Tourism

• What is tourism


  Tourism is when people spend time away from home for less than a year for enjoyment, business or other purposes
• People choose to go on holiday both abroad and in their own country
• The tourism industry has grown over time and is now an important industry in many countries
• Tourism happens in cycles with destinations rising and falling in popularity
• Tourism provides jobs and income to millions of people and is a vital source of income for many countries
• LICs especially rely on tourism for income
• In 2013, the UK’s tourism industry:

  • worth £126.9 B
  • made up 9% of the UK’s GDP
  • employed 173 000 people
• What are the two types of tourism

  International tourism - where tourists visit other countries

  Domestic tourism - where tourists visit places in their own country
• Why are people attracted to visit different places

  • history, culture or famous landmarks (the Eiffel Tower)
  • physical environment (coastlines)
  • climate (high temperature)
  • looking for adventure (lesser known countries)
• Advances in technology means that travel is now easier, quicker and more affordable
• The growth of the internet means that it is easier to book holidays
• Improvement in worker’s rights means that paid holidays for employees makes it easier to take time off
• More disposable income, due to changes such as smaller the average family size and more families with two incomes, means that people have more money to spend on themselves
• Mass media, such as TV or the internet, has brought different destinations to the people’s attention and led to a greater desire to travel
• All tourist destinations follow a pattern in terms of popularity - Richard Butler suggested a model for the life cycle of a tourist destination which has a number of stages
• 1. tourists start to discover a resort and there are only a few visitors
  2. the word spreads about the resort and businesses begin to open up services to cater for the tourists, such as hotels and restaurant - at this point, the numbers rise until the resort becomes very busy
  3. at this point, people may stop visiting as the resort has lost its appeal and become over-crowded
  4. the area either goes into decline or rejuvenates itself by investing in improvements, meanwhile, new areas are discovered and the cycle begins again
• 1. exploration
  2. involvement
  3. development
  4. consolidation
  5. stagnation
  6. decline
  7. rejuvination
• What is ecotourism 


  Tourism that aims to minimise negative impacts on the environment and to local people
• Tourism has positive and negative impacts on people and the environment
• Tourism is an important industry and can aid the development of low-income countries
• Tourism requires management or it can become unsustainable