29.+Beautiful+places,+smiling+faces!+Tourism+in+South+America.+(3.01)

29. Beautiful places, smiling faces! Tourism in South America. (3.01)

For this activity, I’d like to give a brief overview of some of the major tourist regions for the class, probably in the form of a brief Powerpoint Presentation with guided notes. Then, I’d arrange students into small groups based on varying ability levels and assign a group project. Each group would have to decide on a particular city, region, country, etc and research its tourism industry. Groups would be responsible for discovering how much revenue is generated by the tourism industry in their area, places to stay, recreational activities, any historical significance, as well as calculating an estimated “7 day package!” trip cost. They would compile their research onto a visual display and be responsible for creating either a brochure, or a mailer that acts as an advertisement for their area. Students would be given a few days to complete the activity, and on the last day the classroom could be set up as a travel agency and students can tour give brief presentations (“sales pitches”) of their findings. At the end, as a class we’d discuss the effects of tourism on the economies of South America, as well as what factors are effecting tourism now (global warming, hurricanes, oil spills, etc).