GCSE LEISURE AND TOURISM

GCSE LEISURE AND TOURISM 48404/Unit 4 Investigating tourism destinations and impacts Report on the Examination 4840 June 2014 Version: 1.0 Further ...
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GCSE LEISURE AND TOURISM

48404/Unit 4 Investigating tourism destinations and impacts Report on the Examination 4840 June 2014 Version: 1.0

Further copies of this Report are available from aqa.org.uk Copyright © 2014 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. AQA retains the copyright on all its publications. However, registered schools/colleges for AQA are permitted to copy material from this booklet for their own internal use, with the following important exception: AQA cannot give permission to schools/colleges to photocopy any material that is acknowledged to a third party even for internal use within the centre.

REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – GCSE LEISURE AND TOURISM – 48404 – JUNE 2014

General Students should be encouraged to set out at the start of their work which Controlled Assessment Task they are covering and to include a copy of the package or itinerary being described in the investigation. There is no need for students to justify why they chose a particular task or why they chose a particular destination to fit a specific task. Such justification gained no credit.

Strand A - How you planned and carried out your investigation In this strand students need to: – – –

describe specifically where they got information from describe actually what information was gathered from each source give some reasons for why those sources were used.

Students this year were generally able to outline ‘where’ information was gathered from. This was usually in the form of a list of websites used. Much of the information was researched from websites. This is understandable as many of the destinations are abroad. Students, however, should be encouraged to use other sources such as books, brochures and other printed material in order to have a wider range of sources of information. This helps students gain higher level marks when they are justifying ‘why’ chosen methods were used. Some of the description of ‘what’ was collected was too simplistic. Students need to give examples of specific information gathered from each source. Descriptions such as “I got lots of useful information from this site”, are too vague. The section on ‘why’ different sources were used continues to be problem for some students. This part of the strand needs to be more than a list of the advantages and disadvantages of using the internet. Students need to explain ‘why’ the chosen methods were used. There is no need to explain why each website was used. Better marks would be gained through explanation of why the internet was used as a source of information, why books were used as a source and why holiday brochures formed part of the research. Students who used websites because they ‘were updated regularly with information like prices’ and books because they ‘gave me details about the background to what responsible tourism was’, gained deserved credit. Summary – –

Students need to describe exactly what information was gathered from each source by giving examples of specific information gained from specific sources Students need to explain in more detail why certain sources were used.

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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – GCSE LEISURE AND TOURISM – 48404 – JUNE 2014

Strand B - Where the chosen destination is located When describing the location of the chosen destination students should be encouraged to use written description as well as maps, in order to give some idea of distance and journey time in relation to the UK or within the UK. For overseas destinations the resort or area within the country needs to be clearly located. Some students simply located the country as a whole. When locating destinations within the UK, it would help students to locate the chosen area within the UK and also to locate the places within the area where the proposed activities and facilities to be visited are located. There is a tendency for some students to give details of how to reach the destination by including travel options in this strand, rather than locating the destination. This should be dealt with in Strand D. Summary – –

Students must locate the actual destination within a country rather than just the country itself when describing locations overseas Students need to be encouraged to use written description as well as maps when locating destinations.

Strand C - The suitability of available attractions and activities This strand, once again, produced some excellent work. Successful students described a variety of attractions and activities available in the chosen destination, which allowed them access to Level 1 and lower Level 2 marks, then related the suitability of the proposed attractions/activities to the target group of travellers. This gave students access to upper Level 2 and Level 3 marks. Students should be encourage to clearly identify the target market for their holiday/ travel package at the start of the strand, then relate the activities they have chosen to that target market. This means that the ‘suitability’ of the activities/attractions for the target market is always being commented upon. Students should also be encouraged to come to some conclusions about the range of attractions/activities available. Drawing conclusions is still a relatively weak element in this strand. The best way to do this is for students to say what they think of the activities in relation to the target market. Summary – –

Students need to clearly state who the target market is for their chosen task. Students need to relate their suggested activities to the chosen target market/group.

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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – GCSE LEISURE AND TOURISM – 48404 – JUNE 2014

Strand D - The suitability of available travel options to the destination The best work came from students who chose 2 or 3 options for travel to the chosen destination. Such travel options should be realistic and practical. There is still a tendency for some students to suggest impractical or unlikely routes/modes such as overland routes to Australia from the UK, or rail routes to destinations in South Africa from London. Comparison of three different air routes to New York, for example, gained some excellent marks for one group of students, who looked at differences in price, journey times and facilities provided on board in order to draw conclusions about what they thought the best travel option was. This work was able to access the higher marks in Level 3 as there was some good evaluation of different travel options. A paragraph at the end of the strand where a student recommends one of the travel options, then describes and explains why it is the best option for the target group of people, is the best way to cover the evaluation and conclusion elements required. There is a tendency for some students to describe the general advantages and disadvantages of modes of transport rather than describing in detail actual travel options to the destination from the UK, or within the UK. Such comments, about the general advantages and disadvantages of air travel or rail travel for example, gained little credit. Summary –



Students need to describe practical and realistic travel options to the chosen destination. There is no compulsion to cover every mode of transport e.g. road, rail, air and sea to every destination. Covering every theoretical mode of transport to some overseas destinations led to many impractical and meaningless suggestions Students need to describe actual transport options, not just describe the advantages/disadvantages of different methods of transport.

Strand E - Impacts of the package/programme on the destination There was some excellent work in this strand. In such work impacts were often categorised as economic, environmental or social. The impacts were then outlined and related to specific examples within the destination. In some cases, students described generic impacts of tourism that would apply to almost any destination in the world e.g. ‘pollution, noise and vandalism’. These descriptions gained few marks as they were not related in any specific way to what impact they had on the actual destination being covered. In some cases students strayed into describing the economic and social impacts of the holiday on the group of visitors themselves. This is not part of this strand and gained no credit. Marks are awarded in Strand E for describing impacts on the destinations local community and on the environment.

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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – GCSE LEISURE AND TOURISM – 48404 – JUNE 2014

Summary – –

Students need to describe some specific impacts of the holiday package on the chosen area/destination Students who split the impacts into economic, environmental and social tended to do well.

Strand F - Why the recommendation is an example of responsible tourism Work submitted for this strand continues to improve in overall quality. Students who described actual ways that travellers were responsible tourists on the journey and at their chosen destination gained good marks. There is still a tendency for some students to describe general ways that any tourist could be responsible in any destination. Such descriptions gained little credit. Students need to be encouraged to use specific examples from their chosen destination. Description, for example, of the visitors taking the train to the city centre and then going on a walking tour of the city sights, as a more responsible option than hiring a car to do the trip. Details about the choice of a specific walking tour company, as they employ local people, which benefit the local economy, gained deserved credit. Summary – –

Students need to use local examples of what was responsible about their package. General points on responsible tourism gained few marks.

Mark Ranges and Award of Grades Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics page of the AQA Website.

Converting Marks into UMS marks Convert raw marks into Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) marks by using the link below. UMS conversion calculator 6 of 6

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