Tourism

• Key components of the tourism system include:

  • Tourist generating regions
  • Tourist destination regions
  • Transit routes
• Volume and direction of travel between regions are influenced by transit routes
• Relationship between tourist generating and destination regions:

  • Push factors at tourist generating regions and pull factors at tourist destination regions
  • Interdependence of tourists, businesses, and organizations at tourist generating and destination regions
• Tourism activity interacts with nature, communities, and economies in their local environment and beyond
• Changes to one part of the tourism system affect the local and wider environment, and vice versa
• Factors that led to the growth of tourism:

  • Motivation to travel:
  • Individuals seeking relaxation, self-fulfillment, and unique travel experiences
  • Made possible by growth in individuals' incomes
  • Ability to travel:
  • Growth in disposable incomes and increased leisure time due to paid vacation
  • Facilitated by business innovations, lower transport costs, and accommodation costs
  • Mobility in travel:
  • Expansion of public transport services and infrastructure, and new modes of air, land, and sea travel
• • Increased private car ownership improving travel convenience to nearby locations
• Tourist destination regions develop over time through stages:

  • Exploration and involvement stages:
  • Small number of tourists undertaking individual and irregular travel to visit the destination's primary attractions
  • Locals offer tourist services, advertising the destination, requesting more public tourist amenities and facilities
  • Development and consolidation stages:
  • Increase in tourist numbers with destinations having more man-made attractions, advertisements, and foreign labor
• • Growth in tourist numbers slow and tourists outnumber locals resulting in a tourism-dependent economy
  • Stagnation and decline or rejuvenation stages:
  • Tourist numbers peak as a destination's carrying capacity is reached, resulting in negative impacts
  • Tourist numbers decline as a destination loses its tourist appeal or is rejuvenated with new cultural or man-made attractions
• • Personality characteristics influence travel patterns:
  • Different types of tourist destination regions appeal to tourists with different personality characteristics
  • Tourists who are more Venturer types influence travel decisions of those who are more Dependable types
• Different personality characteristics of tourists affect tourist destination regions:

  • Spectrum of personality characteristics:
  • Dependables and Venturers, with a small proportion of tourists on both extreme ends
  • Majority of tourists in the middle of the spectrum with a mixture of both extremes
  • Features of personality characteristics:
  • Dependables spend cautiously, guided by authoritative figures, prefer structures in daily living and the company of friends and family
  • Venturers spend readily, guided by personal judgment, prefer different activities and being alone
• Motivation to travel:

  • Individuals seek relaxation, self-fulfilment, and unique travel experiences
  • Growth in individuals' incomes has made travel more accessible
• Ability to travel:

  • Growth in disposable incomes and increased leisure time due to paid vacation
  • Business innovations, lower transport costs, and accommodation costs have facilitated travel
• Mobility in travel:

  • Expansion of public transport services and infrastructure, and new modes of air, land, and sea travel
  • Increased private car ownership improves travel convenience to nearby locations
• Factors that led to the growth of tourism:

  • Motivation to travel
  • Ability to travel
  • Mobility in travel
• Motivation to travel:

  • Set of needs satisfied by traveling
  • Combination of push and pull factors
  • Globalization has increased awareness of tourist destinations
  • Need for relaxation due to work pressure and stressful lifestyle
  • Achieve personal growth and self-fulfilment
  • Desire to discover unique travel experiences
• Ability to travel:

  • Increase in disposable income
  • Increase in leisure time
  • Business innovations in the tourism industry
  • Lower transport costs
  • Lower accommodation costs
• Increase in mobility:

  • Expansion of public transport services and infrastructure
  • Introduction of new modes of travel
  • Increase in private car ownership
• Relationship between paid vacation leave and tourism:

  • Paid vacation leave contributes to increased tourism
• Trends in tourism:

  • Continued expansion in international tourist arrivals
  • Increasing diversity in tourist generating and destination regions
• Diversity in tourism demand:

  • Growing popularity of lesser-known destinations
  • Emergence of new experiences like adventure, heritage, sports, and health tourism
• Diversity in tourism supply:

  • Small specialist operators adding onto services of mass market tour operators
  • Shift in tourism marketing from traditional print and broadcast media to new online media
• Economic impact of tourism:

  • Tourist generating and destination regions operate interdependently
  • Tourism's economic impact is more significant at tourist destination regions
• Positive economic impact of tourism:

  • Increased employment in formal and informal tourism sectors
  • Higher income generated from tourists' spending on consumer goods and services
• Negative economic impact of tourism:

  • Economic leakages leading to less tourism revenue
  • Overdependency on tourism increasing vulnerability to sudden drops in tourist numbers
• Social impact of tourism:

  • Tourists and local communities mutually affect each other
  • Outcomes are shaped by the interaction between tourists and local communities
• Positive social impact of tourism:

  • Increased interest in preserving traditional cultural practices
  • Environmental protection enhancing cultural ecosystem services
• Negative social impact of tourism:

  • Commodification of traditional practices leading to loss of values and conflicts
  • Negative attitudes of local communities towards tourists, including cultural clashes and crimes
• Environmental impact of tourism:

  • Natural environments provide important ecosystem services
  • Environmental degradation due to tourism significantly impacts tourist destination regions
• Positive environmental impact of tourism:

  • Conservation of natural environments and biodiversity
  • Restoration of degraded ecosystems to create new natural attractions
• Negative environmental impact of tourism:

  • Pollution from greenhouse gas emissions, inadequate sewage facilities, and improper waste disposal
  • Construction of facilities encroaching on nature, depleting resources, and threatening wildlife habitats
• Push factors:  (caused by environment)

  • Cause a tourist to want to LEAVE the TGR
  • Stressful work environments
  • Unpleasant living environments - overcrowding, pollution
  • Lack of recreational and entertainment options
• Pull factors:   (usually TDRs)

  • Qualities in TDR that ATTRACT tourists
  • Places of scenic beauty
  • Special events - concerts/ festivals
  • Attractions, facilities, amenities that provide positive experiences
• TGR and TDR are interdependent as they each play a critical role for tourism to occur. Interplay between push and pull factors results in tourists developing the motivation or need to travel. 
• Globalisation: Increasing connections between places and people across the planet, established through trade, politics, cultural exchanges and helped by technology and transport
• Positive economic impacts of tourism:

  • Employment opportunities in formal and informal tourism sectors
  • Income generation from tourists' spending on consumer goods and services
• Negative economic impacts of tourism:

  • Economic leakages resulting in less tourism revenue
  • Overdependence on tourism, which increases vulnerability to a sudden fall in tourist numbers
• International tourism creates jobs, particularly in the service and transport sectors of the receiving country
• Development of hotels, apartment blocks, restaurants, taxi and bus services may help stimulate the local economy
• Provision of temporary and permanent employment opportunities has a multiplier effect on other labor-intensive sectors