Geographical Theory
What is tourism?
Tourism is the activities a person travelling or staying in a place, that is outside of their usual environment, for usually less than 12 months. Tourism is an important industry, especially for employment opportunities. There are different parts of the tourist industry. A person who is involved in the activity of tourism, is called a tourist. In our lifetime most people have or will one day be a tourist, whether in a foreign country or just a different area in their own country. Tourism is important because it provides employment opportunities and earn valuable foreign exchange. Tourism also greatly benefit’s the economy greatly.
What makes Greenwich a potential tourist area?
Greenwich is seen as a potential tourist area because it has many attractions such as the Cutty Sark, and it is visited by many tourists each year. There is a market and the O2 arena. Greenwich is located just south of the river meaning it has a river view of the London skyline, which would also attract people. Greenwich is also seen as a potential tourist area because there are various public transport systems that will get you there; buses, boats and trains.
What is a Honeypot?
A honeypot is a popular visitor attraction that has a certain attraction that people visit, for example Greenwich Park. Honeypots are popular because they are places of attractive scenery or of historic interest. Tourists often flock to honeypots in large numbers. However, although honeypots can be encouraged because the concentrate the damage caused by tourists onto smaller areas. They can also be discouraged because they can often be greatly overcrowded, littered and they can cause a strain on local facilities and transport, there may also be problems with crime. The term honeypot comes from bees buzzing around a beehive and honey. Honeypots are usually characterised as a small area, that concentrate tourists and crowds of people. Some examples of honeypots in the UK are; Bowness-on-Windermere (the lake district, a national park) and Swan age (Dorset, a coastal town.)
Methodology
Our year 10 geography class travelled to Greenwich on May 9th 2008 to carry out coursework which would find out which areas in Greenwich are honeypots. We travelled to Greenwich via tube and DLR. After we arrived at the Cutty Sark (meeting point) we split into groups of around four or five and we were given an area in which to conduct data, either supporting or rejecting our hypotheses. We arrived at our site around 11.00, when we started our pedestrian count.
1. To make our pedestrian count fair the groups all started the pedestrian count at the same time 11.00 and we all counted for ten minutes. I carried out the pedestrian count because I wanted to find information which would lead me to find out which areas of Greenwich are honeypots, by counting the number of people walking past a certain point, in this case a gate, within the allocated area (St Mary’s Gate.) There where people at the 13 different sites all counting people at the same time, thus making the count more fair. This data would help me to find and show which areas in Greenwich are honeypots because I predict that if there are a lot of people the area is most likely to be a honeypot, as it is known that honeypots are often swamped with large numbers of people. The data was recorded on a tally chart a we believed it would be a quick method of noting down passing people. To record the tally we stood either end of the gate and counted the number of people passing through. The tally was a good idea as it meant that results could be taken down quickly, however the survey could have been improved by taking down passing vehicles and also dividing the groups further maybe into gender which will mean that we can also see whether the site attracts all genders/age groups or whether only a certain type of people visit. If only certain people say elderly women visit, it may not necessarily be a honeypot as honeypots should appeal to all people. If we had been allowed longer then an anomaly in the results e.g coach of people stopping for a walk, could have been eliminated.
2. We also carried out an environmental survey. This is because I wanted to see whether the environmental conditions agree or disagree with my second hypothesis that the areas in Greenwich that are honeypots, will have nice surrounings and will genrally be a clean and well looked after area. We carried out this survey by talking amongst the group and agreeing on a score (1-5, 1 being the best, 5 being the worst) for the question. We recorded the information on a questionnaire, the lower the final score, the better the environment. A good thing about the survey was that the whole group worked on the survey together meaning the results are more reliable. Another good thing about the survey is that everyone had the same questions which made it a fair test. The survey could be improved by having a question that asked the general public what they thought of the environment.
3. I carried out a tourist survey because it would help me to see if my third hypothesis, the area in Greenwich being a honeypot would have many tourists, will be true or if was incorrect and would be rejected. I carried out this survey by asking the public entering through the gate, three questions to define whether they are a tourist or local and noting down the results. The information was recorded like a tally on the questionnaire. The good thing about this survey is that you are asking the public, so will get any number of different results. However the questionnaire could not be truly fair because when asked, some people, presumably tourists, said that they did not speak English, so couldn’t reply. Also at different times of the year eg, summer holidays, there are different peaks in the number of tourists.
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5. I looked at pricing in cafes and bars for my fourth hypothesis because I wanted to see whether rent prices in Greenwich were higher in honeypot areas. My fourth hypothesis is that rent in honeypot areas of Greenwich would be more expensive. I took all these prices quickly in a notebook so that when I was ready I could put it all into a table later. I got the pricing by looking in estate agents windows and also got some later from websites (listed below.) I took the price of three standard three-bedroom terraced houses and calculated the average for five different areas; north, south, east, west and central . I chose this type of house because it is common. The good thing about this method is that it more fair because it is the same food and beverage items that I am comparing. The bad thing though is that the houses are all different from eachother
