Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460): Theme 3.4 – Tourism – Revision Notes

These notes condense the tourism study guide for quick revision.

They cover Topic 3.4 Tourism in the Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026, Version 2 (published November 2022). The topic is part of Theme 3, Economic development, and is examined in Paper 1 Geographical Themes, where you answer three questions, one from each section. Tourism is also named in the syllabus as a topic where questionnaires can be used, so it can appear in Paper 4 Alternative to Coursework or a Component 3 coursework enquiry.

When you have learned these notes, try the tourism practice questions. For other topics, use the Cambridge IGCSE Geography hub and the IGCSE Geography checklist.

What the syllabus asks (3.4)

1. Describe and explain the growth of tourism in relation to the main attractions of the physical and human landscape.
2. Evaluate the benefits and disadvantages of tourism to receiving areas.
3. Demonstrate an understanding that careful management of tourism is required in order for it to be sustainable.
4. Case study: an area where tourism is important.

Key terms

Term	Meaning in one line
Receiving area	The destination tourists visit
Source area	Where tourists come from
Domestic / international tourism	Within your own country / crossing a border
Mass tourism	Large numbers, often package holidays, same resorts
Ecotourism	Small-scale nature tourism that conserves the environment and benefits locals
Multiplier effect	Tourist spending is re-spent locally, creating more jobs and income
Leakage	Tourist spending that leaves the area (foreign profits, imports)
Seasonality	Visitor numbers and jobs vary through the year
Carrying capacity	Maximum visitors before damage to the place or the experience
Sustainable tourism	Meets visitors’ and hosts’ needs now without harming the future
Honeypot site	A popular spot that attracts large crowds, causing local pressure

Growth of tourism at a glance

Why more people travel: higher incomes; paid holidays; cheaper flights and budget airlines; online booking and social media; package holidays; better transport links; government promotion.

Physical attractions: climate (sunshine, snow), beaches, coral reefs, mountains, lakes and waterfalls, volcanoes, deserts, wildlife.

Human attractions: heritage sites, museums, religious sites, cities, shopping, nightlife, theme parks, festivals, food and culture, hotels and good access.

Remember: the physical attraction explains why people want to go; human factors (access, accommodation, marketing) often explain when growth happens.

Impacts on receiving areas

	Benefits	Disadvantages
Economic	Jobs, foreign currency, taxes, multiplier effect, new infrastructure	Seasonal and low-paid work, leakage, over-dependence, higher prices
Social	Money for services, revival of crafts, pride in heritage	Crowding, loss of traditions, culture staged for tourists, conflict
Environmental	Fees fund conservation; areas protected	Erosion, litter, sewage, water and energy use, flight emissions, habitat loss

What decides the balance: scale, ownership, type of tourism, management, and whose viewpoint you take.

Management for sustainability

• Quotas, permits and booking systems
• Entry fees and tourist taxes spent on conservation
• Zoning to protect sensitive areas
• Local ownership and local supply chains to cut leakage
• Training locals for skilled jobs
• Off-season promotion
• Sewage treatment, recycling, renewable energy
• Visitor codes of conduct

Models and case studies at a glance

Who / where	What	Key facts	One evaluation point
Butler (1980), The Canadian Geographer	Tourist area cycle of evolution	Exploration, involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation, then decline or rejuvenation	A general pattern: shocks such as disasters can cause falls that the model does not predict
The Maldives (main case study)	Area where tourism is important	1,192 coral islands in 26 atolls; first resort Kurumba 1972; about 21% of GDP (World Bank); arrivals about 1.7 million in 2019; guesthouses spreading on local islands; green tax since 2015, USD 12 a night at resorts from 2025	High leakage and waste (Thilafushi landfill island) limit benefits; sea-level rise is outside its control
Bhutan	Fee-based limits	Opened 1974; “high value, low volume” policy; Sustainable Development Fee USD 200 a night from 2022, USD 100 from 2023	High fees protect the country but can deter visitors
Venice	Managing crowds	EUR 5 day-tripper fee from 25 April 2024 on selected days; ships over 25,000 tonnes banned from the Giudecca Canal since August 2021	A small fee may not change visitor behaviour much

The 3.4 content list does not require a model. The Butler model is named in the syllabus’s list of suggested coursework enquiries; your teacher will confirm how far to use it.

Must-know distinctions

• Multiplier effect vs leakage: the first keeps money circulating locally; the second takes it out.
• Growth of tourism vs attraction of a place: global reasons people travel more, against reasons one place is chosen.
• Physical vs human attraction: a beach is physical; a beach hotel is human.
• Benefit to whom: the national government, a resort owner and a local fisher can gain or lose differently.
• Managed vs sustainable: management is the action; sustainability is the outcome you judge it against.
• Mass tourism vs ecotourism: scale and impact differ, but ecotourism can still harm fragile areas if numbers grow.

Command words you will meet

The syllabus prints its own command word meanings. These are the ones most likely on tourism questions:

Command word	What it means (syllabus)	What it looks like for tourism
Describe	State the points of a topic / give characteristics and main features	Describe the pattern of arrivals in a table, quoting figures
Explain	Set out purposes or reasons; provide why and/or how, supported with evidence	Explain why cheaper flights increased tourism
Suggest	Apply knowledge to situations with a range of valid responses	Suggest reasons for a fall in visitors to an unfamiliar resort
Calculate	Work out from given facts, figures or information	Work out a percentage change or leakage share
Compare	Identify/comment on similarities and/or differences	Compare impacts of mass tourism and ecotourism
Justify	Support a case with evidence/argument	Justify which Butler stage a resort has reached

Phrases such as “How far do you agree” and “To what extent” also appear. They need a clear verdict with a reason.

Mini essay plan

Question type: “For a named area you have studied, evaluate the benefits and disadvantages of tourism.” (Treat this as an extended Paper 1 case-study answer.)

1. Locate and set the scene – the Maldives, Indian Ocean, 1,192 coral islands, tourism since 1972.
2. Benefits with detail – about 21% of GDP; foreign currency for an import-dependent country; guesthouse tourism spreads income to local islands.
3. Disadvantages with detail – leakage through imports and foreign ownership; waste shipped to Thilafushi; reef damage and coral bleaching; over-dependence shown when GDP fell sharply in 2005 after the 2004 tsunami, and when arrivals collapsed in 2020.
4. Weigh them – benefits are large at national scale; disadvantages fall on the environment and the future.
5. Judgement – tourism is beneficial overall only if management (green tax, waste handling, local ownership) keeps pace with growth.

Quick self-test

1. Define “leakage”.
2. Give two physical and two human attractions of a ski resort.
3. Give three reasons why international tourism has grown.
4. What is the first stage of the Butler model?
5. A resort has 2,400 beds and an average of 1,800 occupied each night. What is its average occupancy rate?
6. Name one economic disadvantage of tourism linked to seasonality.
7. How does local ownership of hotels affect leakage?
8. In which year did the first resort open in the Maldives?
9. What is Thilafushi used for?
10. Give two ways a national park could limit visitor damage.
11. What is the difference between ecotourism and mass tourism?

Answers

1. The share of tourist spending that leaves the receiving area, for example as profits to foreign owners or payments for imports.
2. Physical: snow-covered slopes, mountain scenery. Human: ski lifts, hotels (also: ski schools, road access).
3. Any three: higher incomes; paid holidays; cheaper air travel; online booking; package holidays; better transport links.
4. Exploration.
5. 1,800 / 2,400 x 100 = 75%.
6. Workers lose jobs or income in the off season, so incomes are unreliable.
7. It reduces leakage, because profits stay in the area and are more likely to be re-spent locally.
8. 1972 (Kurumba).
9. It is an artificial island used as a landfill for rubbish from Malé, since the early 1990s.
10. Any two: permits or quotas; entry fees; zoning; marked paths; visitor codes of conduct.
11. Ecotourism is small-scale and aims to conserve nature and benefit local people; mass tourism brings large numbers, often to resorts, with larger impacts.

Where marks are usually lost

• Naming an attraction without saying whether it is physical or human when both are asked for.
• Writing “brings money” without saying who receives it or how it is spent.
• Mixing up the multiplier effect and leakage.
• Listing benefits and disadvantages in evaluate questions without weighing them or giving a judgement.
• Describing a management strategy without explaining how it reduces a specific impact.
• Case-study answers with no place-specific facts such as names, dates or figures.
• Using data from a resource without quoting figures and units in a describe question.
• Forgetting that impacts differ for different groups, which costs judgement marks.
• Treating the Butler model as a rule that every resort must follow.

Related resources

• Reef conditions: coasts
• Migration and settlement links: population and settlement revision notes

Official syllabus

These notes follow the Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026, Version 2 (published November 2022), Topic 3.4 Tourism. Check the current syllabus on the Cambridge International website.