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Unlock This CourseBefore you can answer scenario questions well, you need to be crystal clear on what sustainable management actually means in a tourism context. It's not just about being "green" it's about keeping a destination working well for tourists, locals and the environment at the same time, now and in the future.
Key Definitions:
In Paper 2, you will almost always be given a scenario involving a real or fictional destination facing a tourism management challenge. Your job is to use your knowledge of sustainable management strategies and apply them to that specific context. Generic answers without application to the scenario will lose marks.
Every sustainable management strategy you discuss should connect back to at least one of these three pillars. Examiners love it when you show you understand the balance between them.
Protecting natural habitats, reducing pollution, managing visitor footfall in fragile ecosystems and conserving biodiversity.
Respecting local culture, preventing displacement of residents, reducing conflict between tourists and communities and maintaining quality of life.
Ensuring tourism income benefits local people, reducing economic leakage, creating long-term jobs and avoiding over-dependence on tourism.
When you read a scenario in the exam, ask yourself: Which pillar is under threat here? A photo of a crowded beach = environmental and social. A graph showing falling local wages = economic. A quote from an angry resident = social. Identifying this quickly helps you target your answer.
You've already seen hard and soft management listed in previous lessons. Now let's go deeper because the exam wants you to evaluate them, not just list them. That means discussing how well they work, who benefits and what the drawbacks are.
Hard management involves physical or legal controls that restrict what tourists can do or where they can go.
Example: The Galápagos Islands (Ecuador) limit the number of tourists who can visit each year and require licensed guides. This protects unique wildlife but has been criticised for making tourism expensive and exclusive.
Soft management uses education, incentives and information to encourage tourists to behave more responsibly without forcing them.
Example: New Zealand's "Tiaki Promise" campaign asks visitors to pledge to care for the country's environment. It's a soft approach it relies on goodwill, but it has raised awareness significantly.
Top-mark answers don't just describe one type of strategy they compare hard and soft approaches, weigh up their effectiveness and reach a supported judgement. For example: "Hard management strategies such as visitor caps are more immediately effective at reducing physical damage, but soft strategies may produce longer-lasting behavioural change."
Costa Rica is one of the world's most celebrated examples of sustainable tourism management. It's a brilliant case study to use in Paper 2 because it shows both the successes and the ongoing challenges of managing a destination sustainably.
Don't just say "Costa Rica is sustainable." Be specific: "Costa Rica has increased forest cover from 21% to over 50% through protected area legislation and ecotourism incentives, demonstrating that hard management strategies can achieve long-term environmental gains though economic leakage remains a challenge." That's the kind of detail that earns top marks.
The Maasai Mara is one of Africa's most famous wildlife reserves, home to the Great Migration. It's an excellent example of how community-based tourism can be used as a sustainable management strategy and the complications that come with it.
The Challenge: Despite tourism income, many Maasai communities feel excluded from decision-making. Large safari companies often take the majority of profits and cultural tourism can lead to the commercialisation and distortion of Maasai traditions a form of social unsustainability.
When a question asks you to assess or evaluate sustainable management strategies, you need a clear framework. Here's one that works brilliantly for Paper 2:
Name it clearly. Is it a visitor cap, a zoning system, an education campaign, a community conservancy?
Which pillar does it support? What specific benefits does it bring with evidence or an example?
Who does it not help? What problems remain? Is it expensive, hard to enforce, or unpopular?
Here's how you might use this framework in a real answer about zoning:
"Zoning is a hard management strategy that divides a destination into areas with different permitted uses for example, separating high-footfall tourist zones from sensitive ecological areas. In the Galápagos Islands, zoning has successfully protected fragile habitats from direct tourist damage. However, zoning can be difficult to enforce in large or remote areas and tourists who stray into restricted zones can cause significant harm. Furthermore, zoning may restrict local communities' access to land they have traditionally used, creating social conflict."
Notice: strategy named ✔, benefit with example ✔, limitation ✔, social dimension ✔. That's a high-quality paragraph.
One of the most important skills in Paper 2 is understanding that different groups of people have different views on how a destination should be managed. The exam often presents conflicting perspectives and you need to show you understand why people disagree.
Imagine a scenario where a government wants to introduce a daily visitor limit of 500 people to a popular national park. Here's how different stakeholders might react:
The best answers acknowledge that sustainable management is rarely a perfect solution it involves trade-offs. Saying "this strategy benefits the environment but may harm local livelihoods" shows real geographical thinking and will push you into the higher mark bands.
Read the scenario below carefully, then work through the questions using everything you've learned in this session.
Palawan is an island province in the Philippines, frequently voted one of the world's most beautiful islands. It is home to the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the Tubbataha Reef Natural Park. Tourism has grown rapidly, with visitor numbers rising from 500,000 in 2010 to over 2.5 million in 2019. Local authorities have introduced a daily visitor limit of 600 people to the underground river and a "green fee" of 200 pesos is charged to all tourists entering El Nido, a popular coastal resort area. However, illegal construction of hotels on protected beaches continues and plastic waste in the ocean has increased significantly. Local fishing communities report declining fish stocks due to tourist boat traffic and reef damage.
Question 1 (2 marks): Using the scenario, describe one environmental problem caused by tourism in Palawan.
💡 Tip: Name the specific problem from the text and add a brief detail. Don't just say "pollution" say what kind and where.
Question 2 (4 marks): Explain two ways in which tourism has created conflict between different stakeholders in Palawan.
💡 Tip: Name two different stakeholder groups and explain the specific conflict each faces. Use the scenario text as evidence.
Question 3 (6 marks): Suggest how the local government in Palawan could manage tourism more sustainably. Use evidence from the scenario and your own knowledge.
💡 Tip: Suggest at least three strategies. For each one, explain what it would achieve AND link it to a specific problem mentioned in the scenario.
Question 4 (8 marks): "Hard management strategies are more effective than soft management strategies in achieving sustainable tourism." Assess this view.
💡 Tip: This is an assess question you must weigh up both sides and reach a judgement. Use named examples from Palawan, Costa Rica, Maasai Mara, or Galápagos to support your points.
Here's a model paragraph to show you the standard expected for 8-mark answers:
"Hard management strategies such as visitor caps and zoning can be highly effective at reducing immediate physical damage to fragile environments. For example, the daily limit of 600 visitors to the Puerto Princesa Underground River in Palawan directly restricts the number of people disturbing the ecosystem. Similarly, in the Galápagos Islands, strict zoning has helped protect unique species from tourist interference. However, hard strategies alone are insufficient in Palawan, illegal hotel construction continues despite regulations, suggesting that enforcement is a major weakness. Soft strategies, such as environmental education campaigns and community involvement in tourism planning, may produce more lasting change by altering tourist and developer behaviour over time. Costa Rica's success in increasing forest cover demonstrates that combining legislation (hard) with community incentives (soft) produces the best outcomes. Therefore, neither approach is sufficient alone the most effective sustainable management uses a combination of both."
Before your exam, make sure you can define and give an example for each of these terms without hesitation: