We discovered many important things about the Downtown Des Moines Farmers market during our research. We researched the history, location, vendors, interviewed people and also researched other farmers markets to be able to make a presentation on the Downtown Des Moines Farmer’s Market. There were some important parts of the history that we found out where important. “The first market in the history of the United States was in the English colonies in 1634 under Governor John Winthrop of Boston.”(www.madfarmmkt.org./history.asp) That came from Europe; these were like the ones there. On Saturday and Sunday farmers come from all over to go to one of the largest farmer’s market in the state of Iowa, which is in downtown Des Moines.

There are also many important things we discovered about the location of the downtown Des Moines farmer’s market, other than the fact that it was in downtown Des Moines. There are thirteen sections that take up four blocks on Court Avenue in downtown Des Moines. Also the farmer’s market should be easy to find and where people live, work and shop.

Another thing that we researched was the vendors and what their responsibilities were. The vendors come from all over to participate in the farmer’s market. There are more than 125 farmer’s markets in the state of Iowa. For the downtown Des Moines farmer’s market the vendors come from over 66 different counties from in and outside the state of Iowa. Some important points about the vendors were that they were required to behave a specific way, the things that they expected from the market and the different categories of products that are sold by the vendor. The different categories are “Iowa grown” products, “Local grown product” and “broker. If the product is “Iowa grown” then that means that the product was grown in Iowa for profit or as a hobby. If the product is “Local grown product” then that means that the product was grown outside the state of Iowa, but within the vicinity of the market and was grown for profit or as a hobby. If it is “broker” then that means that was grown outside of the state and outside the surrounding states.

When we visited the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market some of the issues that we discussed before in class affected the way we thought about the farmer’s market and it also affected the questions we asked the people that we interviewed. When observed the boundaries of the farmer’s market I thought about when we discussed the different things people would do to show boundaries over the ages. The boundaries were not chain-linked or rod-iron that some people use to separate their houses from there surroundings, nor where they just understand like the American Indians used before the Europeans came over, they where mostly wooden horses that separated the farmers market from the surrounding areas. I also believe that learning about the way people use the space they occupied made us take a closer look at that when we were at the farmer’s market. The American Indians occupied the land that they lived on differently then the Europeans that occupied the same land. This is similar to the difference in the people that occupy Court Avenue on Saturday and Sunday morning during the farmer’s market and the people that occupy the same four blocks of Court Avenue during Friday or Saturday night or any other day of the week. These are a couple of the things that I examined in a different way since we researched similar things in class earlier in the year.

In conclusion I believe that researching the Downtown Des Moines Farmer’s Market in many different ways helped us learn about many different aspects of it. It helped me learn important things about the history, location, vendors, other farmer’s markets, and about the people that work and shop there. I believe that learning about the landscape and how people use it also helped us when we were working on our presentation.

Commercial whaling is a very controversial. The question whether or not to whale is an issue with many factors. Commercial whaling is the focus of a debate between pro-whaling nations such as Japan and Norway and anti-whaling nations like Australia, United States and the UK. Both sides present justifiable arguments both for and against commercial whaling

Arguments for whaling

Countries such as Japan, Greenland, Iceland and Norway claim they are reliant on whaling for economic and cultural reasons.Whale meat provides a key source of protein in the diet and the sale of whale meat and products made from whales provides an economic foundation for these communities. These societies are centred on a cultural tradition of whaling. This small-scale coastal whaling is prohibited by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Some argue this is causing continuing social and economic hardship for people whose traditional customs and lifestyle directly relate to the whaling culture. Japan claims that small-scale exploitation of whales pose no threat to whale populations yet is critical to the survival of their society.

Japan along with many nations have a long history and tradition of whaling and it is part of their culture. Anti-whaling countries such as Australia, the UK and the United States are accused of cultural ignorance in their ongoing opposition to commercial whaling. Japan argues that this cultural bias is based on Western societies norms and political prejudice against whaling. The projection of the Western world’s anti-whaling beliefs onto traditional whaling nations is seen to infringe on the rights of those nations.

Some argue that whaling is an ecologically sustainable industry, which uses a plentiful marine resource to support a growing human population. Whaling nations say it causes minimal environmental damage when compared to the land based agricultural industries of westernised nations like the United States and Australia. The effects of land based agriculture include soil erosion, wildlife habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity, pollution of groundwater reserves, release of greenhouse gases, pesticide contamination and salinity. Some even argue that whaling is a more energy efficient method of food production.

Some sources report that the whale population has been steadily increasing and are now at levels that can be safely exploited. It’s argued that the current suspension on commercial whaling is a major mismanagement of marine resources and is based on factors other than science. Spokespeople maintain that whaling nations seek to harvest only those species considered to be abundant like the minke whale. Species considered rare and endangered like the humpback and the right whale would remain protected if the IWC restrictions were lifted. They claim they could engage in whaling and make no impact on the whale population.

Arguments against whaling

Every argument made in favour of continuation of commercial whaling is opposed by an equally legitimate argument. Whaling nations claim that they too should be given exemption from the IWC restrictions because communites like the Inuit are given exemption. The difference is that the Inuit rely on non-commercial level of whaling as a means of food simply for their survival. Reports show that increased hunting by the native coastal communities of Greenland has dramatically reduced the stocks of beluga whales since 1981. From these statistics it is clear that even small-scale hunting can impact whale populations and therefore must be properly controlled.

Opposite to the argument that whale stocks are increasing to exploitable levels, experts indicate the effects of past whaling are still limiting populations. The North Atlantic right whale, the most endangered species of large whale in the world, has barely recovered since the end of commercial whaling and the number of the right whale is a mere 300. is It is predicted this species will become extinct within 200 years. Molecular genetic monitoring of whale meat samples in the Japanese markets has shown that protected whale species are being sold for human consumption. Because of evidence like this, authorities are almost positive illegal hunting is continuing despite international agreements protecting these species.

Australia argues that the hunting technique is cruel and inhumane. This view is proven on the websites of many international animal welfare and conservation organisations. Whales have been hunted for centuries using traditional harpoon methods that result in a slow death and presumably associated suffering. Research is being conducted into new killing techniques that may reduce the suffering of harvested whales. Investigations were done on a killing technique involving electric lances. They wre used in Japanese whaling operations and provided a secondary method of slaughter (after harpooning). Results showed that the electrical densities used are ineffective in causing permanent dysfuntion and could cause additional pain and suffering to an already distressed animal. A different investigation was launched to conclude efficientcy and humaneness of slaughter techniques used in Japan and other whaling countries that used a grenade-headed harpoon. Results show in Japanese operations only 30% of whales were killed immediately and 70% were wounded. More than six minutes passed before 50% of whales were pronounced dead, with some animals surviving more than an hour after being harpooned. An argument against whaling can be made on the grounds alone that current slaughter methods are ineffective and cause inhumane suffering.

Conclusion.

The issue of whaling is complicated and politically charged, where their is a large number of interests and opinions to be considered. Arguments for whaling are based on many things. It includes economic and political factors, sovereign rights, cultural traditions, international law and policy, and concerns for animal welfare. Australia and Japan have a precious relationship on many different fronts. The relations we have give benefit to both sides and one can only hope that disagreements on certain issuse will not tarnish the relationship.

To the east, Jerusalem looks down on the Dead Sea and across the Jordan River to the arid mountains of Jordan; to the west, it faces the coastal plain and the Mediterranean Sea, about 58 kilometers away. The main north-south road bisects the city in its course along the watershed between the coastal plain and the Great Rift Valley of the Jordan River and links Nabulus to the north of Bethlehem, Hebron, and Beersheba to the south. The west-east road from Tel-Aviv crosses the Jordan north of the Dead Sea. A newer transversal road leads westward from Jerusalem, eventually converging on the Ben-Gurion Airport at Lod. Lying on the watershed between the relatively rainy Hills of Judaea and the dry Jurdaean desert, Jerusalem has both Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian vegetation. The various red and brown Mediterranean soil, formed by the different types of limestone chalk covering the hills, support as many as 1000 plant species.

The earliest traces of human settlement in the city area, found on a hill to the southeast, are from the late Chalcolithic Period and Early Bronze Age (3000 BC). Excavations have shown that a settlement existed south of the Temple Mount, and a massive town wall was found just above the Gihon Spring, which determined the location of the ancient settlement. According to biblical accounts, about the year 1000 BC Jerusalem was captured by David, founder of the joint kingdom of Israel and Judah, and the city became the Jewish kingdom’s capital. His successor, King Solomon, extended the city and built his Temple, thus Jerusalem became the place of the royal palace and the sacred site of the monotheistic religion. After Hezekiah became king of Judah in 786, he built new fortifications and an underground tunnel, which brought water from Gihon Spring to the pool of Siloam inside the city. In 586 BC the city and the Temple were completely destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar, and the captivity began. It ended when the Jews were permitted to return to Jerusalem in 538 BC, and the city became the center of the new statehood and its position strengthened when the King restored its fortifications. In AD 70 the city was besieged and almost destroyed by the Roman forces under Titus, but by 130, the city had been repopulated, and the Jews again revolted unsuccessfully against Rome.

Cameroon , a piece of land stretched over 375,000 square kilometers , is located in central Africa .It is inhabited by a population of about 15,000,000 who make up about 200 ethnic groups and speak about the same number of languages regrouped into 24 major ones . But, thanks to the official languages which are English and French, they come to an understanding of each other. Due to its median location and its people issuing from a variety of backgrounds, this country has a lot to offer in the field of tourism, in terms of culture, landscape or nature.

A little introduction or overview of this country will give us an idea of what it is like.

The large expanse of savannah which covers the North of the country is home to the biggest national parks and reserves. The country can boast of possessing 9 major parks and reserves, 6 of which are found up north .One of these, the Waza Park, is actually the biggest and most preserved park of West and Central French Africa. In this park , visitors can enjoy observing wildlife like that of Elephants , lions , and Giraffes .Other natural sites one can admire in the North are for example the big lake Lagdo which is home to animals like crocodiles and hippopotamuses , and the sumptuous peaks , some volcanic , like those of the region of Kapsiki .This part of the country which is hanging at 850 m in altitude also offers beautiful sceneries at night , with its famous starry clear nights .In addition , one has the possibility of visiting old caves that are like sprinkled everywhere in the dry North . The culture of the area is also of great interest. Already without talking to anyone the architecture is an eye-catcher. The oval formed huts are nowhere else to be found. The dressing of the people during traditional feast remains an attraction for those who are interested in other folks? lifestyles. The art of the northerners is mostly pottery and tanning.

The western part of the country is no less rich than the North in what it offers both culturally and naturally. These are the most elevated parts of Cameroon, being the home of the highest mountain in Cameroon, 4100 meters high. Mountain races were being organized there yearly, usually in February. It is also visited often by botanists because of the rare species of plants that are being preserved there. Here are found breath-taking sceneries of peaks leveled by spots of plains. The West is also watered by beautiful waterfalls, and part of it runs along some of the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean implies beaches, like in Limbe. This Victorian style city has as one of its pride, the national plant reserve Korup. One can find a variety of scarce plant species .The culture is also as rich. The dominant political organizations in the area are still chieftaincies with one exception of Bamoun people who are ruled by a sultan, the latter being a descendant of one of the oldest dynasties of Africa. The architecture here is a curiosity, especially the house of the chiefs and ?Fons? as they are called in some parts of Cameroon: huts with sharply pointed roofs and with lots of space in them. The occidental side of Cameroon serves as the history-preserver. It abounds with museums of traditional art. In fact, there exists a big market of handicraft, the street of the craftsmen in Foumban. All kinds of traditional craftsmen can be seen lining up at the corners of the street: weavers, blacksmiths, woodcarvers and bronze sculptors. The west keeps history preserved in still another way. Visitors are also reminded of the past through the remains of the colonial times, in the way of colonial buildings, remains of the old German colonization a period which ended as far back 1918.

South Cameroon is home to water and forest. The most amazing waterfalls in Cameroon are hidden in the South. One of its most interesting ones is the Lobe waterfall which throws itself directly into the ocean. Well, again ocean means, beaches .In sum, Cameroon has 400kms of land at the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Here there are a lot of them, smaller ones and bigger ones, those that have been preserved in their original state and which directly give into the dense equatorial green forest. One of the most popular and frequented beaches is situated in Kribi .The equatorial forest offers to those who love vegetation a humid pleasure and to those who animal lovers, the company of monkeys and chimpanzees.

In the eastern part of the country, we have most of the equatorial forest and with it, the pygmies .They are usually people of short height and stout in their build. They can be called the natives of the land, those who are still living a life of basics .Their lifestyle is always a curiosity, living on plucking and hunting and being content with that. They present a culture of their own.

Cameroon has done much to make sure that the incoming tourists should be comfortably accommodated and that they enjoy their sojourn on the national triangle. The whole country can count about 130 hotels, most of which possess swimming pools, tennis courts and golfing areas. Some of the hotels are of international renown, like the Hilton, Hotel Ibis and Hotel Arcade. Apart from the availability of hotels, the tourism sector of the country has more than 78 suites, 70 apartments, 5754 rooms and more than 12,000 beds.

The land thrives with international restaurants (mostly Chinese, French, and Italian and Cameroonian cuisine), clubs, theatres and festivals for the pleasure of both tourists and locals.

Due to its formerly being a British and at the same time a French colony, Cameroon enjoys the status of a bilingual country. So no one would have communication problems in a country which speaks two of the world languages.

In view of the above, the natural and cultural richness of Cameroon, it is no wonder that in most African literature, Cameroon is called Africa in miniature. But it still remains a puzzle that Cameroon does not receive enough tourists? e.g. German tourists and that poses our problem. So the big question is why is it that with all these attractions that Cameroon can be proud of, Germans are not going there? As we saw, Cameroon offers much to satisfy the interests and curiosity of all kinds of tourists. For those who are interested in relaxing and a quiet refreshing holiday, Cameroon has the ocean and a number of beaches. For the adventurous and animal lovers, safaris in the national reserves around the country are always organized. Those who are interested in ecotourism would find pleasure in visiting the big Korup national reserve of plants and the equatorial forest. Mountain lovers have a challenge of 4100 meters of pleasure. And for those who are mostly interested in people and folks and their culture, the vast variety of tribe?s peoples and traditions in Cameroon will satisfy this desire. So why do the Germany not tour Cameroon? The Cameroonian ministry of Tourism registered for the year 2003 until the 04th of December only 1534 tourists regardless of where they came from?. Among those are certainly a few Germans. Actually the Cameroonian embassy in Germany, situated in Bonn, told us that the number of Germans going to Cameroon has had an increase of about 1% this year compared to last. The Europeans e.g. Germans have been going to Greece and China, what do those countries do right that Cameroon may eventually emulate? Here are some figures about the state and health of tourism in the above mentioned countries.

Tourism figures of Greece

Greece comes in the 15th place in the world classification of tourist destinations, receiving 14.179.999 tourists in 2002 (National Statistical Service of Greece, provisional data). The major part (94, 3%) is originating from Europe (68, 9% from the EU15).

The total number of nights spent in hotel accommodations by foreign and domestic tourists in 2001 (61.567.209) marked a 0, 43% increase compared to 2000. The accommodation capacity of the 8.550 hotels is 330.970 rooms with 628.170 beds (2003). Another 450.000 beds are provided by some 28.000 secondary accommodation establishments. There are also 352 camping sites with 30.241 pitches and 1.005 bungalows. For the Olympic Games of 2004, the time at which millions of tourists are expected to visit Athens, many private people will rent their flats in order to get a lot of income during the short period.

The country also has about 8.000 travel agencies, rent-a-car agencies, and yacht-brokers that provide everyday services to the domestic and foreign public.

The contribution to the GDP is estimated up to 8% annually. For 2004 it is expected that the contribution will be a lot higher.

Employment in the tourism sector is estimated to reach 10% (6, 1% direct employment and 3, 9% indirect) of the total employment in Greece.

The number of tourists arriving from Germany increased in the past 10 years from 1,944 million to over 2,510 million in 2002 and Germany is the second biggest tourism exporter behind the United Kingdom. Most of the German tourists visit Greece more than once, with a particular tendency to the Islands of the Mediterranean Sea.

Most of the 14 million tourists that visited Greece in 2002 arrived and stayed near places where monuments and beaches are known for their beauty. Athens takes the biggest part with over 3 million and Crete comes second with almost 2 million visitors. The many islands of Greece welcomed around 8 million tourists and were overcrowded especially in the summer months.

China Tourism Statistics

*The following statistics are collected from official and un-official sources

Modern tourism in China sprang up in the early 1950s. In 1954, the China International Travel Service was established, with 14 branches in major cities. In 1964, the State Tourism Administration of China was formally established. Since the initiation of the policies of reform and opening to the outside world in 1978, China?s tourism has entered a stage of rapid development. In 1999, the number of tourists entering China reached 72.8 million, of which 8.43 million were foreign tourists. Currently, China has become an important tourism destination in Asia, and the fifth large tourism country in the world.

Now, China is fast on its way to becoming a country with developed tourism, and constantly improving tourism facilities and services. It is estimated that, by 2020, China will be the world?s No. 1 tourism destination and the fourth-largest nation of tourists.

Inbound Tourists and International Travel Revenue (1996-2002)

YearInbound (million people)Revenue (billion)

199863.4812.60

199972.8014.11

200083.4416.23

200189.0117.79

200297.9120.39

Top 10 Tourist Generating Countries

RankingCountryInbound*Ratio %Growth %

1Japan220.1521.718.7

2South Korea134.4713.335.6

3Russia108.0210.729.7

4USA89.628.821.7

5Malaysia44.104.418.3

6Singapore39.943.913.3

7Mongolia39.913.912.6

8Philippines36.393.622

9UK28.392.89.6

10Thailand24.112.416.8

11Germany23.912.49.8

*10,000 people

Tourists from Germany

Since 1990, Germany has been China’s key tourist resource in far distance market. To boost Chinese tourism in Germany last year, CNTA attended ITB, the world’s largest travel mart, in March 2003. It will organize large-scale promotion caravans in Germany, and will invite two groups of journalists and two groups of tour operators to visit China.

German Tourists Statistics (1998-2002)

* 10,000 People as unit

So the question we want to investigate is why is Cameroon not also a tourist attraction for Germans? In order to answer that question, we made a research making use of two questionnaires, we analyzed the results, made some recommendations as to what could be done to make the situation better and came to a final conclusion. Let us at first take you through the preparatory work namely, how we went about the design of the research.

Research design

To be able to solve the above-mentioned problem and question, it was necessary to carry out a research on the topic, a research that will be in accordance with our objectives. It could be compared to laying down the foundation for our work. Since the issue is not one that is concerned with numbers and figures, but mostly one that has to do with people?s beliefs, views, thoughts and preferences, it was of foremost importance to give thought to the way data was going to be collected, what kind of approach would be more appropriate and how to go about getting it. First thing we thought about was logically exploratory data. After having had a better feeling of the problem, we thought, since the theme posed has more to do with people?s preferences, to be able to reach our objective a description of the Germans? preferences would be appropriate. So we made use of two questionnaires. The weight of this matter cannot be overemphasized given the impact it would eventually have on our predefined objectives, whether they would have been reached or not .Of course of much relevance is also the way the sampling and the analysis of the collected data was performed. Before going into an in-depth examination of those items, let us start by defining the basic ingredients, the information types and sources that we used in the course of our research.

Information types and sources

The starting point of our work was exploratory research. This debut phase can help in three different ways:

-Defining terms that are crucial to the subject matter

-Clarifying problems and hypotheses: this gives a more precise grasp of the problem and helps the researchers generate hypotheses for the study

-And gaining background information especially when little is known about the issue.

This latter function of exploratory data was true in our case because our aim was to get a clear picture of the nature of our problem and how to proceed in order to solve it. But it also helped us in developing hypotheses that were to be confirmed or disproved by the research. So we started by getting hold of any secondary data available that could shed some light on the problem at hand, namely why European/German tourists do not put Cameroon in their touring list .The most readily available information was found on the Internet. Here, we found information about the availability and the number of hotels and beds in Cameroon in order to have an idea of how many tourists Cameroon could accommodate at a time. Information like kilometres of tarred roads was also available. We also found Information about the kinds of attractions ?cultural, geographical, tourist ? Cameroon can emphasize to make it attractive. We had to make extensive use of telephone calls to the different embassies, like the Cameroonian, the Chinese and the Greek to get figures on the exact amount of tourists that go from Germany to these countries. In addition, some of the insight could be had from the group members who originally come from these countries. We made some kind of case analysis in that we compared the tourist information and situation in the two other countries, China and Greece to see where they are going right and how they could serve as an example for Cameroon to emulate. For a more precise overview of the problem we interviewed some people who were in some ways more knowledgeable about the problem: some Germans who had already been to Cameroon. They let us know the problems they encountered and what they thought the problem with tourism in Cameroon might be. From the information we had on the Internet and the opinions of those who had already been to Cameroon, we could already generate some hypotheses. One of the obstacles for Germans? visiting Cameroon was high travel fares and lack of publicity or even bad publicity about Cameroon on the Internet and elsewhere.

Naturally, this information could not give a satisfying answer to the? Why? questions, they could not give us any reasons for the Germans not touring Cameroon and they could not give us a description of the expectations and preferences of the potential German tourist who would eventually travel there. For this reason, we had to search for more information, for more qualitative information. So we went in the search of primary data by asking the Germans why they do not go to Cameroon. This was done with the help of two questionnaires. The first made us more knowledgeable about why Germans do not go to Cameroon for holidays and the second gave the opportunity to the respondents to weigh some given attributes in relation with their decision whether to make Cameroon a holiday resort.

Data collection

As already stated earlier, to assemble data relevant to our problem, we had to make use of two questionnaires. Each questionnaire had its raison d?être.

We already had some ideas from the exploratory research on the question why Germans do not make a tour of Cameroon and these were: expensive air tickets and lack of publicity. That was our limited view of the problem so the first questionnaire was to widen this horizon and to give us a more detailed knowledge of the problem. We had to ask the people personally why they do not go to Cameroon and get the information first hand. Finally it turned out to be a very informative questionnaire, for it revealed varying reasons being the cause of Cameroon not receiving many German tourists. But these reasons will be discussed in the following sections.

As it may already have been clear from the above, this first questionnaire was filled in by way of an interview. So, we, the researchers, had the questionnaire in hand and asked the subjects questions. They were personal interviews carried out in the shopping mall in Deggendorf, but also via phone especially when it concerned the few Germans in the sample who had already made a trip to Cameroon. We chose the shopping mall because there was going to be a variety of people going through- young, old, from different backgrounds-a population that could represent the Germans as a whole. The questions were open-ended questions aiming at the interviewees opening up and telling us their real thoughts, wishes and preferences on the subject matter. Thus we had the freedom of forming side questions and following up on interesting comments or thoughts coming from the interviewees. Questions like ?what did you like most?? ?What did you not like?? ?What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear Cameroon?? and ?what services and attractions would you expect?? were those that incited a variety of comments and opened the way for additional questions that would complete the answer or which will just give us some more background knowledge on the person?s thoughts. For some, the above questions proved to be most difficult to answer to, some prodding was therefore necessary, so the use of side questions that sparked some dormant thought proved to be efficient. In that way, we got information from the people, very valuable information for the construction of the second questionnaire.

The second questionnaire, on its part, built on the information that came out of the first. The biggest difference between the two lies on their nature. The first was an interview with open-ended questions; the second however was made up of questions with a nominal rating system. In this second questionnaire, the subject was presented a number of attributes that he had to rate in order of importance. These attributes were fetched from the first questionnaire; they were the most recurring attributes that attracted the attention of the majority of those who responded to the first form. This information is necessary, since one of our aims is to make a marketing campaign for Cameroon. And on a larger scale, the insight gotten from this questionnaire is indispensable to know in what service areas improvements are necessary in order to attract more tourists. Therefore, the characteristics, which carry much weight to the respondents, would be made outstanding and given much importance in the accompanying campaign. That explains the reason for coming up with a questionnaire, which required the subject to rate the attributes. Logically, this one required less in-depth discussion or little contact with the subjects. Everything on the questionnaire was self-explanatory; the rating went from ?very important ?to ?not important ?. So there was very little to be explained. Furthermore, the filling out of the questionnaire did not demand much time from the respondents, less than five minutes were sufficient, for there was no writing involved, but rather a crossing or a checking was all that was needed.

Besides, the sample diversity was bigger in the first case, as we were still ignorant of the many facets of our problem. But after the first questionnaire was done, it became clear that the age range interested in an eventual travel to Cameroon was between 18 and 35. In addition, those who would be interested in such a holiday are those who have had some foreign experience. With that knowledge, the focus narrowed and we concentrated on a homogenous group with respect to the above criteria. The most evident place to search was at the premises of the university. So, in this case, we are mostly concerned with students. We handed the questionnaires mostly to German International Management students but also to some students from other faculties, since the English language is usually not an obstacle here at the university. We also contacted a few professors who were glad to contribute. That was to a big extent a representative sample of the Germans who would be interested in touring Cameroon. In this way, for the second time, we collected data that added to the information we already had from the first questionnaire. This questionnaire gave us an idea of what characteristics have the biggest priority for those who would eventually think of making Cameroon a holiday resort. The ensuing information is going to be used for the creation of a campaign urging people to visit this central African country.

Deciding what kind of information would be relevant to our problem, from whom where and how to get it is just the beginning of solving the problem. The data has got to be analysed and deductions and conclusions have got to be drawn to be able to have an answer or a solution to the problem at hand. Before we get into the analysis itself and its results, let us see how the sample of both questionnaires was categorized and processed in order to arrive at results.

Sampling procedure

The variety and the width of the samples differed from one questionnaire to another. This is so because each of the questionnaires had its purpose . They did not give the same information and thus were not the identical also when it came to who provided the information .

With the first questionnaire for instance as was stated above , not much consideration was given to the kind of people that we would like to have in our sample . We made use of the non-probability sampling method . This could be carried out in 4 different ways , but we chose the convenient sampling. This is the case where the interviewers use high traffic location such as the shopping mall . For the first research form we used this method and just asked anyone who went through the mall and who were willing to spare us some of their time . We made use to a limited degree of referral sampling , especially for the part where a few Germans who had been to Cameroon where to be contacted . We asked around because those were people who would hardly be found in the streets , given the very few Germans who have been to Cameroon . So asking some friends and some of those who were interviewed about some others proved to be very helpful in this case . We did not limit the number of questionnaires we wanted filled , to make up for the fact that the city of Deggendorf could not really be a representation of Germany as a whole . So we decided to get as many responses as we could .

In the case of the second questionnaire much thought was given to the sample and who should be part of it, because we were already some steps ahead in our research and had a better idea of those that had to be included. It still was a convenience sampling because, even though we had realized that the people interested in going to Cameroon were in the age range of 18-35, we still conveniently chose the university as our main source of responses. So, the second sample is mostly a representation of the university but in an extended sense, a sample of the age group that would be interested in a Cameroonian holiday. Here, there was no referral sample.

Thus in both cases, the selection of the places and consequently of the respondents could be said to have been subjective.

Data Analysis

As we mentioned before, in our research, we totally made two questionnaires. The second questionnaire is base on the first questionnaire. At the following text, we will list the results of two questionnaires, and make an analysis of them.

First Questionnaire:

The purpose of this questionnaire is to find our how many people have been to Cameroon, why they like to go there, and for those who have not been to Cameroon; we also want to know if they like to go there. If not, why not, which aspect will influence them to make decision.

In this questionnaire, most of questions are open-end question. People can answer them freely. And we also use China and Greece as competition opponents. By this comparison, we could know why people go to China or Greece, and not go to Cameroon. Then it can guild us to find out people really needs and what they expect to get.

The questionnaire forms, which we distributed, are fifty. And the effective questionnaire forms, which we took back, are 36. So the total samples are 36. According to people?s answer, we divided them into 3 groups: people who have not been to all of three places; people who have been to Greece (short distance trip); people who have been to China or Cameroon (long distance trip)

People who have not been to the countries we mentioned in our questionnaires.

In this group, there are 17 samples, about 47% of total samples, therein, 7 man and 10 women. None of them has been to China, Cameroon or Greece. And when they were asked ?Do you will to go to Cameroon, if you have chance?, only 5 person, 29% of the group, expressed they would go there. Rest of people all has negative attitudes. The reasons, why they do not want to go there, were centralized on two aspects: 2 persons said they worry about illness and 5 persons thought the trip to go to Cameroon is too expensive for them. Other 5 persons did not give us any reasons. They simply express that no interest in Cameroon.

There is some detail information and opinion from people who want to go to Cameroon, when they were asked some questions about Cameroon.

First thing in their mind: soccer.

Maximum payment for a trip to Cameroon: ?700 (1 person), ?1000(1 person), ?1000(1 person), ?1100(1 person), ?2000(2 persons). Average willing payment is ?1360.

How long would they stay in Cameroon: 3 weeks (2 person), 2 weeks (3 people). Average stay period is 2.6 weeks.

What services and attractions would they expect: good service good accommodation, sightsee tour and safari?

People who have already been to Greece

12 of the 36 participants had already been to Greece sometime in the past. The factors that influenced these six males and six females to visit Greece were different, but in many cases one or two factors were decisive for more than one person.

Important factors were the culture and tradition of the Greek people and the monuments located in many parts of the country. The cultural aspect seems to be in general an important factor, since sightseeing is being enjoyed by most of the visitors. The experience of tasting a different kind of food was also enjoyed a lot by some of the questioned people that visited Greece. Since Cameroon is also a country where visitors from Germany can enjoy food that is not available in Germany or at least in Deggendorf, there are big chances that somebody will find it interesting to visit a new country in order of tasting the different food and experiencing new adventures. The people also liked the lovely scenery of Greece, the sandy and clean beaches and of course the perfect weather in the summer months of July and August where in comparison to Germany the temperatures never are less than 30 degrees. In Cameroon the temperature in the summer months is difficult to handle, but during autumn and spring every visitor will definitely experience a perfect climate. The mentality of the people living in Greece was also mentioned by some that had visited Greece and therefore it would probably play an important role to anybody thinking of visiting Cameroon in the future.

Unfortunately there are always also some negative aspects of a visit to a foreign country. The hotels in Greece do not seem to be of good quality, there is a lot of noise and the prices for food, accommodation and services are very high. If these negative factors would be changed, even more tourists would come to Greece.

Finally, in contrast to the other persons that do not have been outside Germany, nobody that visited Greece found bad thinks to say about Cameroon when they were questioned what comes into their mind when they hear the word Cameroon. In addition to that, almost everybody (over 91%) that has already visited Greece would think about visiting Cameroon. For an all inclusive trip to Cameroon, they would pay between ?800 and ?3000 with the average amount being ?1450.

Carefully considering the above facts, there is a considerable chance that somebody that has already spent some time outside Germany would visit Cameroon in the near future.

People who have already been to China or Cameroon:

According to our questionnaire, five people have been to Cameroon and two people have been to both Cameroon and China. The people of this group are about 19 % of total people in this questionnaire.

In this group, some people went Cameroon or China, because of work requirement, some because of the willing of travel.

Details about Questionnaire

(From people who have been to Cameroon)

What did they like most: most people mentioned Africa society and openness of people.

What did they dislike most: Communication difficulty is the primary problem (telephone and email services are not able to get anywhere). Besides, road condition, environment, understanding problem and less private space are also complaining aspects.

Factors influenced people to visit: some of people went there because of business, some people because of willing of travel (marriage). And most of people wrote people are the factor that influenced them to visit that country.

First thing in their mind: too many people, climate, and openness.

Would they visit Cameroon again, if they have the chance: All of people expressed affirmative attitudes?

Maximum payment for a trip to Cameroon: ?500 (1 person), ?1000 (2 persons), ?1500 (1 person), did not mention (1 person). Average payment is ?1000.

How long would they stay in Cameroon: 3 weeks (2 person), 4 weeks (1 person), depends on plan (2 persons). Average stay period is 3.3 weeks.

What services and attractions would they expect: better transportation and road condition are first two aspects? Better health supports, more friendly service in shops, and more stable social environment are also expected aspects.

(From people who have been to China)

What did they like most: different culture, food.

What did they dislike most: too many people and tourists?

Factors influenced people to visit: culture, food are main points. To see what Asia likes also is mentioned

—Questions about trip to Cameroon.

First thing in their mind: soccer.

Maximum payment for a trip to Cameroon: ?1200 (1 person), ?1500(1 person). Average willing payment is ?1350.

How long would they stay in Cameroon: 5 weeks (1 person), 3 weeks (1 person)? Average stay period is 4weeks.

What services and attractions would they expect: beautiful scenery, rural travel, and direct touch local culture?

Analysis of the first questionnaire

So from the first glance of our questionnaires, we can get some information that some people like to travel abroad, some people don?t. Especially focusing on attitudes of travelling to Cameroon, we can easily find the difference among three groups:

For the group, which people have not been to China, Greece or Cameroon, these people do not have much interest on travelling. Most of them do not want to go to Cameroon, even if they have chance. When we asked which the first image about Cameroon is, some of them do not have any word. Only 30% people of this group will to travel there, and compared with other two groups, the people?s expectation stay period is obviously short.

For the group, which people have been to Greece, they express more passion to travel abroad. 91% people of this group have positive attitudes to travel in Cameroon. They know how to enjoy their travel. They like to crap at any unsatisfactory service during their travels. They will to pay more money (?1450 average) and spend more time on their travel. Of course they have higher expectation.

For the group, which people have been to China and Cameroon, there is no any problem for them on long distance travel. Although some of people, who have been Cameroon or China, went there just simply because of requirement of works, they got good impression through trips, and they are willing to go there again. Those people like to touch new world, and they are more easily to accept different culture. In this group, 100% people express their strong desire to go to Cameroon. They also like to spend more money (?1350) and time (4 weeks) for travel. Besides, these people also have wide knowledge. They know who to approach real culture and local society. For example, when they were asked what attractions would you expect? Some one answered that he wants to stay in the bushes, watch different wild animals closely, and not go with big tourists group.

Second Questionnaire

For our second questionnaire we decided to develop our questions based on the information we had gathered from the first and very openly developed one.

We first want to gather some basic information about the person we questioned, like their gender, sex and age. Then we start with the question if the person would like to go to Cameroon for his/her vacations some time in the future? This question is of high importance because if it is answered negatively then the rest of the questions are of no real importance to him/her. The other ten questions we added could be answered with very important, important and not important. We included some basic factors that are considered by everyone before making some long trip to a foreign country, like the level of security and health services, the friendliness of the inhabitants, the cultural aspect of the country and also the costs for such a trip.

The fifteen males and seventeen females we asked were between eighteen and thirty-five years old. 41,4 percent would find it very important (or just important) to combine a visit to Cameroon with a safari tour and only 17,2 percent are not interested at all to visit the numerous protected animal resorts that exist in the beautiful county. Almost all of them (96, 5 percent) believe that the openness and friendliness of the local people is of very high importance. This figure was the highest we got for any of the ten questions and showed us that these two factors are highly expected by any tourist. The cultural aspect was also of importance to everybody. 72, 4 percent would find it very important to learn something about the natives and their habits during their short stay in the African country.

For 72, 4 percent the level of security is also of very high concern and 27, 6 percent would be a bit worried if they would visit a dangerous country. Minimal health services was even more important than security (75,9 percent) while being able to communicate through phone/email with friends and family is not important to about one eighth of the 32 participants.

The question of the costs for such a trip is one of the most difficult to answer and in our case is only based on experience from previous trips outside Germany. A few more than half (55, 2 percent) would pay ?1000 or even less for a two week all-inclusive stay in Cameroon. The rest of the questioned persons would pay between ?1000 and ?1500. For the price chosen, 27, 5 percent would expect a four- or five-star hotel to live in, but the majority (62, 1 percent) would be satisfied with a three-star hotel.

Finally, the most important question, the question of thinking about visiting Cameroon was positively answered by 75 percent. In comparison to our first questionnaire is it a very high number and gives us hope that at least some will think about a short stay in Cameroon in the near future.

After careful consideration of the above mentioned statistics, we believe that with the right campaign, comparative prices and services, Cameroon can achieve to increase the number of foreign tourists and make a lot of profit from the tourism sector like China and Greece.

Analysis of Results

For most of the questionnaire participants, Africa is still a mystery, old and unfamiliar land. In our case, we use Cameroon as a research target. From the two questionnaires, we can see that most of the people mentioned their worry about social security and public service. And by the information from people who have been to Cameroon, there are some problems of transportation, social security, telecommunication and Internet service.

Wrong information from the media and bad relations to other countries in Africa whose situation is even worse than the one of Cameroon creating beliefs that is unrealistic and in some cases just absurd. Another concern is the expenses for such a long trip and the high living costs while staying there. This confirms the hypothesis we had before we began with our research.

Therefore we would say that these problems could be the negative influence vector for Cameroon?s tourism and at the same time the inflow of foreign investors? money supply for different projects within the country.

Limitations of the Study

The data analysis and our report were based on the data collection. Our research ordinarily focuses on total German people, but as we noted at beginning of our report, we are just students, and have no enough time and money to do a survey covering entire Germany. All of data is collected from Deggendorf, the city where we are studying. Mathematically, the research result could not express all of German people?s thought, and have enough representation.

The range of Questionnaires is only limited to the people that we can find. Theoretically, if we want to figure out how people think about travelling in Cameroon, samples should be chosen from different levels of society and age. However, it is the same problem as above that considers about limited time and budget. In fact, it is also too difficult to choose samples what we want. During our interview, we found that for students, they look like more willing to be interviewed, but for other people, sometimes, they do not like to answer questionnaires or not give us honest answers. Generally, we choose public places, such as entrances of super markets and shopping street, to do questionnaires. In most of occasions, people may not want to answer some questions, which do not concern themselves. For real marketing investigation projects, companies always have enough budgets to support their researches. They would use some methods to attract people to accept questionnaires. For some people, a small gift or a little cash payment could be a good reason to spend few minutes for answering several weird questions, but we cannot do that. It is very simple. Nobody is going to pay us.

No enough meeting and working time is an obstacle for us as well. Because all of our group members come from different majors, normally, we have different timetables. The only possible gap for all of us is just one-hour lunchtime. Even so, it is still not easy to make every people sitting together at one time. Before we finished the report, the total number of meeting time that all of our members could come together, was less than five.

Conclusions and Recommendations

During our research period we did not discover only facts and figures about Cameroon, China and Greece but also some aspects of the human factor, based on the psychology and stereotypes that exist in the mind of the ordinary German citizen.

The two questionnaires helped us to locate some of the stereotypes that unfortunately are neither based on real facts nor are logical for a person outside Germany. Some extreme answers we have to mention are for example deadly diseases and fascistic expressions in relation to the colour of the people living in Cameroon. During our research we also found out that some older citizens of Deggendorf have not been outside Germany during their whole life. This fact was rather problematic since we only got responses from young persons and not from a wider age range.

Our research yet showed us that almost everybody who has already visited a country outside Germany would consider spending his vacations in such a beautiful country as Cameroon is. Unfortunately Cameroon is still a developing nation with some important problems that need to be handled by its government before numerous European tourists would consider visiting the country. The most important factor that needs to be taken care of is, to be able to guarantee the security of the visitors and the tourism attractions at any time. Additionally our research showed that health services is believed to be horrible in the whole country and that deadly diseases exist. These two opinions are very false and only the government would be able to change this strange thinking by the means of a good marketing campaign run on the European media. We realized that Cameroon is widely known from its sport achievements, especially in the area of football. A money support in the area of sports and hotel construction/refurbishment will present Cameroon to the public more often and the visitors will be welcomed by a top of the art environment.

As already stated above, if the important issues of the country are resolved, then Cameroon should have good chances in becoming an interesting place to visit.

La economía de Puerto Rico no tiene nada en común con la de los Estados Unidos de América. El gobierno está bien metido en las decisiones hechas para el mejoramiento social, económico, educativo y modernización. Los puertoriqueños no pagan impuestos. La economía exhibe dos lados en su operación. EN un lado los puertoriqueños usan el dólar estadounidense como su moneda. EN la otra Puerto Rico sólo puede participar en la legislación favorable para el interés y el seguro social para sus ciudadanos. Puerto Rico tiene que prevenir el paso de leyes que puedan dañar su economía.

Operación Boostrap fue idea del gobernador Luis Muños Marin diseñado en los 40s. Fue hacho para que se formara una idea para la reconstrucción económica y social. La primera etapa fue la creación de un conjunto de directores y una agencia de organización para el pryecto de ayuda mutua. Estos directores decidían prioridades, ponían metas y administraban una de las mejores reconstrucciones en la história. La operación tuvo tres grandes organizaciones encargadas de:

1) Autoridad de Recursos de Agua Potable

2) El Bancodel Desarrollo del Gobierno

3) Administración del desarrollo económico.

La organización de Recursos de Aguas Potables fue base para el desarrollo. En1940la rpoducción de Kw/hora era de 130 mollones , en 1964 era de 3 billones de Kw. Sin el desarrollo de la energía electrica nada fuera posible. El banco del desarrollo del gobierno se encargaba de la moneda, también supervisó prestamos. Fue efectiva en producir grandes edificios y proyectos de casas para gente de escasos recursos. La agencia más importante para los puertoriqueños es la administración del desarrollo económico, conocia como FOMENTO. FOMENTO tiene acreditado haber establecido más de 5,000 compañías en la isla y haber empleado más de 200,000 personas, un cuarto de la población de Puerto Rico. En el presente las maquilas cuentan con un 85% de la economía y la agricultura un 10%.

Los críticos de la Operación Bootstrap creen que el programa de disolver la agricultura como la economía principal fue muy rápido. Tan rápido fue el cambio de agricultra a industria que la caña de azucar fue dejada a luchar por su existencia. En 1990 sólo 95,800 toneladas de azúucar fueron sembradas. Ésto ni siquiera es suficiente para suplir a Puerto Rico. En el presente plan las compañías americanas pagan bonos por azúcar puertorqueñas. Los molinos de azúcar son todos del gobierno.

Puerto Rico también produce café, tabaco y ganadería. En los últimos años la producción de frutas se ha alzado. La pesca también ha aumentado. La minería en baja y tiene una mínima imporancia.

El turismo es de lol más impotante. Más de 1.5 millones de turistas dejan $800,000,000 anuales. El turismo es una economía grandísima, las playas atraen mucha gente.