Recreation
Activity 23 - Tourism and outdoor recreation in Scotland
Background for teachers
This activity gives pupils practice in analysing diagrams and graphs and making conclusions from their analyses, as well as enabling pupils to learn about recreation and tourism patterns in Scotland. Pupils first investigate tourism and tourist activities and then outdoor recreation patterns. All of the data for outdoor recreation patterns comes from SNH and most is taken from the Scottish Recreation Survey. This survey is a ten year SNH project that started in 2003 and monitors participation in a range of outdoor recreational activities, amongst other findings.
Curriculum
5-14 Environmental Studies: Society, Science and Technology
Knowledge and understanding- people and place
The human environment: patterns of human activity
Human-physical interactions: developing an understanding of the interaction between people and the Earth’s natural environment: land use
Curriculum for Excellence
This activity will help pupils achieve the four capacities of learning by:
- encouraging enthusiasm and motivation for learning;
- use of literacy and numeracy skills
- making reasoned evaluations, and
- applying critical thinking in new contexts.
Ages
11-14 years
Procedure
Explain to the pupils that the charts and data below illustrate patterns of tourism in Scotland.
Ask the pupils to:
Use the tables of data to draw piecharts for 2) and 4) and a bar chart for 6).
Then look carefully at all six charts. Take each one in turn and write a sentence explaining what the chart shows.
1. Tourists to Scotland 2006
UK Tourists 83%
Overseas Tourists 17%
2. Volume of Tourism in Scotland 2006
UK Visitors
| Purpose of visit | Percentage of visitors |
Holidays |
64 |
Business |
19 |
Visits to friends or relatives |
14 |
Other |
3 |
Overseas Visitors
| Purpose of visit | Percentage of visitors |
Holidays |
45 |
Business |
15 |
Visits to friends or relatives |
32 |
Other |
5 |
3. Value of Tourism in Scotland 2006
UK Visitors
Holiday 65%
Business 26%
Visits to friends & relatives 7%
Other 2%
Overseas Visitors
Holiday 46%
Business 15%
Visits to friends & relatives 24%
Study 9%
Other 6%
4. Transport used to travel to Scotland
UK Tourists 2006
| Mode of transport | Percentage of visitors |
Car |
67 |
Train |
11 |
Coach tour |
5 |
Regular bus/coach |
5 |
Air |
11 |
Other |
6 |
Overseas Tourists 2005
Mode of transport |
Percentage of visitors |
| Air | 76 |
| Sea and tunnel | 24 |
5. Activities of UK visitors to Scotland 2006
Hiking/ Hillwalking/ Rambling/ Other walking 50%
Visiting museums, galleries, heritage centres etc 23%
Shopping 16%
Touring/Sightseeing 14%
Watching performing arts and cinema 8%
Adventure Sports 5%
Golf 3%
Fishing 4%
Cycling 3%
Data source: VisitScotland (2007) Tourism in Scotland 2006.http://www.visitscotland.org/tourism_in_scotland_2006_national.pdf
6. Why visitors come to the Highlands
Visitors to the Highlands were surveyed between May 2002 and April 2003 to find out their main reasons for going to the area.
Main reasons for visiting the Highlands
| Main reason for visiting Highlands | Percentage of visitors |
Scenery/views/unspoilt |
21 |
Been before/knew area |
18 |
Family/friends/connections in area |
12 |
Peace and quiet |
12 |
Like area |
12 |
Never been before |
11 |
Mountains/hills |
8 |
Specific attraction/event |
7 |
Walks/hill walking |
7 |
Wildlife |
6 |
General sightseeing/day out |
5 |
Visitors’ reasons of 5% and higher are shown on the bar chart. The total adds up to more than 100% because some people have more than one main reason for visiting the Highlands.
Look carefully at the bar chart and write a few sentences about what it shows.
Data source: Highlands & Islands Enterprise, The Highland Council, The Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board, VisitScotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and Forest Enterprise (2003) Highlands Visitor Survey Full-year report May 2002 to April 2003. http://www.hie.co.uk/visitor-survey-full-year-2002.htm
Scottish Natural Heritage carried out a recreation survey from July 2004 to June 2005. People living in Scotland were asked about places they had visited in the last four weeks.
The charts and data below illustrate the survey results. Use the tables of data to draw piecharts for 7) and 9) and a bar chart for 11).
Look carefully at the charts. Take the charts in turn and write a sentence explaining what each chart shows.
7.Places people said they visited on their last outdoor trip 2004/05
Places visited on last outdoor trip |
Percentage of visitors |
Town or city |
28 |
Countryside |
56 |
Seaside |
17 |
8. Main type of place they visited in the countryside and seaside 2004/05
Park/open space 32%
Woodland 13%
Beach/cliff 12%
Mountain/hill/moorland 8%
Loch 5%
River/canal 5%
Sea/sea loch 5%
Village 5%
Farmland 4%
Wildlife area 2%
9. Main transport that people used for visits 2004/05
Main transport people used for visits |
Percentage of visitors |
Car/van/minibus |
56 |
On foot |
35 |
Bicycle |
4 |
Public bus |
2 |
Train |
1 |
Private coach |
1 |
10. Peoples’ main activities on most recent visit to outdoors 2004/05
Walking 56%
Family outing 20%
Sightseeing/visiting attractions 5%
Picnicking 11%
Cycling/mountain biking 5%
Fishing 2%
Running/jogging 2%
Golf 2%
NB Percentages add to more than 100% because some peoples’ activities fall into more than one category.
Data source: TNS (2007) Scottish Recreation Survey: annual summary report 2005. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report No. 220 (ROAME No. FO2AA614/4). http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/commissioned_reports/ReportNo220.pdf
11. Walking trends
Three surveys of walking were carried out by Scottish Natural Heritage in 1990, 1995 and 2000. Around 4,600 residents in Scotland were interviewed.
Percentage of Scottish residents who walked at least once a month, 1990-2000
Year |
Percentage of Scottish residents who walked at least once a month |
1990 |
30 |
1995 |
33 |
2000 |
40 |
Look carefully at the bar chart you have drawn and write a sentence about what it shows.
Data sources:
NFO System Three (2000) The walking survey 2000. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report F00ACC08 (unpublished report).
System Three Scotland (1991) A survey of walking in the countryside in Scotland. Scottish Natural Heritage Research Survey and Monitoring Report Number 3.
System Three Scotland (1996) A survey of walking in the countryside in Scotland. Scottish Natural Heritage Research Survey and Monitoring Report Number 11.
12. Mountain recreation
Look carefully at the three graphs below.
Explain the trends shown in each graph.
What do the graphs tell you about mountain recreation in Scotland?
