The Impact of Tourism on Local Host Communities - Essay Example

?NOTTINGHAM college PEAP (Tourism Essay) November ALATTAS, FOFA ? ????Tourism is appreciated by many societies in the world. There are many impacts of this sector. This essay will argue that tourism has many economic benefits and encourages environmental conservation but also comes with negative economic and environmental impacts which should be addressed for tourism sustainability and improvement of living standards of the people in the respective tourist circuits. Most tourists to any given tourist attractions are usually from other countries. They come along with their local currencies that are accepted in the country they are visiting.”The money tourists’ use in the countries they are visiting is usually used by the governments as foreign exchange reserves” (Scheyvens 2003:82), this has a lot of benefit to the country, especially, the low income countries that have nothing else to depend on. Goodwin notes that a number of countries in Africa like Gambia and Tanzania have benefited from tourism foreign exchange. In contrast, according to Goodwin (2008) tourism may not provide a good source of foreign exchange earnings for countries with little or no international trade. Such countries cannot take tourism as the major source of foreign exchange. Although” The biggest beneficiaries of foreign exchange are the low income ones in which tourism play a role in poverty reduction” (Archer et all, 2005:10) earnings may be affected. When there disasters and terrorism strikes, foreign exchange earnings dwindle in for example the case of Hurricane Gilbert in 1995 in Jamaica, Tsunami in Japan in 2011 and Terrorism in the United States in 2001. However, the countries may also benefit even in disasters and terrorism activities. Some people are very eager to go to witness the events and activities. In this case, they play a role in tourism though their reasons may not be well understood. After Tsunami in 2011, many journalists and other people went to Japan to witness and report on the happenings there. This may not be taken as tourism but to some extent it is. Tourism may play an important role in the development of various places, according to (Archer et all, 2005) local communities near tourist attraction sites find it their responsibility to make the region better through infrastructure development and provision of important facilities. Although tourists spend some money in the host countries, economic experts argue that most of the tourist expenditures do not directly benefit the country being visited. According to Goodwin, this could be the reason why countries like Gambia, Tanzania and Caribbean countries have not recorded growth and development as it would have been expected. This is refutable according to (Goodwin, 2008), who claims there are still no good enough examples of initiatives with clear demonstrable impacts from tourism. There are no case studies which demonstrate the mainstreaming of tourism and poverty reduction strategies. According to (Scheyvens, 2003), It is estimated that more than 80% of the tourist expenditures, are on provision of services in other countries other than the host countries. For example, according to (Archer et all, 2005) when individuals are traveling to other countries, they are likely to use airline companies that are in their home countries, the money paid goes to the home country rather than the host country. Some tourists may also make purchases in their home countries before they go to the host countries. However, tourism creates employment for community in different countries; local people are employed in the hotels and resorts while others sell local products to the tourist. This is experienced in the Gambia, Tanzania and other African countries that rely on tourism a lot. This has played a role in improving the lives of the society and modernization. At the same time, there are some jurisdictions that depend on tourism a lot. “Some countries in Africa and the Caribbean region depend a lot on tourism, which may contribute up to a third of the national GDP, ” Tourism contributes the largest share in the GDP of such countries for example Barbados, Bahamas and Bermuda. The general society sees an opportunity in that they would be employed in the hotels and airline companies” (Cooper et al, 2008:205). However, where do they stay? Other entrepreneurs construct houses to rent to the employees. According to (Goodwin, 2008) the governments may not take such places seriously. However, when a place starts to grow, the government authorities move in to provide important facilities and amenities like hospitals and Infrastructure gains for the poor can provided including paved roads, bus services and improved communications.”Government can assist in ensuring that these infrastructures are availed to the local people” (Archer et all, 2005:92). For example International investors and the Mexican government have played an important role in the development and growth of some regions in the world for example Cancun, Mexico On the contrary, the rapid developments in a region can affect the environment and vegetation. For example, “rapid growth of a town would call for cutting down of nearby forests and compromise to the integrity of the flora and fauna in that region” (Archer et al, 2005:93). Pollution to the environment and animals is inevitable in such cases. Moreover, terrorism and disasters can also affect tourism industry employees significantly. When disasters strike for example in Cuba or Jamaica, most of the hotels are destroyed and employees have to stay for sometime without employment. In contrast, according to (Cooper et al, 2008), the many benefits of tourism are indisputable in most regions. However, when disasters occur or terrorists attack in a tourist region, the many benefits are forgotten“The September 11th, 2001 is a good example of what terrorism can negatively affect the tourism industry” (Knox and Marston, 2003:319).”Many workers lost their jobs and the loss to the hospitality industry were more than what would be imagined” (Cooper et all, 2008:206). Disasters also have threatened to cripple the economies of especially the countries that are very dependent on tourism, according to (Goodwin, 2008), the Caribbean region is said to be, the most tourism dependent region in the world today. As of 1998, the tourism industry generated more than 17 billion dollars and employed close to a million workers directly. Some countries have really lost to these disasters. In contrast, according to (Cooper et all, 2008 :) the economic benefits of tourism have encouraged many people in the different countries to take tourism seriously. Individuals, communities and governments are all concerned about major tourism sites. They do whatever it takes to ensure that the site remain the best way possible. These stakeholders have been going extra lengths to conserve the tourist attract sites. According to (Knox and Marston, 2003) China for example has been doing a lot to ensure the population of Panda does not decrease anymore. Panda are also provided to other countries on loan. Zoos that take one panda can pay as much as ten million dollars per year. Rwanda has also been trying its best to conserve the rainy forests which are home to the infamous Mountain Chimpanzees all in the name of maintaining major tourism attraction sites. Canada has also been conserving its environment to attract more tourists. However, construction of hotels, real estate, schools, hospitals and development of infrastructure as a result of tourism is appreciated by many people but these tourism inspired projects come with a lot of pollution. The waste during construction pollutes the environment including animals’ habitats.”During normal house and hotel room use, a lot of waste produced “(Archer et all, 2005:92). Although tourism assists in conservation of the environment, the effects to the environment are much higher. The tourism industry may lead to overuse of some natural resources. According to (Cooper et al 2008) Major tourist attraction regions have many hotels, houses and high development rates. All these sectors require large amounts for water. Hotels require water for normal use and other facilities like swimming pool and Jacuzzi. According to (Scheyvens,2003), the construction industry on the other hand would require water for proper construction while the real estate buyers and lenders use water for normal use. The water resource could be depleted especially if it is not a lot and the demand is high. “Most of the waste is not well disposed and even when well disposed a proportion finds its way to the environment” (Archer et al, 2008:92). At the same time, some tourists are not environment cautious and go disposing waste all along. In addition, hotels that have golf course facilities use pesticides and chemicals which pollute the environment and the water resources. These wastes and pollutants may have a lot of negative impacts on the environment Tourism has been improving over the years in most parts of the world. There are many positive benefits including economic gains and development. However, there are also economic and environmental challenges of the sector and addressing them would be important in making tourism even better improving the lives of many people and encouraging globalization. Countries that have put enough measures in addressing these challenges are experiencing a tourism boom and it can never be better. The only thing that would affect such places is a natural disaster and or terrorism activities which have been on the increase today. These activities may not be preventable the way others can be prevented. Case studies in the Middle East region have confirmed all the positive and negative impacts of tourism. There is remarkable growth in regions for example the Jazan region in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Sadi and Handerson, 2005). Tourism has made the region to develop infrastructure and the livelihood of the people has improved remarkably. On the other hand, there was a negative effect on the environment. There were also negative effects for example environmental degradation in the Jazan region (AL-Sheikh, 2012). The environment of the Jazan region has been degraded so much in the last two decades. Research indicates that the degradation may lead to desertification if nothing is done regarding this. Rapid loss of coral reefs in Dubai and Doha regions in United Arab Emirates and Qatar were reported (Gladstone, Curley and Shokri, 2007). Tourism has been improving over the years in most parts of the world. There are many positive benefits including economic gains and development. However, there are also economic and environmental challenges of the sector and addressing them would be important in making tourism even better improving the lives of many people and encouraging globalization. Countries that have put enough measures in addressing these challenges are experiencing a tourism boom and it can never be better. The only thing that would affect such places is a natural disaster and or terrorism activities which have been on the increase today. These activities may not be preventable the way others can be prevented. References AL-Sheikh, A., 2012. Environmental degradation and its impact on tourism in Jazan, KSA using Remote Sensing and GIS. International Journal of environmental Sciences, 3, 1. Archer, B et al, 2005. The positive and negative impacts of tourism. Routledge: London. Cooper, C et al., 2008. Tourism: principles and practice. Lavoisier, 1,1. Gladstone, W., Curley, B and Shokri, M., 2007. Environmental impacts of tourism in the Gulf and the Red Sea. Elsevier, 1, 1. Goodwin, H. 2008. Tourism, local economic development, and poverty reduction. Applied Research in Economic Development, 5, 3. Organization of American States, N.d. Tourism as an economic development tool. [online] Organization of American States. Available at: [Accessed 21 November 2013]. Sadi, M and Handerson, J. 2005. Tourism in Saudi Arabia And Its Future Development. Journal of Business and Economics, 1, 1. Spirou, C., 2010. Urban Tourism and Urban Change: Cities in a Global Economy. London: Taylor & Francis. United Nations Environmental Program (a), 2013. Tourism's Three Main Impact Areas. [online] United Nations Environmental Program. Available at [Accessed 21 November 2013]. United Nations Environmental Program (b), 2013. Tourism and Environmental Conservation. [online] United Nations Environmental Program. Available at [Accessed 21 November 2013]. United Nations Environmental Program (c), 2013. Negative Economic Impacts of Tourism: Leakage. [online] United Nations Environmental Program. Available at [Accessed 21 November 2013]. Read More