The impact of tourism

 The rapid growth of tourism in the twentieth century has produced both

problems and benefit for destination countries.

 It has had visible impact on the social cultural and economic environment.

 Although tourism can bring economic advantages to a destination country; it

also b rings with it serous long-term problems which, without careful control

and planning, can threaten the society.

The Economic Effects of Tourism

The effect on income, on employment, on the area’s balance of payments with the

outside world, and on investment and development.

Income

 The tourism industry obviously generates income within a destination country.

 Tourism income in general comes from wages and salaries, interest, rent and

profits.

 Tourism is both an income generator and an income redistributors.

 Much of the income at the international and national level is business income

which is generated by the organizations buying and selling goods and service

to tourist.

 The sum of all incomes in country is called the national income.

Employment
Employment is an important benefit of tourism at all levels, from local to national.

Three Types of Employment Direct, Indirect and Induced Employment

Direct employment- is that which is generated as a result of providing goods and

services directly to tourist in hotels restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and the like.

Indirect employment- consists of those positions that are associated with other

tourism-related activities but are used by both the local resident and the tourist.

Induced employment- refers to workers, merchants and professionals, such as

doctors and accountants who service the employees working directly in tourism-

related positions.

Balance Payments

Balance payments is an accounting to the flow of goods, service and funds in and

out of the country during than it receives, it has a deficit in its balance of payments. If

it receives more money than it sends or exports, it has a surplus in its balance

payments.

Investment and Development

Economically successful, more businessmen and government agencies, invest in

tourism and other industries. This known by economics as an accelerator concept.

Negative Economic Aspects of Tourism

 High inflation and land speculation destinations, high leakages from the

economies of developing countries low returns on investment because of

seasonal fluctuations in demand, and overdependence on tourism.

 Inflation and Land Values

  Rich tourist can afford to buy items at high prices, realizing that their profits

can be greatly increased by catering to tourist, increase their prices on certain

products and provide more expensive goods and service.

 Growth in the tourist trade creates additional demand for land, competition

from potential buyers increases the price of land.

High Leakages

Leakages occurs from variety of sources. It occurs from the cost of goods and

service that must be imported to satisfy the needs of tourist.

Examples of these are developing countries which have to import cars, buses,

manufactured materials of tourist.

Another source of leakage is the remittance of profits and wages to outside sources.

Seasonality

 Many tourist experiences low returns on investment because of seasonal

fluctuations in demands.

Overdependence on Tourism

By becoming overdependence on tourism for their livelihood, have made themselves

vulnerable to changes in tourist demand.

Impact Control Measures

1. Develop tourism gradually so that local residents can have sufficient time to

adapt it and understand it.

2. Maintain a scale of tourism development that is appropriate for the local as well

as national environment.
3. Involve residents and their spokesmen in planning decision-making so that they

can participate in determining the future of this sector.

4. Apply the concepts of tourism development zones.

5. Make certain that residents have easy access to tourist attractions, facilities, and

services including reduced admission fee if necessary, and that important

amenity features have public access and are not preempted by tourism.

6. Provide incentives to local ownership, management and operations of hotels and

other tourist facilities and services so that residents can receive direct economic

benefits.

7. Develop strong linkages between tourism and other economic activities such as

agriculture, fisheries, and handicrafts and manufacturing to help develop these

sectors, reduce leakage of foreign exchange through import substitution and

spread the economic benefits of tourism.

8. Plan, develop, and organize tourism so that no area becomes too congested with

tourist, and residents can easily use community by facilities and services.

9. Train local people to work effectively in all levels of tourism, including managerial

and technical positions, in order to reduce the number of imported employees

and to lessen possible misunderstanding between tourist and local employees.

Social Impacts of Tourism

  The objectives of social tourism is to ensure that tourism is accessible to all

people. Social impacts of tourism refer to the changes in the quality of life of

residents of tourist destinations.

Host-Visitor Interactions

 Tourism causes more interaction between peoples particularly between the

tourism is accessible to all people. Social impacts of tourism refer to the

changes in the quality of life of residents or hosts.

 Smith categorized tourist into several types and outlined her views on the

intensity of interaction between the tourist (visitor) and the local residents

(hosts).

Her Classification are as follows.

Explorer- This type of visitors is interested in being an active participant-observer

among the host population.

Elite- This type of tourist is few in number. He can afford to pay well for unusual

vacations. He is well-traveled and usually known as the “jet-set.

Off-Beat- This tourist adapt well to simple accommodations and services provided

for the occasional guest.

Unusual Tourist- This tourist loves sub-exotic cultural sites, the unusual or primitive

as long as he can quickly and safely return to more familiar surroundings and group.

Measurement Mass Tourist- This is a visitor who looks for the amenities of Western

societies in hotels and other travel-related facilities.

Mass Tourists- He comes from the middle class. He arrives in a destination with

other tourist.

Character Tourist-The character tourist comes “en masse’’ with other of his kind

creating an extremely high amount of business and receiving a high degree of

standardization in services and products.

Positives Social Effects of Tourism

 It creates a new medium for social change and multicultural understanding; it

encourages adaptation to the realities of modern life and works toward

improving the host country’s use foreign languages; and it improves health

conditions and disease control

Social Change and Mutli-Cultural Understanding

Pope Pius XII touched on this aspect of tourism when he spoke of “subjecting

oneself, joyfully or sorrowfully, to the inconveniences, great or small, which can with

difficulty be avoided, even on but-organized tours, making contact with habits,

traditions, convictions and prejudices which are completely foreign to one’s ordinary

mentality.’’ The World Tourism Organization considers tourism as an encounter

between a person and destination in its natural setting. Above all, the WTO believes

it is an exchange or encounter between individual groups of people as well as

between social groups.

Adaptation to the Realities of Modern Life and Improvement of the Host Country’s

Lifestyle

First, the quality of life improves in places where tourism is being developed by

bringing both urban infrastructure (water, housing, sewerage) and population

benefits (medical care, social assistance, schools) together. Second, the changes

that occur in occupation and income pattern create a middle class with its different

attitudes, values, and social concerns.

Third, increased social mobility results in new employment opportunities in tourism.

Fourth, changes in family relations occur through the employment of women outside

the home.

Thus, tourism promotes progress and modernization through exposure to other

attitudes and values.

Use of Foreign Language

 Use of a foreign language brings people in contact with those of other

language groups. The need and desire to communicate increase interest in

both the host and visitor to learn another language.

 Visitor to other destinations often want to learn a language to improve the

quality future experiences.

 Improved Health Conditions and Disease Control

 The desire of tourist for high quality public health facilities can contribute to

the maintenance and improvement of those facilities in destination areas and

provide additional sources of revenue which, in turn, can be invested in

upgrading water and sewage disposal facilities.

 Through tourism, local resident can become aware of both health problems

and good hygiene.

Negative Social Effects of Tourism

  While tourism has enabled different people to strengthen the social structure,

mass tourism has brought with it problems and costs. Among these are:

social saturation, changes in the social structure, behavior and roles,

community, problems, and negative demonstrative effects.

 Social Saturation

 Saturation or Congestion of facilities and services and competition for limited

resources. The local residents frequently resent having to share their facilities

and services with visitors.

 In destinations that attract a large number of tourists, public transportation is

so crowded with tourist that there is hardly any room for local residents.

Shops are full of travelers, forcing the natives to change their shopping

patterns. Streets are full of visitors resulting in traffic jams. Thus, saturation or

congestion brought about by tourism is often cited as a social cost.

Changes in the Social Structure, Behavior and Roles

 Tourism changes the traditional forms of employment which results in the

lowering of the status of agricultural workers, migration of the population and

the breaking up of families.

 They also disregard social norms such as respect for elders and close family

ties. Young women who enter the work force have changed their traditional

dress to tourist clothes

Community Problems

Prostitution, often called the “oldest profession” certainly existed before the growth of

mass tourism.

The following are some of the reasons for the increase of prostitution in tourist

resorts:

1. The processes of tourism have created locations and environments which

attract prostitutes and their clients.

2. By its very nature, tourism means that people are away from the puritanical

bonds of normal living, anonymity is assured away from home, and money is

available to spend hedonistically.

3. As tourism affords employment for women, it may upgrade their economic

status.

4. Tourism may be used as a scapegoat the general loosening of morals.

Len and Loeb identified the following three factors in the relationship between crime

and tourism:

 Population density during the tourist season increases, creating the

availability of a large number of targets and congestion.

 The differences in income between hosts and tourists encourage robbery.

 The proximity of resorts to an international border may attract undesirable

migrants, resulting in increased expenditures for law enforcement and

monetary losses for businesses that become targets.

Negative Demonstrative Effects

  Negative demonstrative effects consist of tourist behaviors which can

considered socially and economically inappropriate. One of the major results

of negative demonstrative effects is the polarization of the host from the

tourist, which happens in a number of ways. First, tourist often demand

commodities and facilities beyond the economic capacity of local residents.

 Second, the social norms of the tourist that are very different from the local

customs give rise to social problems.

 A third factor which initiates polarization is the importation of foreign workers

from more developed countries.

 There are changes in the consumption patterns in some tourist areas.

Impact Control Measures

1. Reducing the contact between hosts and guest by limiting the carrying of the

destination and by regulating tourist flow.

2. Separating the tourist and the tourist within tourist enclaves.

3. Designing community education and citizen involvement programs centered on

tourism development, policy, and regulatory issues.

4. Expanding human resources development and training programs in all

components of the tourism system to include social skills (interpersonal relations

and networking referral tactics.)

Impacts of Tourism on Culture

Tourism increases the acculturation process as well as the cultural convergence of

people. Acculturation is defined as those changes that occur in a culture through

borrowing from other cultures. These Changes may include Technology, Language,

and values. Cultural convergence is the tendency of world cultures to become more

alike.

Positive Effects of Tourism on Culture

The two most important positive effects of tourism on culture are the promotion of

international communication and the renaissance of native culture.

Intercultural Communication

Mobility, which is a prerequisite of tourism is necessary for different social groups,

nationalities and cultures to meet and interact.

Renaissance of Native Culture

Models culture villages create historical and ethic environments designed to

perpetuate tradition and stimulate awareness designed to perpetuate tradition and

stimulate awareness of the local area. There are two main purposes for cultural

model villages. The first is to provide a location where visitors may observe and

participate in a particular culture without disrupting the everyday life of the people

who live in the area.

The second is to portray the past history of the area. An example of a cultural model

village is the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii which was designed to keep alive

the traditional arts forms which was designed to keep traditional arts forms and

practices, giving the visitor a chance to view some limited historical aspects of

lifestyle as it once was.

Negative Cultural Impact of Tourism

The following are the reasons for these changes:

1. Because of the increased demand which causes a need to increase

production, the products are mass produced thereby losing the careful, prices

workmanship

2. The impersonal nature of the tourist market has decreased the spiritual

relevance of the artist’s work.

3. Art is produced according to the tastes of tourist which, in Africa, means

carving animals, grotesqueness and gigantism.

4. The increased demand has led to the misrepresentation of the age or

authenticity of objects resulting in a large number of imitations.

5. Impact Control Measure

6. Developed programs which enhance tourism's contribution to intercultural

communication and interaction such as matching tourist types with destination

characteristics; designing programs for the interaction of local residents and

guest promoting goodwill “ambassador’’ tourist education.

7. Incorporate local indigenous features within western style structures such as

decorating hotel interiors with local paintings, murals and sculpture and

encouraging porters, maids and waiters to dress in native costumes.

Environmental Impact of Tourism

The term “environment” connotes both human and physical characteristics.

A term that describes the human and physical characteristics of an area is

preexisting forms.
Positive Environmental Impact of Tourism

Tourism has created environmental awareness in two ways. First contact with scenic

areas has raised man’s awareness of the earth’s beauty and made it easier for him

to see and enjoy it damage.

Second environmental awareness has been heightened by mass tourism which

directly or indirectly has caused its destruction.

Conservation

Conservation and preservation of the environment not only benefits the local area

but they also determine the future of tourism.

First, the local residents benefits from the preservation.

Second, tourism for as long as it draws tourist, will continue to be a socioeconomic

and cultural asset.

Gunn (cited by Valene, 1995) Gave the following factors which led to the

conservation movement:

There was a social concern to which the park movement owes its beginnings. The

growth of industry and commerce and their associated ills stimulated a demand for

the parks and open. The provision for public lands was seen as an antidote to the

immoral values of urban living.

There was an emphasis on the efficiency of resources being used, particularly of

non-renewable resources.

Conservation also incorporated aesthetic enhancement.

4. Protecting the natural environment from irresponsible human manipulation.

Matheison and Wall (cited by Landberg, 1995) identified four ways in which tourism

has been important to conservation. These are.

Stimulating the rehabilitation of existing historic sites, buildings, and monuments.

Stimulating the transformation of old buildings and locations into new tourist

facilities.

Creating the impetus for the conservation of natural resources.

Bringing about the introduction of administrative and planning controls necessary to

maintain the quality of the environment to ensure a satisfying and rewarding

experiences for the tourists.

Development of Attractions

Banaue Rice Terreces

Historic Preservation

Many historical sites in both urban and rural areas have been preserved to attract

tourist. Examples are Intramuros or Walled City in the Philippines, Jamestown and

Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, U.S.A., Mont. St. Michael in France, and the

Palymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, U.S.A. This restoration and rejuvenation

process is occurring throughout the world and serves as major characteristics of an

area intended to impress tourists.

Corregidor Philippines

Resident Benefits

Tourism benefits the local residents in a number of ways. The first benefit is that the

result of conservation and preservation can be enjoyed by the local community as

well as by tourists.
 Negative Environmental Impact of Tourism

Exceeding the carrying capacity and saturation levels of an area. The term carrying

capacity is the degree of development a certain area can take without having

detrimental effects on the environment.

Environmental Conflicts

Some of the problem affecting the quality of the environments are destruction of the

vegetation, pollution (air, water and noise) and the destruction of wildlife.

Air pollution results from the gas fumes emitted by automobiles taxi, buses, aircrafts and

factories.

Water pollution is the result of the discharge of untreated waste from resort or boats into

seas, rivers, lakes and springs.

Noise pollution is associated with traffic congestion on land and in the air.

Problems associated with wildlife result from killing of animals or birds and the

disruption of the normal habits of feeding and breeding.

Geological Conflicts

Tourism has had an effect on geological formations. Some tourist collect minerals,

rocks, and fossils. In caves, the natural formations are vandalized. In some areas, coral

collecting has become a serious problems.

Residents Conflicts

A number of conflicts frequently occur between residents and tourists or tourist

developers. In cities, hotels are built at the expense of residential accommodations.

Hotel development also brings traffic congestion and air pollution.

The increased demand creates problems for local fishermen and hunters who now

compete with the tourist as well as with each other.

Conflict between tourist and the local residents may also arise because of damage to

the area brought about by littering, vandalism and traffic congestion.

Impact Control Measures

First, the general protective measures and second, regulation and control of tourist

development. The protective measures are designed to protect the various aspects of

the environment- endangered animals and parks and wilderness areas.

The man-made environment is include in the conservation and restoration of historical

or archaeological monuments, valuable buildings and neighborhoods.

Regulations and control refers to zoning and land use, specifications on the facilities

being built as to height, appearance, open space, overall design among other things.