Brazil : the political-social-economic context (with reference to tourism) - Essay Example

? ID ????? SEMINAR Brazil – the political-social-economic context (with reference to tourism Country background information 1) With reference to Brazil, provide some general information on the geographical and political context of Brazil. Geographical - location/climate/neighbouring countries/key development regions and cities within Brazil Political – type of government/ political freedoms (Freedom House)/level of corruption (Transparency International)/relationship with other countries Geographical (Max 300 words Location This is a country that is located in South America and it is by size the largest when compared to other South and Latin American countries. In terms of size and the number of people living in Brazil, it takes position five globally. Over 193 million people live in Brazil. It was colonized by Portuguese for several decades from 1500 up to 182 when it gained its independence. It is located along Longitudes 28 and 74 degrees West; and latitude 6 and 34 degrees south. It has a total area of 8,514.876.599 km2 of both land and water. It has 55,455 km2 covered by water. A unique feature in its location is that it has its territories extending beyond the tropics and it lies on the equator. It is the only country with this feature in the world. It is made of hills, plains, highlands and mountains making its topography very diverse. In terms of elevation it is between 200 and 800 metres. It has 8 drainage systems, making it one of the countries in the globe with a very extensive river system. All these drains take their water to the Atlantic ocean. It houses the world’s second longest river. Amazon also has the largest volume of water in the world. Other rivers include Parana, Xingu, Negro, and Sao Francisco among others. Climate It has one of the best tropical climatic conditions in the world giving it an ability to support diverse lives on earth. Although to some little extent, the country experiences semiarid, temperate, sub tropical and equatorial conditions giving rise to the presence of equatorial rain forests, semi arid deserts, tropical savannas and temperate coniferous forests in the country. neighbouring countries On the East side of Brazil is bound by Atlantic ocean which stretches for 7,491 km. On the Northern side Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana and Guyana are located. It’s bordered by Bolivia & Peru; and Colombia on the West and north west respectively. Paraguay and Argentina are located on the South West of Brazil. It so big that it shares its border with all other South American countries with exception of two countries; namely Chile and Ecuador. key development regions Brazil is known for its great role in the formation of United Nations, Latin Union, Union of South American Nations, and G20 among other organizations or associations which bring several countries together for common pursuits. Political (Max 300 words) It is a potential super power, although currently it can be well referred to as a middle powerful country in the world. Its government is devolved with three centres for exercised of power namely State, Municipality and Federal district. Citizenship, human dignity, Sovereignty of the nation and people, freedom of enterprise and labour system based on social values, and political pluralism are core components of the sovereignty of Brazil. The constitutions established existence of executive, legislative and judiciary which is under check to ensure no imperialism exists in the exercise of power. There is independence of executive and legislative spheres of the government. At state, municipality and district, both legislative and executive has representation. The judiciary only exists at federal and district levels. To be a member of the judiciary, there are entry exams which an individual must do and pass. On the other hand, one has to be elected by people in order to qualify for an executive and legislative position in the country. There are several political parties which exist in the country, with politicians allowed to move from one party to another. All the literate people between ages of 18 and 70 years are legally required by law to vote in the democratic process of electing their leaders after every four years. The president is elected along with other elective positions in the country and can seek to be elected for one successive term. It is the responsibility of the president to appoint Ministers to head various government institutions. The country has a constitution which is the supreme law upon which all other laws must adhere. It is a political system which has attracted criticism from various sectors because it is associated with slowing down the rate at which decisions are made in the country. This is especially harmful to the judicial system where cases can take so long a period before they are finally decided, sometimes even as long as more than a decade. 2. General statistics on economic and social context of Brazil (excluding tourism) – over the last 5 years Economic indicators can include the country’s GDP/GNP; employment status, debt, industry structure Social indicators can include the demographics (population/gender/age/life expectancy/education/general human development) Economic (Max 300 words) Its GDP of 10,000 dollars per capita gives it position seven globally in terms of economic growth. It is actually one of those countries with a fast economic growth. This is embedded in its development and implementation of numerous economic reforms. Its economic growth has various contributors including tourism, natural resources, agriculture, industrial products, mining and several service providers. It is a high exporter of aircraft, automobiles, iron ore, electrical equipment, textiles, steel, and beef among other products. It leading in position four in car business globally. The economy was affected greatly by the financial crisis that hit Russia in 1998 and Asian countries. A loan from International Monetary Fund was repaid a year before it was due so as to ensure the country did not operate on loans and an indicator that it had recovered from the economic crisis. It has continued to gain economic stability since 2003 focusing on building foreign reserves, depending on local assets to reduce debt. The financial crisis in 2008 affected the country’s economy as demand for its products decreased extensively. In the year 2010, the country experienced 7.5% rise in GDP, a very significant increase which the country had never experienced for over two decades. This was attributed to increased consumption of its products and services, and investor confidence restored in the country. Economic Growth however begun to drop in 2011 to 2.7% and 1.5% in 2012. This is attributed to the various measures which the government put in to reduce inflation rate which the country experienced due to financial crisis in global economy. This financial crisis had a global impact since in the year 2011, despite the decreased growth; Brazil was ahead of United Kingdom in terms of GDP. Due to attractive investment climate, many investors have injected so much capital into the country. This has affected the economy of the country greatly especially its competitiveness with other markets. Social (Max 300 words) It’s over 190million people is broken down to a ration of 0.95, men to women. Over 83.75 % live in Brazil’s urban areas. Geographically more people live in the Southeast and Northeast regions of the country than in other areas, with 79.8 and 53.5 million people respectively. In terms of race, Brazil population in 2008 had over 90 million white people, 83 million brown, 13 million black, 1.1 million Asians, 536 000 Amerindians, and 130,000 who never their race during the survey. People experience classism and racism in Brazil especially based on their economic conditions and appearances. In addition to the Roman Catholic religion which is the major religion in the country, Brazil has several other faiths especially protestants like Lutheran, Seventh-day Adventist, Pentecostal, Baptist, and Evangelicals. Other than the Christian religion, Islam, Buddhism, Amerindian, Judaism and other little religious groups also exist in the country. The national language in Brazil is Portuguese based on the colonial chiefs. It is widely used in local media and in daily life of administration and business of the people. This is also a unique country where sign language is part of the education curricula and legally recognized. Since it is the only country in America that uses Portuguese it is an essential part of identity. There are over one hundred minor languages spoken in the country other than the official languages. The law also requires all 12 graders in school to learn at least one second language, Spanish or English are mostly learnt. Brazilians utilise educational facilities in the country highly giving the total population a literacy rate of over 90%. However based on its large population, the illiterate rate of about 9% is still very significant. This is equivalent to 13 million people especially if it is localized. Statistics indicate that this is true as it contains the largest number of people who are illiterate. There is high rate of school going among those aged 6-14 (97%) and 15 – 17 (82.1%). Illiteracy rate is very low among the youth. It is high among rural population at 24.18%, with 20.30% in the Northeast where majority of the country’s poor rural population live. Crime rates in Brazil are very high, with people using firearms to kill others and several others living in jails and prisons due to crimes. 3. State of inbound tourism to Brazil since 2000, in terms of overall tourism arrivals/arrivals by geographic region/arrivals by purpose of travel and tourism expenditure ; government prioritisation of tourism and employment in tourism. Max 300 words It is so much diversified in wildlife, natural resources and natural ecosystems which make it rank 17 among other countries that take a large number of tourists in the world. This diversity can be attributed to its friendly climate that supports various forms of life. Due to these features, tourism is one of the key contributors to the economic growth of this country. Its over 5 million visitors to the country make it rank number two in Latin America in terms of tourists’ attraction centres internationally, and as number one in South America. Over the years it has experienced increased flow of tourists into the country boosting its economy very high. For example in 2008 alone the country had foreign exchange of more than 5.5 billion dollars. In 2005 tourism created several jobs for Brazilians. In 2006 also tourism created jobs for 0ver 1.87 million people on both formal and informal basis. Other than international travel, Brazilians themselves utilize their tourism features through over 50 million internal trips to tourist attraction centres. Locals contribute more to the economy than international visitors. There are so many features a tourist will see in Brazil. Its beaches have white sand of Powderly nature. There are huge rain forests which are home to several animals and plants. You will enjoy horseback rides, boat riding in Amazon river, there are several rock mountains to climb, and there are wonderful beautiful scenery to be viewed, whales to be watched off the coast, snorkelling among other attractive features. Research has shown that Brazil’s neighbouring countries in South America are coming up rapidly in terms of attracting tourists. It is important that the country take advantage of some of its natural opportunities to ensure it hits a high competitive advantage against its major competitors locally and globally (Filipe, 2007). 4) Reflect on the discussions from the seminar and comment on how tourism can help the social-economic context of Brazil Max 300 words Brazil economy is boosted by both local and international tourism. Tourists who happen to spend a long time in the country do influence the locals spending time together with them. This is an opportunity for exchange of cultures which might have negative and positive consequences. Once local people recognize there are some monuments and other cultural features which attract tourists, there is a high likelihood of preservation of these things. This in the long rum may lead to a revival of values which might have been lost. It is very easy to note the role tourism has played in the country in the creation of jobs. Almost yearly there several thousands of Brazilians are assured of informal jobs due to increased flow of tourists. As the governments puts various efforts to strengthen its tourism potential, more people get formal jobs in Brazil. This in the long run improves the living standards of Brazilians. Some of tourists come in for leisure as well as understanding the situation in the country in terms of economic investment. There is a likelihood of them coming back to invest in the country. In the past there has been increased inflow of capital in the country from external investors. This has affected the economy negatively by reducing the competitiveness of manufacturing industries. Some of the measures the government put in as intervention do affect the economy negatively. As more people come to invest in the country, the population shoots up. The high flow of people into Brazil from all over the world make it vulnerable to high rates of crimes as there is high likelihood of failure to detect people with evil intentions especially terrorism. Brazil being a border to several South American countries, increases chances of illegal immigration. This can be the reason for the increased number of un contacted tribes in the country (UN, 2007) Student Name ????? Student ID ????? SEMINAR 2 Competitiveness Kenya and Tanzania According to the WEF in their Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report (March 2011), ‘Switzerland, Germany and France are the best when it comes to tourism. Among the top ten, Austria (4), US (6), Canada (9) and Singapore (10) post improvements’. To succeed in the international tourism marketplace, a destination must ensure that it can convert its comparative advantage into a competitive advantage (ie. convincing tourists to choose to visit a particular destination over an alternative destination). According to some scholars, competitiveness is two way in that it’s both relative and multi-dimensional (Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report) and the UN World Tourism Organisation (tourist arrivals, receipts etc) – ie objectively quantifiable indicators (hard indicators). These are then compared to ‘subjective’ indicators (‘soft’ indicators), such as traveller perceptions of the destination in terms of its appeal, resources, cost, safety etc. This seminar will require students to ‘read’ and compare various indicators for Kenya and Tanzania and to draw conclusions from these findings. Kenya and Tanzania 1) - Make comparisons regarding their overall competitiveness Travel & Tourism Competitiveness over the last 3 years. Offer suggestions on why there may be differences between the countries, in their scores and and ranking over the past 3 years. Kenya Tanzania 2008 2009 2011 2008 2009 2011 Comments (Max 200 words/entry) Travel & Tourism Competitiveness (Overall Rank & Score) Rank: 101 Score: 3.53???? Rank: 97 Score: 3.60???? Rank:? 103 Score: 3.51? ?? Rank: 88 Score:3.65 Rank: 98 Score:3.59 Rank: 110 Score:3.42 Tourism in Kenya seems stagnating at about 100% over the three years in comparison. On the other hand, Tanzania has been experiencing a steady high growth in the same period. Factors which can be attributed to the fact that these two countries are neighbours and some of the people who visited Tanzania in these three years had already been to Kenya and most probably by passed Kenya and headed to Tanzania, their new destination. The political climate in Kenya might have also contributed to the stagnant growth in tourism sector in Kenya during that period. It is also possible some of the tourists who would visited Kenya through Tanzania decided not to come due to the risks associated with threats of terrorist attack. Regulatory Environment & Key Pillars include rank and scores) Rank: 100 Score: 4.00 Rank: 93 Score: 4.15 Rank: 113 Score: 3.87 Rank: 89 Score: 4.07 Rank: 102 Score: 4.03 Rank: 121 Score: 3.67 The regulatory condition of the country had been increasing steadily in Tanzania. It appears this country realized their potential in attracting tourists and decided to invest greatly in order to ensure they became competitive in the region and Africa as a whole. These measures were very much fruitful in the result of the tourist growth experienced. Although these measures gave Tanzania a high rank, the score was low since the international standard of these measures was low. Kenya on the other side did fare well in policies as its overall rank is relatively. It fared above Tanzania despite the growth in rank. Business Environment & Key Pillars include rank and scores) Rank: 102 Score: 2.82 Rank: 100 Score: 2.81 Rank: 106 Score: 2.93 Rank: 117 Score: 2.65 Rank: 118 Score: 2.56 Rank: 127 Score: 2.62 The business environment grew significantly well in Tanzania due to the increased number of visitors who came to the country as tourists. The business environment in Kenya grew but not so high may be due to low number of tourists compared to Tanzania. Moreover, there might have been fears among investors to do business in Ke0nya based on the events which happened in the contested election of 2007 where many businesses were damaged and incurred billions of losses. It is also possible some of the Kenyan investors moved to Tanzania to seek safer environment for business. Resources & Key Pillars include rank and scores) ?Rank: 77 Score: 3.76??? ?Rank: 72 Score:?3.84? ?Rank: 72 Score:?3.75??? ?Rank:48 Score:4.23? ?Rank:50 Score:4.17? ?Rank:56 Score:3.97? ????? Kenya has more resources for tourism compared to Tanzania. However, the availability of resources is not a guarantee that tourism industry will grow. The way the little resources are used in addition to a suitable environment for business and tourism will influence the number of people a country receives as investors and tourists. There is need for a country to ensure its borders are not porous and the internal political climate is safe in order to attract tourists. Tourism must also be advertised using modern strategies in order to ensure as many people are informed of the tourist attraction facilities available in a country (Cosmas, 2010). 2) With reference to both countries, offer suggestions to how their travel and tourism competitiveness could be enhanced. Max 300 words Tourism industry depends on the political climate to thrive. It is closely related to investment. People want to spend their leisure time in safe environment where there will be no threats of attack or kidnapped as has been experienced in some countries like Kenya where tourist are attacked or kidnapped and a great ransom demanded to secure their release. A country should continue to enhance biodiversity in its animal and plant and preserve it natural features so that people can be attracted into the country for tourism purposes. There are many potential sites in a country which can be turned into great centres of attracting visitors. A country should continue to identify such opportunities and develop and preserve them for that purpose. Marketing strategies should be incorporated in the tourism industry. Marketing experts should be contracted to design the best adverts for promoting this industry in any country. People must be informed of exact features they would expect to find in a destination without any exaggeration. In case visitors come into a country only to find less than they expected it can negatively impact tourism especially from that country they came from. This is because they will take a negative message home which can easily make other prospective visitors change their minds. It would be good to give visitors more than they expected. They will always want to come back and bring others along. Provision of travel documents should be made it easy so that people can travel within a short notice. There are some countries where visa application takes so long discouraging potential visitors. A country should ensure that they have enough people who facilitate tourists who visit the country. There is a tendency of inflating the cost of goods and services when foreigners are the ones who need those goods. Countries should ensure they put measures in place to protect these guests from such businessmen/women. Reflection question TO COMPLETE AFTER THE SEMINAR TAKES PLACE – Competitiveness 2) Following your seminar discussion, what do you think are the most important pillars to destination competitiveness – Justify your answer. Max 200 words The natural attractive features of any particular country will attract many visitors. Monument, tourist sites should be well preserved in attractive ways to ensure more guests can be attracted. Accommodation facilities should be equipped in a competitive manner with facilities which any guest would be comfortable with. It would be good for facilities to be designed in a uniform manner or up to a certain standard agreed as a minimum Quality of customer care given to guest will add so much value and make them to long to come back again or tell their friends at home about these good things found in this country. Make sure you give the guests memories they will never manage to erase from their memories. A country should invest in training customer service providers to ensure they are informed of global trends in customer care and know to treat people from various destinations. Honesty when advertising tourism services in any particular country. When this information is given to people, it makes it possible for them to predict their expectations when they visit a given place. This maintains the integrity of a country. Promote internal tourism in as much as you promote international. It is important for local people to get involved in tourism activities of their countries in order to boost the economy. In Brazil for example local tourism contributes five times more than international guests (Appolonia & Henry, 2008). Student Name ????? Student ID ????? SEMINAR 3 Destination Audit – Hong Kong SAR A destination audit should examine the overall tourism product portfolio, product life cycles of a destination and conclude with the key strengths and weaknesses stemming from this audit. The outcomes enable a destination planner/manager to consider the extent of ‘destination capability’ in achieving the key objectives/goals of the tourism policies and plans. Fundamentally, a total destination audit should consider the following: Attractions (Primary & Secondary); Activities (often linked with attractions to enhance the experience - possibly include this within the attractions audit) Access (to and within the country) – consider extent of scheduled V charter flights; extent of direct flights from say, key target markets; number of ports; etc Available Packages (by operators) Amenities (location, quality, number of bed-spaces; range of accommodation and other amenities) etc Ancillary Services (if relevant) – medical facilities, foreign exchange facilities The purpose of this seminar exercise is to map the key attractions and access points/routes and comment on the findings found for Hong Kong SAR. With reference to Hong Kong SAR, map the key attractions [according to their grade (for example: primary/secondary or any other relevant grading system) possibly by clusters/attraction zones and access points/routes. Justify on your map the grading of attractions (using references/stats etc). 1) Highlight the following 2 A’s on your Map: Accessibility & Attractions. a. Consider mapping the key attractions [according to their grade (for example: primary/secondary or any other relevant grading system) possibly by clusters/attraction zones and access points/routes. A manual map can be shown on this page 2) Make some general comments about attractions and access on Hong Kong SAR, followed by comments on the relationships between the 2 A’s in relation to the country – see the prompter points below Attractions – (overall comments about the level of primary V secondary attractions, their location within the country – any iconic or ‘wow’ attractions? Max 200 words Attractions in Hong Kong Include islands, parks, religious buildings, landmarks and museums among others which make the city a major tourist centre in China. One can take some time to climb to the top of Victoria Park. There are also beaches which one can visit and enjoy a look at the sea. There are very specific sites you can access and enjoy like Victoria park, Victoria harbour, Lan Kwai Fong, Stanley, Soho, Ocean Park and Dr. Shun Yat-sen Museum. These are found in Hong Kong Island. On Kowloon one can visit Kowloon park, Hong Kong Science museum. Peninsula hotel, Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre, Clock Tower, Avenue of stars, Hong Kong cultural centre. Temple street, Hong Kong Observatory, Hong Kong History Museum, among others. There are other sites which are located in new territories like Lamma Island, Tian Tan Buddha, Sai Kung, among several others. Access – (overall comments on the key access points into Hong Kong SAR – accessibility around the country) Max 200 words Hong Kong Tours provides information on the attraction features which exist in the city. There are also several tourism and travel agents which can guide guests to move across Hong Kong safely without getting lost as well as enjoy the various attractive features. There are some countries whose citizen can come to Hong Kong without visa while guests from other destinations must have visa. It is important to check with embassy or immigration directory of your country to determine its status. Attractions V Accessibility – provide some overall comments to the location/type of attractions and accessibility to these attractions around the country Hong Kong has so many attractive features which will be appealing to all types of guests. It has provision for guest to have free information tips about the country in order to easily access features of most interest to them. It is a country that has enough for everybody ranging from markets, scenery, museums, theme parks and temples. It is a country worthy visiting. Reflection question: TO COMPLETE AFTER THE SEMINAR TAKES PLACE – Hong Kong SAR Reflect on what you have learned about the importance of the relationships (in terms of their interdependency) between attractions, accessibility and amenities for a destination. Max 200 words The presence of attractions in a country need to be linked to some information provision so as to ensure guest who come into the country for tourism purposes are guided in accessing these facilities. People will always travel due to various reasons into a country. They should be given relevant information so that they would be satisfied for their visit. There are several other needs people would have when they visit. Accommodation facilities and meals should be made available at competent rates and quality so that guest can be comfortable during their visit. Measures should be put in place to ensure guest are safe and are not exploited by businessmen/women and service providers who are opportunistic (Introducing Brazil, 2013). Reference List Apollonia, K., & Henrry, W., 2008. Round Table Africa: Tourism in Kenya & Tanzania. Travel and Tourism Report 2008. World Economic Forum. http://www.roundtableafrica.net/getattachment/Round-Tables/In-Europe/Partnering-with- Africa/Partnering-with-Africa/Tourism-in-Kenya---Tanzania.pdf.aspx Cosmas, B., 2010. Tanzania, Kenya vie for top slot in region’s tourism. The East Africa Newspaper, Monday February 8, 2010. http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/-/2560/856824/-/4eaylyz/- /index.html Filipe, S., Alketa, P., & Gustavo, S., 2007. An Analysis of the Dynamics of the Tourism Industry in Brazil: Challenges and Recommendations. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 19 Iss: 6, pp. 507 – 512. Introducing Brazil, 2013. Lonely Planet . http://www.lonelyplanet.com/brazil South America: Brazil. The World Fact Bookhttps://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world- factbook/geos/br.html United Nations, 2007. Economic and Social Commission from Asia and the Pacific: Study on the Role of Tourism in Socio-economic Development. New York: United Nations. Read More