The impact of tourism on a host country

EconomicSocio-culturalPhysical

ECONOMIC Impact: Advantages

Direct – created directly by the tourists themselves. (visitor spends $500 in a hotel directly increases income of hotel by $500)

Indirect – the flow-on effect of the direct impact. (the $500 flows into the economy increasing the income of the region by more than the $500)

Direct and Indirect employment benefits

Direct employment - ie tour guide or hotel receptionist.

Indirect employment - ie the supplier of the tour buses to the tour companies or the provider of uniforms to the hotels employing the hotel receptionists.

Economic ‘Leakage’

Leakage occurs when some of the monies earned through tourism ‘leak’ out of the economy in the form of savings or imports.

$1000 spent in a hotel in Auckland doesn’t necessarily all stay within the Auckland economy as some of that will flow on through wages and taxes, and some of that may be put aside as savings, some more may be used to travel overseas or purchase goods from overseas.

Leakage Factors

The size of the country The structure and diversity of the national

economy The nation’s import policy Whether or not supply can keep pace with

demand The type of tourism The class of visitor The location of development

Sources of leakage

Expenditure on overseas promotion Imports of materials and equipment Imports of consumables such as

food and drink Interest paid on foreign loans

Leakage considerations

Leakage is expressed as a Multiplier (number). The lower the number, the less leakage takes place.

Leakage varies from 56% (small island nations where much of the tourism dollar is not retained within the economy as so much needs to be imported from overseas to serve the tourism industry) to 11% for more developed countries which have lower dependency on imports to meet the needs of tourists.

Changes in any of the factors used in calculating the Multiplier can change the result Eg. If more people save or more people buy goods for overseas then the Multiplier will increase.

If people switch to buy local goods, spend more of their income, then the Multiplier will decrease

Changes to the Multiplier occur:

ECONOMIC Impact: Disadvantages Over dependence on tourism - money invested in

tourism facilities instead of more fundamental investment needs.

Tourism plant is not transferable - cannot be easily converted to other uses.

If there is over capacity it cannot easily be switched to something else.

Tourism is a seasonal activity in many countries/locations with facilities being used extensively often for less than half the year - wasteful use of resources as funds invested in infrastructure and superstructure are not used year round.

Seasonal unemployment - social and economic problems.

Inflationary impact of tourism - social and economic problems. The high demand for food, clothes and transport causes price rises causing pressure for local residents.

Demand for land for tourism facilities can lead to a dramatic increase in land values and building costs.

SOCIAL Impact: Disadvantages

Employment Inflation Over dependence on tourism Foreign investment Undesirable activities Competition Consumption behavour Separate tourism development

SOCIAL Impact: Advantages

Employment – tourism is a generator of jobs impacting on a community’s mental and physical health

Redistribution of wealth –income is generated in one area and spent in a different area.

Improvement in lifestyles – tourism brings increase in supply of basic amenities, attractions and recreational facilities for residents as well as visitors.

Factors influencing social impact

The number of visitors – the more visitors to an area, the greater the impact of the tourism.

The length of stay – short stay visitors often do not fully appreciate or understand local culture leading to inappropriate behaviour or unintended offence.

Economic characteristics of tourists – the closer the economic levels between visitors and residents, the less chance for resentment, envy and anger among local population.

Social and cultural characteristics of tourists – the more alike the tourists and local residents are in terms of social and cultural characteristics, the less chance there is for social and cultural clashes.

CULTURAL Impact:

Same factors as social impact: The number of visitors The length of stay of the visitors The economic characteristics of the

visitors The social and cultural characteristics of

visitors The stage of economic development of

the destination

The strength of the local culture and the extent to which it meets the needs and expectations of

visitors without compromising its underlying values influences the extent to which tourism affects

that culture.

(Lundgren - 1974)

Local culture meeting needs of visitors:

CULTURAL Impact: Negative Staged authenticity –demand for local culture often

results in the commercialization of culture by transforming traditional festivals and ceremonies into staged events performed for the tourist trade.

Breakdown in cultural respect – this commercialization leads to breakdown in respect among locals for their own culture.

Airport Art – creation of mass-produced imitations of local art, introduced to serve the tourist need for inexpensive ‘trinkets’ to take home as a souvenir.

Environmental bubbles – separate tourism developments creating islands of tourist development, alien to the host culture.

Premature modernization and commercialization – local population forced to adopt new lifestyles and lose traditional values and techniques.

CULTURAL Impact: Positive

Revival of local customs and traditions – interest demonstrated by tourists increased local interest in their own cultural icons

Demand for local products – reviving the interest in cultural heritage.

Improvements in self-worth – the creation of indigenous craft and art has shown increased self-value and identify.

Employment – for artists, craftspeople, cultural leaders Preservation of history – tourism can lead to improved

awareness of importance of local history, and preservation and restoration of historic buildings, museums, parks and reserves.

Cross cultural empathy - - more likely to occur when tourist contact is more than a short and commercial encounter, but does happen.

ENVIRONMENTAL Impact: Negative

Increased levels of pollution – air, water, noise, visual

Destruction of the natural environment – due to tourism infrastructure & superstructure

Ecological congestion – leading to erosion and destruction of habitat

Overloading – of waste disposal and sewerage systems

Overuse – of water & other resources Destruction of buildings – being worn away

ENVIRONMENTAL Impact: Positive

Strengthening of conservation and heritage – restored, revitalized and even saved from extinction due to tourism interest.

Stimulating the funding of conservation – helps protect natural assets, including landscapes, animals and birds important to tourism

Environmental impact of tourism on N ZEXAMPLES: Queenstown conflict re introduction of Air NZ 737 aircraft,

plus aircraft activity in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park + Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers.

Westland – noise created by helicopters causing problems Concern over the effect that infrastructure and

superstructure has on the NZ landscape Erosion of tracks eg. Tongariro Crossing and Milford Track Degredation of natural habitat in Shotover River catchment Disturbances to wildlife on Otago coastline Erosion of sand dunes at Cape Reinga Damage to rocks at Dolomite Point, Punakaiki Overcrowding in National Parks Conflict between keeping ‘wilderness’ wild and opening

access to tourism Issues around ‘equality’ – the rights of residents to enjoy

walking tracks and amenities when volume of tourists may restrict access