The Impacts of Tourism and Hospitality

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this chapter; you should be able to:

1. Determine the economic effects of tourism and hospitality;
2. Discuss the social impacts of tourism and hospitality;
3. Explain the impacts of tourism and hospitality on culture; and
4. Analyze the environmental impacts of tourism and hospitality
The Impacts of Tourism and Hospitality

The rapid growth of tourism and hospitality in the twentieth

century has produced both problems and benefits for destination
countries. It has had visible impacts on the sociocultural and
socioeconomic environment. Although tourism and hospitality can
bring economic advantages to a destination country. It also brings
with it serious long term problem which, without careful control and
planning, can threaten the society.
 The Positive Economic Effects of Tourism and Hospitality
Like any other industry, tourism and hospitality affects the economy of those areas
in which it takes place. It affected resort, a region, or the entire nation.
Notwithstanding, the size of the affected area, the economic effects of tourism and
hospitality maybe classified into four groups, namely:
• Effects on income;
• On employment;
• On the area's balance of payments with the outside world;
• And on investment and development.
 Income
The tourism and hospitality industry obviously generates income within a destination
country. Nations wanting to increase their income have used tourism
and hospitality as a means for reasonably quick development. Experience has shown us
that it takes less time to increase income from tourism and hospitality than from
manufactured goods or other available options.
 Tourism Income – in general, it comes from wages and salaries, interest, rent, and
profits. Since tourism and hospitality is a labor-intensive industry, the greatest proportion
of its income is derived from wages and salaries. Income is also generated from interest,
rent, and profits on tourism and hospitality business such as interests paid on loans. T&H
is both an income generator and income redistributor.
 Employment – from local, to national, benefits as well from tourism and hospitality. In
general, the tourist industry offers more employment opportunities than other economic
sectors. Generating employment is perhaps the greatest advantage of tourism and
hospitality on a developing economy. In general, tourism and hospitality employees in
developed nations are usually paid less. In developing countries the opposite is true.
 Balance of Payments
Balance of payments is an accounting flow of goods and services, and funds in and out of
the country during a given period. If a country pays or agrees to pay more money than it
receives, it ha a deficit in its balance of payments. If it receives more money than it sends
or exports, it has a surplus in its balance of payments.
 Investment and Development – once an area has become economically successful ,
businessmen and government agencies may be influence to invest in tourism and hosp.
and other industries in that area. This is known by economist as an accelerator concept.
 Negative Economic Aspects of Tourism and Hospitality
While most countries encourage tourism and hospitality for its economic benefits,
there are some negative economic aspects of tourism and hospitality that have to be
identified and discussed.
These are high inflation and land speculation destinations, high leakages from the
economies of developing countries, low returns on investments because of seasonal
fluctuations in demand, and overdependence on tourism and hospitality.
• Inflation and Land Values
The inflationary effects of tourism and hospitality can arise in different ways. Rich
tourist can afford to buy items at high prices. Inflation within destination areas is also
caused by increasing land values. Growth in the tourist trade creates additional demand
for land, and competition from potential buyers increases the price of land.
 High Leakages – Leakages occurs from a variety of sources. It occurs from the cost of
goods and services that must be imported to satisfy the needs of tourist
 Seasonality
Many tourist regions experience low returns on investment because of seasonal
fluctuations in demand. The seasonality of demand is reflected in hotel occupancy rates.
Many hotels experience greatly reduced revenues during the off seasons.
 Overdependence of Tourism and Hospitality
Some destinations have made themselves vulnerable to changes in tourist demand by
becoming overdependent on tourism and hospitality for their livelihood. Tourism is highly
susceptible to changes from within and outside the industry.
Impact Control Measures
There are number of ways to maximize the benefits of tourism and hospitality to the
destination area. Edward Inskeep (1991), a consultant for the United Nations World
tourism Organization (UNWTO), has suggested the following:
1. Develop tourism and hospitality gradually so that local resident can have sufficient
time to adapt to it and understand it.
2. Maintain a scale of tourism and hospitality development that is appropriate for the
local as well as national environment.
3. Involved residents and their spokesmen in planning and 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 is 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 an services so that residents can receive direct economic benefits;
7. Develop linkages between tourism and hospitality and other economic activities such as
agriculture, fisheries, handicrafts, and manufacturing to help develop these sectors,
reduce leakage of foreign exchange through import substitution, and spread the economic
benefits of tourism and hospitality;
8. Plan, develop, and organize tourism and hospitality so that no area becomes too
congested with tourists, and residents can easily use community facilities and services;
9. Train local people to work effectively in all levels of tourism and hospitality, including
managerial and technical positions, in order to reduce the number of imported employee
and to lessen possible misunderstanding between tourist and local employees.
 Social Impacts of Tourism and Hospitality
The social impacts of tourism and hospitality should not be confused with the popular
term” social tourism”. This refer to the changes in the quality of life of residents of tourist
destinations. The objective of social tourism is to ensure that tourism is accessible to all
people.
A. Host-Visitor Interactions
This causes more interaction between peoples particularly between the tourist or
visitors and the local residents or hosts. Smith (1997), categorized tourist into several
types and outlined her views on the intensity of interaction between the tourists (visitor)
and the local residents (hosts). Her classifications are as follows:
1) Explorer- this type of visitor is interested in being an active participant observer
among the population.
2) Elite – this type is a few number it can afford to pay well for unusual vacations. He is
well-travelled and usually know as “jet-setter.”
3) Offbeat – this tourist adapts well to simple accommodations and services provided for
the occasional guest;
 Unusual tourist - this tourist loves sub-exotic cultural sites, and the unusual
4).
or [primitive sites as long as he can quickly and safety return to more familiar
surroundings and group;
5). Incipient Mass tourist – this visitors who looks for the amenities of western
societies in hotels and other travel-related facilities. A mixture of both pleasure
and business traveler.
6). Mass Tourist – it comes from the middle class. It arrives in a destination with
other tourist. There is a diversity of taste among them and their attitude is “you
get what you pay for”; and
7). Charter Tourist – the charter tourist comes “en masse” with others of his kind
creating an extremely high amount of business and receiving a high degree of
standardization I n services and products.
 Types of Tourists Number of Tourists Adaptation to Local Norms

Explorer Very limited Adapts fully

Elite Rarely seen Adapts fully
Offbeat Uncommon but seen Adapts well
Unusual Occasional Adapts slightly
Incipient Mass Steady flow Seeks Western Amenities
Mass Continuous influx Experts Western amenities
Charter Massive arrivals Demands Western amenities

Table 1. Frequency and Types of Tourists and their Adaptation to Local Norms
The level of interaction between the hosts and guest is illustrated in Table 1 for each type of
tourist.
 Positive Social Effects of Tourism and Hospitality
Some of the positive effects of tourism and hospitality are the following:
1. It creates a new medium for social change and multicultural understanding.
2. It encourages adaptation to the realties of modern life and works toward improving
the host country’s environment and lifestyle options;
3. It promotes knowledge and use of foreign languages, and;
4. It improves health condition and disease control.

 This positive social benefit is the result of the following:

1. The quality of life improves in places where tourism and hospitality is being
developed by bringing both the urban infrastructure.
2. The changes that occur in occupation and income patterns create a middle class with
its different attitudes, values, and social concerns;
3. Increase social mobility results in a new employment opportunities in tourism and
hospitality;
4. Changes in family relation occur through the employment of women outside the home.
This increases the family income and give’s the workers children more opportunity for
higher education.
Thus, tourism and hospitality promotes progress and modernization through exposure to
other attitudes and values. It brings about improvements in facilities and services as well as
improvements in the lifestyle and quality of life of the residents of the host country.
Negative Social Effects of Tourism and Hospitality
While tourism and hospitality has enabled different people to strengthen the social
structure, mass tourism has brought with it expenses and problems. Among these are the
following:
1) Social Saturation – the presence of large number of tourist in particular place of specific
times result in saturation or congestion of facilities and competition for limited
resources. Thus, saturation or congestion brought about by tourism and hospitality is
often called as a social cost.
2).Changes in the Social Structure, Behavior , and Roles – tourism and hospitality 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.
3). Community Problems – Prostitutions, often called the “oldest profession” certainly
existed before the growth of mass tourism. It is difficult to say how responsible tourism
and hospitality has been for the rise of prostitution in tourist destinations.
4). Negative Demonstrative Effects – negative demonstrative effects consist of tourist
behaviors which can be considered socially and economically in appropriate. 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,
Third, factor initiates polarizations is the importation of foreign workers from more
developed countries.
Impact Control Measures
A number of control measures can be adapted to decrease the negative change in the
area. Some of these are:
1. Reducing the contract between host and guest by limiting the carrying capacity of the
destination and by regulating the tourist flow;
2. Separating the host and the tourists within tourist enclaves;
3. Designing the community education and citizen involvement programs centered on
tourism and hospitality development, policy and regulatory issues; and
4. Expanding human resource development and training programs in all components of the
tourism and hospitality system to include social skills.
Impact of Tourism and Hospitality on Culture
Tourism and hospitality increases the acculturation process as well as the cultural
convergence of people. Acculturation defined as those changes that occur in a culture
through barrowing from other cultures. Cultural convergence is the tendency of world
cultures to become more alike.
Positive Effects of Tourism and Hospitality on Culture
The two most important positive effects of tourism and hospitality on cultures are
the promotion of intercultural communications and the renaissance of native culture.
 Intercultural Communication
Mobility, which is a prerequisite of tourism and hospitality, is necessary for
different social groups, nationalities, and cultures to meet and interact. Such
interaction may contribute to the removal of social or national prejudices and the
promotion of better understanding and positive social change.
 Renaissance of Native Culture
Tourism and hospitality may be important to the host country to remind the
people of its history and culture. Many traditional folk customs and costumes are
preserved for the benefits of tourist.
Traditional art forms have been revived in several countries. Tourism and
hospitality has stimulated the preservation of traditional art including traditional
songs and dances.
Negative Cultural Impact of Tourism and Hospitality
While tourism and hospitality has enabled different people to restore and maintain
interest in their own cultures, it has also led to the destruction of a country’s work of
art.
Impact Control Measures
The following control measures may be adapted to reduce the negative impact of
tourism and hospitality on culture:
1. Develop programs which enhance tourism and hospitality’s contribution to
intercultural communication and interaction such as matching tourist types with
destination characteristics and designing programs for the interaction of local
residents and guest promotion goodwill “ambassador” tourist education; and
2. 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 and Hospitality
The history of tourism and hospitality closely shows that the environment has
contributed to the birth and progress of tourism and hospitality. “ Environment” connotes
both human and physical characteristics.
An analysis of the positive and negative aspects of tourism and hospitality indicates a
need to encourage wise resources and management, particularly of water and energy, and
the problem of noise and pollution, which may arise from tourist activities.
 Positive Environmental Impact of Tourism and Hospitality
Tourism and hospitality has created environmental awareness in two ways:
1. Contact with scenic area has raised man’s awareness of the earth’s beauty and made it
easier for him to see and enjoy it with minimum damage; and
2. Environmental awareness has been heightened by mass tourism which caused direct
and indirect destruction.
Tourism and hospitality created appreciation of the environment by bringing scenic
attractions to the attention of public.
 Negative Environmental Impact of Tourism and Hospitality
Exceeding the carrying capacity and saturation levels of an area will negatively affect
the area. The term” carrying capacity” is the degree of development a certain area can
take without having detrimental effects on the environment. If the tourist development
becomes saturated, the very attractions which draw visitors to a place may be
destroyed, causing the decline in quality and popularity of a certain tourist destination.
• Environmental Conflicts – problems affecting the quality of environment are
destruction of the vegetation, pollution (air, water, and noise) and the destruction of
wildlife.
• Geological Conflicts – this affects geological formations. Some tourists collect
minerals, rocks, fossils, and coral from tourist attractions; others destroy natural
formations by vandalizing.
• Resident Conflicts – conflict between tourists and the local residents may also arise
because of damage to the area brought about by littering, vandalism, and traffic
congestions.
Impact Control Measures
Two measures which will reduce the negative impact of tourism and hospitality
have been identified, thus, creating a quality environment for both residents and
tourist. First, the general protective measures, and second, regulation and control of
tourist development. The protective measures are designed to safeguard the various
aspect of the environment –
The man-made environment is included in the conservation and restoration of
historical or archeological monuments, valuable buildings and neighborhoods. These
measure have 2 objectives – to protect the environment and to maintain its
attractiveness as a tourist destination.
Thank you!