Tourism as an Economic Driving Force in Developed Countries - Essay Example

Tourism as an economic driving force in developed countries Name: Tutor: Course: Date: Introduction Tourism has become a key pillar of economic growth in many countries around the world. In developed countries, tourism has taken a new perspective with the development of technologies and infrastructure that facilitates marketing and access of tourist sites and hotels. Some leading countries like France, Canada, Australia and United States have benefited from tourism to a higher degree. Besides, visiting historical buildings and archives, tourists visits most of these places owing to increased publicity as tourist destinations. Boz (2011) observes that tourism is creating employment opportunities, business development and more foreign revenue to developed countries when compared to developing countries. The main aim of this essay is to show that tourism has greater impact in the economies of developed countries. The recent debate suggests that tourism has greater effects in countries with faster growth and business links. This essay is divided into three paragraphs and a conclusion. The first part provides the central argument while the second paragraph gives the counterargument. The last paragraph before conclusion is a refutation. Tourism is a driving force of developed countries Foreign investment is one of the strong arguments that favor tourism development in many economies. This has made many destinations to invest and open up for development in tourism. An argument supporting this case is that many developed economies have discovered that increasing expenditure linked to the tourism flows will provide a substantial contribution to its economy. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2015), Australia received $40.64 million as direct revenues from tourism which contributed to 3.6 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and supported 4.7 percent of total employment. This implies that as the country spends more on marketing the destination, it will certainly impact on its export earnings. Kulendran and Dwyer (2009) argue that tourism demand and migration patterns have shifted to developed nations. The reason is that most of these nations have put have structures and efforts to pull tourists and preserve the environment. For example, strict measures on pollution and anti-poaching have allowed wildlife in Canada and Iceland to thrive which many tourists would go to see. Again, most of the developed countries have the data and advantage of developed infrastructure such as good road network, air transport and hotels (Dwyer, et al. 2009). Given that the sector can easily recover foreign-currency investments, it becomes easier for many developed economies to take advantage of their high levels of training and skills to attract tourists. Another potential for tourism in developed countries is the use of technologies to increase customer satisfaction. From mobile apps to hotels, most developed economies can collect substantial amount of information from customers which help them to further identify their needs. Also, Tosun, et al. (2003) suggests that tourism is a driving force to many developed countries with higher levels of investments in value-addition for higher levels of visitor consumption. For example, New Zealand and Australia have invested in goods and services that attract many visitors from North America and Europe. In return, these countries have benefited from balance of payments and cushioned themselves from the effects of economic recession. Despite the popularity and natural attractions in many developing countries, many developed countries have unique attractions that are of interest to visitors. According to a research done by Tourism Australia in 2015, it showed that tourism contributed about 8 percent of the total gross earnings and employment more than 5 percent of the Australian workforce. It also showed that tourism in New Zealand was contributing about 3.7 percent to the GDP of the country and employing 6 percent of the workforce (Tourism Australia, 2015). Despite the strong case for tourism development being a driving force among the developed countries, research shows that it is not always true. Recent research shows that many developing countries are benefiting to a greater extent from tourism (Dwyer & Spurr, 2010). For example, the major foreign exchange earner of many Caribbean Islands and Latin America is tourism. Although it does not reflect in their domestic income, tourism in Jamaica and Barbados contributes to about 15 and 17 percent of their GDP respectively. Indeed, tourists like visiting regions with low industrial development, agricultural value and geographically different from home. One significant argument against this view is that tourists mainly come from developed economies and pay visits to destinations in developing economies (Debrah, 2003). As such, they trigger a number of employment and income generating activities in those countries. One criticism at this point is the lack of reliable data to show that income from tourism has triggered substantial economic growth in most developing countries (Turner, 2012). Some belong to the opposing view that tourism creates a positive balance of payments but only if the country has other strong sectors that can help stabilize in times of recession. An alternative viewpoint is that most developed countries have the financial capital and human resource capabilities to promote tourism in their countries. However, some have argued that people in the developed economies have paid holidays of which they would want to spend away from home (Nicolaides, 2014). This means that a possible change of environment is by visiting people living in different cultures, economic levels and languages. Cheang (2010) argues that most developing countries are using tourism as a political economic tool to promote national identity, political legitimacy and economic development. A number of investors in developed countries are now investing in hotels in developing economies which help to boost tourism in the region. For example, the Aoki Group from Japan has built a golf course and a hotel in Cancun, Mexico. While it is true that tourism is contributing significantly to the economic growth in third world countries, the level of impact it has in developed economies is huge (Yazdi, 2012). Good examples are France, Switzerland and Norway which are some of the leading tourist attractions in Europe. These countries have been able to blend natural attractions with the marketing to the destination to increase the number of visitors each year. While Paris is a major destination as a city, the countryside of Norway and Switzerland are attractive for skiers and snow lovers. There is some truth in this observation but the contribution that tourism makes is not much compared to what other services and manufacturing sectors make. For example, Switzerland leads in the services sectors such as Banking and manufacturing of watches and other electronics compared to tourism. It may be true that tourism is one of the largest industries but it would be immature to claim that its impact is greater in developed countries than it does in developing countries (Yosun, et al., 2003). Even if it is true that most developed economies have sustainable indicators to promote their tourist destinations, Yazdi (2012) suggests that there are weak points that need to be examined. Some of these challenges include over-consumption and pollution of environment which affects sustainability and growth in the destinations. Moreover, most of the tourist destinations in developed countries are highly priced and expensive which prohibits middle income earners from visiting. While Nicolaides (2014) agrees that global economy is slowly recovering from economic recession, terrorism has shown negative effects to tourism in developed countries. For example, the recent terror attacks in Paris and Brussels has served to scare tourists and investors in the hospitality industry over the growing extremism targeting the tourism sector. Although people have argued that tourism industry is the critical to the growth of developed countries, Boz (2011) notes that trade in tourism activities and services is more pronounced in developing countries. Governments of many countries in the developing world are now using foreign exchange earnings and growth in international arrivals to boost local economic development, employment and reduce levels of poverty. Conclusion In conclusion, the arguments have shown that it is true that tourism is a driving force to economies of many developed countries. To sum up, some of the examples such as France, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand have benefited a lot from tourism with significant contribution to their gross earnings. The results of this study shows that although tourism is influencing the world economies, the degree of its effects is felt in the developing countries than it does in the developed countries. Weighing on both sides of the argument, it can be deduced that tourism contributes to the growth of economies in the developed world to a higher degree. The strong case for this significant contribution is because many developed have developed infrastructure, transport sector, marketing capabilities and preservation of natural attractions. Although the case for tourism as a driving force in developed economies is strong, the argument against relates to the new threats of pollution and terrorism that has threatened to reduce visitor numbers. The purpose of this essay was to establish the influence of tourism in the economies of developed countries. The essay concludes that tourism is indeed the major driving force of economies in many developed countries. References Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009). Tourism Satellite Account 2008-09. Key Figures. Boz, M. (2011). Leakages and value added in international tourism revenues; tourism satellite account as a measurement method. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(24): 198-205. Cheang, V. (2010). Tourism and local community development in Siem Reap. Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. Debrah, R.K. (2003, April 12). The economic power of tourism. Modern Ghana. https://www.modernghana.com/news/111956/the-economic-power-of-tourism.html. Dwyer, L. & Spurr, R. (2010). Tourism economics summary. STCRC centre for economics and policy. Kulendran, N. & Dwyer, L. (2009). Measuring the Return from Australian Tourism Marketing Expenditure in Asia. 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