2014 Notes from the Marking Centre – Tourism and Events
Introduction
This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Tourism and Events course. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2014 Higher School Certificate examination, highlighting their strengths in particular parts of the examination and indicating where candidates need to improve.
This document should be read along with:
- the Tourism and Events Curriculum Framework Stage 6 Syllabus
- the 2014 Higher School Certificate Tourism and Events examination
- the marking guidelines
- Advice for students sitting for HSC VET examinations
- Advice for HSC students about examinations
- other support documents developed by the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW to assist in the teaching and learning of Tourism and Events in Stage 6.
Section II
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- knowing the difference between colleagues and customers (Q.16 (a))
- identifying the environmental responsibilities of tourism and events staff (Q.17)
- outlining practices that would breach health, safety and security procedures in a tourism and events workplace (Q.18)
- describing both organisational and individual strategies that can be used to overcome cross-cultural misunderstanding (Q.19)
- using both tourism and event examples
- identifying a variety of online tourism and event products (Q.21 (b))
- supporting responses with relevant tourism and event examples.
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- providing examples of empathy (Q.16 (b))
- knowing the difference between environment sustainability and work health and safety issues (Q.18)
- increasing their knowledge of destinational geography of Australia (Q.20)
- using industry terms, such as gateways (Q.20)
- knowing the difference between office documentation and office equipment (Q.21 (a)).
Section III
Question 22
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- using relevant industry examples
- developing well-structured responses
- demonstrating knowledge of a range of economic impacts
- demonstrating knowledge of current issues relating to the tourism and events industry.
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- determining the differences between short-term and long-term impacts
- using industry terminology, such as multiplier effect, leakage, infrastructure, revenue, inbound, outbound, intrastate, interstate, accommodation, tour operators, sectors and so on
- realising that there can be positive impacts to the crisis situation specified in the scenario
- understanding that impacts are not only economic but also social and environmental
- developing awareness of the most up-to-date sector categories of the tourism and events industry.
Section IV
Question 23 – Tourism Stream
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- outlining each step involved in the calculation of fares
- demonstrating knowledge about a wide range of qualities, including but not exclusively customer service, that are required in a retail travel agent.
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- increasing their knowledge of the relationship between wholesalers and travel agents
- understanding commission and net rates
- interpreting brochure text and common fare pricing, such as per room per night.
Question 24 – Events Stream
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- providing valid examples of legal and ethical considerations when holding a particular kind of event
- understanding the term ‘stakeholder’
- recognising the relationship between a stakeholder and an event.
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- extracting information from an article
- understanding that stakeholders are not only sponsors.
NSW Government