Geography · Year 11

Active learning ideas

Tourism as a Development Strategy

Active learning works for this topic because tourism’s impacts—economic, social, and environmental—are complex and often contradictory. Students need to experience these tensions firsthand through structured analysis and debate to move beyond simplistic assumptions about development.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• GCSE: Geography - Global Development Gap
• GCSE: Geography - Economic Development

• 35–60 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Project-Based Learning
• 45 min · Small Groups

Case Study Carousel: Tourism Impacts

Prepare stations with data packs on two LICs, such as Kenya and Bali. Groups spend 8 minutes at each station noting economic benefits, social costs, and environmental issues, then rotate and add peer insights. Conclude with a class vote on most sustainable example.

Evaluate the potential for tourism to act as a sustainable development strategy for LICs.

Facilitation Tip

During Data Mapping, provide topographic maps or satellite images so students can visualize habitat loss linked to resort expansion.

What to look for

Ask students to write down one economic benefit and one social cost of tourism development in a LIC. Then, have them suggest one strategy to mitigate the social cost they identified.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills
• Decision-Making

Activity 02

• Project-Based Learning
• 50 min · Small Groups

Stakeholder Debate: Pro vs Con Tourism

Divide class into teams representing locals, tour operators, and environmentalists. Each team prepares 3 arguments for or against rapid tourism growth in an LIC, using provided stats. Hold a 20-minute debate with structured rebuttals and class tally.

Analyze the social and environmental costs associated with rapid tourism development.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'If you were advising the government of a small island nation heavily reliant on tourism, what would be your top two recommendations for ensuring development is sustainable?' Facilitate a class discussion where students share and justify their ideas.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills
• Decision-Making

Activity 03

• Project-Based Learning
• 60 min · Pairs

Design Challenge: Responsible Tourism Plan

In pairs, students review LIC profiles and design a tourism initiative, including maps, budgets, and impact assessments to maximize jobs while minimizing damage. Groups pitch plans in 2 minutes each, with peer feedback on sustainability.

Design a responsible tourism initiative that maximizes local benefits and minimizes negative impacts.

What to look for

Provide students with a short case study of a tourism project in a LIC. Ask them to identify the main stakeholders involved and list one potential benefit and one potential negative impact for each stakeholder.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills
• Decision-Making

Activity 04

• Project-Based Learning
• 35 min · Individual

Data Mapping: Tourism Trends

Provide worksheets with LIC tourism stats over 10 years. Individually plot graphs of visitor numbers, revenue, and environmental indicators, then share patterns in whole-class discussion to evaluate long-term viability.

Evaluate the potential for tourism to act as a sustainable development strategy for LICs.

What to look for

Ask students to write down one economic benefit and one social cost of tourism development in a LIC. Then, have them suggest one strategy to mitigate the social cost they identified.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills
• Decision-Making

A few notes on teaching this unit

Experienced teachers approach this topic by treating tourism as a case study in development trade-offs rather than a binary good-or-bad issue. Research shows that students grasp sustainability best when they confront contradictions directly, so avoid framing tourism as a simple solution. Instead, use structured debates and design tasks to reveal how policies balance competing priorities.

Successful learning looks like students who can weigh multiple perspectives, quantify trade-offs, and propose balanced solutions. They should articulate why tourism’s benefits rarely come without costs and justify their recommendations with evidence from case studies and data.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Case Study Carousel, watch for students assuming tourism revenue stays in the country. Redirect them to examine balance-of-payment data to see how much profit flows to foreign-owned chains.

  After the carousel, provide receipts or profit statements from multinational resorts in Kenya or The Gambia and ask groups to trace where income ends up, highlighting leakage.

• During Stakeholder Debate, listen for students dismissing environmental costs as temporary. Redirect them to use the Data Mapping visuals to argue for permanent habitat loss.

  During the debate, challenge groups to cite mapped evidence when defending their positions, forcing them to connect visual data to long-term consequences.

• During Design Challenge, notice students proposing unlimited visitor numbers without limits. Redirect them to reference the stakeholder roles they debated earlier to justify constraints.

  Require students to include a visitor cap in their plan and explain which stakeholder’s concerns it addresses, tying their design back to the debate outcomes.

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Methods used in this brief

• Project-Based Learning