All Activities
Geography

Tourism: Good or Bad?

Overview

Students explore how tourism can help and harm a place.

Learning Objective
Students evaluate the positive and negative impacts of tourism.

Resources needed

  • None

Lesson stages

0 / 7 done
  1. 1 Describe a popular tourist destination.
  2. 2 Ask what is good about tourism (jobs, money, roads).
  3. 3 Ask what problems tourism can cause (litter, prices, cultural change).
  4. 4 Students sort ideas into positive and negative.
  5. 5 Debate: should this place encourage more tourists?
  6. 6 Discuss sustainable tourism.
  7. 7 Share conclusions.

Tap a step to mark it as done.

Variations

  • Use a local or well-known example.
  • Compare mass tourism vs eco-tourism.
More information

Teach tourism, economy, environment, sustainable, impact.

Use a simple T-chart (good / bad).

Can students give one positive and one negative impact of tourism and suggest one way to make it more sustainable?

Entirely discussion-based. No materials needed.

Students often see tourism as entirely positive. Exploring the downsides builds critical geographical thinking.

Links to development, environment, and economic geography.

Activity details
Secondary Medium 20 minutes no prep Small Group Indoor & Outdoor
Topics
Tourism Development