AI SEMINAR 7 Perspectives on Tourism What People Have Said about Tourism 1 “Travel is more than the seeing of sights*; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent*, in the ideas of living.” - Miriam Beard (190-1983), American travel writer. 2 “Take only memories. Leave nothing but footprints.” – Chief Seattle (1786 -1866), American Indian chief. 3 “Young men should travel, if but to amuse themselves.” – Lord Byron (1788-1824), English Romantic poet. 4 “A good traveller is one who does not know where he is going to; a perfect traveller does not know where he came from.” – Lin Yutang (1895-1976), Chinese philosopher. 5 “I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad.” – George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright. 6 “To lie about a faraway country is easy.” – Amharic Proverb. 7 “Travelling, like all forms of consumption*, is not a neutral activity. Everything we do affects other people; everything we own is taken from someone else. If you can’t travel carefully, don’t travel at all.” – George Monbiot (b.1963), author and journalist at The Guardian. Reading Prediction Task 1: In groups, brainstorm any negative effects that tourism might have, giving specific examples from your own country if possible. Discussion Questions 1. Do you believe that all travel ‘broadens* the mind’? If so, how? 2. Do you think that more world peace would be possible if more people travelled? 3 Is the travel industry a clean and positive form of development for poor countries? Task 2: Ecotourism . Have you heard of ecotourism before? How would you define it in your own words? “Ecotourism is responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well being of local people”. (The International Ecotourism Society) What do you think a good ecotourist should/ shouldn't do? Example: Ecotourists should never leave behind any rubbish. Reading for gist Task 3: Quickly read the text Guidelines for Ecotourists below. Choose the best answer to this question: a) When does an ecotourist need to think carefully about their holiday? A Before C After B During D All of the above Guidelines for Ecotourists Before you go on your holiday read about the places you are about to visit and choose your ecotour operator AFTER asking the following questions: · Does the operator comply with the EAA Ecotourism Code of Practice? · Is there economic benefit going back to, or staying in, the local community? · Does the operator use local tour guides, services and supplies where possible? While you are on tour minimize the negative social, environmental and economical impacts of your visit: 1. Remember you are a guest. 2. Be culturally sensitive and respect local customs. 3. Allow enough time in each place to appreciate it. 4. Travel by your own muscle power where possible. 5. Be careful not to introduce exotic plants or animals. 6. Stay on the track (trail). 7. Leave an area cleaner than when you found it. 8. Don’t exploit an area when food gathering. 9. Don’t disturb wildlife or wildlife habitats. 10. Familiarize yourself with local regulations. 11. Don’t use soap or detergents in natural water bodies. 12. When travelling, spend money on local enterprises. 13. Consider the implications of buying plant and animal products. Find out if they’re rare or endangered, taken from the wild, and if the trade is approved of by local authorities. 14. Don’t encourage illegal trade by buying products made from endangered species. When you return: 15. Encourage a natural and cultural understanding of the places you have visited. 16. Consider the environmental and cultural effects of your visit. Provide feedback to tour operators, your travel agent and government agencies (who manage the areas visited). Guessing meaning from the context Task 4: Look at these verbs from the text. Match them with the dictionary definitions. Use the context of the text to help you. respect appreciate introduce exploit disturb familiarize encourage 1 to frighten animals or birds so that they run away. 2 show that you understand the importance of something by not doing anything against it. 3 learn or experience something so that you know about it. 4 to recognise the good or special qualities of a person, place or thing. 5 to use natural resources such as trees, water or oil so you gain as much as possible. 6 to provide conditions that help something to happen. 7 bring something such as a plant or animal into a country or environment for the first time. Summary Completion Task 5: Look at this summary of Guidelines for Ecotourists. Complete it using some of the words below. guests an ecotour operator respect endangered a holiday package educate local positive negative soap customers rubbish dangerous According to the EEA, ecotourists must choose 1 ……………… carefully. They must make sure that they follow the code of practice, use 2 ………………. guides and services, and have a 3……………… economic impact on the community. Certain guidelines should be followed. For example: Tourists should not forget they are 4 ……………….. and should 5 …………… local habits and laws. When walking they should not leave the track and avoid polluting water with 6 ………………….. . They should never buy products made from plants or animals which are 7 …………………… . Statistics Tourism - accounts* for over 6% of world gross national product* (GNP) - provides up to 10% of total employment - 8% of the world’s population travels Discussion Questions 1 If you were a tour guide, where would you go and why? 2 If you were organising an ecotour of your region, what would you do? 3 How has this article challenged the conventional ideas about travel? 4 How do you feel about the author’s ideas? In what ways do you agree or disagree? 5 Has the article made you think about your own personal travel ethics? 6 Will you travel differently now? Listening (6 minutes) The Impact of Tourism Presenter: Fiji is a group of tropical islands in the Pacific Ocean. Tony Green has just (1)____________ Fiji, where he worked during the early eighties. He’s noticed how the islands and islanders have changed. Tony, is Fiji the “tropical holiday paradise” that the holiday brochures tell us about? Tony: Well, in many ways it still is – if you can get away from the main island and the capital, Suva. There are, after all, over (2)____________ islands in the group, of which only one hundred are inhabited. Politically, Fiji is not a very (3)____________ nation – the main problem is that of the 670,000 people, half are ethnic Fijians and half are ethnic Indians, the descendants of labourers who came to work on the (4)____________ plantations. The Indians tend to run the commercial life of the islands. They have the businesses and the shops, (5)____________ the Fijians own the land and they are farmers and fishermen - oh, and they also dominate the government. (6)____________, many Indians have left Fiji because life has become more difficult for them and these (7)____________ tensions have rather destabilised the country, making it less popular than other more (8)____________ destinations. Tourism started in the late sixties because flights between America and Australia had to land in Fiji to (9)____________ and visitors began to stop over in Fiji, to (10)____________ which was then an unspoilt, quote “tropical paradise” unquote. The tourists mainly came, and still do come, from Australia and New Zealand. About, I think, (11)____________ go there each year. Tourism is the main dollar earner of the islands. Nearly (12)____________ the country’s income comes from tourists. However, for every dollar earned, (13)____________ cents goes straight out of the country again to pay for what the tourists (14)____________. The visitors eat meat and dairy products and vegetables flown in from New Zealand; they drink Australian beer, (15)____________, and orange juice. The local farmers just haven’t been able to cope with the international (16)____________ of the visitors. The islands of Fiji are very fertile, but the farmers haven’t adapted to the requirements of the tourist industry, which requires a reliable (17)____________ of standard quality products. It’s easier for them to grow sugar cane, bananas, and ginger for export than to cater for the whims of tourists. Consequently, it’s cheaper and simpler for hoteliers to (18)____________ what their guests want to eat and drink, even some of the fruit, by air. One of the more noticeable (19)____________ of tourism on the people is that you see children playing truant from school to act as “guides” for the tourists. Local shopkeepers pay them to grab tourists and pull them into their gift shops. (20)____________, many of the souvenirs they buy are not made locally at all. They’re imported from places like Taiwan and Hong Kong. The Fijians used to be known for their friendliness and hospitality. This is something I noticed particularly when I was there before, but now you’re beginning to see a sullenness creep into their character. People seem to resent the (21)____________ and “friendly Fiji”, as advertised in the holiday brochures, is no longer so apparent, I‘m afraid. Yeah, these slogans have devalued a complex situation. I suppose you can’t expect everyone to welcome foreigners into their community without the foreigners (22)____________ the locals with respect too. I mean, you can’t buy (23)____________ with dollars, or deutschmarks, or whatever. Presenter: I see. They do say that travel broadens the mind. Is that your experience? Tony: Quite the opposite, I’d say. Every international hotel looks very much like another. There are no local styles, and the services they offer are (24)____________ too. In fact, if you look at the visitors in those hotels, they’re all starting to look alike! They dress the same and behave the same. They talk about the same things, they (25)____________ the same opinions, they eat the same food, drink the same drinks. They never learn a word of the local language or find out about the local (26)____________ – apart from the folklore evenings laid on for them at the hotels. They find themselves buying the same Hong Kong-made souvenirs all over the world. But what is saddest of all is that they are totally (27)____________ of the local people and their aspirations, of their problems, and their interests. The only local people they speak to are waiters, shopkeepers, chambermaids, you know? Tourism, in fact, is not conducive to mutual understanding. In some cases it even gives rise to (28)____________ contempt, I think. The only difference for the tourist being at home and being on holiday is that the weather is (29)____________. On holiday, they have people to do the cooking and serve the food, and do the washing-up afterwards! Presenter: I see. So, how do you see the future of Fiji? Tony: Well, (30)____________ what I’ve said, I’m optimistic. Fiji can’t revert to how it was in the past. That’s just too much to ask. You can’t put the clock back. But the (31)____________ on Fiji is no longer an essential refuelling stop. Long-range jets cross the Pacific non-stop now, which means that the tourists who go to Fiji now aren’t people who are just stopping over for a night or two, but people who have chosen to stay there for one or two weeks, or whatever. And Fiji doesn’t depend too (32)____________ on tourism for its income. Recently, important reserves of copper have been found which will improve the balance of payments. I think the number of tourists is likely to stabilise at an acceptable (33)____________. And it looks likely that the relationship between the natives and visitors will develop – as it has in Spain or Greece, for example – into a mature, sensible, businesslike one. Grammar – Suffixes and Prefixes Complete the table. Verb Noun Adjective Adverb doubt doubt Doubtfully conserve conserved, -ing - destroy destruction destructively empowerment empowered, -ing - consume consumable, -ed, consumingly force force forcible, forcing, forced subsidise subsidy - develop developed, -ing - benefit benefit beneficially Prefixes: in- dis- im- mis- ir- sub- il- under- un- over- ab- self- re- de- experienced valuable perfect mature conscious rational judged loaded valued honest normal legible stable spoilt aware Many combinations are possible, though not all are commonly used. List the combinations that you know and compare your list with the rest of the class. Use these lists to expand your vocabulary. Vocabulary 1. sights památky, pamětihodnosti 2. *consumption spotřeba 3. to broaden the mind rozšiřovat si duševní obzor 4. comply with vyhovovat (čemu), dodržet 5. benefit výhoda, prospěch 6. supplies zásobování 7. impacts dopady 8. local customs místní zvyky 9. track stezka 10. exploit využít, zneužít 11. familiarise obeznámit se 12. endangered ohrožený 13. approve (of) schválit (co) 14. appreciate ocenit, uznávat 15. natural resources přírodní zdroje 16. provide conditions poskytnout podmínky 17. *to account for představovat 18. gross national product hrubý národní produkt Sources consulted: http://fulgeog5.fullerton.edu/350/350students/dtollefson/ecotourism.html http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/definitions.html Kumar, Satish (ed.), Resurgence, May/June 2002, pp. 26, 27. Lorie, Jonathan, ed.; The Traveller’s Handbook; WEXAS, 2000. (Quotes - pp. 15, 23, 35.) Jones, Leo, Progress to Proficiency, CUP, 1994, section 6.10. Word bank 1. to go on a sightseeing tour jet na okružní prohlídku pamětihodností 2. to go on a guided tour jít na prohlídku s průvodcem 3. to go on a cruise jet na okružní plavbu 4. to book a trip with a travel agency rezervovat si zájezd u cestovní kanceláře 5. to seek something out of the ordinary vyhledávat něco neobvyklého 6. to get back to nature vrátit se k přírodě 7. to damage the countryside ničit přírodu 8. tourist industry turistický průmysl 9. tourist sector (formal) turistický průmysl (formální) 10. tourist office informační kancelář pro turisty 11. damage done to the countryside škody napáchané na přírodě 12. itinerary plán cesty 13. hoards of people davy lidí 14. ecological awareness ekologické povědomí