Tourism has a significant economic and employment impact on the Wellington region, contributing $1.4 billion annually to the economy and providing over 16,000 full-time jobs. However, the large number of domestic and international visitors each year may also cause issues such as increased traffic, pollution, noise, and disruption to residents' everyday lives. This raises the question of whether tourism has been an overall positive or negative influence. To investigate this issue, a research plan would involve stating aims to examine the social and environmental impacts of tourism, generating hypotheses to test, and collecting primary data through methods like interviews, surveys and observations.

1. AS91430
Conduct Geographic Research with Consultation
5 Credits

2. Tourism – Local Impacts and Issues.
 Adds 1.4 billion to Wellington economy each year.
 Estimated to provide over 16’000 full time jobs for the
region.
 DomesticTourists provide $1.5 million a day to the
region.
 3.8 million domestic visitors each year.
 4.3 million international visitors each year.
 So all these visitors must have an impact on the region!

3. Possible Impacts/Issues
 Transport crowding?
 Extra rubbish/sewage/pollution produced?
 Impact of local people? Noise/drinking/disruption?
 Dilution of traditional way of life?
 Intrusion into everyday work/life?
 Gain extra facilities built for tourists?
 More money to spend on local infrastructure?
 Sharing of cultures?
 Damage to local ecology/wildlife?

4. Producing a research plan.
YourTopic
Devise a plan of investigation
Gather and process relevant information
Put the report together

5. 1. State a Geographical problem or issue.
 This is where you refine your ideas into a question or
statement which you feel you could investigate
successfully.
 Posing a question is usually a more interesting approach
than making a statement. It is quite acceptable, for
example, to state your topic as “A study of the
distribution of the residences of year 12 students for this
school and the explanation of this pattern”, but the
question “Where do students inYear 12 live and what
influences this pattern?” is more appealing and makes it
easier to put in suggested answers or hypothesis.

6. Possible geographical issues.
 Has Tourism been a positive influence on the Wellington
Region?
 Has Tourism been a negative influence on theWellington
Region?
 What impact hasTourism had on the environment in the
Wellington region?
 What social impact hasTourism had on theWellington
Region?
 Does the Wellington Region benefit from the Tourism
Industry?

7. 2. Justify your choice of topic.
 You may be required to explain why you chose your
particular topic.
 Is it an area that particularly interests you?
 Link the topic to a particular geographical concept
(change, location, accessibility, distance, perception,
process….)

8. 3. Select the aims.
 The aims expand on the geographical problem or issue
stated in step 1.
 For example the aims of the topic “Where do students in
year 12 live and what influences this pattern?” are to
discover:
 Aim 1 :Where do students inYear 12 live?
 Aim 2 : Do students inYear 12 come from similar socio-
economic backgrounds?
 Aim 3 : Does the availability of transport influence their
enrolment at this particular school?

9. 4. State the hypothesis.
 Hypothesis are expected answers to the questions stated
in the aims and will be based on your observations and
experience. (They are only calculated guesses at this stage
– they may be wrong)
 They are what you expect to find!
 E.g.
 Hypothesis 1:The year 12 students will come from the
northern suburbs.
 Hypothesis 2:The northern suburbs house mainly middle
income families.

10. Devise a plan of investigation!
 How are you going to find the answers to the questions?
 You must use Primary Data (information you collect!)
 This can be collected from interviews, local government records,
personal observation and measurement.
 You can also use Secondary Data = information someone else has
collected.
 Examples of Primary Data
 Questionnaires
 Land-use surveys
 Observing pedestrian and traffic flows
 Requests for information from local and national government.
 Photographs
 Environmental surveys