Travel Geography Toolkit

This travel geography toolkit from Desklib provides information on two countries outside of Europe and North America. It includes details on key airports, rankings, safety, accessibility, and connectivity. Discover which country is the safest and most connected based on FCO advice and other factors.

Travel Geography Toolkit
1) With reference to IATA’s most recently published monthly global air passenger data, choose two
countries from two different global regions (outside of Europe and North America) (5%)Data
accessible from - https://www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/publications/economic-reports/air-
passenger-monthly-analysis---nov-2019/
Country 1 Global Region Country 2 Global Region
Thailand
South-Eastern Asia Brazil South America
2) Within the selected countries, identify key airports, the capital city and neighbouring countries
(5%):
Map of country 1
Include a map of the key destination
(Include neighbouring countries where possible)
Map of country 2
Include a map of the key destination
(Include neighbouring countries where possible)
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3) Based on data from the WEF Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019, compare the
rankings for the following pillars as identified in the report (available from
-https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-travel-tourism-competitiveness-report-2019):
Country 1 Country 2
2017
(SCORE/RANK)
2019
(SCORE/RANK)
2017
(SCORE/RANK)
2019
(SCORE/RANK)
Overall ranking
27
20 25 35
International
Openness
15 11 12 20
Safety and
Security
48 30 50 69
Air transport
Infrastructure
36 30 12 10
Comment on the country’s score/rank for the following (300 words) (20%):
Country 1 Country 2
International
Openness
In terms of the international
openness, the rank of Thailand was
15 among the 42 countries. In the
year 2019, region secured 11th
position due to relaxation in the
trade. The country has relaxation
The rank of Brazil in 2017 in terms of
international openness was 12th in the
year 2019, this country slipped to
position of 20th according to the data
of WEF travel and tourism. The main
reason behind this is high restrictions
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as well as less restriction in the
import and export of various goods
and services (Aultman-Hall and
et.al.,2018).
on trade across the different country.
Besides this, there is heavy excise
duty on import and export of
products.
Safety and
Security
In the year 2017, Thailand was
ranked 48th in terms of safety but
in the year 2019, it secured
position of 30. Due to high
political stability within Thailand,
there is less rate of corruption in
the country. This makes Thailand
safe and secure country.
In the year 2017, where Brazil
secured the position of 50 under
safety and security index while in the
year it slipped to position 69. The
main reason behind this is high rate of
corruption in Brazil due to high
bureaucracy (Ribeiro and et.al.,2018).
Air transport
infrastructure
The rank of Thailand was in terms
of the airplane infrastructure was
36 in the year 2017 but in the
2019, this country improved its
infrastructure and secured the rank
30. The airport of Thailand is
highly maintained as well as has
provided quality services to the
visitors (Derudder and Witlox,
2016).
In the year, rank of Brazil was 12 in
terms of the airport infrastructure but
in 2019, Brazil made a huge
improvement and thus raised to the
rank 10 in 2019. The infrastructure
and quality of airport in Brazil is
highly imperative as it provides a
great connectivity to all the major
regions of world.
4) Using the current FCO advice (available from https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice),
comment on the safety of travelling to the destinations (300 words) (20%):
FCO advice – Country 1
Talking of the safety and security of the
country, Thailand s considered as highly
safe place. Thailand is highly politically
stable country and the physical attacks as
well as other crimes in this country are less
likely in comparison to the various
developed nations. Besides this, there is low
rate of bureaucracy in Thailand due to low
FCO advice – Country 2
Talking of the Brazil in terms of safety and
security, this country ranked much far by
FCO index and this makes this country less
safe and secure for people to travel. The
main reason behind this is high rate of
corruption and crimes in Brazil. As this
country have high rate of bureaucracy thus
this leads to high rate of corruption and
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rate of crimes and thus, this makes this
country highly safe for the travellers to
travel. Along with this, the rate of various
rape cases as well as assault to the travellers
is also less and this also contributes towards
making it a safe country (Cocolas and
et.al.,2020).
threatening cases in Brazil. This makes it
less safe and secure for people to travel.
Along with this, there are various depressed
areas in Brazil such as Sao Paulo that are
being recognized by gang violence and
leads to large number of deaths due to high
criminal activity (Henriques, 2017).
Which country is the safest based on current FCO advice? (Briefly justify your response)
As per the advice of FCO, the place which is considered as safest to travel for traveler is
Thailand. Thailand secured the position of 30th in terms of safety due to low rate of
corruption. It has been found that the terrorist attacks in Thailand are much less than the
other developed and developing nation. Due to less terrorist attacks, he violence is much
low and thus this makes this county safest place to travel (Howerter and et.al.,2019).
Choose a neighbouring country of each destination and examine the FCO advice.
Is it considered a “good” or “bad” neighbour?
What are the implications of this?
Thailand shares its borders with various countries like Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia etc.
Among these, Malaysia is considered as good country due to various exciting tourists
spots. Due to sharing of the border with Thailand, criminal activities in Malaysia are also
low and thus make Malaysia a great tourist spot.
Brazil shares its borders with various countries across all the directions. Argentina where
it shares its borders in South-west generally comes under the category of bad. Due to
proximity to the Brazil, the rate of terrorism in Argentina has increased to more than
34.5% and thus has resulted in violence within country. Thus, this makes Argentina as bad
place to travel (McKercher, 2018).
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5) Examine whether your countries have recently experienced either environmental/natural
disasters or extreme weather which have impacted air transport activity (200 words)(10%)
Country 1
In the year 2014, The Mae Lao district of
Thailand suffered the earthquake of
magnitude 6.1 which was considered as
strongest earthquake within Thailand. This
natural disaster affected the connectivity
and air transport activity within Thailand to
high extent. Due to this disaster, the flights
and all the convenience in Thailand were
stopped and cancelled. Along with this, the
personal vehicle were ceased to prevent
people to travel to different countries (Sood
and McNeil, 2017).
Country 2
In the year 2019, City Hall of Rio de Janerio
was reported to be under heavy rains as
well as landslides which eventually caused
fatalities in its neighborhood. This was the
extreme natural disaster that occurred in
Brazil and took the lives of large number of
people. This disaster affected the air
transport activity as well as major facilities
in Brazil to a high extent. All the flights as
well as public transport were being
cancelled for around one month and no one
was allowed to leave the country or enter
country. This influenced airlines to great
level as all the flights were being cancelled
and they were made liable to return back
money of their travellers.
6) Investigate the accessibility and connectivity of the destinations and determine key markets for
each country (200 words)(10%)
Consider key international airports and flights between chosen countries and their source markets.
Also, look at any visa requirements for travel to the chosen countries from their source markets.
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Country 1
The key flight which flew from Thailand to
major locations is Thai airways international
public co trading. This is basically flag
carrier airline providing air transportation as
well as mail services on both domestic and
international routes. The major visa
requirements, which are considered for
travelling from Thailand to source market
like Malaysia is that, they must have
travelled to other location outside Thailand
within 15 days or less.
Country 2
The key flight which mainly flew from
Brazil is VARIG which is one of the first
airline in Brazil and travels to various
international locations. Various other flights
flew from airports like Sao Paulo
international airport, Rio De Janerio airport
etc. The major visa requirement which is
considered while travelling from Brazil to
source market like Argentina is that
travellers must have visa which is valid for
at least six months as well as must have one
blank page in visa (McCracken and
Edwards, 2017).
7) Consider the political stability within both countries (300 words)(20%)
Important to look at relations with neighbouring states and impacts on air transport.
Country 1
Thailand is generally considered as highly
politically stable country due to low rate of
corruption. Besides this, the relation of
Thailand with its neighbouring countries is
highly harmonious and Thailand shares
peaceful relationship with them. Due to this
harmonious relation, the corruption rate in
Thailand is highly low and the criminal
activity is less. Along with this, as the
constitution in Thailand is highly well-
Country 2
Brazil mainly follows bilateral relation with
its neighboring countries but due to
frequently changing government in the
country, it is highly politically unstable.
Along with this, the new south-south
foreign policy of Brazil to support the major
interventions of US has resulted in the
opposition of its neighbouring countries like
Argentine. Therefore, due to this opposition,
the relation of Brazil with neighboring
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structured and it follows constitutional
monarchy with prime minister as head of
government who are responsible for taking
all the decisions. Thus, as this power of
decision rests on the prime minister it leads
to political stability within country
(Aultman-Hall and et.al.,2018).
countries has been disturbed. This has
eventually given rise to high corruption rate
and criminal activity in Brazil and thus has
made the country politically less stable.
Besides this, changing tax rate also gives
rise to instability in country (Ribeiro and
et.al.,2018).
Conclusion: Explain which country is the most connected, open and safe of the two destinations
(200 words)(10%)
It has been summarized that out of Brazil and Thailand, the most connected, safe as well as
open to the trade is Thailand. Talking of the political stability, Thailand is considered as
highly politically stable country due to low rate of corruption and less criminal activity. In
addition, the relation of Thailand with its neighbouring countries is highly peaceful due to
low bureaucracy. Besides this, one more reason behind being safest place is low intensity
of natural disasters. Thailand is generally less prone to various natural calamities and thus
this makes it a good place. In terms of the connectivity, Thailand surrounds various
international and domestic airports and flights. The major flight that flew to various
locations is Thai airways, which increase the connectivity of Thailand to different
countries. Along with this, Thailand mainly has less trade restrictions as well as has
recently provided a great relaxation on tax of various FMCG products. This has eventually
increased openness in Thailand and is ranked on good position in terms of international
openness.
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Reference List:
Aultman-Hall, L and et.al.,2018. Surveying social network geography to model long-distance
travel. Transportation Research Procedia.32. pp.542-552.
Cocolas, N and et.al.,2020. Air travel attitude functions. Journal of Sustainable
Tourism.28(2). pp.319-336.
Derudder, B. and Witlox, F., 2016. International business travel in the global economy.
Routledge.
Henriques, C.H.N., 2017. Measuring competitiveness in tourism. Journal of Research on
Trade, Management and Economic Development.8(2). pp.109-116.
Howerter, S and et.al.,2019. Exploring the Influence of Social Network Geography on Long-
Distance Travel Behavior (No. 19-004).
McKercher, B., 2018. The impact of distance on tourism: a tourism geography law. Tourism
geographies.20(5). pp.905-909.
Ribeiro, N.A and et.al.,2018. An optimization approach for airport slot allocation under
IATA guidelines. Transportation Research Part B: Methodological.112. pp.132-156.
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