How Tourism Can Lead to Migration - Essay Example

The world today has become smaller considering the huge improvement in transport that it has witnessed in the last 100 years. Traveling from one part to another is less time-consuming and less hectic. Again in the last two or three decades, globalization has spread through the world and that has followed a path of liberalization that has relaxed the boundaries between the countries. This particular phenomenon has fuelled both tourism and migration (here migration stands for immigration). Before moving into further details a brief definition and discussion on both these phenomena might be felt necessary. As illustrated in literature Tourism, is a form of traveling for recreational, business, or relaxation purposes (Chuck, 1997). Considering the phenomenal growth in tourists all over the world it is now considered as a very important social and economic incidence with a significant impact on society. Tourists also need the sanction of governments (sanction of the country of origin and that of the destination) during foreign travel (Chuck, 1997). This depicts that it goes through a complex framework of international law and national policy.

Considering the particular nature of the present paper where migration is related to tourism; migration might be defined as a change of location of residence and in a broader sense a change of living space (Caselli, Wunsch, and Vallin, 2005, p.354). The similarity between the two is that both involve a location change; however, migration is for a much longer time than tourism and also involves a financial outlook. On a light note, tourism is to spend and migration is to earn.

The tourism-migrant nexus can be traced from Hall and Brown (2006). They have referred “The second type of new mobility is where earlier VFR tourists to migrants at the destination decide to become migrants themselves, stimulated by both their tourism experience and the existence of local social networks” (Hall and Brown, 2006, p.99). It has also been noticed by Hall and Williams (2006) that the motivation of a tourist for visiting a place that might be initially concentrated on tourism gets changed over time and he might become a seasonal migrant or long stay tourist and eventually a permanent migrant. This has happened for tourists and migrants in Israel (Hall and Williams, 2006, p. 8). Rath (2007) mentions “students and tourists may well become immigrants too. Three of the ten entrepreneurs we interviewed originally came to Canada as students and one as a tourist. Two former students have become permanent residents and one is currently undergoing the application process” (Rath, 2007, p.35). The inherent relation between tourism and immigration is very common according to Rath and mutually reinforcing as well (Rath, 2007). All these above discussions leave us at a point where the relation between tourism and migration and their conversion compels us to consider further research on the same (Tribe, 2009, p.108).

The present paper takes into account the country England in terms of the tourism migrant exchange. Day-by-day migration is becoming an important issue in England. It lays a huge impact on the surrounding environment as well as on the socio-economic life of the natives of England (Chuck, 1997, p.142). It drastically affects the socio-economic condition of the local areas where the tourists settle permanently. The effect is most evident in the context of change in the employment rate, scenarios relating to job vacancies, and the minimum level of national wage (Chuck, 1997, p.156).

The economic strength, monetary power, the blend of cultures, and various types of lifestyle provide an opportunity for migrants in London (Andersson and Andersson, 2000, pp.71-74). This kind of migration has also diversified over time. This has also been supported by Myers-Scotton (2006) “A walk down not just a London street, but also a city street almost anywhere in Britain, gives you an idea of this transformation. You will see the many immigrants from areas with ties to the former British Empire (Pakistan, the Caribbean, and Africa) seeking economic opportunities. Also many Chinese especially from Hong Kong and Southern China, have settled in Britain” (Myers-Scotton, 2006, p.56). Many global tourists who visited London embraced the metropolis to make it their permanent residence. The transformation from tourist to migrant is well illustrated by Brickell and Dutta (2001) through the examples of Benedykt and Andrzej who came to London as tourists but turned into migrants (Brickell and Datta, 2011, pp. 83-86).

Though London is a very developed metropolis the impact of migration is giving rise to unexpected scenarios. The major role of the public sector is to protect the country from this distress. So the public sectors and the civic authorities must take a strategic intent and implement steps of action to resolve this matter.

At present half of the foreign workforce belonging to the United Kingdom (UK) is of European origin. The Irish were the predominant class of workers in the 90s but they were overshadowed by the Polish migrants in the new millennium. “There were 358,000 Polish workers in 2008, up from 151,000 two years earlier; compared to 165,000 Irish workers in 2008, up from 152,000 in 2006. Polish workers accounted for 15.7 percent of all UK foreign workers in 2008” (Recession moves Migration Patterns, 2010).