“Spring Tourism” Experience. This assignment requires students to visit and to write about their experience at a “major special event” or visit to a “key tourist attraction”. This assignment provides students the opportunity to assess a “tourist” experience from a variety of perspectives. This paper must include an introduction. It must also include a description of all relevant details associated with the “tourist” experience. This description should include where and when your experience took place and and who accompanied you, how you traveled to the “event or “attraction”. It should also include an overview of what you did before and after the event or the visit to the attraction or event. It should conclude with an overview of what you learned from completing this assignment. The assignment should make use of headings and sub-headings for all relevant sections. This assignment should follow the same procedures as all other writing assignments prepared for this course (i.e., proofread and contact information of proofreader. Students are required to prepare a 6-8 page paper on a computer). You can choose to complete one of the following two options:
Option 1: Tourism Experience: This assessment of a “key tourist attraction” or a “major special event” requires the systematic collection of information about the entire experience from beginning to end. Your assessment must include the following components: (1) information search, and (2) an assessment from two perspectives.
Information Search. The goal of the section is to collect information on a specific “key tourist attraction” or a “major special event”. Your paper should identify the source and describe the information obtained. You should use the following sources of information to complete your review and make your make your decision.
Personal Experience (i.e., What does your personal experience tell you about the special event or the tourist attraction? Have you had prior experiences with the event or attraction or a similar experience and recollections from other tourist experiences?).
Evaluation of the Event or Attraction’s Web Site (i.e., How easy was it to find the WEB Site? How easy was it to navigate the WEB site? What was most useful in learning about the event or attraction? How would you rate the quality and quantity of information on the Web Site? What did you learn about the experience? Was the web site visually stimulating? How did the images make you feel? How would you rate the quality and quantity of information? What information was missing?)
Personal Interviews with three Different Audiences (e.g. college students, parents, friends, co-workers, other tourists, employees, volunteers, etc.). These sources of information will help you learn about what other people think about the event or attraction. Their opinions/comments can be based on prior experience, word of mouth, and/or personal opinions.
A view from Two Perspectives. This part of the assignment involves considering the event or attraction that you chose to attend from two perspectives (at least two or three paragraphs on each perspective).
The perspective of a student/traveler completing a class assignment. This bulleted section should include your personal perspective (i.e., what did you expect? What was the reality?). This section should include an overall evaluation of your level of satisfaction with your experience describing why they feel you feel that way. This section should also include your suggestions for improving the both quality of the “attraction” or “special event” experience and the quality of this assignment.
The perspective of the Owner/Manager of the Attraction or manager of the special Event. This bulleted section written from the perspective of the owner/manager of the attraction or event (e.g., what would be your goals for the business/event if you were responsible? What would be your greatest challenges and concerns if you owned the company? What would be the best part of owning this business? The worst part? What would you do to improve your business? Why?).