The Growth and Impact of Tourism Industry
Discuss about the Influence analysis of community resident support.
In the recent time, tourism in the global scenario is witnessing huge growth and it is also estimated that growth in this sector will sustain the coming years also. In accordance to that, this sector is attracting more investments and helping in generating more employment and income opportunities (Cabiddu, Lui & Piccoli, 2013). However, with the growth in the business potential, the responsibility of the tourism sector is also increasing towards community development and sustainability. Tourism sector is flourishing in every corner of the world and thus, this sector will have more holistic impact in social development.
Figure: 1
Growth of the tourism industry
Source: (blogs.worldbank.org, 2018)
The above data by the World Bank is showing that tourism sector is growing in both the developing ad developed countries. Thus, all the major economies are being benefiting from the tourism development. United Nations have stated six goals in relation to the sustainable development by the year 2030. These goals are applicable in every business sector including the tourism sector. This essay will discuss about how tourism development can lead to the fulfillment of these sustainable development goals.
According to the report of World Tourism Organization, tourism is the key source of growing employment opportunities. In addition, it is also being reported that currently tourism contributes 5 percent of the total gross domestic production of the world. It currently employs more than 230 million direct and indirect jobs worldwide (Step.unwto.org, 2018). Thus, the more will be the development of the tourism industry, the more will be employment opportunities, which will enhance the purchasing power of those employed. Therefore, the rate of poverty will get down.
Tourism is being considered as a labor intensive sector and employs people from minority backgrounds and ethnic groups. In the recent time, ethnic groups in different regions are becoming the focal point of the urban tourists. Thus, compared to other sectors, tourism sector is more directly attached with the poor section of the society (Zaei & Zaei, 2013). Therefore, development in the tourism sector will have direct impact on the rural population and will ultimately help to eradicate the poverty. In majority of the cases, it is being seen that local people from the communities are being employed in the tourism sector in order to have the real feel for the visitors. Thus, it helps in eradication of the poverty in the surrounding community.
It is reported that in the recent time, the demand and growth for the agro tourism is further contributing in the ending of the hunger and achieving food security. A major portion of the international urban tourist is interested in experiencing the different ethnic foods and the process of making them (Earth Changers, 2018). Hence, this will help to increase the traffic of the visitors for the ethnic foods and will made the way of mass production of the food along with the financial support for the ethnic groups. Moreover, increase in the traffic of the flow of tourist will further help in creating the supply and demand for the food production in mass scale. This will help the rural and remote communities to get access to the improved food production process (Long, 2013). Moreover, urban visitors prefer to buy ingredients from the local markets, which further increase the demand in the local community and will help in achieving food security.
Sustainable Development Goals and Tourism Industry
Figure: 2
Trend of growth of Agritourism
Source: (News.cals.vt.edu, 2018)
The above data shows that the income related to the agro tourism is increasing and it is also being reported that due to the growing popularity of the agro tourism, the income of the farmers are also increasing, which will ensure the food security.
With the increase in the popularity of the ecotourism, sustainable agriculture can be effectively promoted by the development of tourism sector. This is due to the reason that, with the increase in the inflow of the tourist from the developed countries, it is of higher probability that agricultural sector will be benefited from the flow of the knowledge. Moreover, as discussed earlier, tourist prefer original and authentic flavors from their tourism destination. Thus, it will further promote the sustainable agriculture.
Development in tourism can also lead to the gender equality and empowerment of the women. This is due to the reason that, as per the reports, women concentrate the majority of the workforce in the global tourism industry currently. However, they are mainly low paid or unpaid. However, development in the tourism will help in promoting gender equality (Ferguson & Alarcon, 2015). One of the key reasons is the rising popularity of the home stay services. This provides huge opportunities for the women. Moreover, tourism sector requires less investment and infrastructure for doing business. It will also enable the women to take up more jobs. On the other hand, the more women will take up jobs, the more will be their empowerment. In addition, women from the marginalized communities will be able to empower themselves by promoting their cultures to the visitors.
For instance, 3 sisters adventure trekking provides opportunity for the women to become trekking guide and trains them in dealing with the foreign tourists.
Figure: 3
Contribution of tourism sector in economic growth
Source: (www.tutor2u.net, 2018)
Development in the tourism sector can helps in sustainable economic growth due to the reason that, development in the tourism sector will help in developing the heritage and ethnicity of the tourist destinations and generating power from it. For instance, destinations with having sea beaches can develop their economy by sustainable means such as fishing, seafood and water tourism. Thus, this will enable to earn profit as well as maintaining the sustainability of the destinations. Moreover, with the recent upsurge in eco friendly tourism, it is more likely the development in the tourism will help in sustainable economic growth.
It is earlier discussed that tourism is one of the major contributors in generating employment opportunities. As per the reports, tourism industry is one of the top most contributors in the global gross domestic production with having produced 3.1 percent of total gross domestic product as per 2014.
Figure: 4
Industry wise GDP
Source: (skift.com, 2018)
It is also being reported that as per 2014 data, 105 million people are directly employed in the tourism industry. Thus, the trend is showing the huge employment opportunities in the travel and tourism sector. Tourism sector is also being termed as the fourth largest employer in the world.
Tourism Development and Poverty Reduction
It is also being forecasted that tourism industry will be the second largest employment generator in the world by 2025. Thus, it can be concluded that development in the tourism industry will help in generating more employment opportunities.
The more will be the traffic of the tourist flow, the more will be the supply and demand in the particular destinations. Hence, it will help the local communities and the authorities to have the enough foreign reserves to develop their infrastructure. For instance, small island countries such as Mauritius, revenue from the tourism are helping them not only to develop tourism infrastructure but also their national infrastructure. The more will be generation of the revenue, the more will be the capability for infrastructure development.
Development in the tourism will help in developing sustainable industrialization due to the reason that, as discussed earlier, tourism itself is one of the most sustainable industry. Thus, the more developed will be the tourism sector, the more sustainable will be the industry of that particular region. Generation of more revenue from the tourism will help to invest more in innovation. In addition, the inflow of the foreign tourist along with the foreign investment in the tourism sector also helps in fostering innovation (Weidenfeld, 2013).
Tourism concepts such as green tourism and ecotourism will help in sustainable use of the marine resources and conservation of the seas and oceans. This is due to the reason that these concepts will help in conserving the natural resources as well as generating profit. Thus, with the generation of the profit, more investment and development can be made in conserving the marine resources (Lee, 2013). Thus, with the development of the tourism sector, investment from the corporate will get increased and this capital can be used in conserving the marine resources. It also involves empowerment of the local fishing communities and initiating sustainable fishing processes.
Conclusion
Thus, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that development in the tourism industry will help in enhancing the sustainability in the global scenario. It is discussed in this report; tourism industry is efficient enough to adhere to the sustainable development goals being set by the United Nations. The more development in the tourism sector will enable sustainability in every steps ranging from the community empowerment to sustainable use of marine resources.
Reference
blogs.worldbank.org. (2018). Private Sector Development. Retrieved 14 March 2018, from https://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/should-we-be-promoting-tourism-sector-investment
Cabiddu, F., Lui, T. W., & Piccoli, G. (2013). Managing value co-creation in the tourism industry. Annals of Tourism Research, 42, 86-107.
Earth Changers. (2018). Earth Changers. Retrieved 14 March 2018, from https://www.earth-changers.com/purpose/zero-hunger/
Ferguson, L., & Alarcón, D. M. (2015). Gender and sustainable tourism: reflections on theory and practice. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(3), 401-416.
Lee, T. H. (2013). Influence analysis of community resident support for sustainable tourism development. Tourism management, 34, 37-46.
Long, L. M. (2013). Culinary tourism. In Encyclopedia of food and agricultural ethics (pp. 1-8). Springer Netherlands.
News.cals.vt.edu. (2018). News.cals.vt.edu. Retrieved 14 March 2018, from https://news.cals.vt.edu/fbm-update/2015/04/06/an-overview-of-agritourism-in-the-united-states-virginia-and-surrounding-states-an-ag-census-analysis/
skift.com. (2018). Skift. Retrieved 14 March 2018, from https://skift.com/2015/06/08/5-charts-that-show-why-the-travel-industry-is-the-worlds-fastest-growing-sector/
Step.unwto.org. (2018). Step.unwto.org. Retrieved 14 March 2018, from https://step.unwto.org/content/tourism-and-poverty-alleviation-1
Weidenfeld, A. (2013). Tourism and cross border regional innovation systems. Annals of Tourism Research, 42, 191-213.
www.tutor2u.net. (2018). tutor2u. Retrieved 14 March 2018, from https://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/tourism-and-economic-development-in-africa
Zaei, M. E., & Zaei, M. E. (2013). The impacts of tourism industry on host community. European journal of tourism hospitality and research, 1(2), 12-21.
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