Season Dial

Season Dial: location, weather and seasonality in travel and tourism

This free game is part of our Cambridge iGCSE Travel & Tourism (0471) course for exams in EXAM YEARS 2027-2029.

Weather, climate and climate zones

In the Cambridge IGCSE Travel and Tourism (0471) course, weather is the day-to-day conditions, such as sun, rain, wind and temperature. Climate is the average weather of a place over a long period, usually 30 years or more. Both decide where tourists go, and when.

In Round 1 of the game, Climate Detective, you read climate graphs (rainfall as bars, temperature as a line) and name the climate zone:

• Mediterranean: hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters, as in Málaga and Athens. These places suit summer beach tourism.
• Tropical: warm all year, with a wet and a dry season, as in Barbados and Phuket. Peak tourism falls in the dry season.
• Alpine and polar: cold, with heavy winter snow, as in Chamonix and Tromsø. These places attract winter sports and Northern Lights tourism, plus summer adventure tourism.

Location matters too. Coastal resorts depend heavily on the weather, mountain resorts can have two seasons, and cities are the least weather-dependent because they offer culture, shopping and business. Good accessibility, such as an airport or motorway nearby, brings more visitors.

Peak, shoulder and off-peak seasons

Seasonality is the way tourist numbers rise and fall through the year, usually because of the weather or school holidays. In Round 2, Peak or Off-Peak?, the dial spins to a month at one of four destinations and you call the season:

• Peak: the busiest and most expensive time, such as July and August on the Costa del Sol.
• Shoulder: in between, with decent weather, fewer crowds and better value, such as May or October on the Costa del Sol.
• Off-peak: the quietest and cheapest time, when some businesses close, such as September in Barbados during hurricane season.

The same month can be peak in one place and off-peak in another. February is peak in Barbados and Chamonix but off-peak on the Costa del Sol. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November and peaks in September.

The problems of seasonality and how to fix them

Seasonality causes economic instability (seasonal jobs), environmental pressure in peak season, infrastructure strain and price spikes. In Round 3, Beat the Off-Season, you name the strategy each destination uses to fill its quiet months:

• Events and festivals: Barbados's Crop Over festival brings visitors in July and August.
• Price incentives: Caribbean flights can be 20 to 40% cheaper in hurricane season.
• New markets: retired couples from northern Europe spend the mild winter on the Costa del Sol.
• New attractions: indoor attractions such as the Museo Picasso Málaga work in any weather.
• Business tourism: Málaga's FYCMA congress centre hosts conferences all year round.

Two case studies finish the round. Iceland turned winter into a second peak by marketing the Northern Lights, hot springs and ice caves, and visitors rose from about 460,000 in 2010 to 2.3 million in 2018. Chamonix has dual seasonality: skiing from December to April and hiking from June to September.

Exam tips

• Learn the difference between weather and climate, and use "30 years or more" in your definition of climate.
• Link each climate zone to when it peaks and why, for example a tropical island peaks in the dry season when it is cold in Europe.
• For "explain two ways a destination could reduce the problems caused by seasonality", identify each strategy and explain how it helps, with a named example. The game ends with a model answer to this 4-mark question.
• Have a case study ready, such as Iceland or Chamonix, with a fact or figure.