Tourism Impacts and Types of tourism

Tourism Impacts

Presented by

Institution

Table of Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u 1.0 Types of tourism PAGEREF _Toc400960474 h 31.1 Dark tourism PAGEREF _Toc400960475 h 31.2 Community-based tourism PAGEREF _Toc400960476 h 31.3 Virtual tourism PAGEREF _Toc400960477 h 32.0 Introduction: Tourism impacts PAGEREF _Toc400960478 h 43.0 Discussion PAGEREF _Toc400960479 h 43.1 Positive economic impacts of tourism PAGEREF _Toc400960480 h 43.1.1 Impact I: Contribution to foreign exchange earnings PAGEREF _Toc400960481 h 43.1.2 Impact II: Creating employment opportunities PAGEREF _Toc400960482 h 53.2 Negative economic impacts of tourism PAGEREF _Toc400960483 h 53.2.1 Impact I: Enclave tourism PAGEREF _Toc400960484 h 53.2.2 Impact II: High costs of infrastructure PAGEREF _Toc400960485 h 64.0 Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc400960486 h 7References PAGEREF _Toc400960487 h 8

1.0 Types of tourism1.1 Dark tourismDark tourism is a type of visit where people travel to tourism destinations historically associated with evil. People who previously travelled to these sites either died or faced tragedies that made the sites get associated with evil spirits. Dark tourism sites are commonly found in thick forests, rivers, or any other lonely place like islands. People also refer these areas as black tourism sites. They form the most fearful and scary sites in the world. People love dark love dark tourism sites because of the suspense nature of the areas and the curiosity of discovering tragedies associated with dark sites.

1.2 Community-based tourismA community-based tourism forms a type of tourism organized by local habitats who design specific tourist attraction activities and invites people from different corners of the world to their destination. Economically marginalized, rural and poor people commonly organize community-based tourism whereby they offer their visitors accommodation in their attraction sites. Community-based tourism helps tourists understand local communities in terms of their cultures, rituals, and beliefs. On the other hand, community-based tourism creates job opportunities for locals and makes them develop into modern lifestyles.

1.3 Virtual tourismInternet users love browsing different tourist destinations, tour through various attractive sites and even interact with tourist guides virtually. Virtual tourism defines this type of touring where individuals visit sites of interest without any physical contact with the tourist site. In the past, people got involved to virtual tourism by using video and slideshow that explored their areas of interest. Presently, people use the internet to navigate their ways to tourism destination websites and get a clear view of the site.

2.0 Introduction: Tourism impactsThe tourism industry generates substantial economic impacts to both the host country and the source of tourists either positively or negatively. Tourism contributes positively to the country through foreign exchange earnings and creating employment opportunities. On the other hand, tourism’s negative impacts include enclave tourism and high cost of infrastructure (Matias, Nijkamp, & Sarmento, 2011). The following paper aims at gaining an in-depth understanding of both positive and negative tourism impacts. In addition, the paper analyses the role of the tourism industry in influencing major economic decisions of the host country. Tourism involves people moving away from their usual environment for leisure, recreation, family and individual business purposes. The economic factors of a country affected by tourism include labour, distribution of resources, and capital. Many developing countries in the world currently participate in the global economy through development of international tourism (Richardson, 2010). 3.0 Discussion

3.1 Positive economic impacts of tourism3.1.1 Impact I: Contribution to foreign exchange earningsTourism enables international transactions involving the exchange of currencies between different nations. Tourism contributes to foreign exchange earnings through world exports and international trade in services because it forms one of the largest industries in the world. Tourists incur a lot of expenditure associated with accommodation, food, and fees charged on various tourist attraction sites. The income generated from tourism contributes to the advancement of the host country’s economy through financing investments that stimulate economic growth. For example, Kenya is one of the leading tourist destinations in Africa. The tourism sector forms the major contributor to Gross Domestic Product through the foreign exchange (Republic of Kenya: Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, 2006). Countries should encourage tourism in their areas in order to enjoy tremendous economic advancement through foreign exchange earnings.

3.1.2 Impact II: Creating employment opportunitiesTourism sector contributes to a bigger percentage of employment opportunities in the country. Employment rates act one of the measures of economic growth of the nation. High rate of employment leads to more people earning salaries and contributing to the growth of their economy through revenues collected from money utilized by the public. The increased growth of international tourism leads to significant jobs creation. For example, the accommodation industry composing of hotels offers more than 1 million jobs worldwide. Other areas where tourism creates job opportunities include restaurants, recreation areas, taxis, and direct or indirect supply of goods and services in tourism-related activities. Community participation in tourism through community-based tourism approaches creates potential avenues for poverty reduction and ends up stabilizing the economy of the country by eliminating poverty (Richardson, 2010).

3.2 Negative economic impacts of tourism3.2.1 Impact I: Enclave tourismIn some instances, tourists visit one specific site or occupy one cruise ship that offers them everything they want including accommodation, food, and entertainment. These form of spending benefits few local businesses that see a chance of earning more from tourists. Enclave tourism leaves less opportunity for other businesses to make profits from tourism-related activities. In addition, all inclusive hotels generate large amounts of revenues but they contribute less to the economic development of the nation. Moreover, enclave tourism contributes to poor allocation of economic gains in a country where private businesses offer package tours.

Enclave tourism makes a nation lose much revenue because tourists pay for services in advance in their countries of origin. The money paid does not contribute to the economy of the destination country. A study conducted on social-economic impact of tourism in Zanzibar revealed that tourists involved in enclave tourism spent less of their money on issues like accommodation, food, and site-visits. The situation led to the reduction of daily spending per tourist from US$119 to US$28.92 (Anderson, 2011). Destination stakeholders are recommended to develop tourism into a strong, viable industry by ensuring all tourism spending remains at the destination through strong local linkages.

3.2.2 Impact II: High costs of infrastructureIn an effort to ensure the comfort of people visiting the country, local government improves the infrastructure using local taxpayers’ money. Attractive tourist destinations should be accompanied by a well-maintained infrastructure in order to make tourists more confidence of their safety and security. Governments spend huge sums of country revenues improving facilities such as roads, airport, and other infrastructure for the purpose of promoting tourism. In order to generate finances needed for these improvements, the local government increases taxes on goods that negatively affect local people. High taxes leads to people earning less salary and spending less. In addition, funds spent by the government on subsidized infrastructure stagnates other critical development areas like health and education that have a direct impact on the economy. Tourist hosting countries are recommended to balance government spending on tourism sectors in order to spend more on areas that promote economic growth.

4.0 ConclusionBased on the information gathered about tourism impacts, this paper concludes that tourism creates significance benefits and shortcomings to the economy of the host country. The main benefits of tourism as discussed in the paper are creation of employment opportunities and contributing to foreign exchange earnings. On the other hand, the literature showed that tourism causes losses to the economy through enclave tourism and high costs of infrastructure. Hosting nations have the responsibility of promoting tourism in their destinations by achieving less negative outcomes. The best solution to negative impacts of tourism involves doing away with enclave tourism and spending less on infrastructure maintenance. Moreover, destination managers should devise better mechanisms of dealing with problems affecting the tourism sector in order to encourage more visitors and reduce negative impacts.

ReferencesAnderson, W. (2011). Enclave tourism and its socio-economic impact in emerging

destinations. An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 22(3), 361-377

Matias, A., Nijkamp, P., & Sarmento, M. (2011). Tourism Economics. Dordrecht: Springer.

Republic of Kenya: Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife. (November 2006). Statistical analysis

Of tourism trends (Globally and locally). Available at

http://www.tourism.go.ke/ministry.nsf/doc/tourism_trends_oct2006_revised.pdf/$file/tourism_trends_oct2006_revised.pdf

Richardson, R. B. (2010). The Contribution of Tourism to Economic Growth and Food

Security. USAID for the American People. Retrieved October 13, 2014 from

http://fsg.afre.msu.edu/promisam_2/Tourism_and_food_security_in_Mali_A4.pdf