Literature review
According to Ashworth and Page (2011), urban tourism refers to the form of tourism where tourists visit destinations of interests in urban areas for various reasons such as leisure, shopping, religious purposes, sports, entertainments among others. Urban tourism has become popular in the past decades as more and more visitors are more and more visitors are arriving in cities to visit tourist attraction sites or to attend mega events, for example, World Cup and Olympic Games for leisure purposes. During this course, we engaged in an urban tourism activity where we visited the Cambridge Town in the UK as our place of destination. We visited Cambridge for leisure and educative purposes, and therefore, we learned a lot of interesting facts and information. We learned interesting cultural information, particularly when we attended the Strawberry Fair annual festival, which is an event where music and arts are displayed. Urban tourism is a major economic drivers in major cities across the globe. This is because the arrival visitors contributes to the generation of income in travel and tour industry, hospitality and hotel industry, as well as other large and small scale businesses the sell products or offer services to the visitors. During the trip, we also identified how urban tourism enhances the economy of the urban center involved. To produce a comprehensive report on the economic impact of urban tourism in Cambridge, we collected data regarding the impact of urban tourism has on the economy of Cambridge. In this regard, this particular report is going to analyze the economic impacts of urban tourism to major cities with a special focus on Cambridge.
As already alluded in the introduction, urban tourism, just like any other form of tourism is associated with significant positive impacts on the economy of the location that is visited. The tourism industry employed an estimated 261 million individuals as per the year 2012 and this translate to 9% of the total employment rate across the globe. The number has since risen to more than 283.6 million by the year 2016. In this regard, urban tourism comes along with numerous positive impacts on the economies of the cities involved, for example, it contributes to the creation of employment and through the generation of other opportunities in the economy. The tourism industry employs a large number of female employees, and this creates a major employment opportunity to the female population across the globe. This is attributed to the fact that the female gender is associated with the tenderness and care, and hence, they are able to offer high-quality services to the consumers in the hospitality industry. In this regard, a high large number of the female gender are employed as caterers and in the hotels to offer services to consumers.
The tourism industry has high rate of youth and female employment ratio, and this include both skilled and non-skilled laborers. This progress has been achieved by the low presence of barriers to entry into the tourism industry, a phenomenon that promotes the entry of various types of business firms to offer services to visitors from across the globe. This has enabled the industry to provide a large number of people and to bring about huge economic transformation in many countries across the globe. For example, by the year 2012, the tour and travel industry employed more than 20 million individuals in Europe. The ability of this industry to create large volumes of employment opportunities is beneficial to policy makers across the globe because it enables them to calculate employment multipliers that is crucial for the prediction of the rates of employment and unemployment across the globe. The seasonal nature of tourism activities provides seasonal employment to numerous individuals who are non-skilled and who that lack formal employment in many countries across the globe. The rate of employment in countries increases during the high season of tourism activities. For example, the rate of employment in Gambia and Fiji have been recording double improvements during high tourist activity seasons as compared to the low season of tourism activities. In countries like Kenya, more and more locals are getting employment in the tourism industry where more Kenyans are rising to the position of management in the industry. These trends illustrates the positive impact that tourism activities brings to the employment patterns in regions with tourism attraction sites.
Tourism and employment patterns
Tourism is a major attraction to both local and foreign investments in the regions that receive visitors. In developing countries, tourism attraction sites attracts investment and the improvement of infrastructural growth and development (). To facilitate tourism activities, the mode of transport needs to be reliable, and therefore, in locations with tourist attraction sites, various modes of transports particularly the roads and air transport facilities are improved. The governments of the involved countries make major investments into road construction. The governments also make investment in the travel industries such as cruise ships and aircrafts. This consequently to the construction of high-quality an equipped airports and sea ports for the arrival and departure of visitors.
Tourism activities also contributes to significant investments in the hospitality industry such as accommodation and hotel industry. The arrival of visitors in a particular region results to the increase in the demand for accommodation and catering facilities. As a result, both the local government, local investors as well as foreign investors grab the opportunity to build resorts, four and five star hotels to provide accommodation to the arriving visitors. This has seen the emergence of high-quality hotels such as the Hilton, Hyatt Regency, Intercontinental, and Marriot Hotels in various countries that are famous for tourist attraction sites. The rise of these hotels are crucial sources of growth and development in these locations that are visited.
In addition to the development of accommodation and transport facilities, tourism activities bring about investment and the growth and development health sectors, and both the supply of electricity and water in the countries involved. The current increase in demand for energy and the need to ensure environmental sustainability has called for the demand in the production and supply of clean energy. In this regard, local and foreign investors in various countries have invested in green projects to produce sufficient and clean energy to meet the increased demands of clean energy by visitors and local consumers. For example, between the year 2005 and the year 2012, there was an increase in the capital investment by an estimated $19 billion within the European region.
Tourism activities comes along with significant positive impacts on the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country involved. The arrival of visitors in a country results into the increase in demand for consumption of products and services, and hence, an increase in the generation of revenues by the government and other forms of business owners. During the high tourism activity seasons, the rate of economic activities increases, for example, an increased activities in the travel industries where drivers and tour guides are increasingly busy. Similarly, the economic activities are normally on the rise for the business owners and the employees in the hotel and accommodation industry, and hence, an increase in the generation of more revenues. Increased GDP results into increased revenues, and this translates into increased incomes among the employees involved in the industry of tourism.
According to the reports by the World Travel and Tourism Council (2013), tourism contributes into an increase in GDP in the restaurants and leisure activities that are in direct link with tourists. It also contributes to an increase in the investments that are made in the spending of the government in travel and tourism, for example, in the marketing and promotion of the tourism activities. The increase in the GDP are also as a result of the increase in the consumption of goods and services in the industries that deal directly with the tourists. According to ASEAN Secretariat (2011), the tourism industry contributed to an estimated GDP of $6.631 trillion in the year 2012, whereby $1.391 trillion was generated from the tourism activities in the European region. Similarly, tourism led to the generation of an estimated GDP of $256 billion in the ASEAN region, and this accounted for 11% share of the total GDP of the given region.
Tourism and capital investment
The tourism industry in the UK has grown very fast in the recent decades. According to (), the tourism industry has been of the UK has been the fastest growing with regards to the creation of employment. The tourism industry has been a major factor behind the growth and development of the economy of Cambridge. The town of Cambridge receives an estimated 5 million visitors on an annual basis, and this contributes to the generation of income of more than £583 million into the Cambridge economy (Cambridge Economic Impact of Tourism Report 2013). In addition to this, the larger economy of Cambridgeshire welcomes an estimated 24 million tourists on an annual basis, and this contributes to the generation of an estimated £2 billion into the economy.
The large volumes of visitors is attributed to the history, beauty and culture of the town. Cambridge town is compact and has a spectacular architecture that is evident in the various buildings and constructions that are present in the town, for example, the Cambridge University. Other buildings with beautiful architecture include courtyards, colleges and churches. Other elements that makes the town attractive to tourists is the presence of wide and open spaces in the town and natural surrounding environment like River Cam. There are also excellent road networks and a wide range of accommodation facilities and tourist attraction sites.
The object of this field trip was to examine and identify the impacts of urban tourism, particularly with regards to the economy of Cambridge town. To collect the information needed, various information collection methods were used. Before the trip, literature review of the already published information regarding the economic impacts of urban tourism. The secondary data that was used include books, journals that are peer reviewed, and government database of the Cambridgeshire. The use of secondary data was instrumental on providing in-depth insight on the various economic impacts of urban tourism. To ensure that accurate and reliable information was used in this report, the researcher used recently published secondary sources, for example, books and journals that were published in the last five years. Recent information was also derived from government databases and reports from other important agencies and players in the industry of travel and tourism.
In addition to the secondary sources of information, the report was also based on primary data that was collected by the researcher during the field trip. One of the methods that was used for the collection of primary data was survey and observation. The researcher observed the various tourist attraction sites to identify the most popular tourist attraction sites in Cambridge town. The researcher ranked the popularity of the various tourist attraction sites based on the number of visitors that were present at the given sites during our time of visit. Another primary method of data collection was through the use of a short interview with some of the selected visitors that we encountered as a group during the field trip. We used a questionnaire with both open and closed ended questions to find out the reasons why various visitors chose Cambridge as their place of destination.
Tourism and the growth of GDP
In addition to this, we also managed to interview some of the business owners in Cambridge to identify how tourism activities have impacted their businesses. We also managed to interview the councilor of Cambridge town who provided us with vital information on the economic impact of tourism in the town. The interviews aimed at determining the perceptions of the participants with regards to the impacts of tourism on the economy of Cambridge. The respondents who were used were picked at random, and they were expected to provide information on how they perceive the impact of tourism on the economy. The total number of participants that we interviewed is 50, including one councilor, 10 business owners who deal with sales of products, 10 business owners who offer services in the hotel, tour and travel industry, and 29 visitors in Cambridge town.
Based on the findings of the literature review of the secondary source of data, we established that urban tourism has numerous significant positive impacts on the economy of the city or town involved. This was evident from the results of our findings as highlighted below.
There are various reasons why people visit the town of Cambridge. According to the participants, one of the major reasons that people visit Cambridge is for business purposes. 35% of the respondents stated that they come to Cambridge for business trips. 40% of the respondents reportedly mentioned that they come to Cambridge for leisure purposes. There are different categories of leisure activities that attract visitors to Cambridge. There are numerous special events and cultural festivals, for example, the annual Cambridge tour de Grande, the Cambridge Kin Carnival, Cambridge History Festival and Ely Eel Festival. These special events attract visitors from across the globe. The large volumes of visitors is also attributed to the history, beauty and culture of the town. Cambridge town is compact and has a spectacular architecture that is evident in the various buildings and constructions that are present in the town, for example, the Cambridge University. Other buildings with beautiful architecture include courtyards, colleges and churches. Other elements that makes the town attractive to tourists is the presence of wide and open spaces in the town and natural surrounding environment like River Cam. There are also excellent road networks and a wide range of accommodation facilities and tourist attraction sites.
The owners of business such as malls, supermarkets and hypermarkets mentioned that during holidays and high tourism seasons, the demand of products and services increases, and they record at least 150% percent rise in their revenues. Similar results were recorded during the interviews with the stakeholders in the hotel and tour and travel industry. The players in the hotel and accommodation industry who deal directly with the tourists stated that their revenues double during high season periods as compared to the low activity seasons.
The interview with the councilor of also revealed that there are significant positive economic impacts or urban tourism in the town of Cambridge. As a part of the policy makers in the town of Cambridge, the councilor highlighted some of the economic growth and development programs that have been developed as a result of the arrival of visitors from various destinations, for example, the construction of roads and accommodation facilities in the town.
The questionnaires and interviews also revealed that there are the main focus of tourists who come for leisure activities is the visit to the Cambridge University. 65% of the participants stated that one of the major attraction site that made them to visit the town was to see the Cambridge University. This is because of the numerous (30) colleges that constitute the Cambridge University. There are other popular sites that are famous with tourists in Cambridge. There are popular churches that are attractive to visitors in Cambridge, for example, the King’s Chapel and the Church of the Holy Septure. 15% of the participants stated that they are visited the town for religious purposes and so they were also interested in seen the historic churches in Cambridge. There are also various museums that attract large number of visitors, whereby 55% of the visitors who we interviewed and interacted with during the field trip mentioned that they came to Cambridge to visit the various museums across the town.
The researcher also investigated when most visitors come to Cambridge. 75% of those who visited the town for leisure purposes stated that they preferred visiting Cambridge during the months of summer when the weather is friendly for outdoor activities such as travelling and excursions. However, the majority (55%) of those who come to Cambridge for business trips come at any month depending on their schedule and regardless of the weather season.
The Cambridge town is popular with visitors all throughout the year. This is due to the many visitors that come to the town for business purposes and for leisure activities. The tourism sector of Cambridge has grown tremendously over the recent few decades. The tourism industry has been of the Cambridge has been the fastest growing with regards to the creation of employment in the town. According to the interview by the councilor of Cambridge, the tourism industry has been a major factor behind the growth and development of the economy of Cambridge. Urban tourism in Cambridge is a major source of revenue for the government and for the small and large entrepreneurs of Cambridge, for instance, the town welcomes an estimated 5 million visitors on an annual basis. This contributes to the generation of income of more than £583 million into the Cambridge economy. In addition to this, the larger economy of Cambridgeshire welcomes an estimated 24 million tourists on an annual basis, and this contributes to the generation of an estimated £2 billion into the economy.
Tourism activities have led to the creation of employment opportunities in Cambridge. According to the results, there are many visitors who come to Cambridge for leisure activities, and they need high-quality services including accommodation, catering, drivers and tour guides. This has led to an increase in demand for sufficient source of labor to provide these services, as a result, the government, foreign and local investors have made investments into the hotel and accommodation industry and tour and travel industry. These industries have provided numerous employment opportunities to the youthful population within Cambridge. For example, people are employed to work in the hotels as cooks, room services and waiters and waitresses. Similarly, the tour and travel companies also employ many people who work as drivers, tour guides and security personal to enhance the experience of tourists who visit Cambridge.
The economy of Cambridge has been improved by visitors who come to attend various special events and festivals, for example, the annual Cambridge tour de Grande, the Cambridge Kin Carnival, Cambridge History Festival and Ely Eel Festival. These special events come a long with an increase in tourism activities because they normally attract thousands of artists and athletes who will participate in the events. In addition to this, they attract numerous visitors who are known to come to watch the various cultural or sporting activities. There are also visitors who come to simply tour Cambridge’s natural sceneries and other tourist attraction sites. The arrival of these visitors translates to increase in revenue from tourism activities for the host country. Even after the event, the numerous advertisements and PR activities that were carried out to promote the event will boost the social status of the host town in the global map, and more visitors will come. Tourism has boosted the GDP and the infrastructure of Cambridge. This is because hosting special events creates a lot of employment opportunities. Labor will be required in the construction industry to build the required facilities to host the special and cultural events as well as the visitors. Workers are also be required to serve as security personnel, and in addition to this, more people will be employed to serve in the hotel and hospitality industry, leading to further economic growth.
The arrival of visitors have also led to the increase in the GDP of Cambridge, for instance, the arrival of visitors brings about the increase in demand for goods and services. As a result, the manufacturers are forced to increase their volume of production in order to meet the increase demands. Similarly, the providers of services in the hospitality industry within Cambridge record increase in business, and hence, increase in income. Tourism activities has also contributed to the improvement of Cambridge infrastructure. To enhance the experience of visitors, the local government has invested in the construction of good road networks to facilitate movement of visitors. There accommodation facilities, water and energy supply have also been improved to ensure high-quality service delivery to the visitors of Cambridge.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the tourism industry employs a large number of female employees, and this creates a major employment opportunity to the female population across the globe. The tourism industry has high rate of youth and female employment ratio, and this include both skilled and non-skilled laborers. These industries have provided numerous employment opportunities to the youthful population within Cambridge. Tourism is a major attraction to both local and foreign investments in the regions that receive visitors. To facilitate tourism activities, the mode of transport needs to be reliable, and therefore, in locations with tourist attraction sites, various modes of transports particularly the roads and air transport facilities are improved. Urban tourism in Cambridge is a major source of revenue for the government and for the small and large entrepreneurs of Cambridge, for instance, the town welcomes an estimated 5 million visitors on an annual basis. This contributes to the generation of income of more than £583 million into the Cambridge economy. Tourism activities also contributes to significant investments in the hospitality industry such as accommodation and hotel industry. The arrival of visitors in a particular region results to the increase in the demand for accommodation and catering facilities. The economy of Cambridge has been improved by visitors who come to attend various special events and festivals, for example, the annual Cambridge tour de Grande, the Cambridge Kin Carnival. Finally, the arrival of visitors in a country results into the increase in demand and sales of products and services, and hence, an increase in the generation of revenues by the government and other forms of business owners.
Alpopi, C., Manole, C., and Colesca, S. E., ‘Assessment of the Sustainable Urban Development Level through the Use of Indicators of Sustainability. Theor. Empirical Res. Urban Manag., Vol. 6, no. 1, 2011.
ASEAN Secretariat, ‘ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan 2011–??2015. ASEAN Secretariat’, www.asean.org, 2011. (Accessed 5 June 2017)
Ashworth, G. & Page, S. J. Urban tourism research: Recent progress and current paradoxes. Tourism Management, Vol. 32, no.1, 2011, p. 10.
Ba?lija, I., ‘Reconceptualisation of Urban Management: Evidence from EU Cities. Theor. Empirical Res. Urban Manag. Vol. 8, no. 1, 2013.
Crouch, G., ‘Destination Competitiveness: An Analysis of Determinant Attributes.” Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 50, no. 1, 2011.
Florek, M., Breitbarth, T., and Conejo, F., ‘Mega event = mega impact? Travelling fans’ experience and perceptions of the 2006 FIFA World Cup host nation’, Journal of Sport & Tourism, vol. 13, no. 3, 2008.
Golchinfar, S. Khosravi, M. J. and Karimi, A. R. S., ‘Evaluate the impact of tourism on economic stability and sustainable income in cities, with an emphasis on the Tehran municipality’, Bulletin de la Société Royale de Liège, Vol. 85, 2016.
Greaves, N. and Skinner, H., ‘The importance of destination image analysis to UK rural tourism.” Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 28, no. 4, 2010.
Huibin, X., Marzuki, A., and Razak, A. A., ‘Conceptualizing a Sustainable Development Model for Cultural Heritage Tourism in Asia. Theor. Empirical Res. Urban Manag., Vol. 8, no. 1, 2013.
Ismail, H. N., Baum, T., and Kokranikkal, J., ‘Urban Tourism in Developing Countries: A case of Malaysia’, 2012.
Jago, L., Chalip, L., Brown, G., Mules, T., and Ali, S., ‘Building Events Into Destination Branding: Insights From Experts’, Event Management, Vol. 8, no. 1, 2003.
Lee, C. and Chang, C., ‘Tourism development and economic growth: A closer look at panels’, Tourism Management, Vol. 29, no. 1, 2008.
Lord Cultural Resources & Brain Trust, ‘Ontario cultural and heritage tourism product research paper, 2009.
Nissan, E., Galindo, M., and Mendez, M., ‘Relationship between tourism and economic growth.” The Services Industries Journal, Vol. 31, no. 10, 2010.
Park, Y. and Njite, D., ‘Relationship between destination image and tourists’ future behavior: Observations from Jeju Island, Korea’, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 2010 Vol. 5, no. 1, 2010.
Popescu, R. I. and Corbo?, R. A., ‘The Role of Festivals and Cultural Events in the Strategic Development of Cities. Recommendations for Urban Areas in Romania. Inf. Econ., Vol. 16, no. 1, 2012.
Pulina, M., ‘Inbound tourism and long-run economic growth’, Current Issues in Tourism, vol. 13, vol. 1, 2010.
Qu, H., Kim, L., and Im, H., ‘A model of destination branding: Integrating the concepts of the branding and destination image’, Tourism Management, Vol. 32, no. 3, 2011.
Sequeria, T. and Nunes, P., ‘Does tourism influence economic growth? A dynamic panel data approach’, Applied Economics, Vol. 40, no. 18, 2010.
Taks, M., Chalip, L., Green, B. C., Kesenne, S. and Martyn, S., ‘Factors Affecting Repeat Visitation and Flow-on Tourism as Sources of Event Strategy Sustainability’, Journal of Sport & Tourism, vol. 14, no. 2-3, 2009.
Tourism British Columbia, ‘The Value of Tourism in British Columbia, Trends from 1999 to 2009, December 2011, 2011.
Weidenfeld, A., ‘Iconicity and ‘flagshipness’ of tourist attractions’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 37, no. 3, 2010.
World Travel and Tourism Council and Oxford Economics, ‘Methodology for producing the 2013 WTTC / Oxford Economics Travel & Tourism Economic Impact’, www.wttc.org, 2013. (Accessed 5 June 2017).
Zaharia, R. M., Stancu, A., Stoian, C., and Diaconu, M., ‘Commercial Activity’s Contribution to Sustainable Development by Social Responsability Actions: A Vision of SMEs. Amfiteatru Econ., Vol. 12, no. 1, 2010.
Zamfir, A. and Corbo?, R. A., ‘Development of Cultural Services within the Knowledge Economy: Case Study on the Romanian Museums. Int. J. Arts Sci. Vol. 5, no. 1, 2012.
Zamfir, A. and Corbos, R., ‘Towards Sustainable Tourism Development in Urban Areas: Case Study on Bucharest as Tourist Destination. Sustainability, Vol. 7, 2015, p. 12715.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
