QUESTION 1

Ocean and coastal tourism is widely regarded as one of the fastest growing areas of contemporary tourism. While tourism development has been spatially focused on the beach for much of the past 50 years, as witnessed for example, the slogan of the three ‘S' of tourism - sun, sand and surf - the ocean and the marine environment as a whole has become one of the new frontiers and fastest growing segment of many economies, particularly for Small Island Developing States. However, because of the highly dynamic nature of the coastal environment in such economies and their special characteristics, any development which interferes with the natural ecosystem may have severe consequences for the long-term sustainability is the environment in small economies

a) Using appropriate examples to support your arguments, critically analyze the different characteristics of Small Island Developing States

b) In the light of the above statement and using appropriate evidence to support your arguments, critically discuss the different impacts of tourism on the coastal and marine environment of small island nations

QUESTION 2

a) Using relevant examples to illustrate your arguments, critically analyze the causes of seasonality in the tourism industry

b) Discuss the impacts of seasonality on destinations and the different policies and tools which destination managers can use to manage seasonality problems in tourism

QUESTION 3

Left to itself, the market mechanism fails to allocate resources in the most appropriate manner. As a result, state intervention in tourism policy making is needed to ensure the sustainable development of the industry

In the light of the above statement, discuss the rationale for government intervention in tourism and the different policies and tools available to the state to influence tourism development. You are required to use relevant examples from Mauritius and/or internationally to justify your arguments

QUESTION 4

To date a framework for the systematic analysis of bilateral tourism has not been developed. Such analysis of the factors underpinning bilateral flows will enable identification of strategies that can be adopted to increase inbound flows, to reduce monetary imbalance, and thus to increase overall destination competitiveness

In the light of the above statement define the concept of bilateral tourism and critically discuss the factors influencing bilateral tourism flows. You are required to use relevant examples to support your arguments