Task 2 – P2/M1/D1 Understand Factors Influencing The Appeal Of European Holiday Destinations

Task 2 – P2/M1/D1 Understand factors influencing the appeal of European holiday destinations

P2 – Describe those factors which affect the appeal of European holiday destinations. Include relevant examples from different countries in your description (P2). □ Natural features: eg mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, beaches

□ Local attractions: eg historical sites, heritage sites, theme parks, museums, aqua parks

□ Facilities: eg accommodation, local transport, shops, markets, nightlife, sport and leisure, sightseeing trips

□ Traditions and cultural aspects: eg dress code, religious practices, values and traditions, unacceptable behaviour, attitudes to foreigners/visitors, equal opportunities, local cuisine, siestas, festivals

□ Accessibility from UK: eg main gateways, ease and cost of travel to destination, transfer times

□ Climate: eg when to travel, when to avoid visiting, average temperatures, sunshine and rainfall, snow for winter sports

□ Image: eg bad press, political situation, safety issues, fashion

You must refer to each of the headings in bold italics – you should then refer to at least 2 of the examples given after. You should provide real examples of holiday destinations in each case. Factor affecting the Examples Holiday Useful websites appeal of European destinations Holiday (You may also destinations want to refer to those that you used in P1) Natural features Mountains e.g. The Alps http://www.thomsonlakes.co.uk/destinations/de for skiing, (France) stinations.html cycling The Pyrenees Pg 143 (France)

Lakes e.g. for The Italian http://www.thomsonlakes.co.uk/destinations/de walking Lakes e.g. Lake stinations.html holidays, Garda (Italy) watersports, weddings etc Pg 143

Rivers e.g. for The Rhine http://www.destinationoceans.com/cruise/destinations/river- cruises, fishing (Germany) cruises/European-Rivers/ Pg 143 The Danube (Eastern Europe) The Po (Italy)

Forests e.g. for Bavaria http://www.bavarian-forest-holidays.com/ cycling, walking Pg 143

Beaches e.g. for Biarritz (South http://www.thomson.co.uk/destinations/europe/europe.html surfing, of France), Cote relaxing/sunbath d’Azur (France), ing etc The Algarve Pg 144 (Portugal) Local Attractions Historical sites WW1 sites in http://www.bakpakguide.com/europe/europe10 e.g. Battlefields, Normandy 1/highlights/top-10-historic-sites-in-europe- palaces, (France), 2.shtml castles, caves Rocamadour etc (The Dordogne, Pg 144 France)

Heritage sites The Acropolis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Herit e.g. World (Athens, age_Sites_in_Europe Heritage Sites Greece), Pg 144

Theme parks Disneyland http://www.themeparkcity.com/EURO_index.ht Pg 145-6 Paris, Efterling m in the Netherlands, Futuroscope at Poitiers (France), Parc Asterix (France)

Museums The Louvre http://www.europeanmuseumguide.com/ Pg 144-5 (Paris), Anne Franc House (Amsterdam)

Aqua parks Port Aventura http://www.portaventura.co.uk/ Pg 146 (Spain), The Aqua Park at http://www.themeparkcity.com/EURO_index.ht Universal m Mediterranea (Spain) Facilities Accommodation Hotels, Hostels, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/where_t Pg 146 B&Bs, o_stay/article1524673.ece Apartments

Local transport Metro (Paris), http://www.paris.org/Metro/ Pg 146 Metro (Budapest), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Metro Tram (Amsterdam) http://www.gvb.nl/english/Pages/default.aspx

Shops Shopping malls http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/12/europe- Pg 146 e.g. West end fashion-cities-lifestyle-shopping-paris- city centre london.html (Budapest), Victoria Square (Belfast) Boutiques e.g. The Champs Elysees (Paris)

Markets e.g. local crafts, http://weuropetravel.suite101.com/article.cfm/e Pg 146 food, art etc uropean_open_air_markets

Nightlife Ayia Napa http://www.europetravelhub.com/classical- Pg 146 (Cyprus), Ibiza europe/nightlife-europe.html (Spain), Prague

Sport and European cup http://www.topendsports.com/events/common leisure final hosts, The wealth-games/hosts/ Pg 147 commonwealth Games hosts, The Olympics hosts

Sightseeing Walking city http://europeforvisitors.com/sightseeing_tours. trips tours, bus/coach htm sightseeing http://www.travour.com/europe/europe- tours tours/europe-sightseeing-tours.html

Traditions and Dress code e.g. Islamic http://studenttravel.about.com/od/womenstude Cultural Aspects Pg 148 countries nttravelers/a/muslimclothing.htm (Bosnia) – females are escorted and must wear clothes which cover all of their skin.

Religious Religious http://www.spanish- practices festivals e.g. living.com/entertainment_index.php Pg 148 Easter

Values and Asking traditions permission to Pg 148 take photographs of locals –to avoid causing offence

Unacceptable Different http://www.languagetrainers.co.uk/blog/2007/0 behaviour gestures have 9/24/top-10-hand-gestures/ Pg 148 different meanings in different countries, e.g. the thumbs up sign. In Islamic countries the right hand is the ‘clean’ hand and should be used for eating. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article- Binge-drinking 1192529/British-travellers-Europes-worst- sunbathing-drinking-holiday.html

Attitudes to The ‘British http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article- foreigners/ Larger-Lout’ is 1192529/British-travellers-Europes-worst- visitors becoming less sunbathing-drinking-holiday.html Pg 147 and less acceptable in many European resorts.

Equal Attitudes to http://www.hostelbookers.com/article/travel-for- opportunities women vary women/europe/

Local cuisine For many, http://weuropetravel.suite101.com/article.cfm/e Pg 148 buying local uropean_open_air_markets food from markets and http://www.lost-in-europe.net/tag/local-dishes/ local restaurants is one of the most enjoyable http://www.dummies.com/how- parts of a to/content/tasting-spain-local-cuisine.html holiday

Siestas A short rest or http://www.siestaawareness.org/pages/siesta- Pg 148 sleep after lunch facts.php during the hottest part of http://www.allbusiness.com/company- the day activities-management/business- common in climate/11415910-1.html Southern Europe e.g. Spain

Festivals Local festivals http://www.bugbog.com/festivals/european_fes Pg 149 are common tivals.html throughout Europe and are a big attraction to tourists Accessibility from Main gateways Airports, the UK Pg 102-3 Eurostar, Channel tunnel, passenger ferry ports

Ease and cost The rise of low- http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/travel of travel to budget airlines /articles/cheap_air_travel_in_europe.shtml destination (e.g. easyJet, Pg 149-50 Ryanair and bmibaby) has increased the number of provincial airports and has greatly decreased the cost of travelling by air.

Rail travel throughout Europe tends to fast and efficient. It is possible to travel to many European destinations via Paris from London on the Eurostar.

Transfer times These tend to Pg 150 be longer in winter sports destinations as http://www.inghams.co.uk/Ski/general/gen_air/ there is unlikely gen_air_transfers(Europe).html to be a large airport in the Mountains Climate When to travel http://ezinearticles.com/?Best-and-Worst- Times-to-Travel-to-Europe&id=192564 When to avoid visiting

Average Eastern Europe http://www.chtravel.com/europeavtempset.htm temperatures has bitterly cold ?r=EUR&refer= Pg 150-1 winters, while the Mediterranean has scorching summers – tourists should be aware of this.

Sunshine and Some tourists http://www.virginmedia.com/travel/destinations/ rainfall want a holiday features/guaranteed-sunshine- Pg 152 with guaranteed destinations.php sunshine

Different parts http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/20 of Europe have 8143/europe_destinations/how_to_make_the_ different most_of_daylight_hours_in_iceland_in_winter. amounts of html daylight depending on http://www.taberhols.co.uk/northern-light- their position. holidays.html

http://www.discover-the- world.co.uk/en/special-interest/northern- lights.html

Snow for winter The Alps and sports The Pyrenees - http://www.igluski.com/best-snow Pg 152 The amount of snow depends on the height of the mountains and the aspect – the higher the resort the more likely it is to have reliable snow. Image Bad press e.g. Spain faced http://www.eturbonews.com/3809/basque- Pg 153 bad publicity separatists-bomb-spanish-tourist-resorts-police over the Basque separatist http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/italy/09081 activities in the 1/italy-fights-bad-press north of the country.

Political Terrorist attacks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Madrid_train_ situation can put people bombings Pg 153 off from visiting certain destinations e.g. Madrid after the 2004 railway bombings.

Safety issues Visitors should http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living- Pg 153 follow any abroad/ Foreign Office Guidelines

Fashion Fashionable http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benidorm Pg 153 destinations today (such as http://www.marketresearchworld.net/index.php Prague or Ayia ?option=com_content&task=view&id=1370 Napa) may not be in fashion in http://www.vamostravel.com/city_breaks/ the future. Benidorm (Spain) was popular in the 1970s but has had to change its image to compete with other resorts.