CCEA GCSE Leisure, Travel and Tourism: complete guide to the units, the topics and how to study each module

CCEA GCSE Leisure, Travel and Tourism is a three-unit course set and marked by CCEA in Northern Ireland, examined by two written papers and a controlled assessment. This page is the index: below is a map of the units and their topics, the assessment structure, the themes that run through the course, and how to study each module.

The CCEA GCSE Leisure, Travel and Tourism units

The qualification is built around three units that move from understanding the industry, to marketing and sustaining it, to working in it.

Unit 1 Understanding the Leisure, Travel and Tourism Industry (40 percent). A 1 hour 30 minute external written exam of short, structured and longer questions, often using resource material. It covers the concepts and types of tourism, the components of the leisure industry and of the travel and tourism industry, products and services, the private, public and voluntary sectors, tourist destinations including the UK and Northern Ireland, and customer service.

Unit 2 Promoting and Sustaining the Leisure, Travel and Tourism Industry (40 percent). A 1 hour 30 minute external written exam with the same question style. It covers marketing and promotion and judging promotional material, target marketing and market segmentation, sustainable and responsible tourism and the impacts of tourism, and worldwide destinations and cultural awareness.

Unit 3 Working in the Leisure, Travel and Tourism Industry (20 percent). A controlled assessment, a task set by CCEA and completed under supervision, marked by the teacher and moderated by CCEA. It focuses on working in the industry: job roles, career paths, and the skills, qualifications and personal qualities each needs.

Assessment structure

CCEA GCSE Leisure, Travel and Tourism is split between two equally weighted written units and a controlled assessment.

• Unit 1 Understanding the Industry - a 1 hour 30 minute written paper worth 40 percent.
• Unit 2 Promoting and Sustaining the Industry - a 1 hour 30 minute written paper worth 40 percent.
• Unit 3 Working in the Industry - a controlled assessment worth 20 percent.

Three assessment objectives run through the course: recall and understanding, application to scenarios, and analysis and evaluation leading to a judgement.

Themes that run through the course

Several ideas appear again and again, and strong students weave them through their answers.

• A service-based industry. Most of what the industry sells is an experience, so customer service matters everywhere.
• Sustainability. The positive and negative impacts of tourism and the principles of sustainable and responsible tourism are central, especially in Unit 2.
• Technology. Online booking, social media and comparison sites have changed how the industry works.
• Local and worldwide. The course expects Northern Ireland examples (the Giant's Causeway, the Mournes, Titanic Belfast) alongside UK and worldwide destinations.

How to study CCEA Leisure, Travel and Tourism

The course rewards precise terms, real examples and balanced, applied judgement.

1. Work topic by topic. Build a clear picture of each topic and the key terms it uses.
2. Learn definitions exactly. Short-answer and definition marks turn on precise wording.
3. Use real examples. Back every point with an example, using Northern Ireland and worldwide destinations.
4. Apply to the scenario. Use the stimulus and resource material in the paper, naming the organisation or destination.
5. Plan and judge. For longer questions on promotion and sustainability, argue both sides and finish with a supported judgement.
6. Treat Unit 3 as a skills task. Research, plan and apply rather than memorise.

The modules, topic by topic

Each topic has a specification-level dot-point page with worked questions and cross-links, and each unit has an overview guide and a quiz. The full set of modules is:

Unit 1 Understanding the Leisure, Travel and Tourism Industry

• The concepts and types of tourism (domestic, inbound and outbound).
• The components of the leisure industry (sport, arts, countryside, home-based leisure, play and catering).
• The components of the travel and tourism industry (tour operators, travel agents, transport, accommodation, attractions and online services).
• Products and services.
• Leisure, travel and tourism organisations (the private, public and voluntary sectors).
• UK and tourist destinations, including Northern Ireland.
• Customer service.

Unit 2 Promoting and Sustaining the Leisure, Travel and Tourism Industry

• Marketing and promotion, and judging promotional material.
• Target marketing and market segmentation.
• Sustainable and responsible tourism and the impacts of tourism.
• Worldwide destinations and cultural awareness.

Unit 3 Working in the Leisure, Travel and Tourism Industry (controlled assessment)

• Working in the industry: job roles, skills, qualifications and personal qualities.

Browse the full set at /ccea-gcse/leisure-travel-and-tourism/syllabus.

For the official specification

CCEA publishes the full specification, specimen papers, past papers and mark schemes at ccea.org.uk. Always revise from the current CCEA specification and CCEA's own past papers, because question style is board-specific.