Urban Tourism and Globalisation - Literature review Example

Urban Tourism and Globalisation – literature review Tourism has been described as one of the most important concept of developing cultural, social and economic aspects of any country. This has been the most favourite strategy followed by the central planners in order to create significant changes in the development of various social, cultural and economic aspects of respective countries of these central planners. In the past two decades this strategy of developing cultural, social and economic aspects of these countries have gained significant momentum and the popularity of this strategy in the context of developing activities like tourism has also gained precious momentum during this period of time. Both rural and urban areas of cities all over the world have gained significant popularity in developing the tourism activities, but urban tourism has gained much more popularity compared to rural tourism because of greater social, cultural and economic development of these areas (Bourgeois et al., 1999, p.92). In modern times urban tourism is treated as a commodity and urban areas possess relative competitive advantage over rural areas and suburbs in terms of development of the market for the commodity and also for the development of the demand for the commodity. According to Fainstein, “the most important group of travelers economically are those traveling on business, since these travelers spend the most. Globalization has greatly increased business travel, despite telecommunications, because decentralized production and outsourcing makes travel a necessity” (Fainstein, 2007, p.1). This paper is aimed at describing a literature review of the aspect of urban tourism and globalisation of this particular form of tourism. This paper provides a case study of the notion of urban tourism and its interaction with the notion of globalisation. Urban tourism: According to Page and Connell (2006, p.414), tourism can be described as most important aspect in the development of entertainment and entertainment of people who want to know and understand various cultural, social as well as various economic aspects of all the countries of the world. The notion of urban tourism has been developed with the overall development of various areas of countries across the globe. In this context the notion of urban tourism has been described by Page and Connell (2006, p.414) as a notion that possesses a competitive advantage over the development of tourism activities of rural areas of these countries of the world. However, according to Tipuric (2010, pp.5-6), this is not only because urban areas has been the most important areas of global cities with respect to development of financial as well as business services, but also because these areas has been helping countries across the globe to create perfectly suitable environment for global tourists by developing the entertainment industry in these countries. This development of entertainment industry has been the most crucial part in developing the popularity of the tourism industries of these countries. Tourism has been helping countries, in general, and urban areas of these countries, in particular, to develop all social, cultural, socio-cultural, economic as well as spatial aspects. Development of urban tourism has been described as the most important aspect of radical modernity of the world, in general, and of the world cities, in particular. Tourism has been contributing to a great extent in the development of this radical modern world. According to Fainstein (2007, pp.1-2), the notion of urban tourism has been helping global cities to share its distinctive features and experiences to tourists who are coming from all over the world. The notion of urban tourism has been strandardise in the sense that the entertainment industry of these countries is affordable to people belonging to each and every economic, social and cultural background. This property of standardisation of urban tourism has been providing common symbols and also has been sharing memories of various fragmented cultures and social aspects of global cities. Tipuric (2010,pp.15-16) argued that the development of the notion of urban tourism has been helping countries across the globe to develop their regional cultures, mainly the lifestyles of people living in those areas, historical perspectives of these people and their lifestyles, cultures and their social and economic perspectives. Their art, architecture and other elements of their lives has also been shared and developed with the development of the notion of urban tourism. The notion of urban tourism is closely associated with the notion of cultural tourism. With the help of this development of cultural, social and economic aspects associated with urban tourism, the indigenous cultures, societies and economic aspects have been shared to global tourists and values and lifestyles of these indigenous people have gained significant recognition and importance to these global tourists. The notion of urban tourism has been important in developing various information and knowledge regarding the cultures of various countries across the globe and also about social, economic and socio-cultural aspects of people living in these regions of the world. This development of knowledge and information has been helping people across the globe to mark significant development in the structure of their own lifestyles and process of development their own cultural and social aspects. Urban tourism and globalisation: According to Shoval (2010, p. 195), globalisation is the term which is used to serve in the development of various political, sociological, economic and environmental aspects across countries all over the world. In terms of economic definition, globalisation is described as the increasing interdependence of market conditions and production of different goods and services in different countries across the globe through development in trade of goods and services. The notion of globalisation also includes international flow of capital, technology, exchange, strategic decisions and information and knowledge. In this context Wahab and Cooper (2001, pp.93-94) has argued that ). The notion of globalisation has helped countries across the globe to make significant changes in tourism industries. The notion of globalisation has been helping global destinations to be treated as commodities and hence, to develop markets for these commodities. The notion of globalisation has helped countries of the world to develop various new opportunities in terms of development of tourism industries of the world. With the help of globalisation countries across the globe have been opened to the entire world. Because of this people across the globe have been gaining greater interests to travel to the entire world for the purpose of visiting their cultural, social and economic aspects. With the introduction of globalisation people have gained greater chance to visit cross-border cultures and social aspects. Towards the end of the 20th century the notion of urban tourism has gained such a significant momentum that the notion of globalisation has helped it to receive increased attention among the people who like to travel. In this context Peric (2010, pp.2-3) has argued that during this time (in the 20th century) there occurred globalisation of the entire tourism industry of the world and urban tourism has gained most importance in the process of development towards a globalised world for international tourists. According to researchers urban tourism has been describing to a great extent the notion of globalisation in the modern world which has helped countries across the globe to share their cultural, social and economic characteristics. According to Clerk and Arbel (1993, pp.85-87), after the introduction of the notion of globalisation cities of countries become global cities and these cities have been opened to the rest of the world. Most of these global cities have been traveled by people from all over the world. In this context the development of infrastructure and transport systems have helped these global cities to become to familiar with these people who love to travel and love to explore various social, cultural and economic aspects of these global cities. After the advent of globalisation of cities of all countries in the world, the level of economic activities has been raised. More hotels and tourist spots have been developed. These developments have caused a re-structuring of the economy of these countries. People have become more keen and interested to visit all these global cities and hence, the demand for these global cities has been increasing at a rapid speed. On the contrary, Smeral (1998, pp.373-374) has argued that the level of competition has also been increased among these global destinations. This increased competition has been raised in the global markets where the main economic agents have been international tourists. Due to globalisation an international market for global cities has been developed. Both the public sector and the private sectors have been operating in this market to provide tourism services to global tourists. Several new tourists firms have been developed in the 20th century. Only 10 percent of the firms have been operated by large organisation and the remaining 90 percent of these firms have been under the control of small and medium sized business corporations. In this context, Montanari and Williams (2010, pp.192-193), has argued that greater marketing of global cities has been developed by these firms and people all from all over the world have been guided by these firms to visit global cities. Example of these global cities include Egypt, Amsterdam, Cairo, Tokyo, Singapore and various cities or urban areas of countries like Brazil, China, India, USA and of course cities of European countries. According to Knowles et al. (2001, pp.14-16), these global cities have become most favourable tourist destinations to international tourists and among these destinations most of the global cities have been described as the most important places a person needs to visit before he or she dies. However, according to Peric (2010, pp.5-6), tourism businesses have been operated in a global basis and countries across the world have been trying hard to acquire advantages of global integration of industries, technology, information and international transaction of goods and services. The development of global networks and transformation of information has been helping these global cities to become attracted to international tourists. However, various problems have been identified by researchers across the globe in regard to the globalisation of cities and urban tourists’ spots. The most important problem has been defined as the destruction of the natural beauty. In this context Evans (2001, pp.10-12) has opined that various cultural and social aspects have also been either destroyed party/completely or have been disturbed to great extent by the introduction of globalisation in the tourism industry across the world. These global places have been visiting by lot of people every day and hence, the natural beauty of these places have been getting disturbed due to unethical interference of human beings like creation of hotels in front of these places, creation of amusement parks and foodshops. Again people from all over the world having different cultural, social and economic properties have been visiting these global cities and people who have been living in these cities for long time have been getting affected by cultural, social and economic characteristics of those tourists. Hence, people of these global cities have been foregoing their own culture and social features. According to Chon and Pizam (2011, p.32), tourists may avoid visiting scheduled destinations for fear of their physical integrity, stress or even lives. As a result, they end up choosing alternative destinations which exhibit stable conditions as long as it possesses similar characteristics. Besides, Bramwell and Lane (2003, p.41) concur that if violence persists and becomes more prolonged and widespread, the official authorities of the countries where the tourists come from may issue travel advisory against visiting such destinations. It is therefore clear that the impact that violence has on tourism is detrimental. According to Go and Pine (2010, p.96), tourists avoid those destinations where the rate of occurrence of crimes, such as thefts, taking of bribes, various social and cultural problems of the respective country etc. These crimes and social problems create a negative impact about these tourist destinations on the mind of international tourist. The most important example includes after the devastating bomb blast in the subway of London, the number of tourists visiting the place declined sharply. Again, on the contrary, according to Teare and Boer (2010, p.51-52), people like to visit those places where the level of security for these tourists are high and there are lower rates of crimes. For example, tourists love to visit places like Norway, Sweden and other Scandinavian countries. In these countries rates of crimes are very low and governments of these countries provide greater security and other assistance to international tourists. Examples of globalisation in urban tourism: According to Go and Pine (2010, p.54), as a result of globalisation hotels and hospitality industries have been developed in order to provide good environment and services to international tourists who want to visit global cities. In almost all countries, including mainly America, India, China, Japan and European countries, the hotel business has been developed in a great extent. Teare and Boer (2010, pp.19-20) has expressed their opinion by saying that the financial system of these countries has also been developed in order to provide greater financial services to international tourists with the help of Credit Cards and Debit Cards. In this context world’s most popular banks like HSBC, HDFC, Bank of America etc. have started to provide greater financial supports to these urban tourist spots and also to national and international tourists. On the contrary, Nooteboom (2010, pp.21-23) has argued that governments of these countries have been trying to develop the market for famous tourist spots of their respective countries and to get the benefits of globalisation from marketing and business of these tourist spots. Businesses have been developed to a great extent to incorporate these aspects of urban tourism and hence, economic changes have also been experienced by these global cities with the help of urban tourism and its integration with globalisation. Conclusion: The notion of urban tourism has been the most important source of spreading various cultural, social and economic aspects of countries across the globe. This form of tourism has become most popular among national and international tourists. High level of income has been generated from this popularistion of urban tourism. The introduction of globalisation has helped global cities to gain momentum in terms of gaining greater popularity. However, this global integration of culture, society and economies have also been created great caution for these global cities in terms of preservation of their tourist spots, their culture and social properties. But inspite all these possible dangers the notion of urban tourism has been helping global cities to grow at faster rates in terms of economic aspects and also in respect to development of culture and society. However, governments of these countries (countries possessing famous tourist spots), business organisation and national and international tourists should not forget the necessity of preserving and conserving these tourist spots for their future generation. This point is the most important finding of the case study. References 1. Bramwell, B. and Lane, B. 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(2010), Strategic alliances in Croatian tourism industry – new opportunities and challenges, Global tourism and entrepreneurship in the CEI region, ed. In Vadnjal, A., Szabo, I., Pecher, H, Hadszuh, K., Radenci, J.: 4th Small Business Development centre international conference 17. Wahab, S. and Cooper, C. (2001), Tourism in the Age of Globalisation, London, Routledge Read More