Relationship between Government and Tourism - Essay Example

College A government is generally the system in which a country is ruled and run. The government comprises by a selected number of people that are given the authority to take charge of the running of all sectors of the country including tourism, security, education, agriculture and many others. The governments’ role is to fulfill the implementation of the constitution and provide platforms in which the citizens of the country can develop themselves and the country at large with the necessary resources and environments. The government is the overall body and system that takes care of all the issues entailing a nation including judicial, legislative and executive functions. The sector of the country involved with events and festivals is the tourism ministry. Tourism is the art of visiting and touring the country by the citizens and also visitors from other countries. Therefore there exist both domestic and international types of tourism. Tourism is n area of interest in all governments and they focus greatly on this sector due several crucial reasons. Tourism involves attraction of citizens and foreigners to the beauty and culture of a country thus a government must use all the necessary resources to ensure that there are adequate tourism sites and events in the country (Chin, 2008). The purpose for government’s participation in most events and festivals is related to the tourism that these functions tag along with. Tourism is one of the moat promising sectors of a country’s economy if all the required resources are well maintained. The foreign exchange incomes are top in list in the sources of income for a country. For instance, in Britain, the tourism sector is ranked as the third highest industry involved with export income. The Britain government is among the top that receives the highest number of visitors from foreign countries in a bid to attend events and annual festivals (Alan, 2011). The other reason as to why a government involves itself with events and festivals is because they contribute to fast growth of an economy. Events are entertaining and all entertainment industries in all countries are always on the lead. People prefer using their money on fun stuff and issues that bring the unity of the society. For instance, hosting different popular artistes to perform during festivities is a common move made by most countries to attract as many people as possible. The government will definitely want to invest in festivals so long as there is rapid growth in a country. In addition, governments get involved in events to reduce their efforts to create jobs for its citizens. During events and festivals a large workforce is required to help deal with the crowds and especially the visitors. The citizens apply for the jobs, for instance organizing the whole event, directing visitors arranging the venues and many more tasks are usually open and need to be filled. Creation of employment is crucial in any country especially for the youth as they happen to be the most aggressive, a trait that is required in holding an event (Samer, 2008). Moreover, a government participates in events so as to market their culture and attractive tourism sites. Festivities held always have impacts on the people who attend and as a result. They tend to talk about it on social networks and also through the media. The discussions held by people are a form of marketing the country’s way of life especially on the events and this gives them popularity as they interest many. For example, an end of year festival held in country may attract twice the number of the audience in the following year due to the popularity it gained just by people talking about it. This way, the economy of the country will definitely improve greatly thus the reason why governments choose to invest in festivals. The government is getting involved using various strategies in the events and festivals. The strategies vary depending on the event taking place. However, the government focuses on the strength of the country hence creating means and resourceful teams to organize the events and festivals. For instance a country located near the ocean line may hold beach festivals every once in a while. The government chooses to use the coastline as a resource to attract people in events. This strategy is always effective as the use of land resources can be beneficial financially (Brent, 2010). The government also participates in events by coming up with a product or service that is available both locally and internationally. The government may come up with its own idea or partner with an organization to launch the service or product. This way the events created will bring people together especially if the service or product is on offer. Events to launch a service may for instance include a mobile service provider organization launching a new method of sending money via mobile with minimal charges. This way, the government may partner with the mobile network and form such an event (Stephen, 1999). Participation of the government includes the efforts of monitoring and looking into the barriers that hinder people from visiting their country. The government as the law making body ensures that events and festivals are attended by people without others being locked out. The barriers include high charges especially for the international events. The government partners with the sponsors of events and hence reducing the overall charges of the common citizens to a level that they can afford. The government can also address issues on emigration and immigration and come up with better methodology for people to travel in and out of the country without any complications. For instance, most governments have reduced the charges for citizens acquiring passports and this enables people to travel and attend festivities elsewhere (Simone and Adele, 2012). The government is involved in sports greatly in most countries. Sports events and festivities are important in any country as they attract tourist, maintain international relations and also boost the popularity of countries. The government boosts the sports sector by the establishment of sport ministries which functions on its own and may collaborate with other ministries such as the youth empowerment ministry and the gender ministry. Sports are meant to involve all the citizens of the country with interest and the governments have assisted in this industry through the ministries (Mackey 2009). The government through the sport ministry assists by building stadiums for different sports and games. The budget of a country includes the sports sector equally as the other essential ministries. The creation of enough stadium space allows the creation of sports events for instance local competitions can often be organized due to the availability of resources. The government supports sports events by providing uniforms especially to the national teams of different sports and allowances for the players and coaches. They teams with support of the government are able to create their own evens and also compete internationally. The government caters for all the necessary requirements when teams travel for competition events to other nations. In addition, the sports ministry through the governments provides training to the local people by employing coaches to develop the skills of the local players. The governments through the sport organization create events to boost competition even at the local stage. For instance, soccer teams in Britain always compete among themselves and this is through the support of the government where prizes for the winners include money and medals. The government of the US also supports greatly all the basketball competitions in the country by creating titles and recognition for the winner in the sports events. The governments bid to host international sport events so as to attract tourist and also develop the country. Sports events and festivities occur for several days and some up to several weeks. All governments are free to bid for the host position and once the bid is granted the government embarks on preparing for the event. Preparation involves creation of employment for the citizens of the country especially in developing the infrastructure and improving the social amenities. A bid is followed by a large amount of money from the World Bank to help the host country prepare for the events. This capital is always more than the budget in most cases and the remaining capital is used in other sectors of the economy hence improving the countrys wealth. Examples of countries that have hosted popular sport events include, London where they hosted the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, an event that attracted people from all walks of life. The other country has held a big sports event is South Africa which hosted the 2011 world cup. Tourism sector of such countries has improved at a high rate due to the events and festivities that follow especially celebrations. The hotel and accommodation centers benefitted a lot financially (Carey, 2011). Other events that prompt the governments’ participation include business events as they attract people from different countries. This further promotes the tourism sector as they take days to months. The people who participate the business meeting tour other parts of the country and as a result boost the economy of the country. Business meeting include talks on investments, sales and purchase hence the host government mostly benefits in that the entrepreneurs may find an interesting business while in the country and decide to invest. For example, China is well known for investing in road construction in most countries while Dubai offers a great variety of business to the tourists not necessarily the extremely wealthy people (Gratton, 2005). Tourism includes entertainment and this occurs through art and music festivals. The festivals are meant to promote talent in the country especially for those who are unable to market themselves. The essence of art is appreciation from others hence every form of art being dance or music requires appreciation. The government tends to promote talent through events especially for the youth and these events enable the talented people to get the popularity according to how good they appear to their fans. The government may partner with an entertainment organization and raise fund to create a competition with judges employed by the organizing committee. For instance, singing competitions are rampant all over the world such as the famous American Idol show where ordinary citizens attain fame through their voice. Charity events are mostly created by nongovernmental organizations which also join efforts with the government. The charity events are set up in children homes or in cases where mass destruction of property has occurred among a group of people. Victims of natural destructions are helped through government based charity organizations. These events are announced all over the country if the government requires help or when the matter is of national interest especially flood or drought disasters. Charity events portray the unity of a country and having the government as the leaders of charity events is really commendable. Fundraisings are also created and members of the government show love and support by making huge donations in such events (Clarke and Jepson, 2010). Both charity events and art competitions organized by a government attract people from other countries. The victims of natural calamities need aid from local and international donors. Even though the country encounters a disaster, the donors who come to visit the victims are foreigners and despite their visit being sensitive to many, they still tour the country hence promoting the tourism sector of the country. Foreign exchange throughout their stay and the huge donations they make significant profits to the country. For instance, countries facing drought in Africa receive donations from the entire world and they sometimes get visits by nongovernmental organizations (Campbell, 2003). The art competitions on talent and skills are a major attraction to people from all over the world especially the annual popular shows. They are watched by people from their own country and universally. This way the government hosting the event is able to attain fame and appreciation throughout the world. Foreigners travel to the countries hosting the shows especially the diehard fans. People stay for some period in order to attend the shows created and events that gain worldwide followers. For example the ‘so you think you can dance’ show in America is recognized in all parts of the world. Likewise the ‘Big brother show’ that takes three months attracts tourists in the host country (Weeks, 2006). There are a number of benefits that the governments acquire from their aggressive participation in events. The main merit is profit making in that the country’s wealth increases significantly. Most governments hold events as a way of investing but they gain profits at a larger margin than expected due to creation of memorable events especially the sports events. A large amount of capital is acquired from the World Bank suppose a country is to host an international sports events such as the world cup or the world Olympics and marathons. This is noticeable in the tourism sector in any country as the sector happens to be the best performing in the economy. Another key merit from a government’s contribution to festivals and events is the attainment of unity, love and hard work among the citizens of a country. Citizens feel that their issues are of importance to the government and a good relationship between the leaders in the government and the common citizens is established. A sense of security develops in that the citizens trust the government to be competent. Citizens meeting in events provide them with a sense of unity as they attend the festivals for the same purposes of entertainment. For example, an end of year party with the support of the government brings people of a nation together (Andersson, 2009). However, a government’s participation in events may pose negative effects and caution must be taken. Large events created by the government attract a large number of people into one venue and this might be a threat to safety of the people in attendance. Criminals are known to be rampant in large social events both at day time and at night. Security measures though put in place, criminals find a way to dodge in the middle of crowds. Security is challenged in the event of shoot outs, bombs or grenade attacks where masses of people are gathered. This results to mass deaths and injuries and the government is always blamed for such messy events. For example, a bomb took place during a political rally in America while the politicians were addressing the citizens (Harrow, 2006). In addition, the government may lose track while attempting to create a successful event and fail to focus on the other sectors of the economy. Most governments are observed to pay more attention in the tourism industry and this poses failure to the other inferior sectors since they are not as productive like tourism. All sectors of the economy must be maintained and this might be challenging when a country excels in the events and tourism sector and lays back on other sectors (Scott and Kim, 1999). In conclusion, the governments significantly participate in events for different reasons and undertake the organizing of the events depending on the nature of these events. In view of this, the tourism sector benefits at large and also the infrastructure of the country are improved to provide proper amenities for the visitors. The benefits are many compared to the disadvantages that come with events hence the government should be cautious when dealing with events and festivities. Bibliography GRATTON, C., SHIBLI, S., & COLEMAN, R. (2005). Sport and economic regeneration in cities. Urban Studies. 5-6. CLARKE, A., & JEPSON, A. (2010). Power, hegemony and relationships within the festival planning and construction process. http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/2654/1/ClarkeJepsonFINAL.pdf. SAMER YAGHMOUR. (2008). Interorganizational Collaboration Characteristics and Outcomes: A case study of the Jeddah Festival. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:172280. MACKEY, R. A. (2009). All that glitters is not Junkanoo the National Junkanoo Museum and the politics of tourism and identity. Tallahassee, Florida, Florida State University. http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd-08242009-162119/. CAREY, M., MASON, D., & MISENER, L. (2011). Social Responsibility and the Competitive Bid Process for Major Sporting Events. Journal of Sport & Social Issues. 35, 246-263. HARROW, J., PALMER, P., & BOGDANOVA, M. (2006). Business Giving, the Tsunami and Corporates as Rock Stars: Some Implications for Arts Funding? Cultural Trends. 15, 299-323. CAMPBELL, M., PATTON, M. Q., & PATRIZI, P. (2003). Changing stakeholder needs and changing evaluator roles: the Central Valley Partnership of the James Irvine foundation. Evaluation and Program Planning. 26, 459-469. WEEKS, P., & ADAMS, J. (2006). Clubs and Hallmark Events. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration. 7, 2-3. CHIN-TARN LEE, SZU-CHI YANG, & HENRY Y. LO. (2008). Customer satisfaction and customer characteristic in festival activity: A case of 2006 Kenting Wind Chime Festival. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research. 2, 234-249. ANDERSSON, T., & GETZ, D. (2009). Festival Ownership. Differences between Public, Nonprofit and Private Festivals in Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism. 9, 2-3. STEPHEN R. MCDANIEL, & DANIEL S. MASON. (1999). An exploratory study of influences on public opinion towards alcohol and tobacco sponsorship of sporting events. Journal of Services Marketing. 13, 481-500. ALAN CLARKE, & ALLAN JEPSON. (2011). Power and hegemony within a community festival. International Journal of Event and Festival Management. 2, 7-19. SIMONE FULLAGAR, & ADELE PAVLIDIS. (2012). “Its all about the journey”: women and cycling events. International Journal of Event and Festival Management. 3, 149-170. BRENT W. RITCHIE, RICHARD SHIPWAY, & P. MONICA CHIEN. (2010). The role of the media in influencing residents support for the 2012 Olympic Games. International Journal of Event and Festival Management. 1, 202-219. SCOTT, D., BAKER, S. M., & KIM, C. (1999). Motivations and commitments among participants in the great Texas birding classic. Human Dimensions of Wildlife. 4, 50-67. Read More