Tourists Visiting the Bulgarian Coastal Resorts Sunny Beach - Research Paper Example

Candi Sandro Medzmariashvili Candi number: 000684-030 Geography Session: May Internal Assessment Do older tourists visiting Bulgarian (Sunny Beach) coastal resorts participate in more varied activities than their younger counterparts do? Content Page Topic question (cover page) 1 Introduction 3 Hypothesis 5 Aim of study 5 Methods of investigation 5-15 Results of the study 16 Appendix 17 Work cited 18 Introduction A group five geography student sought to conduct a research on activities taking place in the Bulgarian coastal resorts Sunny Beach. The topic question seeks to show a correlation that exists between elderly people and young people participating in varied activities in costal areas, specifically Sunny Beach. Moreover, it highlights important details that show how gender influence influences these activities. Bulgarian coastal beach is famous for its tourist activities, which has influenced demography, distribution of shelter and economic development. The map in Figure 1 indicates distribution of shelter in the coastal region. It is apparent from the map that most of the houses shown are hotels which sites major geographical activity taking place in the coastal beach. Figure 1: Map of Sunny Beach showing places of accommodation and seaside. Sunny beach has is full of varied facilities like shopping malls, aqua parks, swimming pools, parks, hotels, and pedestrian roads. These facilities provide social amenities to the visiting tourists. While working on our primary research in Sunny Beach, the research identified many activities that people do there e.g. water skiing, swimming, wakeboarding, spa in recreational facilities like hotels, shopping, cycling, working out in fitness center, among others. A team of five student researchers conducted the research on 12 and 13 January 2012. The researching student team did a survey using questionnaires, tabulated the collected data, and made their observation for the research. Figure 2: Climatic factors usually influence tourism activities. Usually, tourist like going for summer holidays, taking a break from adverse weather conditions back in their homeland. The location of Sunny Beach on the Bulgarian map (Figure 2) indicates that it is on the eastern part of Bulgaria, which is a coast of western side of the Black sea. The map shows a strategic location for Sunny Beach because it boarders countries like Greece, Turkey, and Russia etc. Moreover, it is very important to look at price range in Sunny beach in Bulgaria. Many tourists find the prices competitive and would wish to leverage on the low prices compared to other black sea resorts like Varna, Bodrumq, Batumi and, Sochi among others. Hypothesis: a) Elderly people (tourists) participate in many activities than younger people do. The primary focus is the amount of activities not how intensively they do it. b) Male tourists participate in more activities than female tourists do. c) Most tourists visiting Sunny Beach are below sixty five years Aim: The aim was to evaluate the hypothesis with a focus on the topic of the field study. Further, to relate the research report with geographical aspects such as demographic distribution, climatic conditions, and tourism. Methods of investigation: A team of five students interviewed various tourists in various hotels along the Sunny Beach. The intention of the field study was to evaluate the participation of tourists in various activities. This method of investigation gave us primary information, which reflects the real picture of events taking place in the Sunny Beach. The information collected would help in evaluating the hypothesis of the study. Questionnaire development: Factors such as objective of research, uniformity of the data, population of the research area, area of study (study topics), and time influenced the choice of study method (Jackson 59). In order to come up with uniform study, the five students researching decided to use a questionnaire. Questionnaires provides object questions of the study, saves time and provides a standardize result. This makes the data collected easy to tabulate and process. (See questionnaire in appendix) Approach of study: The students segmented the Sunny Beach into five segments before conducting the research. The aim of segmentation was to collect any necessary information from various part of the study area. The use of questionnaire made it easy for the student to reach as many people as possible. Data processing: After gathering data from various segments of the Sunny Beach, the student researching team presented their information in a central sampling point in order process the raw data. Centralization of the data collected provided a room for comparison using statistical methods of data presentation. The team used a systematic sampling of the data collected in the questionnaires. The reason for systematic sampling was to come up with uniform data. The following tables show a result of data sampling. Fig 3 Male Local / Bulgarian Fig 4 Female local / Bulgarian Fig 5 Male international Activity Age 10-18 19-25 26-40 40-55 56-64 65+ Total 1 1,66 0,3125 1,346 1,368 1,286 2,466 1,371 2 2,0 2,125 2,192 1,842 2,0 1,66 1,989 3 1,5 0,438 1,077 1,211 0,857 1,733 1,124 4 2,166 2,188 2,385 1,947 2,429 1,80 2,169 5 2.33 2,5 2,538 2,263 2,429 1,6 2,37 6 2,0 2,438 1,577 1,263 1,0 0,6 1,506 7 1,0 1,625 1,692 2,0 1,857 1,866 1,742 8 0,5 1,31 1,538 1,105 1,286 0,866 1,202 9 1,0 0,813 1,154 0,632 1,143 0,266 0,82 10 0,5 0,188 0,231 0,316 0,571 0,466 0,326 11 1,166 0,563 0,577 0,632 1,0 1,466 0,809 Mean: 1.4 1,4 1.4 1,2 1.4 1,3 Fig 6 Female international Activity Age 10-18 19-25 26-40 40-55 56-64 65+ Total 1 1,16 0,4 2,0 1,69 2,14 2,38 1,56 2 2,3 2,2 2,32 2,19 2,29 1,77 2,19 3 1,0 0,45 1,21 1,25 1,71 0,92 1,05 4 2,66 2,3 2,47 2,0 2,14 2,23 2,38 5 2,66 2,45 2,63 2,63 2,72 2,38 2,58 6 2,0 2,6 1,79 0,75 0,143 0,462 1,4 7 2,5 1,65 2,0 1,63 1,86 1,85 1,81 8 2,0 1,6 1,26 0,625 1,71 0,53 1,2 9 1,3 0,9 1,05 0,813 0,145 0 0,7 10 0,6 0,15 0,158 0,313 0,286 0,077 0,264 11 1,33 0,9 0,842 1,0 2,29 1,38 1,29 Mean: 1.6 1.3 1.5 1.2 1.4 1.1 The data collected was raw and the students working collectively in a central data sampling point, used data sampling technique to process the data. The statistical technique applied in data sampling included mean and median. It is observable that after the 12th row there are averages of each line. It gives us an opportunity to see major differences between each age and activity helps us to evaluate our numerical data. The formula applied to find the mean was: From the data, international tourists have only 11 rows thus necessitating separate observation from local Bulgarians. It appears that local Bulgarians were doing more specific verities of activities that are calculated in row 12 and international ones just outlined activities that were given in the form. After calculating the mean value using the raw data, the team developed a processed data table. Data processed: Table 1) Male / local Bulgarians and Female / local Bulgarians activities mean data: Age Groups 10-18 19-25 26-40 41-55 56-64 65+ Male average values 1.23 1.29 1.64 1.79 1.08 Female average values 1.5 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.7 As one can notice local male average value does not exist in an age group of 10-18, we might suggest several reasons for that. Perhaps the culture of the people has an influence on the age visiting the beach. In addition, teenagers have nothing to do in Sunny Beach because it is a location for tourists. It might be that age group of 10-18 did not participate in our primary research. Another observation is that Sunny Beach is not so popular for that aged local Bulgarians thus one would assume that the rest of the age groups are more likely to be employers and employees working in various hotels. In order to see the difference between local Bulgarians doing activities, student-researching team drew a scatter plot using the processed figures to see the correlation between age and activities (Chapman & Mcneil 123). Male / local Bulgarian Graph 1: It is observable from Graph 1 that the blue line represents activities so does the vertical axes in terms of variety of activities and horizontal axis represent age. It is observable that biggest range of activities are done by males that are in age group from 50-60, therefore one can suggest that in local male Bulgarians elderly people do more variety of activities than teenagers. Graphical representation enables further analysis of the research findings (Hay 15). Female local Bulgarians Graph 2: As illustrated on the graph 2, one can see that local female Bulgarians have similar results, but overall female Bulgarians have higher averages than males. This might be because of the culture, thus female counter parts do not work a lot in Bulgarian families (McBurney & White 256). It is more likely to see male workers than female ones. This might be the reason for the outcome that females have more time for outdoor activities. Overall, younger counterparts do not participate in more verity of activities that elderly people, neither by female nor by male. Next step was to gather the numerical mean data of international tourist and create the same kind of structure to see the differences better. Table 2) Male and female international tourist activities mean data: Age groups 10-18 19-25 26-40 41-55 56-64 65+ Male average 1,4 1,4 1,4 1,2 1,4 1,3 Female average 1,6 1,3 1,5 1,2 1,4 1,1 Compilation of raw data of international tourists led to the formation of male and female international tourist tables. Analyzing international tourist data, it is evident that it had data in every age group. This shows that Sunny Beach is full of tourists in every age, which is an indication that Sunny Beach has attractions for every kind of tourist. The compiled data in table 2 provided information used to draw a graph as shown in graph 3 and 4. The same process applied in analyzing correlation between age and activities. International Tourist: Male international tourists Graph 3: From graph 3, it is evident that international tourists have higher averages of young tourists. It is also evident that age of 50 has a higher average compared to local Bulgarians, than one will see that younger counter parts are more active than elderly ones in this case. It is apparent from the research that a number of young international tourists take part in activities in Sunny beach than their counterparts. Female International tourist Graph 4: Analyzing the above graph one clearly notices that since we saw differences and start comparing international tourists with local Bulgarian there are quite a few gaps in between them. It is also observable that by female international tourists younger counter parts are having higher average of activities than old ones. Moreover, in this graph we can also see a decline most activities conducted by female (Clifford & Valentine 122). Results of the research: The findings of the research approve the hypothesis male tourists take part in many activities than their female counterpart. This is likely to suggest the role of gender in participation in various activities. It might also suggest the influence of culture in performance of activities in Sunny Beach. Research on people visiting Sunny Beach shows that local young Bulgarian men, age 10-18, do not take part in beach activities. This is likely to suggest that culture has an influence on tourism. Arguing from the research findings it is evident that Sunny Beach does not have residential areas for local Bulgarian. It is also probable that Bulgarian found on the Sunny Beach work as employees as evident by their numbers. Another finding of this research is that international tourists of all age brackets take part in activities of the research. This is likely to suggest that the international tourists interviewed are on vocation. The test on hypothesis older people take part in many activities is false suggesting that age factor influences various activities that one is likely to do in the Sunny Beach. In conclusion, tourism is an activity that has an influence on demography, urbanization, and employment of people in Sunny Beach. Largely, tourism sector employs many Bulgarians. It is apparent that Bulgarian Sunny Beach attracts various tourists of a wide age range. The international tourists have low number of activities suggesting cultural differences owing to their geographical distribution. Appendix Questionnaire in PDF format attached Work cited Chapman, Steve & Mcneill, Patrick. Research Methods: Third Edition. London: Routledge. Clifford, Nicholas & Valentine, Gill. Key Methods in Geography. London: SAGE. 2010. Print. Figure 1 (map of Sunny Beach) http://www.visittobulgaria.com/visit/maps/SUNNY_BEACH_map.jpg Figure 2 (map of Bulgaria) http://www.visittobulgaria.com/visit/maps Hay, Iain. Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2010. Print. Jackson, L. Sherri. Research Methods: A Modular Approach. New York: Cengage Learning. 2010. Print. McBurney, H. Donald & White, L. Theresa. Research Methods. New York: Cengage Learning. Read More