Comparative Analysis of Tourism in France and Spain

This document provides a comparative analysis of tourism in France and Spain. It explores their geographical attractiveness, key tourism products, accessibility, and political stability. It also discusses the key risks and offers a conclusion on which destination is more successful in terms of tourism offer.

The 2 country should be France
and Spain
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Travel Geography Toolkit
1) With reference to UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2018 and 2019, identify the global
region with the strongest growth in terms of tourist numbers and income generated by
tourists. (5%)
Region: (Europe) 2017-2018
500 million
2018-2019
710 million
Number of Arrivals Income
generated by
tourists:
$570 million
Arrivals:
450 million
2) Within the identified region choose any 2 tourism destinations (provide the latest
tourists arrival information, and income generated by tourists). Reference your findings
(5%)
Destination 1.(France)
Destination 2. (Spain)
Number of Tourist arrivals:
Destination 1- Tourism in
France- 89.4 million visitors
and target of 100 million
visitors will be achieved
within 2020 (Alfandi, 2020).
Destination 2- Tourism in
Spain- As per the statistics
of 2018, 82.8 million tourist
will be visited and this is the
sixth consecutive tear of
record beating numbers.
Income generated by tourists
Tourism Revenues in France
has been decreased to 3289
EUR Million in November
from 4180 EUR Million in
October of 2019.
The contribution of tourism
has reached to the 137,020
million euros within 2017
and this represents 11.7% of
GDP.
3) Looking at the TTI competitive index how do the two destinations rank? What are
their key strengths? (5%)
Destination 1 (France)
Key strengths:
1. It is popular tourism destination due to
attractions as historical buildings, Eiffel
tower etc.
2. Health care system of the French is very
effective (Gulzar, Khan and Hamid, 2019).
Destination 2: (Spain)
Key strengths:
1. This is the substantial part of the sector’s
health is due to the quality of the tourism.
2. It is the destination that has ranked in
investment and institutional quality, such as
infrastructure and safety and security.
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3. The French relay on the country
development of the weapons, guns and
warship etc. 3. This has good education development.
With reference to your chosen countries conduct the following comparative analysis.
Compare and contrast the 2 chosen destinations to examine:
Their geographical attractiveness (250 words) (10%)
What can the destinations offer in terms of
tourism? Look at the landscape and the
topography of the destinations. Reference your
findings
Destination 1
France majorly shaped like hexagon and this
has three of its six sides that are bounded by
water. Henceforth, this destination has the the
English Channel on the Northwest, the
Atlantic Ocean and Bay of Biscay on the west,
and the Mediterranean Sea on the south-east.
In addition to this, the remaining sides are
mountainous and this also shared by the
neighbours as Germany, Switzerland,
Luxembourg on the north-east (Habib, Sharif
and Hossain, 2019).
Therefore, France is defined as microcosm of
the Europe due to three major kind of
landforms within European. France is the
destination that has coastline as 3427
kilometres long and this is also inclusive if the
644 km in Corsica (Physical - topographical
map of France, 2018 ).
Destination 2
The continents Spain is mainly divided
within the five topographic regions. This
is the destination that the almost six
principal mountains ranges. There ate the
main rivers are as Tagus, Dueto,
Guadiana and Guadalquivir that flows to
Merditerranean (Spain – Topography,
2018).
Thus, this is the destination that covered
the almost 506030 square kilometres and
this is the fifty largest country within the
world. In addition to this, the mainland
territorries covered an area of the 493,514
square kilometres. As per the geological
histoyr of the peninsula that has given the
rise to the mountains forming large chain
that is suttounds to the high inland
plateau that is situatiion iver the 600
meters above to the agerage sea level.
Thus, the costline of the spain is 5,755
Kilometers long.
What would you say the key tourism products are? (e.g Marine tourism, adventure tourism
etc.)
Destination 2
As Spain is located near the coastal area, it
comers under marine tourism.
Destination 1
In the France, Food to sailing and water
sport, there are great spots within all over
the France that has offer fun adventures
( Lew, 2020).
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Include a map of the key tourism destinations
(Include possible neighbouring countries)
.
A) Investigate the accessibility and connectivity of the destinations. Reference your findings
(250 words) (10%)
Looking at key international airports and flights for both destinations and cruises (if
applicable), Can you identify some key markets? (in terms of nationalities) Reference your
findings
Destination 2
Spain is highly and effectively
connected with both flights and cruises.
The country is having many
international airports in cities like
Madrid, Barcelona, etc.
There are only one market of this
destination that is Portugal.
Destination 1
France is also connected with neighbouring
countries like Italy, Germany, etc. in country
there are international airport in Paris, Nice,
Lyon, etc.
France is having markets such as Italy,
Switzerland, Germany, etc. so, there are many
market of this destination as compared to Spain
(Manzoor, Wei and Asif, 2019).
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Overall what can the destinations offer and what typology of tourist would they offer it to?
(For example adventure tourism to millennial tourists) Reference your findings (300 words)
(20%)
Destination 2
Spain is a country that offers cultural
tourism along with beaches, monuments,
etc. the typology of tourism is
Destination 1
France is a country where destinations
which provide historic places, church, etc.
Are the current tourism trends met in the present offer? (For example wellness tourism)
Destination 2
The Spain provides several tourism trends
like responsible for wellness tourism
(Rodríguez-Díaz and Pulido-Fernández,
2020).
Destination 1
The Spain provides several tourism trends like
experiential tourism.
How open are the two countries to tourism? Reference your findings (200 words) (10%)
How easy or difficult is to get a visa to travel?
How long does it take to get a visa?
Are there any countries that are more facilitated? Reference your findings
Destination 2
As Spain comes in EU so it is easy to
get visa. Moreover, there is a simple
visa application form for getting visa of
Spain. All countries that comes with EU
get visa through a specific procedure.
It takes approx. 30 days to get Schengen
visa. The process usually 30 days to get
visa.
Destination 1
As France comes in EU so it is easy to get visa.
Moreover, there is a simple visa application
form for getting visa of France. All countries
that comes with EU get visa through a specific
procedure.
It takes approx. 30 days to get Schengen visa.
The process usually 30 days to get visa.
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No, there are no other countries that are
more facilitate.
Yes, there are some other countries that are
more facilitated. For example- Switzerland,
Italy, etc.
E) Looking at the political context. (300 words) (20%)
How stable are the countries in terms of political stability? Reference your findings
Destination 2
In Spain the political condition is very
stable. The country is having
parliamentary monarchy where Prime
minister is head of country. Moreover,
the legal system consists of supreme
court and legislature. The country is
having a multi party system but after
1990 there are only two major parties
ruling.
Since many past years the nation is
having stable political condition. But
recently a Catalan protest is high
concern for Spain politics. There is
demand of separate nation by people of
Barcelona. Thus, it has highly impacted
on political stability of nation.
Destination 1
France political system is semi presidential
system which is democratic. The executive
branch is regulated by president and Prime
Minister is appointed by president.
However, in recent times, political stability of
nation in unstable. This is because of many
protests that are been done by people. Moreover,
the major protest was Yellow vests movement.
It highly impacted on France politics and
government. Furthermore, the government of
France is not able to protect environment and
not fulfilling demand of labour thus, it has led to
instable in politics of France.
Can you identify any key risks? (FCO)
Destination 2
Yes, there is risk involved in it due to
Catalan protest. It can result in
separating Barcelona from Spain
Destination 1
There is no risk involved in it as France political
condition is stable.
Conclusion:
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Which destination is more successful over a 5 year period in terms of tourism offer and why?
Justify your response (300 words) (15%)
From the above findings this has been stated that France has stronger economy than the
Spain. This is the destination that has the higher cost of living and this also translates
within the higher price for the visitors. There ate number of the people who visit the France
and this consider to be the one of the beautiful place in the entire world. On the other hand,
tourism in the Spain is the third major contributor to the national economy after the
business and industrial sector. As per the findings of the 2018, Spain considered as to the
second most visited country within the world and this has also recorded the 82.8 million
tourist and this has marked with consecutive year as sixth.
In addition to this, it can be stated that France is the richer than the Spain in terms of the
per capita stock. As per the European commission, Spain will export the higher share of the
GDP than the France within the year 2013. This has also stated tat Spain has approximately
505,370 square kilometres on the other hand France has approximately 551,500 square
kilometres. Therefore, the France and Spain both are the highly influential countries within
the Europe. In addition to this, France is considered to be the proud country and this is pre-
occupied with best of the things and live their best lives at all times. With almost 89
million visitors within the world, the France is considered as to be the head and shoulders
above the Spain and this comes in second as this destination as tourist visitors as 82 million
visits per year. Thus, tourist statistics has also confirmed that France is one of the first
choice of the holiday destination despite a rather turbulent few years. Hence, France will be
more successful in the point of view of the tourism as this place have most fascinating and
beautiful cities within the earth.
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Reference List:
Alfandi, A.M., 2020. Manager Attitude Impact on the Performance of Employees “A Case of
Jordanian Travel and Tourism Institutions”. International Business Research. 13(1).
pp.136-144.
Gulzar, A., Khan, T.A. and Hamid, W., 2019. Analysing the economic impact of tourism in
Kashmir. World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues. 23(3). pp.108-117.
Habib, S.S., Sharif, S. and Hossain, M.A., 2019. Nexus between Economic Growth, Tourism
Revenue and Financial Development in Bangladesh: A Time Series Analysis. Business
and Economic Research. 9(3). pp.134-149.
Lew, A.A., 2020. The global consciousness path to sustainable tourism: a perspective
paper. Tourism Review.
Manzoor, F., Wei, L. and Asif, M., 2019. The Contribution of Sustainable Tourism to
Economic Growth and Employment in Pakistan. International journal of
environmental research and public health. 16(19). p.3785.
Rodríguez-Díaz, B. and Pulido-Fernández, J.I., 2020. Analysis of the Worth of the Weights
in a new Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index. Journal of Travel Research,
p.0047287519899982.
Online
Physical - topographical map of France. 2018. [Online] Available through:<https://about-
france.com/geo/topography.htm>.
Spain – Topography. 2018. [Online] Available
through:<https://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Europe/Spain-TOPOGRAPHY.html>.
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