Economic Impact of Global Tourism - Assignment Example

?Economic Impact of Global Tourism Tourism has changed people’s perception of the world. The term ‘global village’ has been around for quite a while;however it is this global tourism that actually made people realize what it truly means. Global tourism has had a tremendous impact on the global economy. Many countries didn’t consider tourism something that could actually boost their financial revenues but now countries are competing in tourism department just they compete in other commodities. Here are the synopsis of six news articles on the growth and impact of global tourism. These serve well. The first article captures the true spirit of international tourism, published in the Washington Post written by David Nakamura. The news article is how and why President Barack Obama has amended policies to support the growth of tourism in the country. Visa process will become fast so people who want to visit the United States will find it easier to enter and enjoy the sights of the US and more importantly bring in the much wanted revenues for the US. Reading the second half of the article, opposing politicians (republicans) are not thrilled, but they are never against the plans of expanding on tourism, they are merely ridiculing the fact that Obama can’t pull it off. His dreams are high but there is no ground to build the dream on. Criticism has its own place but there is no second argument that the global tourism has changed the way we think about economy and even foreign relations. Tourism constituted 2.7% of the GDP and provided 7.5 million jobs in the US back in 2010 (Nakamura, 2012). But the message of Obama is more important as to what he means when he says that he wants to speed up the visa process for tourists; “We’re all here today to tell the world America is open for business,” (Nakamura, 2012) The second article is about the luxuries that attract people and how a hot desert landscape can become one of the most sought after tourism destination of the whole world. This is a blog article published in the New York Times, written by James Kanter. The way Kanter talks about the impact of ‘global tourism’ on the economy, is very interesting. Talks are that in Dubai a cool beach is being built only to take care of the filthy rich international tourists who want to enjoy lying on the sand under the sun, but the sand needs to be of perfect temperature. Just like the artificial beach on Dubai coast. In one glance the picture becomes clear. Global tourism doesn’t have an impact on the economy in s single dimension. It is not a matter of how many coconuts a vendor sells at a beach as a result of more tourists visiting the place. Tourism does have its footmark on the economy but it also has a giant hand print on the face of green planet. But the industry is growing at a splendid rate. It is predicted that by the 2030, there will be 1.6 billion tourists traveling the globe (Kanter, 2009). The third article gives a very unique view into global tourism and its impact on historical places. The article is published in Telegraph and is written by Charles Starmer Smith. World Monuments Fund (WMF) is an organization set up to protect the historic buildings and places of the earth. Most of the antique architectural structures are quite fragile and when more people visit these places, they get into a worse shape. Plus there is an ever increasing threat of global warming and extreme changes in weather and temperatures that make it very hard for historic fragile structures of the world to stay stable. As a consequence the buildings won’t be able to stand the test of time for very long. No matter how positive the impact of the global tourism on the economy, this fact can’t simply be ignored that increasing visitors to world’s monuments are having a bad effect on the buildings. When the buildings won’t be there any more there will not be any tourists to visit that place. Without a doubt WMF has worked very hard in organizing funds to take care of the world’s beautiful historical architectural masterpieces. The fourth article is about the tourism between two countries specifically, in fact the tourism of one country into another. The article ‘Cuba: American Tourism is Slowly Coming Back’ is published in the Washington Times and is written by Bob Taylor. The article is an interesting account of the history between the two countries and how the tourism industry suffered at the hands of tension between the two countries. For instance, many people believed that US citizens can’t travel to Cuba but the fact is that they can travel there but they can’t spend money there (Taylor, 2012), which almost makes it the same thing. The two countries have had their bitter sweet history (mostly bitter actually) and they have been engaged in wars with each other. Without going into the politics and the history of the two countries, now as Cuba is becoming a more stable state (Taylor, 2012), it tourism industry is reviving. It would be too farfetched to say that Cuba had returned to its glory days but gradually and surely, it is moving there. Cuba has beautiful beaches and if they market this tourism destination properly and are able to pull the US crowd to their beaches, it will begin a new history between the two countries. The fifth article is ‘The Not So Magic Kingdom’, published in the Time Magazine, written by Peter Gumbel. When the Disney company decided to open their theme park in Paris 20 years back (Gumbel, 2012), the world laughed at their choice as they chose rainy Paris over Sunny Barcelona and that there is no wine allowed there. The French thought that the project will soon fall apart and Disney will move somewhere else however, the results have been amazing. The world knows Paris for its Eifel Tower but the amazing part is that Paris’s Disney Land gets the same number of visitors each year as much as the Eifel Tower does. Plus in terms of revenue the Disney Land in Paris has generated over 55,000 jobs and the return on French investment is superb; $8.5billion in taxpayers’ money, this translates into $61 billion injected into the French economy (Gumbel, 2012); such is the power of Global Tourism. Although Disney is facing a tough time in Paris at the moment however it has shown how strong a human attachment is to an object, character, thing or even a place. Disney shows how a monument can be created and how it can pull crowds of thousands upon thousands to visit the place. Disneyland is the proof that a country or any place doesn’t necessarily have to be beautiful with the perfect sunshine and greenery. It only needs sparkle to capture the imagination of the world and it turns into a hot tourist attraction. The sixth and last article ‘International Tourism Growth Continues, UN Report Reveals’, and is published in Huffington Post. The report is very encouraging in the sense that Global Tourism will keep on increasing in the coming years. Despite concerns about the economy the travel for business or pleasure will keep on increasing, The major arrivals will be from the Asia side, Even the middle East will benefit in terms of tourism; last year its tourism dropped by 5% (Brady , 2013). The most direct impact of the increase in tourism is on the travel industry. Tourism boosts travel industry. More plane tickets are bought, more services a person can avail in terms of travel plans and arrangements. The growth rate for the year 2013 for tourism will be stable or will move with a modest growth rate. The UN World Tourism Organization has conducted searches on the global tourism situation last year and they are predicting a better future for the international tourism industry. Having said that, tourism brings in the much needed revenues a country wants. Just looking at Obama’s statement makes it clear how badly a country can need international tourists in its country. Similarly increasing tourism between the two countries like the US and Cuba can stabilize relationship, this can also be a huge boost to both countries’ economy. The US would like to buy raw material from Cuba and would love to sell it to the world. So, as discussed in the paper, newspapers and magazines could not resist from publishing something regarding the economic impact of global tourism. It has changed the lives of many for the better. Countries that didn’t even have an economy are now building their financial empires based solely on their tourism industry. Sources Brady, Paul. "International Tourism Growth Continues, UN Report Reveals." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. . Gumbel, Peter. "The Not So Magic Kingdom." Time. Time, 5 Nov. 2012. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. . Kanter, James. "Global Tourism and a Chilled Beach in Dubai." Green Global Tourism and a Chilled Beach in Dubai Comments. N.p., 2 Jan. 2009. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. . Nakamura, David. "Obama Announces Plan to Boost International Tourism to U.S."Washington Post. The Washington Post, 19 Jan. 2012. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. . Smith, Charles S. "Global Warming Joins Tourism as Biggest Threat to Historic Sites."Telegraph. N.p., 9 June 2007. Web. . Taylor, Bob. "Cuba: American Tourism Is Slowly Making a Comeback." Washington Times Communities. N.p., 19 Mar. 2012. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. . 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