Travel Itinerary Term Project Guidelines
Please read the following very carefully. There are several important details to which you will need to pay close attention – don’t let them fall through the cracks and result in a reduced grade! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to post it on the Chat Room.
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to research an area of the world that interests you as a travel destination. This should be an area where you have never traveled but where you would like to travel in the future selected amongst the options presented to you below. Your trip cannot be a cruise, a package tour, or an all-inclusive resort. Your trip should also make every effort to use local business (accommodations, restaurants, tour guides) etc. so that your trip will be bring benefits to the local economy and provide you with a more authentic experience. You will also want to do some initial research to make sure you select a destination in which information is easily accessible.
Your travel destination must be selected from the following list:
Thailand
Please try to limit your paper to twelve pages of actual text. The paper must be double-spaced and written in twelve point type with standard margins. The page limitation does not include the cover page, a reference page, photos and other artwork, or any attachments you would like to include. The specific itinerary is included in the twelve page limitation – it may be single-spaced. I am not hard-and-fast on the page limit, but it does need to be in the vicinity of twelve pages.
You must reference ALL of the sources of your information. An APA guideline is posted on the Scholar site. Sources can include the internet, guidebooks, history books, interviews with people who have visited your chosen location or any other pertinent source except travel agents and Wikipedia. However, ALL sources must be referenced. Put all references in separate section at the end of your paper and also refer to them in the text by putting the author or authors’ names in parentheses after the information you have sited. I expect citations after each sentence or two that is not your own thoughts.
IN TEXT EXAMPLES
For example a citation might look like this:
1) Turkish airlines is the best choice for flight between Istanbul and Izmir (Gursoy and McCleary, 2001).
2) The phenomenon of volunteer tourism is not without controversy (McGehee, 2012).
3) Rick Steves’ guidebook mentions that men are not allowed to wear shorts when visiting churches in Italy (Steves, 2011).
4) The Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Act of Botswana make it illegal to possess or remove from Botswana without a government permit any living or dead animal or animal trophy (Bureau of Consular Affairs, 1995).
The full reference would then appear in the reference section of your paper and might look like this:
Gursoy, D. and McCleary, K. (2001). “Internal Transportation in Turkey.” Journal of Safe Transportation, 12 (1) 67-89.
McGehee, N.G. (2012). “Oppression, emancipation, and volunteer tourism.” Annals of Tourism Research, 39:1,84-107.
Bureau of Consular Affairs. (1995). Botswana: Country Specific Information. Retrieved July 23, 2013 from http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1071.html
I expect the following sections to have many references (Area History and Customs, Tourist Attractions, Overview of Tourism Development, and Currency/Visa Requirements).
*The detailed itinerary does not need to have the references displayed within the itinerary, but they do need to be included in the References section.
Failure to reference your work within the body of your paper will result in a substantial reduction in grade and possible honor code violations.
Paper Format and Outline
Use the following headings in the paper, in bold font:
1) Introduction
2) Area History and Customs
3) Tourist Attractions
4) Overview of Tourism Development
5) Currency/Visa Requirements
6) Itinerary (followed by a day-to-day outline)
7) Total Cost of Vacation
8) References (separate page)
1. Make an attractive cover page (this is in addition to the twelve page limit). It must include the name of your destination, your name, the name of the course and the date. Also include a picture that represents your destination. The picture does not have to be in color and may be downloaded from the Internet if referenced. The cover page is the first impression I have of your paper, so make sure you follow the instructions (5%).
2. Introductory paragraph. The paragraph should tell what the paper is about. You should include the travel destination, and the trip type or purpose. The trip type or purpose is very important as your itinerary will need to reflect this. For example, if you decide that the purpose of the trip is adventure travel for a pair of recent college graduates, group tours and museum visits would not be appropriate. Be creative here and paint a picture for me of why you want to travel here (5%).
3. Provide a brief history of the area. Also include any customs or laws in which a tourist should be aware (e.g. the need to cover arms and legs in a temple, penalty for buying black market currency). This should be about 1-2 pages. Make sure to reference your work (10%).
4. Provide some information about why one would want to travel to the area. What is there to do? What are the major attractions of the country? National parks? Museums? Entertainment? Also about 1 page. (10%).
5. Give an overview regarding the state of tourism development in the area. This one of the most important sections. How much of the economy is based upon tourism? How many visitors are there each year? This section should also include the level of infrastructure (roads, information technology, drinking water, etc.), tourism superstructure (accommodations, restaurants, entertainment), and carrying capacity (amount of tourists the region can handle before the quality of the resources are degraded). Make sure to look up these terms in the book and understand their meaning. Are there any negatives associated with the area, for example, high crime, poor transportation structure, possible war, disease, etc.? What are the positives of the area? Spend some time here and really do your research – this could be as much as two pages. Also make sure to reference your work (10%).
6. Discuss the currency and visa requirements. What is the currency? What is the exchange rate in US dollars? What are the visa requirements? Make sure you provide references (5%).
7. Provide a detailed itinerary, along with costs. This will be the major part of the paper and must include all transportation linkages (airlines, railroad, taxis, rental cars, walking) and their costs. The itinerary should provide a 10 day vacation including travel time to and from your destination. On each day, list specific activities in which you will engage, specifically where you will eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and where you will spend the night (specific hotel or other form of accommodation). Each activity should include the cost. If you cannot find the exact cost, make an educated estimate based on similar activities. The itinerary should include a variety of sight-seeing options and activities, and should not simply repeat the same activities day after day (eg “going to the beach” from 10-5 every day). This is best presented and easiest for the instructor to read in a bullet-point format as opposed to paragraph format (30%).
8. Give the total cost for the trip in both US dollars and in the currency of the country broken down into the following categories (transportation, accommodation, food and drinks, entertainment, souvenirs, and ‘other’) (5%).
9. Include a reference page using the APA guidelines (not included in the 10 page limit) (10%).
10. Ten percent of your grade is based upon following instructions, proper grammar and spelling and the overall quality of your project (10%).
11. If you make a concerted effort to research and use local businesses in your itinerary (accommodation, restaurants, attractions, transportation) and indicate how you kept your carbon footprint small (Not sure what that is? Look it up!) by using mass transit, keeping water use to a minimum, recycling, and reusing (eg carrying your own water bottle instead of buying plastic, traveling light, etc.), you have the opportunity to garner as much as an extra 5% for your paper. Here are a couple url’s to get you started:
http://www.travelcarecode.org/
Other Requirements and Reminders:
The paper must be typed, well-organized and free from spelling and grammatical errors.
A proper reference section must be included. Use APA format.
Remember to choose a destination from the list to which you have never visited!
Be sure to reference Internet sources completely and in an approved format.
Make sure that your itinerary is feasible and considers distances and time.
