Tourism development
“Given the volatility of the tourism environment, discuss the importance of planning in terms of tourism development. Please use at least three examples of events that you think have influenced or disrupted tourism development over the years”
Answer
Tourism can be described in simple words as the travel for leisure or business. Tourism started in the 7th century when people would travel for trade and pilgrimage. As time flew by, people began believing that dying without visiting a new place meant someone was hugely neglected in society. At this time, people started traveling for leisure purposes, just to visit and be in a place different from their usual environment. People also began to travel to other countries and cities to receive medical treatment and for higher education purposes as well (Butler, 2015). Tourism slowly evolved to people traveling to coastal areas to get a dip in the ocean and with that resorts started emerging in these areas.
Travel agencies started coming up to facilitate traveling to other towns, cities, and countries and more forms of tourism such as events and sports tourism started emerging. Today, there are very many modes of tourism that range from event tourism to mass tourism to modern-day nomadism. The man of today is highly nomadic since today’s life and technology can allow one to work from any part of the world, especially if one is an entrepreneur or freelancer. The development of tourism has had numerous benefits such as economic growth and adverse ones such as environmental pollution among others. Due to this, sustainable tourism development is highly encouraged. In this paper, tourism development will be discussed and how planning four tourism development is beneficial.
Over time, tourism has become one of the largest industries in the world due to its significant contribution to employment and gross domestic produce (GDP) of countries. Today, some states rely highly on tourism to fuel their economies. According to the World Bank, tourism accounts for more than 10% of the global GDP with the tourism sector being the world’s third largest global export and being worth $7.6 trillion (Twining-Ward & Shiels, 2017).
It is not a wonder that tourism has become such a big industry. The industry has numerous benefits ranging from economic to social and the environment. Economically, tourism stimulates GDP growth, boosts international investments, creates employment, increases international trade, supports low-income economies, and leads to infrastructural developments such as roads, airports, and medical services among others (Cooper et al., 1993). The positive impacts of tourism on society include benefiting women as they are make up 60 to 70% of the industry’s workers, rejuvenates urban areas through job creation, investments and improved infrastructure (Postma & Schmuecker, 2017), promotes local artisans, strengthens rural communities, supports inclusive growth since it is labor intensive and hence requires all types of people, it cultivates understanding between people of different cultures, promotes philanthropy and protects and sustains cultural sites. Tourism also helps conserve the environment through facilitating conservation, raising awareness on climatic changes and boosting the blue economy.
Despite the positive impacts it has, tourism has negative impacts as well, which are felt as much as the positive ones. For starters, tourism is a mass employer, but the downside is that since the majority of the workforce does not require special skills, compensation offered to employees is often low, especially for the local community (Paul, 2012). Local communities in a tourist area tend to benefit less from infrastructure such as airports as the costs of using them are too high, and their salaries cannot match up that kind of living. Tourists’ hot spots tend to have high costs of living, which the locals cannot afford thus creating inequalities in the society and economy. Socially, tourism has had adverse effects on rural areas and the host communities. Due to tourism businesses wanting to make a profit, rural areas are often bombarded with buildings that destroy the natural sceneries and quietness in the areas. In some places, the natural beauty is wiped off, and artificial sceneries are put up to attract tourists. Tourism also causes environmental damages such as noise and air pollution (Neto, 2003). Due to human encroachment, a lot of farmland is lost to tourism activities, and soil erosion occurs while cases of damping increase.
Due to the negative impacts that tourism has on the economy, society, culture, and environment, the need for tourism development in a sustainable manner arose. According to Zolfani et al. (2015), sustainable tourism development emerged with the aim of reducing the adverse effects of tourism activities. Tourism development can be defined as the creation of plans and strategies to develop tourism for a place. Sustainable tourism development, which is what is encouraged, can be defined as tourism that takes into consideration its current and future social, environmental and economic impacts while addressing the needs of the host communities, industry, visitors and the environment (Najdeska & Rakicevik, 2012). While the major desired outcome for developing tourism is economic gains, it is important also to consider the impacts it has on the society, culture, environment and the visitors themselves.
To attain positive tourism development, planning that is strategic is important. Planning for tourism development should involve the government, private sector businesses in the industry and the host community representatives. Planning aims at ensuring that the tourism sector stays up to date with global trends, to increase its competitive edge and to ensure the needs of the customer are met while keeping businesses happy and the host communities satisfied.
Planning for tourism development allows for the establishment of tourism development objectives and policies that define what is to be accomplished and how the goals will be reached. Rules, regulations, trade rules, capacity, minimums, and maximums are put in place to govern the industry and help steer it towards a certain direction.
Planning for tourism development is important because it ensures that cultural and natural resources are conserved and maintained for present and future use (Zamfir & Corbos 2015). These resources are what attracts tourists, and their misuse will lead to their quick depletion which will consequently lead to lower tourism levels in an area. The proper use of natural and cultural resources will see to it that the local people, the industry, and businesses benefit from tourism for a long time. For example, if the cultural practices of Hawaiians were discouraged and replaced with the normal American life, Hawaii would cease being an attractive tourist destination for many people around the world.
Planning for development in tourism also enables for a country or region to consider tourism as one of the factors that lead to development in the region thus identifying a link between tourism and other sectors of the economy. Considering tourism as a factor that leads to development will lead to integrating it into the development policies and patterns of the region or country. Due to this, tourism will be viewed more seriously and as a means of improving the economy by the government and its people. The government will therefore not shy off from allocating money to growing the tourism sector.
Planning for tourism development also offers a chance for decision-making to both the public and private sectors on tourism development (WTO, 2015). The government is usually keen on ensuring its people are not suffering due to tourism activities while the private sector ensures that it is making a decent income from tourism and responsibly impacting the society. The government can help control the use of land for tourism purposes, especially building of hotels and resorts. If an area is considered farmland, the government can protect the local people from losing the land to private investors who want to build resorts instead of farming. The government can also weigh in on setting wages for people in the sector to ensure people are not underpaid. The private sector, on the other hand, can help the government take advantage of chances to monetize this sector thus bringing in more income for the economy. Lastly, cooperation between the public and private sector can aid the government in understanding and help mitigate some of the problems faced by the private sector in the tourism industry. Cooperation between these two sectors can also enhance effective and coordinated investment efforts into tourism by the private and public sector.
Planning for development of tourism enables the involved parties to develop some elements of the tourism sector that may be underdeveloped. An element in the tourism sector that is a good tourist attraction site may be overlooked, but planning can help put more emphasis on such sites and areas while helping reduce chances of overutilization of popular ones (Todorovic, 2015). For instance, rural areas are mainly neglected as destination areas as people, and tourism businesses put more emphasis on coastal regions. Through planning for tourism development, strategies can be put in place to increase awareness of rural areas as tourist destination areas. More tourists in such areas will increase the area’s economic activity, employment, and income for the people.
Planning allows for the optimization and balancing of the environmental, economic and social benefits of tourism to minimize problems of tourism and ensure fair distribution of these benefits to the society (Toivonen, 2017). With planning for tourism development, it becomes possible to curb emerging issues such as mass tourism, environmental pollution and possible conflicts between tourists and the local community. It also allows for the viewing and promoting of the positive impacts tourism has on society, culture, economy, and environment. For instance, due to mass tourism to coastal areas during summer, through planning, the government and other stakeholders in the tourism sector can come up with strategies to encourage visiting other tourist destinations away from coastal areas.
Planning makes it possible to control the extent of tourism development in an area. For instance, in a place flooded with holiday resorts and hotels, the development of more such structures can be controlled through guidelines put in place through planning. Oversaturation of a market with the same product or service leads to lower profits for businesses which may try to increase their profit margins by offering lower salaries to its employees from host communities or lay them off. Such effects have negative effects on the society, and they can be mitigated through planning tourism development in that area. If the place is a good fishing destination, diversification of tourist activities can be done in this line instead of building more hotels.
Lastly, planning allows for the continuous management and monitoring of the tourism sector. A well-managed and controlled tourism industry yields better results than an unmanaged one. While the unmanaged may yield more money, its costs to the environment and society may be too high, hence the need for management. Monitoring also helps show how the sector is doing over time.
Sustainable tourism development is the future of the tourism sector. Tourism development allows for the development of this industry in a manner that not only brings profits to the involved businesses and grows the economy but also impacts the environment and the host community positively. Tourism development can only be achieved through planning for development of the sector. Planning should be carried out by all stakeholders, in this case, the government, the private sector, and the host community. Through planning, some of the major issues affecting the tourism sector such as environmental degradation, mass tourism, and market saturation are mitigated.
References
Butler, R. (2015). The Evolution of Tourism and Tourism Research. Tourism Recreational Research, 40(1):16-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2015.1007632
Cooper, C., Fletcher, J., Gilbert, D., & Wanhill, S. (1993). Tourism: Principles & Practice. Longman: Harlow, UK.
Najdeska, K. A. and Rakicevik, G. (2012). Planning of Sustainable Tourism Development. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences, 44 (2012):210-220.
Neto, F. (2003). A New Approach to Sustainable Tourism Development: Moving Beyond Environmental Protection. DESA Discussion Paper, No. 9.
Paul, B. D. (2012). The Impacts of Tourism on Society. Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 21 (1), 500–506
Postma, A. and Schmuecker, D. (2017). Understanding and Overcoming Negative Impacts of Tourism in City Destinations: Conceptual Model and Strategic Framework. Journal of Tourism Futures, 3(2): 144-156. doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-04-2017-0022
Todorovic, B. 2015. Importance of Sustainable Tourism Development In Terms Of Economic Development. Annals – Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, vol. Special:16-22.
Toivonen, A. (2017). Sustainable Planning for Space Tourism. Retrieved from: https://journal.fi/matkailututkimus/article/download/67850/28443/
Twining-Ward, L. and Shiels, D. (2017). 20 Reasons You Should Integrate Tourism into Your Development Agenda. Retrieved from: http://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/20-reasons-you-should-integrate-tourism-your-development-agenda
World Tourism Organization, WTO. (2015). Global Report on Public-Private Partnerships: Tourism Development. WTO: Spain.
Zamfir, A. and Corbos, R. A. (2015). Towards Sustainable Tourism Development in Urban Areas: Case Study on Bucharest as Tourist Destination. Sustainability, 2015 (7): 12709-12722. doi:10.3390/su70912709
Zolfani, S. H., Sedaghat, M., Maknoon, R. and Zavadskas, E. K. (2015). Sustainable Tourism: A Comprehemsive Literature Review on Frameworks and Applications. Economic Research, 28(1): 1-30. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2014.995895
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