Tourism - Research Paper Example

Consequently, tourism is advantageous to any nation that desire growth. Countries should encourage tourism because it creates a significant amount of job opportunities, leads to economic growth, and enhance the preservation of cultural heritage. Tourism is among the sectors that create employment opportunities for people. The service nature of tourism is human resource intensive. As one of the globe’s leading job creators, it allows migrant workers, youth, and women to enter quickly into the workforce.

About 250 million people, representing approximately eight percent of the world’s workforce, work in the tourism sector (Unep, 2011). According to United Nations Environmental Program (2011), fifty percent of the employees in the industry consist of people aged 25 years and below. It further says that women make up the majority of the tourist industry workers, which is between 60 and 70 percent. Developing countries greatly benefit from sustainable tourism investment as it helps in the creation of job opportunities especially for people that are poor.

Apart from the creation of direct job opportunities, there is evidence of the sector creating many indirect employment opportunities. Indirect jobs grow in segments that lean towards the natural environment and local culture. It is estimated that about one and a half indirect jobs spring from one job in the primary tourism industry. Examples of indirect workers that a person working in the hotel can create may include travel agency staff, taxi drivers, guides, food suppliers, textile workers, gardeners, souvenir shop staff, laundry workers, and airport employees.

Developing sustainable tourism can further increase employment opportunities since it allows people to work on water, energy, and waste services. The relationships enhance multiple workplace situations such as part-time, full-time, casual, temporal, and seasonal jobs. Tourism is thus an