The big idea: Tourism and sport facilities are not placed at random. Their location is decided by a mix of physical and human factors.
Two kinds of location factor
- Physical factors: relief, climate, scenery, water.
- Human factors: accessibility, land cost, population, investment.
Site and situation
- Site — the actual ground a facility sits on.
- Situation — where it stands relative to roads, cities and markets.
- A stadium needs a flat, cheap site and a well-connected situation.
- A ski resort needs snow-covered slopes and access for visitors.
Develop, don't list: In the exam you must name a factor and develop why it matters — not just list.
Key terms for locating facilities
- Site — the physical ground a facility occupies (flat land, snow slopes, a coast, a river).
- Situation — its position relative to roads, cities, airports and the people it serves.
- Accessibility — how easily visitors can reach it (roads, rail, airports, car parking).
- Carrying capacity — the number of visitors a site can take before quality or environment suffers.
- Honeypot / hotspot — a place that attracts very large numbers of tourists into a small area.
- Multiplier effect — visitor spending that creates jobs and draws further investment to a place.
Physical sets the scene, human builds on it: Physical factors create the original pull — mountains for skiing, a warm coast for beaches, lakes and scenery for the countryside.
Human factors then decide whether it grows — accessibility, investment, marketing and cheap land turn natural potential into a built-up destination.
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How this is tested: The figure here is usually a bar chart or table of visitor numbers for a few named destinations or facilities.
The short data parts
- First read the value off the axis.
- Identify the busiest place, or Estimate an arrivals figure from the chart.
The written follow-up: Outline [2]
- Name one location factor (physical or human).
- Develop how it shapes a stadium, resort, festival or leisure complex.
- One mark for the factor, one for the development, tied to that facility.
Read the axis first. Which destination is busiest, and roughly how many visitors does it take?
Interactive diagram
Explore the labelled diagram, charts and maps for this topic in full study mode.
IB-style questionDescribe[2 marks]
Using the chart, identify the busiest destination and estimate how many visitors it receives.
Model answer plan
See the answer broken into clear points, with guidance on how each point earns marks.
Site/situation factors for tourism and sport facilities
| Facility | Key location factors | Advantage of a good site | Disadvantage / risk | Real example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sports stadium | Flat cheap land, accessibility, parking, away from homes | Easy access for big crowds; room to expand | Noise + traffic anger nearby residents | London 2012 Olympic Park (Stratford) |
| Music festival | Large open site, water + waste provision, road access, not too close to housing | Space for tens of thousands; fewer noise complaints | Mud/flooding on poor relief; access jams | Glastonbury (Somerset farmland) |
| Beach / city resort | Warm climate, coast or culture, hotels, airport links | Strong natural pull + repeat visitors | Overcrowding erodes the very thing tourists came for | Venice (lagoon city) |
| Ski resort | High snow-reliable slopes, relief, lift access, alpine scenery | A long season + dramatic scenery | Warmer winters and avalanche risk cut visitor numbers | Chamonix (French Alps) |
| Countryside / national park | Scenery, lakes, walking trails, near big cities | Honeypot pull for day-trippers and walkers | Footpath erosion + congestion at peak times | The Lake District (Cumbria) |
Name a factor, then DEVELOP it: An Outline [2] never scores full marks from a one-word factor. Add the so what: flat land (1) -> cheap to build on and easy to lay out a pitch and stands (1). The development mark is the link from the factor to the facility.
IB-style questionOutline[2 marks]
Using the table, give one factor that affects where a sports stadium is built, and develop why it matters.
Model answer plan
See the answer broken into clear points, with guidance on how each point earns marks.
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Each facility weighs its factors differently. To explain or suggest a location, name the dominant factor for that facility and trace how it works.
Two contrasting facilities
- A ski resort lives or dies on physical snow reliability.
- A stadium depends on human accessibility and land cost.
Physical factors that attract tourism
- Relief and snow — high alpine slopes give Chamonix a long, reliable ski season.
- Climate — warm, dry summers draw beach tourists to Mediterranean coasts.
- Scenery and water — the Lake District's mountains and lakes pull millions of walkers and day-trippers.
- Carrying capacity — a large flat site (Glastonbury's farmland) lets a festival host huge crowds.
Human factors that grow tourism
- Accessibility — Stratford's rail and Tube links let London 2012 move millions to the Olympic Park.
- Investment — Dubai built artificial islands, malls and airports to manufacture a desert tourism hotspot.
- Marketing and image — a famous brand or event keeps visitors returning year after year.
- Land cost — cheaper edge-of-city or rural land lets stadiums and festivals find the space they need.
Case studies: London 2012 and Venice: London 2012 (Stratford) — a cheap, derelict, well-connected brownfield site was regenerated for the Olympic Park; accessibility (rail/Tube) and land availability were the deciding human factors.
Venice — a lagoon city whose physical site and cultural pull made it a honeypot; success now overwhelms its tiny carrying capacity (overtourism).
Case studies: Dubai and the Lake District
Dubai — almost no physical attraction, so investment (islands, malls, airport hub) and marketing built a tourism hotspot from human factors alone.
The Lake District — scenery and lakes near big northern cities make it a classic countryside honeypot, with footpath erosion at peak times.
IB-style questionSuggest[2 marks]
A ski resort in the Alps saw its winter visitor numbers fall. Suggest one physical factor that could explain this fall and develop how it reduces visitors.
Model answer plan
See the answer broken into clear points, with guidance on how each point earns marks.
Match the factor to the command: If the question asks for a physical factor, do not answer with a human one (price, advertising) — and vice versa. Read the wording, then anchor your factor to a named place for top marks.
Resources, spheres of influence and a national league
- Primary touristic resources — what a place has naturally or historically: scenery, climate, beaches, wildlife, heritage. Secondary resources — what is built for visitors: hotels, transport, attractions, events.
- Sphere of influence — the area a facility draws users from. Low-order facilities (a neighbourhood park or gym) have a small sphere; a city stadium draws a region; a national park or a famous stadium draws visitors from around the world.
- A national sports league: the English Premier League — 20 clubs, with a cluster in London and the north-west, mostly in large cities that can support big crowds; promotion and relegation change the map each season; global TV gives the biggest clubs supporters worldwide.
Case study: the English Premier League: Hierarchy — the Premier League (20 clubs) sits at the top of a pyramid: the Championship, League One and League Two below it, then the National League and many regional leagues. Each season three clubs are relegated and three promoted, so the map of top-flight clubs changes every year.
Where the clubs are — clustered in London (often six or more clubs) and the north-west (Manchester, Liverpool), the old industrial cities whose large, dense populations founded and still fill the stadiums.
Supporters — local fans live within the club's home area, but TV rights sold to around 190 countries give the biggest clubs supporters across Asia, Africa and North America who rarely attend a match.
Case study: a rural festival, Glastonbury (Somerset, England): Site — Worthy Farm in Pilton, a dairy farm whose large, gently sloping fields hold a temporary town of about 200,000 people for five days each June.
Situation — reachable from Bristol and London by road and by special coach and rail links, but in a quiet rural area.
Benefits
- Income for local businesses and farms; jobs before and during the event
- Millions raised for charities such as Oxfam, Greenpeace and WaterAid
- National and global media attention
Costs and how they are managed
- Traffic jams on narrow lanes: managed with shuttle buses and timed car parking
- Litter and waste: a recycling crew and, since 2019, no sales of single-use plastic bottles
- Wear on the fields: a fallow year roughly every five years lets the land recover
How this is tested — the [10] Examine essay: Paper 1 Option E ends with a 10-mark Examine/Discuss essay, marked on markbands.
Recurring versions
- Why some rural areas attract leisure (physical AND human reasons).
- The advantages and disadvantages of a festival's site.
- The relative importance of human versus physical factors in growing a tourism hotspot.
What the top band needs
- Accurate terms.
- Named case studies.
- A balanced two-sided treatment.
- A justified conclusion that weighs the factors.
Examples matter: An inappropriate or missing example is capped low.
IB-style questionExamine[10 marks]
Examine the relative importance of human and physical factors in causing a tourism hotspot to grow.
Model answer plan
See the answer broken into clear points, with guidance on how each point earns marks.
Markband marks: (1) Develop both sides (physical AND human, or advantages AND disadvantages). (2) Anchor each to a named real place. (3) End on an explicit judgement that answers the command — which factor matters most, and how they interact.