Option E: Leisure, tourism and sport

Option E: Leisure, tourism and sport

1. Changing leisure patterns

• How human development processes give rise to leisure activities

• The growth and changing purpose of leisure time for societies in different geographic and developmental contexts

• The categorization of touristic activities (cost, duration, destination) and sporting activities (cost, popularity, site)

• The link between economic development and participation in leisure activities

• Detailed examples to illustrate recent changes in participation for two or more societies at contrasting stages of development

• Factors affecting personal participation in sports and tourism, including affluence, gender, stage in lifecycle, personality, place of residence

2. Tourism and sport at the local and national scale

• How physical and human factors shape places into sites of leisure

• Human and physical factors explaining the growth of rural and urban tourism hotspots including the role of primary and secondary touristic resources

• Variations in sphere of influence for different kinds of sporting and touristic facility, including neighbourhood parks and gyms, city stadiums and national parks

• Factors affecting the geography of a national sports league, including the location of its hierarchy of teams and the distribution of supporters

• Case study of one national sports league

• Large-scale sporting, musical, cultural or religious festivals as temporary sites of leisure and their associated costs and benefits

• Case study of one festival in a rural location, its site factors and geographic impacts

3. Tourism and sport at the international scale

• The varying power of different countries to participate in global tourism and sport

• Niche national tourism strategies with a global sphere of influence, including adventure tourism, movie location tourism and heritage tourism

• The role of TNCs in expanding international tourism destinations, including the costs and benefits of TNC involvement for different stakeholders

• Costs and benefits of tourism as a national development strategy, including economic and social/cultural effects

• Political, economic and cultural factors affecting the hosting of international sporting events, including Olympics and football World Cup events

• Case study of costs and benefits for one country hosting an international event

4. Managing tourism and sport for the future

• Future possibilities for management of, and participation in, tourism and sport at varying scales

• The consequences of unsustainable touristic growth in rural and urban tourism hotspots, including the concept of carrying capacity and possible management options to increase site resilience

• The concept of sustainable tourism, including the growth of ecotourism

• One case study of sustainable tourism in one low-income country

• Factors influencing future international tourism, including greater use of social media, international security and diaspora growth

• The growing importance of political and cultural influences on international sport participation, including international agreements, inclusion via changing gender roles and the growing importance of the Paralympics

Synthesis (Sy), Evaluation (Ev) and Skills (Sk) opportunities

• How leisure use of a place is influenced by spatial interactions with other places [Sy]

• People's freedom and ability to participate in leisure activities is subject to multiple influences from personal/local to global scales [Sy/Ev]

• Different perspectives on the costs and benefits of how places are used for leisure activities and who is allowed to participate [Ev]

• How trends and changes in visitor and impact data can be shown graphically [Sk]