GCTG Lesson 1
Geography and How to Sell It
• Tourism as an industry is a very challenging business.
• Travelers are influenced to travel to more places more often because of the
rapid progress in communcation and technology.
• 2030 -expected that number of travelers will reach nearly 2 billion.
Note: If you are in the travel business, you don’t really sell travel. What you sell is
geography.
• Clients will not test your knowledge about geography but will definitely ask
you questions about the place they want to visit.
• Selling place is an art - requires knowledge of the destination and the traveler.
• Knowledge of geography - important requirement to become a good travel
professional as well as to sell places; it means identifying places of interest,
culture of eople, climate, and etc.
BASIC CONCEPTS OF A DESTINATION
• Relevant Facts About a Destination - features that affect travel and tourism;
weather conditions, culture of the people as to LANGUAGAE, FOOD they eat,
RELIGION, CURRENCY, means of TRANSPORTATION.
• What Kind of Traveler Favors a Destination - match the traveler preference
and needs; destioation that suits their budget
According to International Air Transport Association (IATA), there are two types of
travelers.
> Business Travelers - travels to attend convention, meet people for business or
other professional reasons
• may add a vacation or side trip component to their trip - Bleisure
> Leisure Travelers - prime motivation is leisure
12 Categories of Leisure Travelers
1. Adventure Seekers
• hard adventure travel and activities
• physical challenges
ex. Skydiving, bungee jumping, zip lining, white water raffing, mountain
climbing
• mainstream “soft” adventure tourism > stay at a hotel rather than experience
camping in a remote place, eat food in less known restaurants rather than
eating campfire meals
1. History Lovers
• strong desire to learn about a destination’s past
1. Culture Seekers
• fascinated by different ways of life
• curious about cultural practices and espress it by means of music and dance,
food, clothing, beliefs, and traditions
1. Religious Pilgrims
• seeks experience tied to their spiritual beliefs
ex. Muslim - Mecca
Catholics - Vatican
Christians - Jerusalem (Israel)
1. Ethnic Travelers
• like culture seekers but wish to explore the culture from which their
ancestors came; view travel as a way to learn more of their own ancestry
1. Environmental Travelers
• loves nature
• Ecotourist and campers
ex. 1. Palau
• featured in Survivors
• island nation - considered as one of the world’s foremost diving destinations
ex. 2. Norwegian Fjords
• hiking or biking over rugged terrain
• scenic boat ride through towering fjords
• variety of wildlife; eagles, seals, porpoises, and seabirds
ex. 3. Costa Rica
• synonymous with the term ecotourism
ex. 4. Kerala, India
• India south western coast referred as Gods Own Country - one of most
unspoiled corners, home to hundreds of unique animal species and quarter of
10,000 plants species
ex. 5. Kenya
• best known for wild savanna teeming with lions and elephants
• home to mountains, lakes, rain forests, desert, and beaches
1. Sensual Travelers
• indulge their sense via gourmet dining, sunbathing, sightseeing or just spa
1. Status Seekers
• trendy and expensive destinations
• bring back significant purchases
1. Recreational Travelers
• more interested in activities and participates in a mass appeal sports
ex. golf, tennis, snokeling, skiing
1. Entertainment Seekers
• partying, dancing, gambling, night clubbing, bar hopping, and more
• watch theaters and concert
1. Shoppers
• Shop till you drop
1. Interpersonal Travelers
• travel to meet and socialize with other people
• Know the Client You are Serving - analyze what kind of client you have;
asking the basic info; proper interview and right questions
• Ready to Respond to a Persons Misgivings - answer with convictions
• Search for Enhancement Opportunities - upsell, cross-selling, follow up
Upsell - seller invites the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or
other add-ons
Cross-Selling - selling a different product or service to increase the value of sale
Follow Up - see how customer is doing; problems or questions about product or
service
GCTG Lesson 2
Major Geographical Features and Other Map Considerations
Geography (Dictionaries & Encyclopedias) - study of spatial variation on the
Earth’s surface and of humankind’s relation to its environment
• Maps - comes in all sizes, shapes, and colors
• Continents - world’s land masses
7 Continents:
• Asia
• Africa
• North America
• South America
• Europe
• Australia (Oceania)
• Antartica
• Cartographers - who make the maps.
Note: Some maps or cartographers do not always agree on the number of
continents.
• It is important to know about land mass distortion when looking at different
types of maps.
• World is a globe, land masses become enlarged as they are stretched to fit
into a flat rectangular map.
• Only true size to judge is by using a globe
• Globe - explain which destination is far from the other; right flight to choose
to arrive at the destination easily.
Kinds of Maps
• Flat Maps - standard flat map; most of us are familiar with
• Route Maps - reference tool; for airlines which often distributes a map that
shows all the route it flies.
• Globes - most accurate map to use
• Mental Maps - represents the way how you picture geography in your mind
Note: As future travel and tourism practitioners, mental maps are useful. It is
important that you are familiar with the destinations you are going to.
Other Map Considerations
• Hemisphere - one of the halves into which the Earth is divided; geographers
divided the Earth into hemispheres to help them easily classify and describe
places.
• Northern Hemisphere - north of the equator
• Southern Hemisphere - south of the equator
• Eastern and Western Hemisphere - Prime Meridian and the International
Dateline divide the Earth.
• Eastern Hemisphere: Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Pacific
• Western Hemisphere: North and South America
• Latitude - lines circles the earth parallel to the equator; measures the
distance north or south of the equator in degrees
• Equator - measured at 0’ latitude
• North Latitude - parallel north of the equator
• South Latitude - parallel south of the equator
• Longitude - distance east and west from the arbitrary line called the prime
meridian
• The International Date Line - vertical imaginary line that crosses the Pacific
Ocean in a zigzag manner, gaining a day or losing a day.
The World’s Ocean and Ocean Currents
• 97% of the Earth’s water circles the planet.
5 Oceans:
• Pacific
• Southern
• Atlantic
• Indian
• Arctic
• Pacific is not only the largest ocean, but also where the deepest part of the
oceans can be found.
• Seas, gulfs, and bays are bodies of salt water smaller than oceans, often
partilly enclosed by land.
ex. Mediterranean Sea and Gulf of Mexico
Lake - bodies of water surrounded by land; mostly contain fresh water, big that
named as sea (Dead Sea, Caspian Sea)
• Most lakes are found where glacier movement has cut deep valleys and built-
up dams of soil rock that held back thd melting ice water.
Ocean’s Current
• A current is ocean water that continuously moves in one direction.
• Ocean current influences climate and living conditions of the population.
• Movement has effect on water temperature, and water temperature affects
climate and weather.
• Currents can influence where people choose to travel.
Coriolis Effect
• Earth is continuously rotating; it affects the ocean currents to move in one or
two directions: clockwise or counterclockwise
• Takes place because of the westerlies and trade winds that happen in the
North and South Hemisphere.
• Northern Hemisphere - currents move to the right or clockwise direction
• Southern Hemisphere - currents move to the left’s or counterclockwise
direction
- Influences the temperature of the earth’s major oceans.
- Warm currents - east coast of most continents
- Cold ocean water along the west coasts.
• Gulf - body of water, usually in circular shape that is part of a larger body of
water
• Rivers - natural flowing water course usually freshwater, flowing towards an
ocean, sea, lake, or another river.
• Waterfall - water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops in the
course of a stream or river.
• Seas - interconnected system of all the Earth’s oceanic waters such as the
Pacific, the Atlantic, Indian and Arctic Oceans
• Lakes - smaller than seas, are usually fresh, and are mostly or fully encircled
by land.
• Lagoon - stretch of salt water separated from the sea by a low sandbank or
coral reef.
• Bayous - marshy or swampy areas.
• Deltas - low v shaped areas at the mouths of rivers.
• Geysers - jets of steaming water that shoot high into the air.
• Springs - occur when water flows naturally to the earth’s surface.
• Bay - body of water that is open to the sea.
• Fjords - a sea inlet bordered by high cliffs
Islands - Pacific Ocena, Mediterranean, Caribbean
Cays - called “keys” ; sandy coral islands that are low and small (ex. Cayman Islands,
Florida Keys)
Atolls are also coral islands but usually ring like and totally enclose on a lagoon
Peninsula and Capes - projections of land into water *Note: Peninsula are longer
than capes.
Panhandles - narrow portion of a country of state that “sticks out” into another.
Reefs - ridges of land that rise to or nearthe surface of water; often found just
offshore; composed of sand, rock, amd coral
Mountains
• Plateau - broad, flat area that rises above the surrounding land
• Mesas - smaller, steeper-sided versiond of plateaus
• Buttes - even smaller, tower like versions
GCTG Lesson 3
The Effects of Climate on Travel
Climate vs Weather
• Weather - immediate and current set of conditions such as temperature
percipitation, atmospheric pressure, winds, humidity, and the percentage of
clouds and sunshine.
• Climate - the description of weather that characteristically is common in a
region over a long period of time.
The Effects of Latitude, Altitude, Winds, and Water in Climate
Latitude
• The number of degrees that it lays north or south of the equator expresses a
destination’s latitude.
• All locations directly on the equator have a latitude of 0° (zero degree)
• As you move north of the equator, latitude increase of +90° until you reach
the North Pole. If move south, latitude decreases of -90° until you reach the
South Pole.
• Winter in the Northern Hemisphere - December, January, and February
• Southern Hemisphere - June, July, and August
Five Zones (circle the globe)
1. North Frigid Zone/North Polar Zone
2. North Temperate Zone
3. Tropical Zone - Tropic of Capricon and Tropic of Cancer
4. South Temperate Zone
5. South Frigid Zone/South Polar Zone
• Arctic Circle- far north
- Polar Zone - extremely cold zone
- Summers are short and winters are long
- Temperate Zone - called to the south of Polar zone
* has four distinguishable seasons and the climate is milder and
not subject to the extremes of the Polar zone
- Tropical Zone - further south, on both sides of the equator; seasonal
variation is minimal, and temperatures are constantly warm.
Altitude
• The higher the altitude, the cooler the climate
• Temperatures at higher elevations on mountains are lower than
temperatures at the base. Vegetation on a mountain tends to change as you
move higher and in a manner that is similar to the vegetation changs as you
move towards the poles.
Winds
• Just as weather overall is unpredictable, so are winds.
The Westerlies - winds that tend to blow around the globe from west to east
in the temperature areas between 30 and 60 degrees latitude, both Northern and
Southern Hemispheres. (United States, Canada, Europe)
Trade Winds - humid breezes that tend to flow from east to west; most
pronounced in the tropical band between about 25 degrees north and east, and
south of the equator, they frequently come from the southeast.
Storms
• often disrupt travel plans sometimes you can know when they’re most likely
to occur
• Hurricanes - Earth’s most violent storms; usually born near the equator
- Carribean or Mexico - called hurricanes
- Western Pacific - typhoons
- Australia and Indian Ocean - cyclones
Moonsoons
• described as the usually brief, intense rainstorms that occur during periods of
hot weather
*Southwest Moonsoon is also known as “Hanging Habagat” in the Philippines -
occurs during wet season
Cloudburst
• heavy showers occur suddenly; major factor in the tropics
• typical pattern is morning - sunny, the afternoon - partly cloudy, and a heavy
downpour in the late afternoon or early evening
Other Aspects of Climate
• The higjer a destination is, the cooler it will be.
• The windier it is, the colder it will feel.
• Consider the climate of stopovers or connection involved when arranging
flights.
Global Warming and Tourism
• Human industrial and agricultural activities continuously change the world’s
climate, and this affects tourism.
Human Geography
• concerned with the distribution and networks of people and cultures on
Earth’s surface
• The main divisions within human geography reflect a concern with different
types of human activities or ways of living.
Examples of human geography:
• Urban Geography
• Economic Geography
• Cultural Geography
• Political Geography
• Social Geography
• Population Geography
• Human Geographers - study geographic patterns and processes in past
times are part of the sub-discipline of historical geography.
• Behavioral Geography - who study how people understand maps and
geographic space
• In relation to tourism, religion, food, politics, language, national boundaries,
art, agriculture, economics and history, all in some way affects tourism
activity.
• People want to go to places for many reasons: climate, vacation time, and
school holidays seem to be the most important factors that contribute to
touristic patterns.
High or Peak Season
• when tourism is buzzing in a place
Low or Off Season
• when tourists are fewest
Shoulder Season
• times in between, when neither a great many people nor a very few people
are visiting
Event Effect
• An event - eother negative or positive - can create a strong, often
disproportioante impact over a wide geographic area, and for a long time.
• Negative Events - means dramatic effects - wars, disasters, pandemics
• Positive Events - Olympics, world’s fair, Super Bowl
