State of Tourism - Research Paper Example

How the current global economics crisis might impact tourism at that location. This will require profiling of the current of tourism at that location (how it is organized, what the destination focus and products is, what the levels of arrivals are, and economic impact information if available) and an analysis of how the current economic situation might impact this tourism? Introduction: Ontario is Canadas largest province by population and the second largest in terms of area. The capital of Ontario is Toronto. Ontario tourism plays a key role in economical and cultural diversity of this province. It is estimated that $22.8 billion of revenue has been generated from visitors last year alone. Ontario is a magnificent stretch of land which is well-known for the richness of its bio-diversity. It also boasts of the largest volume of fresh water in the world besides being one of the most spectacular landscapes that any place can offer. Ontario has 250000 lakes and this covers one –third of world’ fresh water and wild forests land sand beach and the natural beauty of Niagara Falls. This province is also one of the cosmopolitan cities which offer world class entertainment, shopping places and tourist spots with eco-friendly integration of international flavors with local colors. The inhabitants of Ontario organize cultural integration festivals like Caribana and Oktoberfest for their visitors. Ontario is a place of multi ethnic culture and it can fulfill the desires of all hearts with activities like canoeing, hiking, cruising, biking, diving, rafting and the fishing season here lasts year round. (About Ontario-overview, 2008). Destination and products: Ontario is a beautiful tourist spot with vibrant colors of flowers every yard and in all public spaces. The dating homes maintained from early 19th century, art galleries and artists studio are some of the main attractions of this place. Ontario is well known for its vineyards, fruit orchards, lush gardens, and manicured parkland. Fourteen golf courses which are available nearby and the Nigra Fall are best known as popular tourist destinations. Ontario also has the distinction of being an all-season, premier meeting and incentive travel spots as well as home to the cosmopolitan city of Toronto, and Ottawa - Canadas capital city, and a diverse range of resort destinations. 1000 Islands: The 1000 Island region is an international destination encompassing of both communities of Canada in one boarder and US in other end. It is one of the best vacation spot in the world. African Lion Safari which is another attraction holds all wonders of Africa. We can see all type of animals in this area. It also provides some picnic place like African Queen Boat tour and Nature boy railway. Besides the above, following are some of the other fascinating spots: Canada’s wonder land: It is Canada’s prime theme park featuring over 200 attractions, 65 thrilling rides and a 20 acre water park. Marine land: It is the place in Niagara which provides family attractions and is situated only a few kms from the Niagara Falls. This area is a place of entertainment for all age group. The main attraction of t Marineland is the fabulous dolphin and sealion show at the indoor aquarium. Nagara Falls is one of the greatest tourist attractions in the World with 54 meters high Canadian Falls and at 56 meters high American Falls. It is a spectacular sight at any time of the year. Ontario Palace: It is a summer attraction and this place offers, music, rides, air shows, fireworks Toronto Islands: It comprises tennis courts, picnic, amusement park, old light house, golf courses etc and the Centreville Amusement Park here offers affordable family entertainment with food outlets, and different types of rides. Tornto Zoo: This is one of the premier Zoos in Canada for educational as well as conservative purposes. The Zoo is divided into six geographical areas which offer a unique way of wild life experience. It will inspire the world to promote balancing of the natural elements on earth. Wild Water Kingodm: This is one of the largest water parks with variety of water ride attractions. Other famous attractions of Ontario include the absolute tower with high-rise condominium towers which is the world’s tallest building, CN Tower and other local attractions like City Hall. Toronto: Old City Hall – One of the finest Neo-Romanesque buildings in North America, this is a very attractive place for tourists. Parliament of Canada – Ottawa, Rogers Centre the worlds first multi-purpose retractable domed stadium, Royal Bank Plaza, Square One, and St. Lawrence Market This massive 19th century brick building is home to the citys largest market. (Tourist attraction in Ontario, 2007). Ontario’s tourist attraction appeal to the visitors at all seasons. It provides a diverse mix of tourist places with Ontario’s hidden heritage treasures, cultural and architectural heritage and an eco- friendly tourism spot for educationalist, writers, celebrities and people from various countries of different age groups and economic status. Ontario Tourism is 7th largest export industry in Canada and it’s generate thousands of employment programmes for their community. It promotes an entrepreneurship development culture encompasses small scale industry for the development of the Canada. The good physical and social infrastructure provides high quality of life among its community and attracts investors for Tourism sector. Global economic crisis and Impact on Ontario Tourism: The global tourism spots are always vulnerable to hazards like man made or natural and volatile to the changes in the market. The war, economic crisis, terrorism all such factors will affect tourism economy and it will spread its negative effect to neighboring countries also. The trend that we have learned from past crises shows that in the time of an uncertainty or economic crunch, and people conserve their money for basic things like foods, shelter or other essential factors like healthcare and education. As a result tourism industry is one of the victims of economic instability. Any financial crisis will affect the Tourism industry and its associated resources like hotels, luxury parks, shopping centers, medium of transportation etc. Thus it becomes necessary for the stake holders to adapt or revise their package, their services band products with regards to the customers paying capacity. The current global finical crisis really started to show its effect in the world economy in the middle of 2007 and into 2008. As a result of this crisis, the stock markets all over the world have fallen, large finical institutions collapsed or closed down and many industrialists came under ruin. Both developed and developing countries need to announce their rescue package to bail out their financial institutions. Millions of people lost their jobs and many countries have taken measures like cutting down the interest rates of banks, investment in social sectors etc. Thus it has a world wide impact and we need more strategies and improvement of local revenue to tackle down this negative effect. In Canada, tourism industry has a main share to generate revenue to the Canadian economy. It is the 7th major player in the list of revenue contributors. Canadian tourism mainly depends on the tourists from overseas. The American tourists are the main contributing source of income to Canadian tourism. American economy is one of the worlds’ most powerful economies and they are known as the super powers of world. The economic crisis of the world, especially that of America, which has suffered the brunt of financial crunch so badly, has, therefore, affected the Canadian tourism industry to a large extent. In its statement World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) indicates that “The volatile world economy has begun affecting international tourism, bringing its growth to a standstill in the second half of 2008” and also it implies that “Growth was negative in the second half of 2008 in Europe and Asia, with both registering a 3-per-cent drop in tourism.” (Economic crisis hits world tourism: UNWTO, 2009). Approximately over 17 million visitors come to visit Canada every year. A major portion of this will be from United States and rest of the visitors are form Asian and African countries. It shows that overseas visitors would have a tremendous impact on Canadian economy. Ontario has Canadas largest tourism industry accounting for 37% of national tourism revenues and 44% of its visitors. Ontarios tourism industry provided 412,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs, representing almost 8% of Ontarios employment. Tourism was Ontarios 6th largest export industry, bringing into the province $6.1 billion in foreign exchange from outside Canada. (Tourism should be green, (n.d)). Tourism Performance July 2008 July 2008 % change* YTD: Jan-July % change* International Border Crossings 1         Total Inbound 2,125,513 -9.9% 8,495,254 -12.1%     From the U.S. 1,850,424 -11.4% 7,442,482 -14.0%     From overseas 275,089 2.4% 1,052,772 4.4% Total Outbound 2,421,406 2.1% 15,629,682 8.2%    To the U.S. 2,125,447 0.9% 13,201,820 7.9%    To overseas 295,959 11.3% 2,427,862 9.4% Ontario Hotel Statistics 2             Hotel Occupancy 67.1% -1.1† 60.4% -0.5†     Hotel Average Daily Rate     $125.90 -1.0% $126.82 1.3% Employment in Tourism-Related Industries3 407,600 -10.1% 362,700†† -12.4% Travel Price Index 4 127.8 18.7% 114.2†† 8.2% Visitor Inquiries             1-800-Ontario 5 31,938 -6.5% 104,467 -20.5%     www.OntarioTravel.net 5 324,548 8.0% 1,798,080 3.1%     Travel Information Centres5 208,719 -21.2% 577,002 -22.9%   Q2 2008 % change* Q1 2008 % change* Ontario’s International Travel Account (preliminary) -$1.4 billion 4% -$2.5 billion 20%  * Percentage change over same period of previous year † Change in percentage points †† average of all prior months year-to-date (Current Performance indicators for Ontario’s Tourism Industry, 2008). Ontario Tourism industry follows a multi dimensional approach with inclusion of various stake holders. The break down in the global economy not only decreases the income from tourist industry but also will create a negative impact on many sectors which is associated with tourism industry. The above graph shows that the current profile of Ontario tourism industry and the profile of before – after the global economic crisis in the Ontario tourism industry. It clearly explains the slow down of tourism industry and its impact on various sectors associated with it. As stated earlier, 75% of the contributors towards Ontario Tourism are the travelers from United States. Due to the economic slow down in the US it is evident from the table that the arrival of foreign tourists rapidly decreased as compared with previous years. It accelerated the break down of the hotel industry services in Canada. The table shows that the decrease in the hotel occupancy rate is 2 to 3 %. At the peak time of economic crisis it comes down to 67 %. The table also indicates that the average daily rate slowed down by 10% as compared to the previous quarter. It is also clear that revenue per available room was down to 2.6 % as compared to previous year. The increase in gas price has also impacted transportation sector very badly. The rates of taxi and air services have increased rapidly from last year. The local product and eco friendly products supply a major share to the total economy of tourism sector. But due to the shortage of visitors and limited stay in the locations of visitors, the revenue from this area has also fallen. It is observed that unemployment is one of the main impacts of recent economic crisis. Millions of people around the world have lost their jobs in a variety of industries. The Ontario tourism industry also had to sustain the bad impact visible in the past quarter. It is estimated that more than 40thousand people lost their jobs in Canada, mainly associated with hotel and bank industry. The government has to cut down the investment in the tourism sector and it causes the slow down in the infrastructure development of the tourism industry. Hence, the tourism industry will have a rough ride over the months ahead but with a model collective action of various stake holders and strategically thinking to evolve proper plans to adapt with current situation will help to meet the new challenges. Ontario is following Ecotourism and environmental principles of environmental management for in its tourism promotion activities. It will help them to protect natural bio-diversity and sustainability of the tourism industry and its people from many side effects. Thus, we need to promote and encourage local people and formulate strategies with local situation. These tourism strategies will help more revenue to the tourism industries with minimal investment and in a sustainable manner. Like most industries and products, global tourism (as well as individual destination) is affected by the forces of demand and supply. Acts of terrorism, war, and natural calamities in an area can change the perception of prospective tourists about that place and can result in a drastic fall in arrivals. The situation is worse now with the collapse of the economy of the United States and along with it, the global economy. The Canadian economy is particularly hurt due to its close relationship with US economy. The one factor that has delayed the start of recession in Canada is the rising commodity prices which have shown an upward spiral starting from June 2008. References About Ontario-overview. (2008). Ontario. Retrieved February 07, 2009, from http://www.ontario.ca/en/about_ontario/ONT04_020887 Current Performance indicators for Ontario’s Tourism Industry. (2008). Ontario. Retrieved February 07, 2009, from http://www.tourism.gov.on.ca/english/research/performance/index.html Tourism should be green: Quick facts. (n.d). Green Ontario: Conserver Solution for a Healthy Environment. Retrieved February 07, 2009, from http://www.greenontario.org/strategy/tourism.html Tourist attraction in Ontario. (2007). TJ Hosting. Retrieved February 07, 2009, from http://www.tugjinojabano.com/attractions.asp Economic crisis hits world tourism: UNWTO. (2009, January 27). Sindh Today.net. Retrieved February 07, 2009, from http://www.sindhtoday.net/south-asia/56609.htm Read More