Census data AS geography

AS and A Level Geography

Census data

The census data will enable me to monitor the village over a ten year period and see if the population and number of people rises/falls/stays constant etc over that time period. As my data is comparing 1991 to 2001 then I will be able to see if the village has been growing or declining in the near past. This will help me to gauge if the village is likely to be either growing/declining/ staying constant when I go to collect my data. If it has been growing then this is a good indicator that the economy is doing well. If the economy is doing well then the chances are that tourism is doing well in the village as the village is very much geared towards tourism. If it is declining and I go there and find that tourism isn’t doing well then I will know that without tourism Port Eynon will decline. But if it had been growing and there isn’t much tourism active in the village then I will be able to tell that Port Eynon isn’t that dependent on tourism and wouldn’t be likely to decline if tourism left the village.

Questionnaire

This will allow me to see what the people who are in Port Eynon think about the village, its state and how things are going economically along with other factors related to tourism (e.g. any problem(s) that may occur due to traffic)> as they are people who either live or are visiting the village they will be able to give an opinion on such issues and if an overall trend appears within the responses for each question then I will be able to determine what is likely to be the answer to each issue in the questionnaire. This could give me an insight into how tourism affect the village economically, for instance, if the results say that the roads into the village get pretty jammed up during the summer months then I will be able to make the prediction that there is a great increase in the volume of traffic during the summer indicating a great increase in the number of people coming to the village and then leaving. This would mean tourists and this earns a lot of money for the village as they often stay in one of the caravan parks in the village and use its other amenities such as the post office and the pubs. This would then indicate that the village is quite reliant for most of its economical income from tourism and therefore would be quite likely to suffer or fall into decline if tourism left the village permanently.

EQI

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EQI

My EQI will help me to answer my key questions and therefore my hypothesis because it will help me to determine how good the quality of the environment is in Port Eynon in different areas of the village. The better the environment is better this is for tourism as tourists will not like to come to the village if the environment is not very good everywhere, especially the beach as this is the biggest pull factor for tourists who visit the village of Port Eynon. If the environment is good then this will attract more tourists or keep them coming back repeatedly, this will help the economy of the village and then the village will grow, not decline or if it is in decline then this would happen slower allowing more time for action to be taken to reverse the decline of the village so it stops declining. Likewise if the environment is generally poor in the village then this will have the opposite effect meaning that the village is more likely to lose tourists and therefore the economy will weaken which could lead to a decline in the village.

SPI

My SPI will help me answer my key questions and therefore my hypothesis because my SPI determines the potential of the site to be good/useful/attractive. This means that if many sites across Port Eynon have a lot of potential then they can be developed (if they haven’t been already) so that they can maximise their attractiveness or usefulness to tourists so that more tourists will come as the village is better equipped to cater for their needs. This will attract more tourists to the village so that more money will be put into the economy of the village, which will stimulate the growth of the village or keep the village in a constant state at which it is at present. If the potential of most or all of the sites in Port Eynon is quite poor then they aren’t going to be able to be exploited for the benefit for tourists and therefore the economy then this could lead to a decline in the economy of the village.

Land use survey

If I surveyed the land and its uses within Port Eynon and found out that there was mainly things such as caravan parks and other amenities that were geared towards tourists then I would be able to deduce that the village of port Eynon was quite dependent upon tourism for its economic well being because if it wasn’t then it would have so much of its land dedicated to this industry. On the other hand if I went here and found that many factories etc then it would be unlikely that the village was very dependent on tourism because tourists wouldn’t like to be near factories and the local economy would need to develop tourism as its main form of economic income as it would have heavy industry to support itself. Also if I went here and recorded that most of the land was derelict then this would suggest that the village was already in decline, I could then look for indicators of what the village had depend upon for its income and then decide if tourism left the village if it would decline further.

Field sketch/photos

Field sketch photos will help me to determine if Port Eynon would decline without tourism, as it could be a rough plan of what a typical part of the village looked like, o give a general impression of what each area of the village looked like, e.g. the caravan parks and then the residential areas. If I took a photo and it showed a lot tourism geared amenities (e.g. Souvenir shops or a caravan park) then this would suggest that the village was highly dependent upon tourism for its income as most or all of its amenities were there for tourists to use. Therefore it would be quite reasonable to say that if tourism left the village for good then it would be quite likely that the village would decline economically and quite quickly too as it wouldn’t have any other way of generating an income, and even if it could then it could take time to invest and develop so that it could support the village as a full and proper replacement for the income gap left by the absence of tourism.

Traffic survey

If I go to port Eynon and find that there is a lot of traffic (bearing in mind that I am going during the February which is winter, the low time for tourism in the UK in general, including Wales and therefore The Gower) then it is unlikely that the village is very dependent upon tourism as a lot of traffic is often associated with a good or strong economy. If I go there and find out there is little traffic then this would indicate that the village has little economic activity in the winter at least. Ideally I could then go back in the summer and then see if the traffic count is different, and if it was, and say there was quite a lot of activity then this would indicate a lot of economic activity. Then I would have to look at what was the main type of traffic on the roads going in and out of Port Eynon. If it were mainly cars then this would most likely be tourists, however, if it were mainly lorries or other heavy vehicles then this would indicate a more industry-based economy for the village. If this was the case then I would be able to judge if the village would decline if tourism left the village etc.

Interview with a resident

An interview with a resident would be useful when trying to decide if Port Eynon would decline without tourism as they would be able to mention any businesses that have either set up, shut down or that have been replaced in the past 10 years say, which could help to give an idea on how well the tourist industry was supporting Port Eynon, for instance if there used to be a pharmacy and a local clinic but they have now been replaced by a souvenir shop and a café then this would show that the village is now gearing itself almost entirely to tourism. Also if there was a tour guide centre that took tourists around the nearby area but now it had closed down then this would suggest that tourism is declining in Port Eynon and this would mean that Port Eynon could be in decline if further economic activity was to cease, also you could find out how such economic growth or decline had affected the village on a more personal level, e.g. if say a shop closed and then 5 people lost their jobs say this could be noted as this would be unlikely information to be found elsewhere.

Interview with a tourist

An interview with a tourist could be useful data for my investigation as it could provide me with the information of why tourists come to the village and if they return after their fist stay or if they never return. This would be useful to know as this could be useful to determine if people keep coming back to Port Eynon because this could be what sustains the village’s economy, people returning and not just as a one off visit as is common with many places around the world (e.g. and African safari, which is normally and once in a lifetime holiday). This would mean that if people continually return to Port Eynon then it is likely that the economy is growing and the village might invest more into the industry. However if tourism left the village this could be disastrous if all of its development is geared towards tourism, which most of it is, then it would be likely that the village would fall into decline shortly afterwards.