A Cross-Cultural Experience in Tourism Studies
Giovanni Ruggieri and Ninfa Pagano, Italy
Giovanni Ruggieri, PhD, is a researcher and lecturer on Tourism Economics, University of Palermo, Italy, course in Tourism Studies. He is also President of the Observatory on Tourism in the European Islands (OTIE). His research interests and publications include the following fields: Innovation and Tourism, Tourism Economics and Impacts, Islands Tourism Development and Sustainability, Tourism and Poverty.
E-mail: giovanni.ruggieri@unipa.it; ruggieri@otie.org
Ninfa Pagano is an adjunct lecturer of English language at the Department of Economics, course in Tourism Studies, University of Palermo, Italy. She has published articles and books on the teaching of Business English and of English literature. She currently coordinates the TESOL-Italy local group of Palermo E-mail: n-pagano@live.it
Menu
Introduction
Methodology and procedure
Resources / text
Results and conclusions
References
The present article is the result of a joint teaching experience carried out by Giovanni Ruggieri, lecturer of Tourism Economics at the University of Palermo, and Ninfa Pagano, lecturer of English language, University of Palermo; the experience was addressed to our students of Tourism Studies at the Department of Economics, University of Palermo.
The rationale at the basis of this teaching experience was to provide Italian students with extra language practice applied to more than one of their main fields of study in order to show how two different subjects, i.e. Tourism Economics and the English language, can be linked, thus working as a reinforcement for students in both areas.
Prof. Ruggieri suggested proposing to our students the reading of an article in English which focused on a comparative analysis of tourism in the Mediterranean islands; the article took into consideration aspects such as bed-place capacity and occupancy rates, strategies to develop sustainable tourism and tourism policies.
Students were asked to analyse it and parallelly to deepen the understanding of the English text through a series of language activities aiming to improve comprehension, lexis expansion and aspects of English syntax.
The objectives we set were thus twofold: improving our students’ knowledge about aspects concerning Tourism Economics while increasing their linguistic competence in English.
Such cross-cultural experience has recently been introduced in Italian schools as well with the name of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). However, it had seldom been proposed at university level, so we carried it out on an experimental basis.
The various purposes of such a procedure can be explained as follows:
- the absolute need - especially in Tourism Studies – to link the English language to other subjects, especially those relevant for their curriculum(e.g. Tourism Economics);
- making our students realise the urgent necessity for them to achieve an advanced competence in the English language, as an absolute requirement in the job market;
- consequently the possibility for our students to discuss parts of the exam of Tourism Economics in English and, parallelly, to report about aspects of Tourism Economics in the oral English exam as well;
- last, but not least, conveying the idea that university subjects are, and must necessarily be, interconnected, thus trying to reduce the widespread bias about the presupposed isolation and complete autonomy and independence in Italian university teaching practice.
During the academic year 2012-13 prof. Pagano acted as a ‘visiting lecturer’ during one of prof. Ruggieri’s lessons, namely on February 26, 2013 and the reversed experience took place on March 8, 2013. During the academic year 2013-14 prof. Ruggieri lectured at prof. Pagano’s English lessons on December 13, 2013 and February 7, 2014, and again the reverse on May 8 and 21, 2014.
Our students had already been informed about the initiative and had been provided with the article to read in advance, in order to be familiar with the themes and the type of language to analyse in the text.
The following passage includes extracts from one of the articles we proposed to our students – during each lecture we suggested the reading of various, different articles – always followed by language activities which they were asked to carry out during and after the lecture.
Pre-reading Activities
Students were asked to perform some pre-reading activities ( warm up, brainstorming activities,) which aimed to arouse their expectations about the article, anticipating themes and also focusing on what they already knew about the topic presented in the article. Before the reading comprehension we also introduced some unknown lexicon they would come across in the article, which needed to be clarified at the beginning, in order for them to better approach the text and the related activities.
While-Reading Activities
In order to check students’ correct comprehension of the text, the first activity we proposed concerned a questionnaire which included both fact questions, whose answer can easily be found in the text, and inference questions, whose answer has to be deduced from the text, thus stimulating our students’ development of reading sub-skills, skimming and scanning.
The questionnaire was followed by a grid we asked them to fill in with data to be found in the text (scanning) and a final activity focused on the acquisition and expansion of the new lexicon introduced in the text.
A. Questionnaire
- What accounts for the cultural and economic disadvantages of the Mediterranean
Islands? Which is the only sector of activity?
- How are the Mediterranean Islands classified?
- Which islands have a greater residential density?
- Which islands constitute the major archipelago in terms of tourist numbers?
- Where can you notice the most substantial tourist demand from the geographical
viewpoint?
- Is there a relationship between the island size and the average length of stay? And what
do variations in tourist stays depend on?
- Which islands show 75% occupancy rate?
- Which islands/island groups show higher values of territorial exploitation index?
- Where can you find the highest tourist pressure index – (overnight stays+population)
/area –?
- What is the impact index? Where can you find its highest level and what are its
consequences?
- How many development strategies are outlined in the article?
- What is advisable in order to increase tourism demand in those islands where bed-place
occupancy rate is low?
- What are the strategies suggested in the article in order to face the growing competition
within the tourist market?
B. Fill in the following chart
Advisable measures to adopt in:
Balearic Islands, Malta: …………………………………………………
Flegree and Tremiti Islands: ……………………………………………
Cyprus, Greek Islands: ………………………………………………….
Sicily, Sardinia: …………………………………………………………
C. Focus on the language
Provide an explanation or a synonym for the following words taken from the text:
Overnight stays Development strategies Sustainable development Bed-place availability
Seasonality reduction Shift Restraints Growth Development policies Upgrading
D. Cloze Test
Fill in the blanks with the correct options; choose only one item for each blank:
| stays pressure length strategies residential demand rates classified |
- Islands can be _________ into four size groups.
- Micro islands have a greater ____________ density.
- Overnight ___________ are increasing.
- Tourist ____________ is more substantial in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean.
- The average __________ of stay may vary.
- The aim is to reach higher occupancy ___________.
- The tourist ___________ index shows to be higher in five insular regions.
- Four development _____________ can be outlined.
Post-reading activities/ Follow-up
During this last stage we aimed to develop a discussion concerning the issues raised in the text. We encouraged students to ask questions, to reflect and discuss the main solutions proposed in the article, to compare them with other possible alternatives and to apply them to other tourism context they were familiar with:
Express your personal opinions: say whether you agree or disagree on the solutions proposed and why; if possible, find alternative ones, in order to improve/keep the current situation in most Mediterranean islands.
Written production
The development of the written production focused on the following aspects: expansion of the themes proposed, comparison with other similar case studies, recycling of proposed lexicon and structures, personal opinions.
Students were also invited to start researching on areas related to issues connected to the one proposed in the article.
All the above-mentioned activities were applied to the following text , which includes extracts from the article proposed to our students, written by prof. Giovanni Ruggieri ‘Tourism in Mediterranean Islands: a Comparative Analysis’ (published in Island Tourism: Sustainable Perspectives, CAB International 2011, eds J Carlsen, R. Butler).
1 Data
[…]
“As already mentioned, in the Mediterranean there are more than 100 islands belonging to six EU countries – Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, France and Spain. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of tourism in these European Mediterranean islands identified 18 international insular regions that are officially recognized (OTIE 2008). Depending on their overall areas, these islands could also be classified into four size groups (OTIE, 2008):
- 1 km2 < micro island <1000 km2;
- 1001 km2 < small island <5000 km2;
- 5.001 km2 < medium island <10.000 km2; and
- large island >10.001 km2.
Analysed in this way, the EU Mediterranean islands are grouped as follows:
- micro islands: Sporades, Malta archipelago, Argosaronicos Islands, Tuscan Islands, Flegree Islands, Pontine Islands and Tremiti Islands;
- small islands: Balearic Islands, North Eastern Aegean Islands, Evia, Ionian Islands, Dodekanisa and Cyclades;
- medium islands: Cyprus, Corsica and Crete; and
- large islands: Sicily and Sardinia.
[…] The population/area ratio reveals that micro islands have a greater residential density and that the islands with the highest concentration of inhabitants are the Flegree Islands and the archipelago of Malta, both of which belong to the micro-islands category.
Like population, tourism is not uniformly distributed over the islands. In 2008, the Mediterranean islands attracted 32,798,552 tourists, generating 222,392,408 overnight stays, with an average length of stay of 6.8 nights.
The Balearic Islands are the major archipelago in the Mediterranean in terms of tourist numbers, receiving one third of tourist arrivals and more than half of the tourist overnight stays of all the islands considered (INESTUR, 2007).
[…]
If the geographical position is considered (excluding the Balearic Islands), tourist demand is most substantial in the eastern part of the Mediterranean –involving all the Greek islands and Cyprus.
In terms of changes in the average lengths of stay from island to island, two groups of islands may be identified: those recognizable as holiday destinations, with average stays longer than a week, and those characterized by stays shorter than four nights. This implies that there is no relationship between the island size and the average length of stay. Variations in tourist stays from one island to another mostly depend on the level of attractiveness of the island and the type of tourism offered by the destination.
In a comparison of tourist demand with accommodation supply, it can be noted that most islands show a low occupancy rate and are not able to fill more than half of the beds supplied over a year (overnight stays/beds × 365).
[…]
The islands attracting the largest number of tourists are those which make the best use of available bed places, thereby reaching high occupancy rates.
This indicator undergoes variations over the year and is tied to seasonal variations in tourism demand, which is heaviest from May to October. Tourist flows are more evenly distributed during the year in those islands with a wider tourism demand (Malta and the Balearic Islands), while the islands with fewer tourist arrivals and stays are characterized by a greater seasonality.
2 Comparative analysis of tourism in the islands
[…]
Use of the territory of Mediterranean islands, which considers both the resident population and tourists, is calculated by an territorial exploitation index, whereby: (arrivals/area + population/area)/100. This indicator allows islands to be classified according to the level of use of their area or territory.
Only six islands/island groups out of the 18 under examination record high values of this territorial exploitation index. Thus, two groups of islands may be contrasted and compared:
(i) the Tremiti Islands, Pontine Islands and the Tuscan Archipelago, whose exploitation and development is mostly connected with tourism;
(ii) (ii) Sicily and the Argosaronicos Islands, where exploitation by the resident population in the form of traditional economic activities prevails.
The tourist pressure index – (overnight stays + population)/area – reveals that the tourism and population pressure is high in proportion to the island area in five insular regions. These values are noticeably higher than average in the Flegree Islands, the Malta archipelago, Tremiti Islands, Balearic Islands and Tuscan Archipelago. However, in some islands, the impacts generated by tourism are higher in specific limited areas of the territory, namely, those where the supply of tourist facilities is more concentrated. In these areas, tourist activity is often accompanied by more marked impacts on the environment, corresponding to higher levels of tourist pressure. The impact index – (overnight stays/population × 365) × 1000 – reflects the number of tourists present for every 1000 permanent inhabitants. It shows a higher level in some Grecian archipelagos, where tourist flows are particularly concentrated. It can be seen that the higher the values, the higher the socio-cultural impacts triggered by tourism on the traditions and culture of the local population.
3 Strategies for the Development of Sustainable Tourism
[…] Four possible development strategies can be outlined.
The Balearic Islands and the Malta archipelago show considerable tourism pressure with a relatively high occupancy rate. In such cases, it is argued to be inadvisable to increase bed place availability but, rather, that the existing levels of tourism demand should be maintained. If demand was increased by the provision of additional bed places, such a high level of tourism pressure could accelerate the process of decline of these destinations, with resulting negative effects on the environment and the resident communities, thus alternative approaches are needed. In these islands, the possible strategies that emerge are:
- stabilization and/or maintenance of the balance already achieved;
- gradual upgrading of supply but without an increase in tourism pressure;
and
- a generalized, although gradual, shift towards an upmarket segment of customers, through a coherent readjustment of the quality of supply and prices (Knowles and Curtis 1999; Kotler et al., 2006).
In contrast, some smaller-sized archipelagos (micro islands), such as the Flegree and Tremiti Islands, have a high tourism pressure index and a low occupancy rate. This indicates that in these islands, the supply of bed spaces is being underutilized but, despite this, the level of impact is high. In this case, tourism policies aimed at moving towards sustainability should be focused on seasonality reduction, tourism restraint and the upgrading of, but not increasing supply of, tourism.
At present, no Mediterranean islands show low tourism pressure and a medium-to-high bed occupancy rate. This suggests, therefore, that there are no islands in the Mediterranean which are currently suitable for the establishment of new facilities without compromising the environment.
4 Some Considerations on the Tourism Policies of Mediterranean Islands
[…] Cooperation in two dimensions is necessary: the first involves the local actors involved in tourism development, while the second is to be carried out through partnerships among island groups identified as ‘Mediterranean’.
In a situation of continued growing competition within the tourism market, cooperation among islands could be an appropriate instrument of economic and social development, which could offer an integrated product and result in inter-regional tourism among territories. Such partnerships are encouraged by EU cohesion policies aimed at fostering cooperation, thereby increasing competitiveness of weaker regions, which include many of the Mediterranean islands.
In the current situation of growing international competition, which every single island faces, cooperation and partnerships appear to be a particularly logical strategy which could result in the construction of a ‘Mediterranean insular region’. Such an aggregation may guarantee a unique positioning of these islands, strengthening the appeal and distinctiveness of Mediterranean insularity (Cook, 2003)”.
The first joint lecture - in which students were faced with the activities to carry out during and after the reading of the article – was thus followed by a general discussion in which students were invited to comment on the data just examined and to analyse possible different solutions to the problems taken into consideration, as well as possible applications to other tourism contexts.
Students showed to positively react to the experience, as they actively took part in the lesson by providing answers, suggestions or by raising issues of relevance. They used the English language more than they themselves had expected to, thus overcoming the initial feelings of suspicion and shyness about speaking in a group of peers and before teachers.
In order to get a more complete idea of the progress achieved by students, a short test was provided at the end of the academic year, in which students were asked to show the skills they have developed (mainly reading comprehension and writing), which they practised during and after the lectures proposed. The score gained in the test will be considered as part of students’credit.
Further reading material concerning tourism issues was, of course, suggested to students at the end of each lecture.
After the first joint lecture students asked to repeat the experience again soon: which we did on other occasions (dates are mentioned in the introduction) and which we will repeat in the next academic years as well, so that it has now become a consuetudinary aspect of our course in Tourism Studies.
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Cook, S. (2003) Guida Pratica al Benchmark. Come creare un viaggio competitivo. Franco Angeli, Milan.
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INESTUR (Instituto de Estrategia Turistica de las Islas Baleares) (2007) Estudio de Impacto Economico del Turismo sobre la Economia y Empleo en las Baleares. Palma, Majorca.
Kotler, P. Bowen, J., and Makens, J. (2006) Marketing del Turismo. MacGraw-Hill, Milan.
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MacCannell, D. (1989), The Tourist: a new theory of the leisure class, New York, Schocken.
Pagano, N. (2009) Social and Economic Issues, Herbita Editrice, Palermo.
Ruggieri, G. (2011) ‘Tourism in Mediterranean Islands: a Comparative Analysis’, in Island Tourism: Sustainable Perspectives, CAB International, eds J Carlsen, R. Butler.
Sarlo, C., Vellei, A., Luppi, D., (2004) Si viaggiare in Europa e nel Mondo, Gruppo Pinelli, Roma, pp. 180-185.
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