STUDENT CASE STUDIES

The 2004 International Student/Teacher Conference:

Each year the GTTP hosts an International Student/Teacher Conference where representative students and teachers from our member countries present their research on an important tourism topic. The participants have won the Aldo Papone Case Writing Award in their country, and this conference is sponsored by the GTTP, its Global Partners and the Aldo Papone Endowment.

Aldo Papone was President of American Express Travel Related Services Company and a strong believer in tourism education and student creativity. When he retired, a fund was established in his name to support excellence and innovation in tourism education. The GTTP's share of the fund is used to help students learn how to conduct research, write their findings in a report that can be used in the classroom, and orally present their research to others. Two students and a teacher from each country attend this annual meeting and share their research.

Research topics are selected by the GTTP Directors. The topic for 2004 is "community tourism" and information on this topic can be found in the resources section of this web site.

The 2004 Meeting Details:

Student and teacher representatives will meet in Bad Homburg, Germany at the Amadeus Training Center in November, 2004. ACCOR will provide hotel rooms and Lufthansa will provide air tickets. Global Partner funds will provide meals.

What are Case Studies?

Case studies provide information on about real people in real situations. A good case study lets you feel as if you were there, looking at the situation. For example, a case study on Jamaican heritage sites should have enough information and photos that you can understand what the questions are. Then you can figure out what the possible solutions might be if there is a problem, and you can evaluate the student's recomendations.

The student cases that have won the Aldo Papone Awards for their countries try to give you, the reader, an understanding of their unique situations.

If you want to research and write a case study, try reviewing the information in the GTTP report, How to Write a Good Case Study. Adobe Acrobat format

[PDF files require that Adobe Acrobat Reader be installed on your computer. If you need to install Acrobat Reader you can download it FREE from the following location: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html]

Case Topics and Classroom Use:

Previous case writing topics have included heritage tourism, sports tourism, and national parks. These are all important topics for tourism students and practitioners.

The case studies can be viewed by clicking on the underlined case study title. Summaries are included for the sustainable tourism and heritage tourism case studies. The complete cases take time to download because most have pictures; they include text for students and teaching notes. You can reprint the cases for classroom use, but you must credit the GTTP, the student authors, their teacher and the school when you do so.

We believe these case studies can enrich your understanding of important tourism topics and how they are viewed in different countries and cultures.

Summary of 2003 Sustainable Tourism Case Studies

In November, 2003, students and teachers met at the Amadeus Training Center in Bad Homburg, Germany. ACCOR provided hotel rooms and meals, and Lufthansa provided air tickets.

Global Partners attended several sessions where the students presented their research and were impressed with the high quality of the students' research.

Summaries of the 2003 case studies are included below. Click on the case title to see the full report.

Summaries of the 2003 Winning Case Studies in Sustainable Tourism

If you want to see the complete case studies click here.

Country: Brazil
Case Study Title: "Sustainable Tourism in the Atlantic Rainforest"
Students: Twenty-nine students at School Ayrton Senna da Silva, Sao Vicente-SP, and School Maria de Melo, Sao Jose dos Campos-SP
Advisors: Eliane Cavassani, Wellington de Souza, Beatriz Veroneze Stigliano
Case Study Overview:
Most of us have heard of the Amazon Rainforest and its ecological riches. But less known outside of Brazil is the country's Atlantic Rainforest, much of which stretches inland from the Atlantic coastline of the state of Sao Paulo and shelters one of the most bio-diverse ecosystems on the planet.
For example, the better-known Amazon Rainforest is home to some 300 species of tree per hectare: its much smaller Atlantic cousin in some areas nourishes nearly 454 species per hectare.
The Atlantic Rain Forest is also home to communities of Guarani, Kaingang, Potiguara and Pataxo Indians; of Caicaras, people descended from Indians and Portuguese colonists; and Quilombolas, descendents of slaves who set up their own rural communities, with some dating back to the 17th century.
Although plant and other life is abundant, only about 7 percent of the original forest remains.
The students at the two schools surveyed local people in their areas and determined that there is support for tourism that makes use of the areas' natural attractions. However there is concern that the fragile ecosystems are not further damaged.
One theme that emerged from respondents to a student survey in the inland community of Sao Francisco Xavier, which is located in an official conservation area, was that tourism-related activity "be developed in an orderly and conscious fashion, respecting both Nature and the local people."
The students noted that the Sao Francisco area would be attractive to visitors interested in hiking, horseback riding, adventure activities and staying at existing inns and farms.
Students who examined the coastal county of Sao Vicente made recommendations that included the creation of a surf school; preparing locations that could be used for bird and animal watching and fishing; creating of board walks in sensitive areas; establishing a "farm hotel" in a region of waterfalls.

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Country: Canada
Case Study Title: "Mount Robson Provincial Park"
Students: Angela Peters and Savanna Bakala
School: Prince George Secondary School, Prince George, British Columbia
School coordinator: Suzanne Sharp
Case Study Overview:
At 3,954 meters, Mount Robson is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. The 217,200-hectare park that surrounds the mountain has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its unique beauty. The park, which includes wilderness areas, attracts some 100,000 visitors each year who use the park in different ways and stay for varying lengths of time. Activities range from helicopter trips to hiking to overnight camping.
While human pressure on the park environment is increasing, resources available to protect the park are decreasing because of lack of money.
As a result of their research, the students believe that the park staff is doing as good job as it can, under the circumstances, to protect the park. The tools it uses include regulation, usage-quotas, signage and education to protect the park's amenities. However the students believe more public funding is needed to properly protect the park as a public resource and also keep it accessible to all.
But that raises a problem faced by the park.
The government department which manages Mount Robson, in addition to many other responsibilities, received Canadian $38.2 million in user fees in the 2002/2003 fiscal year, but spent Canadian $43.7 million on services, a gap of Canadian $5.5 million.
Making all British Columbia parks pay for themselves through user fees is a major issue facing the parks.
"In order to make BC parks profitable user fees would need to increase for all activities from hiking to camping," the students note.
That would reduce public access to the park to only those able to afford the higher fees, suggest the students.
And already low staffing levels could be affected.
"There would possibly be further staffing cutbacks and there would be increased development within the parks," the students suggest.
There is also public discussion about privatizing BC parks.
The financial pressure on Mount Robson translates into pressure to introduce new activities to the park, including the building of ski lifts and facilities for motorized vehicles in order to increase revenue.
The students believe that adding new activities is not desirable.
"The park and its natural beauty should remain the attraction, not expanded recreational use."

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Country: Hong Kong SAR
Case Study Title: "Hoi Ha Wan-The Marine Kaleidoscope of Hong Kong"
Students: Yiu Wing-Yee, Winnie and Ng Yuet-Man, Natalie
School: Belilios Public School.
Advisors: Au Yiu-Keung, Aaron and Ma King-Yan, Johnaphen
Case Study Overview:
On July 5, 1996 a small bay called Hoi Ha Wan "was designated one of the first two Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's marine parks, specifically to protect its delicate coral communities."
The 260-hectare marine park is an old drowned river valley shallow, but with steep sides. It is about a mile wide at the mouth and home to about 50 coral species.
It natural attractions include a sandy beach, coral reefs, and mangroves. On shore are some old lime kilns which have been restored, and Hoi Ha village.
The park is ideal for scuba diving, kayaking, and hiking.
But the park also has some rough history to overcome.
From 1983 to 1988 the Wan Tsai peninsula was a source of topsoil for construction, and rainfall washed topsoil into the bay, covering sub-tidal corals on the eastern shoreline with silt. Time and the tides and currents will eventually take care of the problem, but only slowly.
There are other man-made challenges to overcome.
Facilities are sparse, including hiking paths that need to be improved, and toilet facilities that need to be both improved and expanded.
Residents dislike some of the new park regulations that affect how they live and work, and they complain about the loudspeakers used by tour guides.
Service at local businesses is often unfriendly.
Visitors also make an impact on the site. They poke and prod corals, shells and plants, or take them home as souvenirs.
What the student researchers wanted to know was whether improving Hoi Ha Wan's facilities will create more problems than they solve. Better facilities will in turn attract more people and they in turn will put new burdens on the park and the residents.
On the whole they are optimists.
Better education facilities will sensitize visitors to harmful behavior and expanded consultation with residents will also help improve local attitudes to the park and gain their support for conservation work in the park.
"In general, we realize that there are more advantages than disadvantages should sustainable tourism [be] developed in Hoi Ha Wan Park," they report.

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Country: Hungary
Case Study Title: "Ecological Park at the Banks of the Backwaters of the River Tisza in Tiszakecske"
Students: Dalma Antik, Timea Balla.
School: Moricz Zsigmond Grammar School
Teacher: Mrs. Katalin Vargane Mate
Advisor: Jozsef Bagota
Case Study Overview:
The river Tisza begins in the Carpathian Mountains and flows across the Great Hungarian Plain into the Danube River. Along the way the river slowly creats "back waters" or "ox-bow lakes" as it meanders across the plain.
The town of Tiszakecske, population 12,500, is located near 200-year old backwaters and over the years there have been proposals to expand their use as recreation areas. The plans have ranged from building a rowing course to creating swimming centers.
The students developed SWOT analyses (Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats) and determined that current proposals were either too expensive or too risky for a small community with limited financial resources. Private investment is unlikely until issues relating to property ownership are resolved.
Instead the students recommend that an ecological park be established to take advantage of the existing strengths of the backwaters. They recommend that the park be enhanced with low-cost improvements, starting with the creation of trails for walking, biking and riding, and marked with information signage so that visitors will understand what they are seeing. Other low-cost recommendations include improvement to a small forest preserve; reestablishing a traditional grazing area for farm animals as well as replanting traditional fruit trees and creating a small facility for bottling or drying the fruits for sale to visitors. Similar low-cost attractions and small businesses based on crafts utilizing local willow, reed, bulrush, as well as river clay for pottery, were suggested by the students.

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Country: Ireland
Case Study Title: "Sustainable Tourism: The Wild Beauty of the Irish Bogs"
Students: Roisin Bolger and Eimear Farrell
School: Scoil Dara, Kilcock, County Kildare
Advisor: Mrs. Ellis Kirwan
Case Study Overview:
After the end of the last Ice Age some 9,000 to 10,000 years ago, Ireland's landscape included many shallow lakes created where debris from glaciers made drainage difficult. In time plants grew in the shallow lakes, and then lakes slowly filled with decayed vegetation and began turning into bogs some 7,000 years ago. As the bogs grew upward, they also spread outward.
A hundred years ago bogs covered 17 percent of Ireland. Today bogs cover about 4 percent of the country, reflecting the commercial use made of the bogs as a source of fuel for electricity generation, domestic fuel and as a soil conditioner for gardens.
However, report the students, there is a growing realization that bogs are important in other ways.
Bogs are a living record of climate change over the past 10,000 years and "the main reserve of ecological diversity in the Irish landscape."
They are archeological store-houses, preserving entire 5,000-year old field systems and their stone walls; 2,100-year old log roads; bodies; tools; treasure. Thanks to the preservative power of bogs, we know from ancient pollens that between 8,400 and 9,000 years ago temperatures were 5 degrees warmer than they are today.
The students believe that in order to preserve the remaining bogs people must be taught to appreciate their wonders and no longer use them merely as a source of fuel.
The bogs are not suitable for mass tourism but they are valid destinations for people interested in the ways of the natural world, according to visitors surveyed by the students. The bogs would benefit from ongoing investment in keeping them in a pristine state.
A program of local festivals and summer schools also would help deepen awareness and appreciation of the bogs as ecosystems.

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Country: Jamaica
Case Study Title: "Sustainable Tourism Development in Port Royal, Jamaica"
Students: Shari Oliver and Samuel Morgan
School:
Jamaica Gov't Representative: Essie Gardner
Case Study Overview:
Today Port Royal mainly attracts the attentions of a few visitors and of archaeologists in scuba gear who investigate its sunken streets and houses and consider the site a 17th century underwater version of Pompeii. Until late in the morning of June 7, 1692, Port Royal, Jamaica, and Boston, Massachusetts, competed for the title of the most important British city in the Americas. Port Royal had grown rich on pirate and buccaneer loot, and richer on trade with Latin America. The earthquake that hit on June 7 put half the town underwater, where it remains. Fire and hurricanes put paid to efforts to restore Port Royal's former glories.
Today Port Royal is a quiet friendly backwater of about 1,200 people. It lies at the end of a 12-mile-long spit of sand called the Palisadoes which curves around from Kingston to create the 7th largest natural harbor in the world. The town lies clustered around old Royal Navy and Royal Artillery installations built over the past 400 years, and is home to fishermen and visitors who stay at the Morgan's Harbour Hotel and eat and drink at the "Why not on the Deck" bar and marina.
The director of the Jamaica National Trust at Port Royal estimates that on a typical day 80 to 100 visitors walk through old Fort Charles, which dates to the 1650s.
Given the town's history, some Jamaicans see potential for creating an environment that would attract more visitors and remind both visitors and Jamaicans of the area's heritage.
They point out that the Port Royal site is rich in architectural gems, including old forts; an 18th century Royal Navy shipyard, and a 19th century former Navy hospital.
They note that the Port Royal area offers visitors off-shore reefs and cays to explore.
They recommend a variety of new amenities to enhance the area. These include a board walk along the edge of the Sunken City, with special illuminations at night to mark the site; an African-Jamaican Pavilion which would function as a center for the arts; an entertainment center; a cruise ship pier.
But the vision of a new Port Royal comes with a big price tag: US$78.76 million and the Jamaican government's master plan for sustainable tourism development has suggested that if funds cannot be raised then a scaled-down version of the recommendations should be the goal.

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Country: Russia
Case Study Title: "Yelagin Island"
Students: Ekaterina Kasperovich and Natalia Prokopenko
School: School No. 61, St. Petersburg
Teacher: Frida Naumovna Zaytseva
Case Study Overview:
The students conducted a survey to see if foreign tourists visiting St. Petersburg had ever heard of Yelagin Island on the edge of the central city. Not one had. They also surveyed tourists from other parts of Russia. Not one knew anything about the Island, either about its 18th century gardens, pavilions or palace.
But St. Petersburg residents know about the island.
They know it as the site since 1930s of entertainments which draw huge crowds year-round. The events are rowdy sources of vandalism and pollution that damage the plant and animal life of the park.
Rowdy or not, the island and its events are a profitable and important source of revenue for the administration of the Petrograd district. But there is little re-investment of those profits in the park's architectural and landscape heritage, or in facilities whether they be toilets, parking or signs with directions.
A big part of the problem is that the palace is officially a museum, and the park in which it stands is not.
"Little attention has been paid to tourism development, because the island hasn't got the status of the park-and-palace ensemble and, consequently, is not financed in this way, but as separate entities. The profit from all the numerous events goes back to the Petrograd district and they decide how much money the CPKO [the department which manages the island and its events] should spend on management, advertisement, restoration, gardening, etc," wrote the students
"The staff of the CPKO ... tries its best to preserve the rare flora and fauna. They believe it can be the main attraction for visitors. With so many visitors attending the events, preservation is very difficult if not impossible," the students wrote.
The students developed SWOT analyses (Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats) of the island and believe that the island could a much stronger tourist attraction if there was more investment in its facilities, in restoration and in marketing.

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Country: South Africa
Case Study Title: "Sustainable and Responsible Tourism in the Vredefort Dome"
Students: Elanie Raath and Linda Pretorius
School: Schoonspruit High School, Klerksdorp, North West Province
Facilitator: Mrs. Yolande Heymans
Case Study Overview:
The Vredefort Dome is what remains of a crater caused by the impact of a meteor 10 kilometers wide that hit the planet some 200 million years ago. Much eroded, the dome, which is some 250 to 300 kilometers in diameter, is now the location of several micro-habitats and climates that are home to more 400 different species of birds, 99 species of plants and many different wild animals.
The dome has also been home to humans since the early Stone Age, and succeeding cultures have left their mark across the landscape.
Today the area is host to tourists who want to white water raft, hike, go canoeing, ride horses, do rock climbing, abseil, mountain bike, and go fly fishing
Supporting these activities are guesthouses, holiday farms and resorts which offer services ranging from conference facilities to safari drives. There is even a "wedding village."
But the students, after interviewing local officials and business people, sound a note of caution when it comes to the future.
If what makes the dome so attractive is to be preserved, the area and it inhabitants need to be concerned about growing water pollution; infestation by vegetation not native to the area, including water hyacinths which clog the Vaal River and Bluegum trees which siphon up to 200 liters of water each day; soil erosion; and poverty and unemployment where agriculture is of declining importance.
However the students are optimistic, noting, for example, that the work that needs to be done to solve some problems will create new jobs that in turn will reduce unemployment and poverty and the crime problems that accompany them.
"Is sustainable tourism possible in the Vredefort Dome? Only if all Stakeholders and South Africans work together to conserve all that is unique and precious to the Vredefort Dome for future generations," they write.

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Country: United Kingdom
Case Study Title: "Eastbourne-A Sustainable Tourist Plan For The Future"
Students: Dean Putland and Daniel Wheatley
School: Ratton School, Eastbourne
Advisors: Tim Isard
Case Study Overview:
Eastbourne, on England's south coast, has been an established tourist and retirement destination for over 150 years. One local business, Allchorn Pleasure Boats, which takes visitors for 45-minute rides along the coast, has been in continuous operation since 1861. This city of some 90,000 inhabitants is host to some 400,000 visitors each year. The city is most popular with visitors 65 and older.
The challenge facing this aging resort is how to compete in the years to come for customers who have many options now, both in the UK and overseas, on where to spend their vacations. In other words, what does the community need to do to nurture the most important segment of the city's economy.
The students interviewed visitors, tourist industry officials and local business people and reviewed studies of the Eastbourne tourist industry and developed a SWOT analysis ((Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats) of the industry and a PESTLE analysis (Political-Economic-Social-Technical-Legislative-Environmental) of Eastbourne.
On the positive side the students report that Eastbourne has a good range of attractions, including its seafront, clean beaches, good quality accommodation, theatres. There is also good parking, easy access to the London market and other strengths.
Weaknesses are equally clear: Investment is needed to improve the quality and range of shopping choices in an age where shopping is a recreation as well as a necessity. Investment is needed in higher quality hotel accommodation.
Investment is also needed to broaden the range of tourism products that will appeal to the younger visitors that Eastbourne wishes to attract in greater numbers.
And work needs to be done on the way Eastbourne makes itself known to potential visitors.
As one report notes: "The lack of a clear image and identity ... remains the greatest barrier to economic growth and demands a concerted marketing effort across the resort."

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Summary of 2002 Heritage Tourism Case Studies:

The topic for the 2002 Aldo Papone Award competition was "Heritage Tourism."

In November, 2002, students and teachers met in Nice, France. Their meeting was hosted by Amadeus at its Executive Briefing Center. ACCOR provided hotel rooms, KLM provided tickets, and American Express and Amadeus hosted dinners.

If you want to see the complete case studies, click here.

Summaries Of The 2002 Winning Case Studies In Heritage Tourism:

Country: Brazil
Case study title: "Brazil: Singular or Plural."
Students: at Sao Jose dos Campos, School Duque de Caxias and Fenix Organization, all in the state of San Paulo.
Advisors: Prof. Maria de Melo; Prof. Marco Antonio F. de Souza; Prof. Ana Claudia dos Santos.
Case Study Overview:
The culture of modern Brazil and its population of 175 million is the product of three cultural streams: European, Indigenous Indian (primarily the Tupi peoples), and African.
The term "culture" is used in the broadest sense and includes food, music, architecture, religion, traditions, festivals, dances, ways of earning a living. All offer opportunities for Heritage Tourism.
For example, the festival of The Ox, which is heavily influenced by musical themes originating in Africa is an important festival in northern Brazil and the state of Bahia offers a cuisine with origins in Africa.
The state of Minas Gerais offers many examples of European Baroque urban architecture.
Meanwhile much of Brazil retains the place-names given by the Indigenous Indians, who number about 350,000 today in some 219 groups with different languages and customs.
To develop their case study the students conducted a cultural and historical survey of the city of Sao Vicente in the state of Sao Paolo, which is Brazil's oldest city; studied the "Piraquaras," riverside dwellers in the Paraiba Valley in southeast Brazil; and a study of the efforts to preserve the historic structures of the city of Barueri, which means "Enchanting Red Flower" in the Tupi-Guarani language.

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Country: Canada
Case study title: "Developing and Managing a Sustainable Heritage Attraction."
Students: Kelly Rolland and Alaina Harmon.
School: Quesnel Secondary School, Quesnel, British Columbia.
School coordinator: Loretta Fogarty
Case Study Overview:
Some 26 kilometers from the city of Quesnel in Canada's far west is Cottonwood House, a relic of the gold rush era of the 1860s when it was used to house and feed miners on their way to the gold fields. Declared an official Heritage Site in 1961 by the government of British Columbia, the 26-acre site attracts some 8,000 to 12,000 summer visitors to this attractive region of the country. However those numbers are just one-tenth the number of visitors to nearby Barkerville, another attractive tourist destination.
In 1999 a partnership agreement was signed between BC Heritage and the Quesnel area school district. Under the agreement, the school district would operate Cottonwood House, which in turn would function as a student-training center in tourism.
The double challenge facing Cottonwood House is to increase the number of visitors and also to increase to the amount of money spent by each visitor.
Student staffers organized a comprehensive survey of visitors to determine what needed to be done, and a similar survey of residents of Quesnel, who also visit the site.
During the 2000 and 2001 tourist seasons facilities at the Cottonwood House site were improved; staff training programs were instituted and new activities for visitors were added. The improvements were followed by price increases.
However while revenues have increased the number of visitors have not.
Student suggestions for increasing attendance have ranged from creating better roadside signage to marketing alliances with other tourist destinations in the region.
The case study by the Quesnel students is very much a report of work-in-progress. The emphasis in 2003 will be on making the improvements to the site better known, to attract bus tours and to add an overnight camping program.

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Country: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.
Case study title: "Touring Walled Villages: an alternative experience in East-Meet-West Cosmopolitan Hong Kong."
Students: Katie Chong and Yen Li.
Teacher: Crishner Lam
School: Lok Sin Tong Young Ko Hsiao Lin Secondary School.
Case Study Overview:
Inland, away from the glittering collection of glass-sheathed skyscrapers that form the image that most of us have of Hong Kong, lies another Hong Kong. This is the Hong Kong of small walled villages, some dating back to the 14th century and mostly associated with clans such as the Tang, the Chan and others.
The Hong Kong government encourages heritage tourism associated with museums, archaeological sites, religious sites and relics of the pre-colonial era, and the 19th century and 20th centuries.
The students have surveyed Kong Kong's walled villages and assessed what each has to offer and what could be done to make them easier to visit without compromising their character as places where people live.
The world of the six walled villages surveyed by the students is a world of watchtowers and gatehouses, protective moats, ancestral halls, distinctive cuisine and architecture and festivals. Not all are open to the public.
The students report that they found examples of careful restoration, such as Sam Tung Uk village, built in 1786 and restored in 1986 and opened as a public museum with interpretative information. There are also well-maintained villages and villages which need repairs made. Some villages contain both traditional and more modern architecture.
Most, report the students, would benefit from better road signage, the creation of small shops selling souvenirs and refreshments, as well as volunteers to collect fees from tourists which could be used to pay for routine village maintenance and care-taking chores.

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Country: Hungary:
Case study title: "Heritage Tourism in Veszto-Magor."
Students: Mark Csaszar and Evelin Urmos.
Teacher: Mrs. Magdolna Weber
School: Sandor Petofi High School
Case Study Overview: Deep in the historic Hungarian heartland, south and east of the capital Budapest, in the area called the Sarret. The flat countryside is marked by hundreds of artificial mounds dating back five thousand and six thousand years. These small artificial hills are called "Kun-mounds." Some were used as living areas. Some were built as grave sites. Others were built as watchtowers for soldiers, and even built as landmarks. The most famous is the Mound of Magor in Bekes County in the Koros-Maros National Park. Archaeologists have explored the mound and recovered skeletons painted red from the Neolithic period; scallop shells from the Copper Age; ceramics from the Bronze Age; a church-monastery complex from the Middle Ages.
The students at Sandor Petofi High School believe that the Mound of Magor could be made more interesting to visitors, especially in the non-summer months when most tourist come. Attracting more tourists would create more jobs in the area.
One approach they believe would attract visitors is to offer four-day packages of activities that would explore the history, folklore and customs of the region.
Activities would range from weaving to preparing meals using ancient methods to archery and falconry demonstrations.
The students also surveyed fellow students to see how aware they were of the Mound of Magor and what can be seen there. Most---69 percent--were not.
The Sandor Petofi students believe that educating the residents of the area about the attractions the area has to offer is an important part of making the area more accessible and attractive to visitors.

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Country: Ireland
Case study title: "A taste of Ireland's Past."
Students: Declan Foy and Fergus O'Donoghue
Supervisor: P.J. Luddy
School: St. Brendan's College, Killarney, County Kerry.
Case Study Overview: Ireland is an island on the western rim of Europe and County Kerry is on the western rim of Ireland. "Because of its isolation it has been possible to preserve the rich heritage of the county," report the two students from St. Brendan's College. The county is now the second most popular tourist destination in Ireland and in the past 10 years or so the number of visitors has increased by 500 percent. The two major tourism centers in the county are Tralee and Killarney.
Each year some 1.5 million tourists visit Killarney, where heritage attractions include a national park; a period house; landscaped gardens; reconstructed farms from the 1930s and a medieval castle, Ross Castle. In other words, unlike some countries, heritage tourism is well established not only in Ireland but in Kerry. So the suggestions offered by the students are for incremental improvements rather than major investments.
The St. Brendan's students note that Queen Victoria visited Killarney in 1861. They suggest an a wax works display of the central personalities involved in the event could be created and installed in a local period house being restored by the state. Cost would be Euro 240,000 and would create between 10 jobs and 15 jobs and attractive maybe 35,000 visitors, based on the number of visitors to nearby Ross Castle.
The students also suggest that an 11th century chronicle, The Annals of Innisfallen, last exhibited in Killarney in 1983 and now stored in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, be exhibited more frequently. A permanent interpretative center to house the work in a Killarney period house should be developed. Cost would be Euro 325,000, create some 10 jobs and attract more than 35,000 visitors annually and generate income of some Euro 400,000. They note that the 9th century Book of Kells in Dublin attracted some 500,000 visitors in 2000.

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Country: Jamaica:
Case study title: "Heritage Tourism in Black River, Jamaica: a case study."
Case study theme: Examines how Black River, a small town on Jamaica's less-visited South Coast, could use its amenities, which includes about 100 18th century and 19th century buildings, to encourage visitors interested in heritage tourism.
Students: Richard Rhone and Korey Neil
Advisor: Kenneth Bailey
School: Munro College
Case Study Overview: Once upon a time exporting logwood, used in dyes, made the little port town of Black River rich. Today the logwood trade is long gone and the town is off the beaten tourist track, but the buildings created by the wealth of the 18th and 19th centuries remain.
Those buildings, believe the students at nearby Munro College, could be the focal point for attracting visitors interested in heritage tourism and creating the jobs that this town of 6,000 people needs.
The structures reviewed by the students range from the "Farquharson Wharf," formerly known as the "Town Wharf," and used in the 18th century as a site for slave auctions, to Invercauld Great House, a 19th century example of the Jamaican Georgian style, now a boutique hotel.
The area's amenities include "The Great Morass," a 125 square mile freshwater wetland, home to many species of birds and other animals, including crocodiles; black-sand beaches; and the Black River, navigable for some 25 miles.
The students also look at others areas of Jamaica that have potential for being developed as sites for visitors interested in heritage tourism, including the former pirate town and naval base of Port Royal; Spanish Town, the original 16th century capital of the island; Falmouth, also the site of many examples of 18th and 19th century architecture; and Seville, the site of the first Spanish outpost on the island, dating to 1509.
Although the students believe that Black River has the potential to attract more visitors, they also say that there is a lot of work to be done to make this happen. The residents of the town need to be that the work will pay off. Tasks to be done range from improving the sewage disposal system to upgrading streets and parking, as well as improving harbor facilities and recreational facilities.

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Country: Russia
Case study title: "Lefortovo." (The old German and foreigners' district of Moscow.)
Case study theme: Examines what needs to be done to make the Lefortovo district more attractive to visitors and steps that need to be taken to protect the area's unique characteristics.
Students: Kirill Kozlov and Dinara Akmetova
Teacher: Natalia Zezerova
School: School 1228, Moscow.
Case Study Overview: In the 16th century foreigners living in Moscow were told to leave the city and move to what was called the German or Foreign settlement. Dutch German, English, Polish and other foreigners created a suburb where they lived a more European style of life. The German Settlement was renamed Lefortovo after Franz Lefort, a Swiss who was a friend of Czar Peter The Great.
Today Lefortovo is a place of schools and hospitals, of parks, palaces, museums, churches and monuments.
But Lefortovo is also a polluted industrial center, threatened by various road-building projects and suffering from decades of neglect of its historic structures.
"This place is dear to our hearts because we live and study here, and we are really worried about the destiny of Lefortovo that combines history with unrepeated charm and beauty of the present," wrote the students.
They believe that if more people visited Lefortovo and appreciated what was there, there would be more support for protecting Lefortovo.
The students conducted a survey that revealed that most Muscovites interviewed thought of Lefortovo "as a residential area of Moscow rather than a historical place or place for rest. However, people who live in Lefortovo firstly think of it as a historical area."
The area has an excellent new museum but it needs more marketing to attract visitors.
A survey by the students suggested that only10 percent of Muscovites had been to the museum, although 20 percent had visited a nearby park.
Based on interviews with officials, the students note that Lefortovo "badly needs advertising and improved conservation and preservation of buildings," not to mention more and better hotels, restaurants and improved transportation. But, as in so many countries with heritage sites to protect, finding money is difficult.

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Country: South Africa
Case study title: "Pella's People...A Vanishing Culture: an in-depth look into Heritage Tourism Potential at Pella, Bushmanland, Northern Cape, South Africa."
Students: Sumey LeRoux and Leandra Brand
Teacher: Elsabe Engelbrecht
School: Duineveld High School, Upington.
Case Study Overview: They fled war in Namibia and found refuge at the Pella Mission Station in neighboring South Africa. Today a hundred years later the 6,000 or so descendants of the Nama people who fled still live at the mission, still wear the fashions and sun bonnets of the late 19th century and still live in portable, round dome-houses, although fewer make them out of the mats used in the old days. Once hunter-gatherers, the Nama tend now to work on farms or as stock farmers. It is an austere life in an austere part of world. A few have realized that their way of life might attract visitors who will pay to stay in traditional dome-houses and learning about the Nama. Others have opened European-style facilities, complete with swimming pool.
The Duineveld students surveyed visitors to find out what they want in a tourist destination, how much they spend.
The students believe that with an investment of time and money in new facilities, more outsiders would enjoy visiting the Nama at Pella, enjoying their music, songs and poems; dancing the Nama-stap; eating mielie pap and mahango with their goat, lamb or beef stew, not to mention drinking watermelon wine and palm-spirit. And they could take home as souvenirs reed flutes, clay pots, maybe a leather apron. Behind they would leave their money, which the people at Pella could certainly use.
But the Sana may not be so sure about the benefits of tourism.
"Only a few individuals are involved in tourism and the rest of the community seems indifferent to, or unaware of the prosperity that tourism can offer," the students report.
And the Sana themselves have all-too-human problems.
"The case writers discovered serious conflicts of interest, often amongst members of the same family," reported the students.
They also found "envy, unhealthy competition, backstabbing and possessiveness..."
Younger members of the Sana community appear embarrassed to speak the "click" language spoken by the older folks, and embarrassed by their culture and traditions.
The students are fans of the Sana at Pella and their culture.
They want to help.
"We could not control the urge to sigh, 'WHAT A WASTE."

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Country: United Kingdom
Case study title: "An investigation into the role of the Tower of London as a leading heritage tourism attraction in the U.K."
Students: Lisa Hara and Anna Bateson
Teacher: Paul Banthorpe
School: Croydon College.
Case Study Overview: Examines the 1,000-year old Tower of London as a "heritage product," and reviews its advertising and promotion methods, the market segment the Tower cultivates, the Tower's need for brand positioning and other aspects of the Tower as a business.
The Tower is managed by Historic Royal Palaces, an agency of the UK's Department of the Environment which manages four other royal properties. The agency hired a marketing director for the first time in 2000 and has set a goal of growing "market share by 8 percent." the students report.
The Tower of London, which started charging visitors admission as long ago as 1599, today uses standard market research tools to measure visitor perceptions, including customer surveys, suggestion cards, and anonymous "mystery visitors."
Most ---78 percent---of visitors in 2000 were from overseas; 35 percent had been to the Tower before; the average length of visit is 2 hours to 3 hours; 47 percent bought something; 91 percent gave their visit a god or excellent rating; 73 percent thought they got value for their money.
Although the Tower as a product has many strengths---98 percent of overseas visitors are aware of the Tower---there some weaknesses.
For example, "Expectations of some visitors not met---Tower not 'gruesome enough,' report the students, referring to the Tower's somewhat overblown reputation as an execution site. The students point out only seven prisoners were beheaded inside the walls over a 400-year period.
"Expectations are not met because the gorier aspects of the Tower play a greater role in anticipation than in delivery of the experience."
However the agency has been careful not to yield to the temptation to "entertain at the expense of informing and educating."
To shift to a more entertainment-oriented visitor experience could put at risk the Tower's reputation as "a word leader in the interpretation of heritage," report the students.