China's Economic Growth Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

China's Economic Growth - Research Paper Example All Millennium progress targets have been achieved or are within attainment (Eckstein, 23). With a populace of 1.3 billion, China lately became the second leading economy and is gradually playing a significant and influential role in the international economy. It remains a developing state. For instance, its per capita earning is still a portion of that in superior states and its market reforms are imperfect.  Ã‚   Rapid monetary ascendance has caused many impacts as well, comprising high variation, brisk urbanization, impacts to the environmental sustainability, and external imbalance. It also encounters demographic pressures associated with an aging population and the domestic movement of labor. Important policy adjustments are necessary in order for its growth to be sustainable.   Experience depicts that transformation from middle-income to high-income class can be more hard than moving up from low to middle income (Lardy, 25). China’s 12th Five-Year Plan that from 2011 to 2015 vehemently addresses such issues. It highlights the growth of services and procedures to deal with social and environmental imbalances, setting goals to cut down pollution, to raise energy effectiveness, to advance access to healthcare and education, and to inflate social safety. Its annual growth goal of 7 percent calls for the intention to focus on value of life, rather than rate of growth.   Chinas economy was afflicted from the devastating effects of decades of fighting. A number of mines and factories were damaged. At the end of the war with Japan in 1945, Soviet troops had demolished almost half the machinery in the major developed regions of the Northeast and transported it to the Soviet Union. Power system, transportation, and communication had been smashed or deteriorated as they lacked maintenance. Agriculture was interfered with, and food production was about 30 percent drop. Further, monetary ills were compounded by one of the strongest inflation in

Analysis of the Cultural Differences of Coca Cola Essay Example for Free

Analysis of the Cultural Differences of Coca Cola Essay 1 A Summary 1.1 A one-page summary which outlines, in no more than three short paragraphs (and preferably just one) what the report says 1.2 You should write this last 1.3 It should be in the third person and present tense. e.g. The report considers the arguments in favour of Quality Circles and makes recommendations about their adoption. . 2 An Introduction 2.1 This should give a brief explanation of the aims/context of the report, and should include details of any information necessary for the reader to understand it. e.g. company size; structure; main activities; your role/position; etc. 3 The Main Body of the Report 3.1 This is where you present your main account of the problem or issue you are writing about. 3.1.1 It should be based on analysis, not intuition, e.g. avoid writing I feel 3.1.2 You must backup what you write with evidence and/or argument. This means you must substantiate each assertion you make with evidence, e.g. extracts from the company annual report, staff survey, recent appraisal, interviews, etc. 31.3 You must support opinions with specific examples/evidence (e.g. from a consultant’s report) or by building a logical argument based on previously cited examples/evidence 3.1.4 You should make a clear distinction between objective facts and personal opinions. 3.2 Ideally this section should be divided into numbered paragraphs like this briefing sheet, showing which section the paragraph belongs to. 3.3 Headings for each sub-section should be underlined or in bold. 3.4 Consider presenting material in the form of diagrams, charts, etc. wherever appropriate. These are not only easier to grasp, but also reduce the word count. 4 Conclusions 4.1 This is where you sum up the general conclusions you have reached, such as The very low staff morale is a result of an autocratic management style. 4.2 Dont confuse conclusions (where you draw together the threads of the preceding discussion to make some overall points) with recommendations (where you say what should be done about the conclusions you have reached). 4.3 It is sometimes a good idea to present your conclusions in the form of a bullet list, like this: †¢ Conclusion 1 †¢ Conclusion 2 †¢ Etc. 5 Recommendations 5.1 This is where you list the actions which your conclusions lead you to believe are necessary, e.g. The team leader should attend a course in modern approaches to management 5.2 The recommendations must be based on the analysis and conclusions. 5.3 Wherever possible, you should include a clear indication of: o The priorities o The timescale / deadlines for completion o Who is to be responsible for taking and/or monitoring the recommended action o To whom any action should be reported o From who authorisation must be sought o The financial budget or source of funds o Other costs/resource implications o Etc. 6 The List of References 6.1 This is the list of sources referred to directly in your report. If you have mentioned a writer or a book (even a course book) you must give full details here of: o The writer(s) or editors o The date of publication o The title o The publisher 6 The Bibliography (if any) 6.1 The bibliography is where you list details of any books or other sources you have consulted in preparing your report which you think it would be useful for your reader to know about or be able to consult. You should give the details outlined in the section on references above.

What is teaching machines

What is teaching machines What is Teaching machines and Adaptive Learning Teaching machine is a device that presents series of problems and provides immediate â€Å"reward† or reinforcement to students when they give the correct answers to the posed questions (Holland, 1960). The first teaching machine was invented by Pressey in 1925. It was a device that asked a single question to the student. If the student knows the answer, he moved to the next question. If not, the question was presented again on the screen until he found the correct answer. This machine allowed students to proceed at their own rate (Skinner, 1958) and recorded their progress (Seattler, 1990). Although this machine was designed for teaching, it was developed against a background of psychological theory (Skinner, 1958). The main disadvantage of this machine was being against the psychological theory. Although he understood that students had different pace, he did not do anything to change it. His device was designed to avoid forgetting. They were testing device, they should be us ed after the some amount of learning had been taken out of somewhere. (Skinner, 1958). The popularity of teaching machines was increased with programmed instruction movement proposed by Skinner (Saettler, 1990). Based on his experiments conducting in laboratory with animals, Skinner propsed an idea that â€Å"by arranging appropriate contingencies of reinforcement, specific forms of behavior can be set up and brought under the control of specific classes of stimuli† (Skinner, 1958).however, the reinforcement have to be given immediately to the students. Because, the delay between the response and reinforcement of a few second reduce the effectiveness of the reinforcement. Moreover, it eliminates the undesirable forms of responses that would be successful in obtaining the right answer (Holland, 1960). It was difficult for teacher to provide reinforcement just after the correct responses were given. Thus some kind of machines was needed to help the teachers. This machine is an attempt to obtain the kind of behavioral control shown possible in the laboratory (Holla nd, 1960). Skinner describes the teaching machine incorporating the following principles of learning; Practice of the correct responses, knowledge of results and reinforcement of the right answer, minumum delay of reinforcement, successive small steps with hints (McKeachie, 1974) Teaching machines brought advantages to the educational environment. First of all, it provided an opportunity for students to study at their own pace (Skinner, 1958).According to Skinner (1960), it inspired the students and gave high degree of competence and confidence. the students were provided buttons in terms of â€Å"guessing†, â€Å"maybe†, â€Å"sure† so by pressing those buttons after giving the answers, they estimated their level of confidence. By this method, they learnt to evaluate their confidence and adopt a useful strategy. Thirdly, unlike the other media such as tv, students were active while they were using teaching machine during their learning process (Skinner, 1960). It was such kind of private tutor which alert students and kept them busy during the learning process (Skinner, 1958). Since it gave immediate feedback, students were able to see where they stood without waiting for an hour test or final examination. Finally, teaching machines prov ided opportunity for teachers to analyze the responses of the students. By this, they see what students understand item by item (Skinner, 1960) Teaching machines also brought some disadvantages to the educational environment. First of all, they were inconvenient and poorly designed (McKeachie, 1974). They were designed in frames that all students had to go through in linear sequence. (Seattler, 1990). The machine was designed in a way that the steps identified by the instructor were taken by students in a prescribed order (Skinner, 1958). And it was assumed that for human being, just being right is the sufficient reinforcement (Holland, 1960). The machine did not motivate the students to go on studying. Teaching machines locked so that neither the students see the correct answer until he responded correctly or altered his answer after he saw the correct answer (Calvin, 1969). For all of these reasons, most of the students found teaching machine boring and destructed their machine. In addition, it was seen that some of the students were unable to pass tests after successfully completing the program (Seattler, 1990). For teach er side, most of teaching machines were not readily portable and required maintenance (Calvin, 1969). Difficult to prepare programs, they are time consuming thus, teacher must be clear what they want to teach at the beginning of the program preparation (Skinner, 1960). Due to these problems, by the late 1960s, the popularity of teaching machines was decreased. Despite its problems, teaching machines had great contribution in educational environment. It revived the early ideas of individualizing instruction. Moreover, it fostered the growth of sounder technology in the development f instructional programs and influenced number of programs in 1960s, 1970s. Finally, it promoted computer assisted instruction and system approach to instruction ( Saettler, 1990). Adaptive learning is a usage of technology to help the students in their learning process (Francois, 2011). It provides content and services to meet individual or group learning needs with improved learning achievement and efficiency (Martine, 2003). Adaptability in learning has became very important issue in educational area. As stated by Nguen and Do, learning environment is complex structure that includes many students who has different characteristics. They physically and mentally are different, so their preferences are various. Thus, adaptation in educational environment is necessity (Nguyen Do, 2008). With the help of technology, the adaptive learning environment have become more efficiently and effectively. Especially, development in computer hardware and software allow creating those kinds of adaptive environments. These computerized learning environments allow immediate feedback and adaptation to students learning curves. These programs pace curses using sophisticated tracking of skill development, instant feedback, and help levels based on mastery of concepts by providing game like interface. (verilen makaleeee) The advantage of adaptive learning environment has taken the educators attention. Especially, e-learning professions have given their attention on adaptive learning and created adaptive e-learning environments. An adaptive e-learning environment is an interactive system that personalizes and adapts elearning content, pedagogical models, and interactions between participants in the environment to meet the individual needs and preferences of users if and when they arise(Stoyanov Kirschner, 2004 ). There are lots of factors to contribute the popularity of adaptive e-learning; the diversity in the access media and modalities that one can effectively utilize today in order to access, manipulate, or collaborate on, educational content or learning activities, alongside with a diversity in the context of use of such technologies, the anticipated proliferation of free educational content. (Paramythis, Loidl-Reisinger, tarihi bul) There are lack of research about adaptive learning. But according to †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ there are lots of opportunities those environment provides both students and teachers. They are cheap and can be given both online or blended form. The order of instruction is defined by the students not instructor. Everyone have different experience so their knowledge and needs are different Especially large classes prevent instructors from deviating much from the syllabus. Adjust course to the student Present every topic, a series of skills and building block concepts. Animation, videos, interactive diagrams and other web based features entered while needed. Interactive tutor help students to master of each skill, give short quizzes, score them, and offer additional help. Software adapt, keep students personal profiles. Students do not move until develop proficiency. Instructor decides the proficiency level. Instructor weight the material Instructors were informed about the students process. Increase motivation Game like enviroment informs what have left to do thus motivate to go on. Research shows students completed the course in shorter , performed better Cons: Few studies conducted to assess the outcomes Research problems: effectiveness of these programs are not done in isolation Researchers examine the effects of multifeatured environment, not isolate one element. Are teaching machines and adaptive learning similar or different things? Teaching machines and adaptive learning are different things although they have similarities. Firstly, both of them aim to help students in their learning process. Furthermore, they acknowledge the fact that students have different pace and it was difficult to adapt traditional classroom environment to the pace of all students. Both of these try to create an environment in which students study at their own pace and be active during the learning process. In addition, both of them keep the students progress and inform the teacher about it. Teacher analyzes their progress and help students to reach the desired goals. The first difference between teaching machine and adaptive learning is their technologies. Teaching machine was designed in 1920s and spread out in 1950 when technology was not advanced as it is now. Thus, teaching machines was not portable and it was difficult to modify it for teachers. Thus teachers had to participate in the design process and decided what he wanted to teach at the beginning. In contrast, systems in adaptive learning creates flexible environment for teachers. They can modify the system based on the needs that may not be predicted at the beginning of the course. The second and the main difference between teaching machine and adaptive learning was the learning theory underlying them. Teachingmachine usesbehavioristapproach whereas adaptive learning is more suitable for constructive approach. Teaching machine was designed for modifying the behaviors of the students. Although teaching machines was designed in 1920s, its usage in educational area was spread out by its modification by Skinner. Skinner designed the teaching machines based on the operant conditioning and its aim was to provide a small unit of information to the students and wanted their response. Since the instructional sequence is so simple, the students hardly make a mistake (Saettler, 1990). Students responded to the questions posed by teaching machines and getting reinforcement, they gained the desired behavior such as pronouncing a word or saying the results of a mathematical equation. There is a logical order in the teaching machine and all of the students have to follow the same path. Although the students are active, the teaching machine decides what question is posed in which order. On the other hand, adaptive learning met the assumptions of constructivism. According to Ertmer and Newby (1993), constructivist learning environment emphasis on learner control and provides opportunities for learner to manipulate information. In addition, the information is presented in a variety of different ways in terms of its order, modes, perspectives etc. Adaptive learning does not aim to change the behavior of the students by giving reinforcement or force them to follow the start at the same where and follow the same path. Instead, an adaptive learning provides a personalized learning environment for each learner, by both adapting presentation and navigation through the course materials (Retalis Papasalouros, 2005). It acknowledges the differences between the students and create learning environment based on these differences. It can dynamically reorganize learning resources in order to achieve specific learning objectives by analyzing learners profile or learning portfolio (Brusilovsky, 2001). It offers opportunity to uniquely address the specific learning goals, prior knowledge and context of a learner so it improves learners satisfaction with the course and motivate them to complete that course (Dagger, Wade, Conlan, 2005). For all of these, adaptive learning systems are beyond the teaching machines. Strengths and weaknesses of technology supported adaptive learning Adaptive learning environment provides opportunities for teacher to apply range of methods. Teacher can either use problem based instruction, case reasoning etc. Moreover, it acknowledges the differences between the students. All students have different experience, background so their needs are different. Adaptive learning aims to recognize these differences and offers personalized learning that is determined based on these differences. Students take the control of their learning process, access the resources appropriate to their needs and study them at their pace. Although the ideas behind the adaptive learning systems are dream of all educators, the implementation of these ideas is difficult. While the idea â€Å"adaptation based on individual differences† is good, it may cause problems if these differences are not identified correctly. Nguyen and Do (2008) states that the system must gather information and data about user and create a user model based on this information. But which information should be gathered? Adaptive systems have to decide this. Moreover, it should decide what to adapt. It has to identify the differences such as background, pre-knowledge about the content, learning style and offers a learning environment to suit these differences. The maintenance of these systems is additional weaknesses of adaptive system. Technological knowledge of the teachers may not adequate to maintain such kind of systems. For this reason, an expert should control the system and intervene if there is any problem. Finally, there is lack of research about the implementation of this system. What it offers and how it accomplishes this should be analyzed and the learning results should be investigated deeply. Moreover, it should be investigated what should be adapted, when and how it should be adapted and what should be kept constant in adaptive learning systems. Suggestions to instructional designers Adaptive learning is just includes system that create an effective and efficient learning environment. So without a good design, it will not help either instructors or students in the learning environment. First of all, the instructional designer should decide which learning theory he will apply in adaptive learning. Based on the learning theory, he needs to identify the overall goals of the course, which method he will use. Moreover, he needs to consider the possible needs of students from different backgrounds experiences and knowledge. To achieve this, he should get knowledge about his students. Since adaptive learning keeps the students progress, the instructor should monitor each students progress and see where they are, what problems they face etc. If adaptive learning is used by different instructor, instructional designer should inform the teacher about the benefits and weaknesses of it. Moreover, it provides guidance and help when needed and support the adaptation process of instructors to use adaptive learning. In addition, these systems are complex and should be designed carefully. There should be multiple modes of presentations; the resources should be prepared for different background information etc. Motivation components eklemeli 1. Learner-led adaptation. Learners should be able to find both what they want to learn and how they want to learn it. 3. Learner self-management. They can see where they are in the curriculum or competence map and what learning task or activity to carry out next, consult course-tracking data, and monitor their learning. They have an opportunity to prebrowse and search for learning content. 5. Learner auditing.learners should have possibilities to test the level of their knowledge and learning styles, and to be able to see their learning results. Discussion 14. Learning communication. This second communication cluster emphasizes interaction between learners and instructors. An LMS should support instructor-learner, instructor instructor, and learner-learner communication. 15. Collaboration. Instructors should be able to use different modes of group discussion and be able to collaborate with learners synchronously on group learning tasks. Experts also emphasize the possibilities of peer learning. 17. Socialization. Experts underline the need for an LMS to provide a social context for learning and professional socialization of learners.

Traditional Celebrations in Indonesia :: Essays Papers

Traditional Celebrations in Indonesia Introduction Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago. Archipelago is a large group of islands. Indonesia is composed of more than 17, 000 islands. West Indonesian Time zone, East Indonesian Time Zone, and East Indonesian Time Zone are the three climate zones in Indonesia. Indonesia is geographically located between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Its area is slightly less than three times the state of Texas. Indonesia borders East Timor, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea. The climates in this country are tropical humid and tends to be more moderate in the highlands. Petroleum, natural gas, nickel, timber, bauxite, copper, fertile soil, gold, and silver are Indonesia’s natural resources. There are occasional floods, severe droughts, earthquakes, and volcanoes that occur every so often. Indonesia’s population is 205,000,000 people and 88% of the population is Muslim. Javanese is the main language. The capital of Indonesia is Jakarta. Indonesians have many brilliant wa ys of celebrating certain celebrations. I am going to be writing about celebrations in Indonesia such as: Indonesian’s Independence Day, a Traditional Wedding Ceremony, the Seventh Month of Pregnancy, and Ramadan. Independence Day August 17, 1945 is the date on which the Indonesians proclaimed their Independence. â€Å"The Indonesians fought and earned independence after more than 300 years under the Dutch occupation and followed by the Japanese occupation†(â€Å"Indonesian Independence Day† 1). Ever since this date, Indonesia celebrates their independence on the 17th day of August. This is just like the United States of America celebrating our independence on the Fourth of July of every year. Preparations for this holiday begin long before the actual celebration occurs. These preparations begin weeks before August 17th. Banners are hung all over. The banners consist of red and white colors. Red and white decorations are scattered all over and the words Long Live Indonesia can be seen almost everywhere. Indonesians use red and white for their banners because these are the colors of their flag. Indonesia’s flag has two horizontal stripes. The first stripe on the top is red. Red represents human blood and the white strip on the bottom symbolize the human spirit. Special activities are prepared for all of the neighborhood children. The schools also hold games and contests amongst the classes to see which class can decorate in the most patriotic manner. Musical selections are also held before and after Independence Day. A clean up day is usually held before the 17th to clean the streets, clean the gutters, and anything else that appears dirty.

Organic Food vs. Non Organic Food Essay

In today’s society you walk into a grocery store and you always have the option of organic or non organic food. There are even grocery stores dedicated to organic foods like Trader Joe’s, Sprouts and Whole Food market. I personally have gone organic and will never go back to eating or drinking non organic food. Organic food may be pricey but less hormones, less cow puss and blood in your milk, and less pesticides. The controversies about organic food vs non organic food is it worth it? My answer is 100 percent yes organic is the way to go. The fruits and vegetables you get at a normal grocery store that are non organic have several pesticides on it. According to the daily green, ‘ eating organic means avoiding the pesticide residue left on foods. † Though there are mixed reviews on if consuming pesticides hurt your immune system, pregnant women are taking the cautionary steps on making sure their future child will be born healthy and not be exposed to pesticides at an early age. On the Dirty Dozen list, apples are the number 1 food source of 2011, with over 40 known pesticides in just 1 apple. Not surprisingly, pesticide residue is also found in apple juice and apple sauce, making all apple products smart foods to buy organic. Strawberries have over 60 pesticides on it, so while you â€Å"wash† your strawberries remember you are eating pesticide residue remains on those strawberries you bought at the food market. 93% of Americans tested by the CDC had metabolites of chlorpyrifos a nuerotoxic insecticide in their urine. Banned from home use because of its risks to children, chlorpyrifos is part of a family of pesticides (organophosphates) linked to ADHD. Women who were exposed to DDT as girls are 5 times more likely to develop breast cancer, according to Panna. Several people are allergic to the growth hormone farmers put in their animals, but are able to eat organic meats because animals raised organically are not allowed to be fed antibiotics, the bovine human growth hormone (rbGH), or other artificial drugs. Animals are also not allowed to eat genetically modified foods. Organic meat the animals are also killed more humane than non organic animals. The animals are raised in a healthier environment, fed organic feed, and often eat a wider range of nutrients than those raised in factory farms (such as would be the case of free-range chickens and ranch cattle). Cbn. com stated, â€Å"In a recent poll, two-thirds of Americans surveyed stated they would like to be able to fit organic foods into their budgets. † Organic food may cost more but less exposure to unnecessary hormones and pesticides is worth it. Organic is the way to go, lower pesticide levels, more nutrients, no antibiotics, no added growth hormones, and environmental responsibility. Although research findings about benefits of organic produce are not conclusive, it is definite that organic stuff is safer than the produce with traces of pesticides. Organic milk, vegetables and fruits are much more expensive than the non-organic but if you can afford it then go for it. If more people start buying organic food then gradually their prices will gradually come down.

Negative Economic Impacts of Tourism Essay

There are many hidden costs to tourism, which can have unfavorable economic effects on the host community. Often rich countries are better able to profit from tourism than poor ones. Whereas the least developed countries have the most urgent need for income, employment and general rise of the standard of living by means of tourism, they are least able to realize these benefits. Among the reasons for this are large-scale transfer of tourism revenues out of the host country and exclusion of local businesses and products. Leakage The direct income for an area is the amount of tourist expenditure that remains locally after taxes, profits, and wages are paid outside the area and after imports are purchased; these subtracted amounts are called leakage. In most all-inclusive package tours, about 80% of travelers’ expenditures go to the airlines, hotels and other international companies (who often have their headquarters in the travelers’ home countries), and not to local businesses or workers. In addition, significant amounts of income actually retained at destination level can leave again through leakage. A study of tourism ‘leakage’ in Thailand estimated that 70% of all money spent by tourists ended up leaving Thailand (via foreign-owned tour operators, airlines, hotels, imported drinks and food, etc.). Estimates for other Third World countries range from 80% in the Caribbean to 40% in India. Source: Sustainable Living There are two main ways that leakage occurs: Import leakage This commonly occurs when tourists demand standards of equipment, food, and other products that the host country cannot supply. Especially in less-developed countries, food and drinks must often be imported, since local products are not up to the hotel’s (i.e. tourist’s) standards or the country simply doesn’t have a supplying industry. Much of the income from  tourism expenditures leaves the country again to pay for these imports. The average import-related leakage for most developing countries today is between 40% and 50% of gross tourism earnings for small economies and between 10% and 20% for most advanced and diversified economies, according to UNCTAD. Even in developed regions, local producers are often unable to supply the tourism industry appropriately even if good will is present: the 64-room hotel â€Å"Kaiser im Tirol† in Austria, an award-winning leader in sustainable practices, cannot find organic food suppliers in the local farming networks in the appropriate quantity, quality and reliability, as production cycles and processes are not compatible with its needs. Source: Austrian Preparatory Conference for the International Year of Ecotourism, September 2001 Export leakage Multinational corporations and large foreign businesses have a substantial share in the import leakage. Often, especially in poor developing destinations, they are the only ones that possess the necessary capital to invest in the construction of tourism infrastructure and facilities. As a consequence of this, an export leakage arises when overseas investors who finance the resorts and hotels take their profits back to their country of origin. A 1996 UN report evaluating the contribution of tourism to national income, gross levels of incomes or gross foreign exchange, found that net earnings of tourism, after deductions were made for all necessary foreign exchange expenditures, were much more significant for the industry. This report found significant leakage associated with: (a) imports of materials and equipment for construction; (b) imports of consumer goods, particularly food and drinks; (c) repatriation of profits earned by foreign investors; (d) overseas promotional expenditures and (e) amortization of external debt incurred in the development of hotels and resorts. The impact of the leakage varied greatly across countries, depending on the structure of the economy  and the tourism industry. From the data presented in this study on the Caribbean, St. Lucia had a foreign exchange leakage rate of 56% from its gross tourism receipts, Aruba had 41%, Antigua and Barbuda 25% and Jamaica 40%. Source: Caribbean Voice Enclave tourism Local businesses often see their chances to earn income from tourists severely reduced by the creation of â€Å"all-inclusive† vacation packages. When tourists remain for their entire stay at the same cruise ship or resort, which provides everything they need and where they will make all their expenditures, not much opportunity is left for local people to profit from tourism. The Organization of American States (OAS) carried out a survey of Jamaica’s tourist industry that looked at the role of the all-inclusives compared to other types of accommodation. It found that ‘All-inclusive hotels generate the largest amount of revenue but their impact on the economy is smaller per dollar of revenue than other accommodation subsectors.’ It also concluded that all-inclusives imported more, and employed fewer people per dollar of revenue than other hotels. This information confirms the concern of those who have argued that all-inclusives have a smaller trickle-down effect on local economies. (Source: Tourism Concern) The cruise ship industry provides another example of economic enclave tourism. Non-river cruises carried some 8.7 million international passengers in 1999. On many ships, especially in the Caribbean (the world’s most popular cruise destination with 44.5% of cruise passengers), guests are encouraged to spend most of their time and money on board, and opportunities to spend in some ports are closely managed and restricted. Other negative impacts Infrastructure cost Tourism development can cost the local government and local taxpayers a great deal of money. Developers may want the government to improve the airport,  roads and other infrastructure, and possibly to provide tax breaks and other financial advantages, which are costly activities for the government. Public resources spent on subsidized infrastructure or tax breaks may reduce government investment in other critical areas such as education and health. Increase in prices Increasing demand for basic services and goods from tourists will often cause price hikes that negatively affect local residents whose income does not increase proportionately. A San Francisco State University study of Belize found that, as a consequence of tourism development, the prices for locals increased by 8%. Tourism development and the related rise in real estate demand may dramatically increase building costs and land values. Not only does this make it more difficult for local people, especially in developing countries, to meet their basic daily needs, it can also result in a dominance by outsiders in land markets and in-migration that erodes economic opportunities for the locals, eventually disempowering residents. In Costa Rica, close to 65% of the hotels belong to foreigners. Long-term tourists living in second homes, and the so-called amenity migrants (wealthy or retired people and liberal professionals moving to attractive destinations in order to enjoy the atmosphere and peaceful rhythms of life) cause price hikes in their new homes if their numbers attain a certain critical mass. Economic dependence of the local community on tourism Diversification in an economy is a sign of health, however if a country or region becomes dependent for its economic survival upon one industry, it can put major stress upon this industry as well as the people involved to perform well. Many countries, especially developing countries with little ability to explore other resources, have embraced tourism as a way to boost the economy. In The Gambia, for instance, 30% of the workforce depends directly or indirectly on tourism. In small island developing states, percentages can range from 83% in the Maldives to 21% in the Seychelles and 34% in Jamaica,  according to the WTO. Over-reliance on tourism, especially mass tourism, carries significant risks to tourism-dependent economies. Economic recession and the impacts of natural disasters such as tropical storms and cyclones as well as changing tourism patterns can have a devastating effect on the local tourism sector. Malta has only 380,000 residents, but received 1.2 million tourists in 1999. As 25% of GDP (and indirectly 40% ), tourism generated more than $650 million in foreign exchange earnings. Malta’s high dependence on tourism and a limited number of export products makes its trade performance vulnerable to shifts in international demand. Source: Washington Times Seasonal character of jobs The seasonal character of the tourism industry creates economic problems for destinations that are heavily dependent on it. Problems that seasonal workers face include job (and therefore income) insecurity, usually with no guarantee of employment from one season to the next, difficulties in getting training, employment-related medical benefits, and recognition of their experience, and unsatisfactory housing and working conditions.