It’s a Big World…

How long would it take you to travel to every country in the world? And how much do you think it would cost? Take your best guess!

To see the story of one person who visited every country in the world, check out the video below. As you watch, remember a few things. First, she currently holds the world record for the shortest timespan in which a person has visited every country, and second, she is afraid of flying.  

Of course, both the cost of the journey and the length of time required to travel will depend on the way that you choose to get from point A to point B. Often these factors demonstrate an inverse relationship - the more you pay, the quicker you get there. While this is convenient, most people have to balance time and budget while travelling.

Off the Beaten Path: Counting On

Do you know, off the top of your head, how many countries there are in the world? While this seems like it should be a pretty straight forward question, there is actually a good deal of debate on this topic!

Have the number of countries in the world changed over the years? Why is that?

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Modes of Transportation

If you were to brainstorm for a moment, you would be able to think of a number of different modes of transportation that are used by the travel and tourism industry. Flying, driving, and cruising would likely come to mind quickly. After a moment you would likely add hiking, cycling, and maybe others, such as riding the train or bus. In fact, sometimes the mode of transportation can BE the trip. For example, cycling through France, riding a train through the Rocky Mountains, or taking a cruise through the Caribbean are all just as much about the act of traveling as they are about the destination.

Not all of these options are available from all places, however. You may live in a city where you can walk a few blocks and access public transport that would take you right to the airport where you could catch a flight out. You may also live somewhere that you have to drive a long way to get anywhere because there are no other transportation services available.

When planning a trip, one of the first things that you have to consider is how you will move between places. In some cases it’s obvious (intercontinental travel likely involves a flight), and in other cases you have a number of options (London to Paris might be a flight or a train ride, or a drive in a rental car). Where there is choice, how do you decide? Which factor is more important to you?

 

Getting from Point A to Point B

Many mapping apps will not only help you get from your current location to your destination, but they will also help you decide on your mode of transportation by offering different options.

Using Google Maps, for example, you can see that if you wanted to travel from Ottawa to Toronto, the following options are available:

Off the Beaten Path: Having Faith

A word of caution - do not always trust your mapping app. Sometimes, a bit of common sense is needed as well.

Concepts of Geographic Thinking: Interrelationships 

Just as you studied Spatial Significance in the first activity, and Patterns and Trends in the second activity, this activity is centred around the concept of Interrelationships. 

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It’s important to make a few distinctions between terms before beginning. 

Contributing factors: while they can influence an outcome, they do not guarantee or determine a specific result. For example, a beautiful beach, good food and great weather do not necessarily guarantee a perfect vacation. 

Determining factors: this will determine a specific outcome. For example, a thunderstorm moving through the area will delay flights.  

Determining Interrelationships

There are four different possibilities when comparing two factors:

• A influences B;
• B influences A;
• A and B influence each other; or
• A and B have no influence on each other. 

To relate this to travel and tourism, one of the best examples is the price of flights.

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Now that the data collection is complete, it’s time to look at the interrelationships that have been uncovered. Below you will see both a visual representation and a written explanation of this interrelationship. 

Interrelationship: B influences A (Distance Influences Cost)

Result of Research: Through research, a general pattern is demonstrated which indicates that the longer the flight, the greater the cost. 

Explanation: Reasons to support this may include the fact that the greater the distance travelled, the greater the amount of fuel that is needed. It is also true that for a longer flight, more money is being paid in salaries to the flight crew. Also, if an airplane needs to make a certain amount of money in a 24 hour period to remain profitable, then the longer the flight, the greater the proportion of the day’s earnings must be represented by that flight.

Discounting other Interrelationship Options: The cost does not determine how far the flight will travel, meaning that this cannot be A influences B or A and B influence each other. Because a connection has been demonstrated, this is not a case in which A and B have no influence on each other.

Questions

The following questions will give you an opportunity to practice applying the concept of interrelationships. If you answer a question incorrectly, be sure to read the feedback. You may wish to re-read the content or work through the example again before beginning. 

1. Factor A = Burning fossil fuels and Factor B = Melting glaciers
   1. A influences B
   2. B influences A
   3. A and B influence each other
   4. A and B have no influence on each other
   Answer

   a. A influences B

    Burning fossil fuels causes more greenhouse gasses to build up in the atmosphere, which in turn means that more heat is trapped. This trapped heat raises the global temperature causing the glaciers to melt more than they would at a lower temperature. 

2. Factor A = stricter penalties for poachers and Factor B = increased number of tourists taking part in safaris
   1. A influences B
   2. B influences A
   3. A and B influence each other
   4. A and B have no influence on each other
   Answer

   c. A and B influence each other

    If there are stricter penalties on poachers, there will be more abundant wildlife in the region, making it a more viable safari option. As well, if there is increased tourism, there may also be more attention (tourists and media) in the area which may lead the government to take additional measures to protect the wildlife. 

3. Factor A = A volcanic eruption in South America and Factor B = Commercial flights in Europe
   1. A influences B
   2. B influences A
   3. A and B influence each other
   4. A and B have no influence on each other
   Answer

   d. A and B have no influence on each other

   While a volcanic eruption would cancel air travel in the vicinity, it would not impact flights halfway around the globe. 

4. Factor A = the number of people that cross the bridge that connects Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Factor B = the exchange rate between the American and Canadian dollar
   1. A influences B
   2. B influences A
   3. A and B influence each other
   4. A and B have no influence on each other
   Answer

   b. B influences A

    If there is a favourable exchange rate (e.g., a strong Canadian dollar), Canadians have more purchasing power in the United States, and therefore will choose to both vacation and shop in the U.S. 

Inquiry

In previous lessons you looked first at Questioning and then at Gathering and Organizing information. The next step of the inquiry model that we will practice involves Interpreting and Analysing your data.

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Interpreting and Analysing Data

This part of the inquiry process is all about making sense of the information that you find. Quite often, the information will be in a format that is less than ideal -  for example, an article with statistics contained within it. Those same statistics, presented in a more visual way, become much more meaningful for the reader.

Take, for instance, the data set that was used as an example in Activity 2. This information looked at which countries represented the largest groups of tourists to Canada.

Table

There is a good deal of information in this table, and if you spend a bit of time looking at it, you can likely find the patterns and trends. However, this doesn’t make a table the best option for analysing this data.

Consider the very same information transformed into the following formats:

Bar Graph

Map

The various methods of displaying data have different advantages and disadvantages. Choosing the proper format needs to be done carefully.

Have the number of countries in the world changed over the years? Why is that?

Bias

One final, but important, part of the Interpret and Analyse phase of the inquiry process is looking for bias in your information.

One of the key reasons that the CRAAP test is beneficial to your research is because it helps you to select reliable sources that are trustworthy; however, this doesn’t always guarantee that the information is free of bias.

Bias is a phenomenon that comes into play in all areas of life, not just travel and tourism. It is defined as having opinions or feelings that are determined without full consideration of all available facts and information. Anything we read or view about a destination, especially a traveller’s personal experiences, are subjective and therefore can contain bias. This doesn’t mean we can’t use the information; it just means that we need to be aware of, and on the lookout for, potential bias.  

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Island As A Stopover

The chart below contains statistics on the number of international tourists that have travelled to Iceland between 2007 and 2016. Source

First, what trend do you see? Are there any disruptions to this overall trend? With a bit of research, see if you can find a reason why this pattern might exist. (Remember that a trend is a change over time, and a pattern is a change in a place at a moment in time.) 

The bigger question, however, is “Why has Iceland become so popular?”

The answer is quite simple. Icelandair made a series of really fantastic marketing decisions.

Not only did this decision have a financial payoff for the company, because people were selecting them over other airlines that flew the same routes, but the Icelandic economy and tourism industry have benefited as well. This article, How Icelandair Transformed the Country from Conde Nast Traveller describes the transformation:  

Even after numbers began to soar, the company went one step further. In 2016, the airline introduced the idea of stopover buddies.

Check out their website OR watch the video to learn more.

This was a hugely popular campaign as it provided free, personalized experiences for visitors. It also created a lot of positive, and free, publicity for Icelandair.