidays or annual leave.

b How do your survey findings compare with those in Table 2.8?

c Referring to Table 2.8, which countries have the most and least annual leave?

d Referring to Table 2.8, are the lengths of the wealthier countries' holidays typical of those of the rest of the world, and if not, why not?

Activity 8

a State what the key factors leading to the growth of tourism have been over the pe­riods discussed in the preceding sections.

b State what you consider to be the most im­portant factors in the growth of mass tourism.

c State what types of holiday each of the in­dividuals and groups i to vi, as follows, might be seeking.