TOURISM AND ITS IMPORTANCE
Tourism is distinguished from exploration in that tourists follow a “beaten path,” benefit from established systems of provision, and, as befits pleasure-seekers, are generally insulated from difficulty, danger, and embarrassment.
Tourism, however, overlaps with other activities, interests, and processes, including, for example, pilgrimage. This gives rise to shared categories, such as “business tourism,” “sports tourism,” and “medical tourism” (international travel undertaken for the purpose of receiving medical care).
tourism, the act and process of spending time away from home in pursuit of recreation, relaxation, and pleasure, while making use of the commercial provision of services. As such, tourism is a product of modern social arrangements, beginning in western Europe in the 17th century, although it has antecedents in Classical antiquity.
Tourism as an industry has been travelling with the wild pace of technological advancements and aboard are people from different places and cultures interacting with increasing ease….since, the globe had been shrunk into a village.
Unlike our predecessors, we can affordably and in a shorter time travel across the world in large numbers comparatively safe. Tourism being one of the biggest and fastest growing industries globally, its benefits and the challenges, keenly observed by governments, affects the economic, socio-cultural, environmental and educational resources of nations.
BENEFITS ON TOURISM
Tourism is vital for the success of many economies around the world. There are several benefits of tourism in host destinations. Tourism boosts the revenue of the economy, creates thousands of jobs, develops the infrastructures of a country, and plants a sense of cultural exchange between foreigners and citizens.
The number of jobs created by tourism in many different areas is significant. These jobs are not only a part of the tourism sector but may also include the agricultural sector, communication sector, health sector, and the educational sector. Many tourists travel to experience the hosting destination’s culture, different traditions, and gastronomy. This is very profitable to local restaurants, shopping centers, and stores. Melbourne, Australia’s population is greatly affected by tourism. It has a population of around 4 million people and around 22,000 citizens are employed by the tourism sector only.
Governments that rely on tourism for a big percentage of their revenue invest a lot in the infrastructure of the country. They want more and more tourists to visit their country which means that safe and advanced facilities are necessary. This leads to new roads and highways, developed parks, improved public spaces, new airports, and possibly better schools and hospitals. Safe and innovative infrastructures allow for a smooth flow of goods and services. Moreover, local people experience an opportunity for economic and educational growth.
Tourism creates a cultural exchange between tourists and local citizens. Exhibitions, conferences, and events usually attract foreigners. Organizing authorities usually gain profits from registration fees, gift sales, exhibition spaces, and sales of media copyright. Furthermore, foreign tourists bring diversity and cultural enrichment to the hosting country.
Tourism is a great opportunity for foreigners to learn about a new culture, but it also creates many opportunities for local citizens. It allows young entrepreneurs to establish new products and services that would not be sustainable on the local population of residents alone. Moreover, residents experience the benefits that come with tourism occurring in their own country.
ADVANTAGES OF TOURISM
The positive effects of tourism on a country’s economy include the growth and development of various industries directly linked with a healthy tourism industry, such as transportation, accommodation, wildlife, arts and entertainment. This brings about the creation of new jobs and revenue generated from foreign exchange, investments and payments of goods and services provided. Though improvements in the standard of living of locals in heavily visited tourist destinations is usually little or non-existent, inflation of the prices of basic commodities, due to visiting tourists, is a constant feature of these areas.
DISADVANTAGES OF TOURISM
The nature of the world economy dictates that it’s mostly people from developed nations who travel as tourists to the developing ones, much more than people from developing nations visit as tourists to the developed ones. This results in a downward stream of cultural influences that in cases have proven to be detrimental, as they were not in cohesion with the environment, economy and culture of these hosts, who cannot in that same capacity exchange influences. For example, it is common knowledge that most tourist destinations are plagued with prostitution; this has had dire consequences for the culture, economy and health of these tourist coveted nations, but is reported to be a major boost for tourism.
The environment can be greatly affected by tourism in cases where the attraction is a vista of nature’s beauty, visits of people in large numbers could mean huge amounts of treading and pollution of materials such as plastic waste, bottles, which in the long run could be disruptive to the habitats of both faunal and floral life.
Assessments into the capacity of people an area can safely bear environmentally, security and facility-wise are important in the protection and preservation of these vistas beaming with nature’s beauty. The responsibility falls on hosts, who must make it a point to inform and educate visitors on acceptable behaviours and dangers posed by going against the advised codes of conduct, such as disposing waste haphazardly.
In the quest to provide facilities for tourists the environment has been affected in other ways, large hotels and other facilities for tourists and likes consume large amounts of power in their quest to provide a long list of patrons with all the ‘hip’ electronic comforts.
The tourists themselves face several difficulties in their quest for, journey and stay in these foreign lands, such as the sometimes tiring search for visas and the duration of stay permitted by the host country. Another is security; most places because of frequent tourist visits have become targets for criminal activities such as kidnapping and terrorism.