Leave Only Footprints

Social Studies Online

Managing the consequences of tourism for people and places

Scenario

A tourism company is planning to build a new ecotourism resort at one of the following places:

• Tongariro National Park
• Milford Sound
• A place of great natural beauty in your region.

Your team (of 2-3 planners) has been given the task of designing the Planning Brief for the proposed resort.

Part One: Background

You must:

1. Identify possible social and environmental problems that the proposed resort could create;
2. Develop at least four possible actions to solve these problems;
3. Outline likely consequences of each action for different people e.g. locals, tourists, the company itself, tourist operators;
4. Identify the best option for the company to take and provide evidence to support your decision.

Part Two: The Proposed Resort
Included in your evidence will be a detailed planning brief of the proposed ecotourism resort.

This will include:

1. location maps;
2. an annotated plan of the layout of the resort;
3. at least three actions that will be taken to ensure that the resort will not cause negative consequences for the environment
4. at least three actions that will be taken to ensure that the local people benefit from the resort.

Part Three: Presenting the Brief
This will involve:
A group presentation to the board of the company (the rest of the class).

• You will have exactly two minutes to present your planning brief.
• You must support your oral presentation with at least two relevant visuals (plus the map and annotated plan). e.g. OHTs, posters, Powerpoint slides.
• Be prepared to answer questions about the consequences of your proposal for both the local people and for the environment of the place itself.