Social Impact of Tourism Development in Manchester - Essay Example

Chapter Introduction Introduction: This research paper explores the tourism development and its social impact in Manchester. Tourism affects the host country in a number of ways that include cultural, social and also economical impacts. Developed countries have always paid huge attention to the factors that have contributed to their economic development and tourism is one of those aspects that receive huge attention when countries attempt to evaluate factors for their economic growth and development. However, the focus of this paper is to evaluate the social impact of tourism development in Manchester. This research paper provides with an overview of aims and objectives that basically drive the researcher to carry out this research with full devotion and sincere effort. After that it incorporates background of the study that highlights that why it was important for the researcher to carry out research on this particular topic. Important reasons behind studying the social impact of tourism on Manchester were highlighted in this chapter. Aims: An Evaluation of the Social Impact of Tourism Development in Manchester. Objectives: The research objectives are as follows: To critically review the literature related to tourism development. To assess the social impact of tourism in Manchester. To examine factors that influence perception and attitude of residents. To draw conclusions and make recommendations concerning future actions which would improve the social impact to the area. Background to the study: The impacts of tourism have been reasonably well researched, particularly from the environmental and economic perspectives. More recently, attention has turned to exploring the social impacts of tourism and important research is emerging in this area. According to Mathieson and Wall, (1982, p.133) “the social and cultural impacts of tourism are the ways in which tourism is contributing to changes in value systems, individual behavior, family relationships, collective lifestyles, safety levels, moral conduct, creative expressions, traditional ceremonies and community organizations.” This report will focus on the research of attitudes and opinions of the residents of Manchester in terms of the social impacts of tourism on their lives and town. According to Butler (1974, p.103) “it is possible to breakdown the social impact into three generalized area, relating to the resources used by local residents, their economic wellbeing, and their life styles. Research into the social impacts of tourism on a community also suggests that “a number of factors influence the level of impact. For example, factors such as the state of the local economy, the maturity of the tourism destination, and the level of community attachment have been found to influence the level of impact of tourism activities.” (Gursoy, Jurowski and Uysal 2002) In Manchester, social contacts between tourists and local people results in mutual appreciation, understanding, tolerance, awareness, learning, family bonding respect, and liking. Residents are educated about the outside world without leaving their homes, while their visitors significantly learn about a distinctive culture. Local communities are benefited through contribution by tourism to the improvement of the social infrastructure like schools, libraries, health care institutions, internet cafes, and so on (Torres and Momsen, 2004 p.312). An important reason underlying behind selecting this topic is that tourism development and its social impact has not received that much attention from the researchers as does the economic and environmental impact of tourism. Many studies and researches have been conducted regarding the environmental and economic impacts of tourism but the social impact has always been a neglected aspect of the tourism. Moreover, the accessibility to the existing literature on this topic was feasible that lead towards the selection of the topic. Methodology: According to Mason, (2003) “The possible social effects of tourism and leisure on the natural atmosphere are well established and have been the matter of wide-ranging research in recent decades.” This research is an empirical research dissertation which will be conducted using secondary data, define as “any further analysis of an existing dataset [such as books, articles in journals, key texts, databases and web site]” (Hakim 1982 cited by Finn, Elliot-White and Walton p.41) and primary data technique “which is original data generated by new research using techniques such as surveys, interviews or observation” (Hakim 1982 cited by Finn, Elliot-White and Walton p.41). One key type of primary data collection to be used for this research project is unstructured in-depth interviews, used to understand the views of tourism operators and of local residents related to tourism initiatives in Manchester. Hermandez et al (1996) said that “the main advantage of in-depth unstructured interviews is that a better understanding of respondents thinking and attitudes”. 12 open ended questions will be asked to local residents of Manchester Chapter 5- Conclusion and Recommendations Introduction: This chapter will be incorporating many of the important aspects that will be useful for future research and will aim at providing an insight to the concerned bodies, researchers and other interested entities for further research on the topic. This will also evaluate the importance of tourism accompanied with critical discussion on the topic and conclusion that will conclude complete research. However, after this the chapter will shed light on implications of the research and will give recommendations to the concerned bodies. In addition to this, it will also evaluate complete methodology adopted by the researcher for carrying out research. The purpose of developing this chapter as a part of dissertation is to make valuable contribution to the existing stock of knowledge and information and to provide an insight for future research prospects on the topic. The chapter will start from conclusion, then will take into account recommendations, reflection and evaluation of research methodology and finally end up with providing insight for future research. Conclusion: According to Goeldner and Ritchie (2009), tourism development must be the part of economic development and the main purpose is to have a balance between cost induced by and benefits derived from tourism. The rapid growth and movement of the people across different parts of the world have increased diversity and have nurtured tourism industry in almost every region around the globe. The development of tourism industry however, varies in quality across different countries. Tourism not only fosters economic and social development, but also creates keen interest in various fascinating places, peoples and cultures. Tourism always has impacted host country in different ways. Economic and environmental affects have always been the focal point of discussion of many researchers. Tourism development and its social impact in Manchester have received huge attention from many researchers. Social impact of tourism in Manchester has its different dimensions. One of the dimensions is the effect on the language of the local residents. In addition to this, we can say that tourism development on one side brings revenues while on the other hand it has serious social implications in terms of language, culture, and social setup. Tourism industry in Manchester need to flourish in a way that boosts economic growth and development, and impact society in a way that brings some positive outcome on the attitudes and behavior of host country. Tourism industry attempts to improve infrastructure for attracting tourists from across the globe and in doing so the environmental implications should not be ignored. Destruction to the natural environment and its beauty that results from the development in tourism industry should also be kept into focus when higher officials talk about tourism development in Manchester. All above mentioned aims and objectives were achieved by pursuing primary research as well as secondary research. The instrument used was interview and all required information was then analyzed by using qualitative research approach and research aims and objectives were achieved. Recommendations: Following are the recommendations that are given to the concerned authorities that include officials of tourism industry in Manchester and also to all those who directly or indirectly are linked with and get affected either in positive or negative way with development in tourism industry. Tourism in UK according to Ellul (2000), should be the blue print of sustainable development. This provides an insight to the officials of tourism industry that they should attempt to develop tourism industry in a way that fosters sustainable economic development and promotes economic growth by creating employment opportunities and building infrastructure. According to Giaoutzi and Nijkamp (2006), UK ranks fifth in the world to earn from tourism. It is recommended to the government of Manchester that they should give funds to flourish tourism industry at its best so that every year they can earn maximum revenues from tourism industry that will consequently help Manchester in its economic development. According to Fossati and Panella (2000), economic development in Manchester cannot only be judged by statistical count but can also be seen in terms of new investments, new businesses, and strong economic structure. Therefore, it is recommended to the government of Manchester and tourism agencies to open new opportunities for people around the globe and also for local residents as this not only will facilitate flow of capital within the economy but will also improve living standard of local residents. According to Jayne (2006), western world is seeking to achieve competitiveness by introducing culture-led programs. Keeping in view this it is recommended to the tourism industry in Manchester to introduce such programs and conduct such activities that allow sharing of cultural values, norms and traditions of tourists with local residents. According to Tisdell (2007), ecotourism is one of the aspects related to tourism that should not be neglected. Therefore, it is recommended that environmentalists and government should conduct awareness programs to aware tourists and local residents regarding conservation of environment and natural beauty of Manchester. Negative social impact of tourism as indicated by researches and pointed out by Rothman (1978) cited in Haley, Snaith and Miller (2004) are noise, heavy litter, traffic, increased crime rate, overcrowding and tourism induced high prices of products offered to the local residents as well as to the visitors. Keeping this in view, it is recommended that tourism industry and government should together make an effort to reduce negative social impact of tourism on Manchester. In addition to the above recommendations, tourism industry in Manchester should focus on the development of infrastructure that does not destroy natural beauty of Manchester. Reflection and evaluation of Methodology: Research methodology holds special importance and has significant place in research process. The justification to the adoption of qualitative research for this dissertation lays in the fact that researcher developed a research question rather than hypothesis for analyzing the tourism development in Manchester and its social impact. Thus, for getting into the detailed research of the research question developed, qualitative research provides the best solution for analysis. There are few positive as well negative aspects related to the qualitative research carried out by using semi structured interview as one the techniques. The positive aspects include that by employing interview as research instrument researcher can get all the required information from the respondents. Moreover, if any of the respondents is reluctant to answer any question researcher can always go on to another person. Moreover, there is a lesser chance of misunderstanding by the respondents. However, respondents can respond to a particular question as much as they want and can give all necessary details only if they are cooperative. However, some of the negative aspects include manipulation of data by the researcher. Using interview as an instrument in qualitative research, always gives enough room to the researcher to make required additions and deletions to the information gathered by primary source. However, in addition to this, it may require huge amount of time to interview each and every individual if sample size is set huge. Qualitative research is very difficult to be carried out as it requires correct and appropriate analysis of the information that the researcher is going to present in its research paper. This research paper followed qualitative research approach by using unstructured interview as an instrument and secondary and primary research as a research strategy. This research paper probed into the tourism development and its social impact in Manchester by undertaking qualitative research. Furthermore, research on this topic can be carried out with certain improvements that will generate some useful results. It can be a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research with quantitative being carried out by taking into account the demographic variables and certain other factors that have either contributed or hindered the development of tourism in Manchester. Suggestion for further research: This research paper currently answers the question related to the tourism development and its social impact in Manchester. The research can be extended in future by taking into account environmental and economic factors as variables. Moreover, sustainable development and ecotourism are some of the tourism related aspects that have not received much attention of the researchers. Therefore, this research paper provides an insight to the researchers to carry out or extend this research by taking into account other variables that really have an impact on host country. Bibliography Butler, Richard W. (1974) The Social Implications Of Tourist Developments. Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 2 no.2, pp. 100-110 Ellu. A.2000.Tourism and the environment in European countries, Issues 18-116., Council of Europe Fossati, A.,  Panella, G. 2000. Tourism and sustainable economic development., Springer. Giaoutzi, M. and Nijkamp, P. 2006. Tourism and regional development: new pathways, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd Gursoy, D., Jurowski, C., Uysal, M. (2002) ‘Resident Attitudes: A Structural Modeling Approach.’ Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 29, pp. 79-105. Haley, A., Snaith, T. and Miller, G. 2005. The social impact of tourism: a case study of Bath in UK., Annals of tourism research., 32(3).,pp. 647-668. Hernandez, S. A., Cohen, J., Garcia, H. L. (1996). Residents attitudes towards an instant resort enclave Annals of Tourism Research Vol. 23, pp.755-779 Jayne, M. 2006. Cities and consumption, Routledge, UK Mason, Peter. (2003) Tourism Impacts, Planning and Management, Burlington: Elsevier. Mathieson, A., Wall, G. (1982) Tourism: Economic, Physical and Social Impacts. Longman, Harlow. Mick Finn, Martin Elliott-white, Mike Walton (2000) Person education Tisdell, C. 2007. ECONOMICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, Edward Elgar Publishing Read More