International Tourism in the United States of America - Essay Example

International Tourism in the United s of America Introduction Tourism is an important industry in USA generated from the increased level of contact with people from other countries. This essay discusses the historical development of the tourism industry while also focusing on both positive and negative impacts of the industry in order to understand how tourism contributes to economic, social, cultural and environmental effects it has on the citizens and the country at large. Background The nineteenth century industrial revolution was an important point in the development of tourism in the USA. This is because of the rise of a middle class who saw nature as providing an escape from their daily urban industrial living. A number of factors made it possible for people to increasingly visit different places and enjoy a change of scene from their usual environment. Among the factors is the rise of a middle class economy as workers benefited from income generated by working in new industries. This group of citizens had extra income to spend on vacations to different areas of the country occasionally taking a number of days (Shaffer, 2001). Additionally from the late eighteenth century, there were extensive developments in the transport and communication sectors within the US making it easy for people to travel and access information about specific areas they were interested in visiting. The construction of the railroad to link major cities by 1860 was an important step in furthering the increasing interest in tourism especially from entrepreneurs such as Walter Raymond who travelled to California to identify new areas of investment in the area of resort hotel in 1883. Following these developments, there were important developments in tourism as new destinations such as in San Francisco where the Cliff House became an area of interest as well as other places such as Yosemite national Park developed as a tourist attraction from the late 1850s (Shaffer, 2001). The developments in tourism industry from the 18th up to around 1940s majorly benefited the upper class and a few groups of people from the middle class. Additionally, tourism services offered by different players were disintegrated with service providers such as transport agencies, hotels keepers, tour operators and travel agents working as distinct groups within the sector. Each of the service providers worked independent of the other without closer collaborations with those running the hotels strictly being concerned with beds while those in transportation were only concerned with offering passenger services. However, the reality in tourism industry changed in the post war period as there were significant efforts to integrate services offered by different stakeholders. This was motivated by the realization that customers might require a range of services where for instance hotels could provide services such as shopping apart from the traditional accommodation services. This is also a period of increased air travelled that improved the level of international tourism for USA. Transport operators in the aviation industry extended their services by providing services such as insurance and accommodation booking for travellers. However, as this developments continued to take place, there were efforts from the government to limit the level of integration within the tourism sector. The main reason for this was to limit the level of monopoly that could arise due to the emergence of large and influential corporations in the industry. This measure was made possible through efforts such as the introduction of the American anti-trust laws which restricted the development of large integrated companies in the country (Lickorish and Jenkins, 2007). Benefits of Tourism The tourism industry has significant economic impact for the country especially considering that in 2011 alone; over 62 million visitors from overseas toured the US. Gaffney (2012) reports that this was a 14 percent increase in international tourism when compared to the year 2010 which indicates significant development of the industry through the years. This significant number of tourists had a positive impact on the economy especially considering that they spent over 153 billion dollars on various services and commodities that included airfare, food, recreation, accommodation and buying gifts, sourcing various forms of entertainment and while on their visit. Further, Gaffney (2012) notes the high number of tourists entering the country contributed to increased job opportunities within the country with the author noting about 1.2 million jobs were sustained in the US in the year 2011. Given the assertion by Gaffney (2012) that tourism contributes to the creation of job opportunities in various regions. The effect can be a reduction in the level of migration as citizens are able to gain from the jobs created in their regions. This is especially important when the government advertises remote areas apart from those found in urban centres as tourist destinations. Reduction of migration is both an economic and social benefit of tourism since the industry firstly creates a source of income for the people. On the social front, tourism reduces the effects of rural- urban migration therefore reducing population pressure which is characterized by unemployment, crime and other social vices in some urban areas. The impact of tourism can also be discussed at a social level by assessing the outcomes generated by contacts by people from different cultures. When the citizens come into contact with visitors from overseas, there is a chance for them to share important insights in their respective ways of life. This is achieved through functions such as festivals, fairs and local events that bring the people together either as primary participants or spectators. Additionally, continued entry of tourists in the country is a key driver to the development of social services within the country as services providers in the industry invest in community facilities and services. This has a positive impact on the living standards of the people as they will increasingly enjoy improved services offered in areas such health facilities, transportation and better quality of commodities (Merrill 2009). Further, tourism encourages the preservation of the country’s culture and natural resources since they will have to be maintained for them to continue attracting more visitors. Residents are also made aware about the importance of preservation of these sources as due to the value created through tourism. Apart from the value created through commercialization of culture and natural resources, tourism improves the level of pride from the citizens towards their local and national heritage therefore inspiring them to value conservation. These efforts contributes to environmental conservation as areas with valuable natural resources that provide great scenic beauty continue to attract tourists who seek emotional and spiritual connections with nature. The value associated with these areas makes it necessary for them to be preserved, from overexploitation which might result in ecological decline. Conservation efforts are made possible by the revenue collected by the different agencies concerned with accommodating the recreational activities of visitors (Lickorish and Jenkins, 2007; Merrill 2009). Drawbacks of Tourism Even as tourism continues to play an important role in the economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects of the country, there are still some negative attributes of the sector which should be taken into consideration for citizens to continue benefiting. Among such negative impacts of tourism in USA is breakdown of social and cultural norms in some regions of the country. Continued influx of tourists may precipitate illegal activities such as underage drinking, prostitution since people are most likely to act irresponsibly due to being anonymous while interacting with strangers. Further, influx of tourists leads to further investments in tourism facilities which might be extended into the locals’ residential areas resulting in transformations of the physical structure of the local community. The local community might then have to adjust their culture to respond to the needs of tourism as well as residents having to adopt tourist behaviours leading to the dying of local culture (Lickorish and Jenkins, 2007; Merrill 2009). The negative environmental impact of tourism has received significant interests from scalars especially since these impacts affect widespread areas. Among the areas of environmental concern in the tourism industry is the use of energy in facilitation various activities. The amount of energy consumed in the industry relates to transportation and use in facilities such as lodging. This contributes negatively to the environment through pollution where automobiles were responsible for emission of about 26 million tons of carbon monoxide by 1997. Apart from pollution, there is damage to the original topography of the country due to major developments including facilities such as accommodations, roads, retail stores and restaurants. These effects can also be experienced in other areas as such as in the quality of water for the community due to leaching of nutrients from septic systems from tourists’ accommodation. Development of tourism also leads to a shift from the natural to a built environment due to continued development of facilities to accommodate the needs of the industry. Although the original intention might be to encourage natural sceneries, there are instances when built environment take centre stage thereby wholly subsuming the natural environment. In this case, the artificial environment becomes the spotlight for tourists where there is destruction of the local and regional landscape that had instigated the tourism in the first place (Rabbany, Afrin, Rahman, Islam and Hoque, 2001). Conclusion From the forgoing, discussion tourism in the US has gone through important developments through the years. The industry has specifically been boosted by the improvement of transport and communication services which has made it possible for stakeholders to attract customers. The continued improvements in the tourism industry has made it possible for the country to enjoy a number of benefits such as improved economic prospects for the country and the citizens and sharing of social and cultural heritage of the people with those of the visitors. However, these benefits have been have also been accompanied by the negative impacts such as increased social vices such as underage drinking and prostitution. There are also negative environmental impacts due to construction of new facilities to carter for tourists therefore destroying the natural environment in addition to increased pollution. Reference Lickorish, L. J., & Jenkins, C. L., 2007. Introduction to tourism. London: Routledge. Gaffney, M., 2012. International Travel & Tourism: Reaping Benefits for Amercia’s Capital Region. The Business Monthly, Available at: http://www.bizmonthly.com/international-travel-tourism-reaping-benefits-for-amercia’s-capital-region/ Merrill, D., 2009. Negotiating paradise: US tourism and empire in twentieth-century Latin America. North of Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. Rabbany, G., Afrin, S. Rahman, A., Islam, F. and Hoque, F., 2001. Environmental effects of tourism. American Journal of Environment, Energy and Power Research, 1(7), 117-130. Shaffer, M. S., 2001. See America first: Tourism and national identity, 1880-1940. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. Read More