The Tourism Industry and the GDP of a Country - Outline Example

Introduction to tourism management – A Report Tourism in the current century is not just an industry, but more. It is constantly on the move, a very complicated system and an open system, consisting of many intersecting components and businesses (Van Mai and O.J.H, 2010, pp 1; Huybers, 2007, pp 161). It is one of the most ancient industries involving both the private sector as well as the government sector. Domestic tourism has also reached international standards to compete with others and set up a reputation. Globalization has pushed traveling to a very high priority in everyone’s wish list. With the coming of these great destinations and international standards the population is no longer stagnant at a place; rather everybody is a global citizen (Wahab and Cooper, 2001, Preface). Along with globalization, questions have cropped up regarding the sustainability of the process. Tourism – advantages and disadvantages Tourism has grown as an important revenue earner for many countries and has many advantages which range from engagement of labor in the labor intensive countries and creates many jobs, it drives development by involving a wide range of sectors such as culture, travel, business and agriculture and a parallel inflow of funds. Poverty alleviation, solving employment related problems and considering more areas and structures for protection are other desirable results achieved. The ill effects, though, include the expansion into more and more spaces, congestion, increased prices, seasonal unemployment and over dependence on foreign investment as well as tourist inflow, thus leaving it open to financial shocks (UNCTAD, 2010, pp 16-18) The generating and receiving regions The advancement of tourism has resulted in the creation of various types of tourism development models. These help understand the previous systems and the new. Tourism, as a system, has a structure. In 1979, Leiper put forward a new model which looks at the whole event of a tourist moving from his home to the destination. This model includes tourist generating regions, tourist receiving regions and transit routes (Van Mai and O.J.H, 2010, pp 3). According to Leiper the tourist generating regions are the origins where tourism is in high demand. These regions are supposed to put in a push factor for travel. The generating regions are mainly the developed countries of the world where the population has a larger disposable income and time for leisure. The tourist receiving regions are the places which receive tourists on a large scale. The receiving destinations include many of the developing countries and also many developed countries. These regions create the pull for tourism and drive the whole system by creating the demand for travel in the generating regions (Huybers, 2007, pp 161; Boniface and Cooper, 1987, pp 22). Recent Statistics From the reports of recently conducted surveys it has been found that the some of the top tourist receiving destinations in the world this year had been Korea, Japan, Russia, USA, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Mongolia, Philippines and Canada respectively in this order (China National Tourist Office, 2011) On the other hand the top tourist generating nations had been Canada, Mexico, UK, Japan, Germany, France, Brazil, South Korea, China and Australia respectively (TINET, 2011). Of the top fifteen as generators and receivers, nine countries share approximately 50% of the expenses and tourism revenues generated from the international tourism flow, they are USA, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, China, Canada, Austria and Switzerland (Thessalonikis,A.T.E.I. et al, 2009, pp 32). International funds for tourism development Tourism is a very important part of a plan for a country’s economic development. It is an industry which is growing very fast and involves a considerable amount of labor intensive economic activities. Investment Promotion agencies become very important in the development of this sector as the competition has been growing all over the world for tourism and is directly related to the foreign direct investment received by places. Many destinations are vulnerable and sustainable tourism development has been taken up there (UNCTAD, 2010, pp 10-12). Tourist destinations try to attract finance from abroad to develop places. Shortage of capital has often been a problem for the tourism industry, especially for the developing countries. International trends predict more of independent travel and away from package tours; however it varies between socio-economic groups. The travelers are very much aware of their rights and have nurtured a critical attitude in them, equating everything to the price-quality ratio. The demand is more towards new types of getaways and experiences. Rising ecological and environmental concerns also have an influence on deciding destinations which are more sustainable and the regional population is actively involved (UNCTAD, 2010, pp 13-14). The developed countries of the world have greater resources and facilities to offer to the leisure seeking tourist than the smaller countries. Most of the cities have the top most facilities in the developed countries, with leisure and comfort along with luxury being of considerable importance in this industry; most of the top tourist destinations as well as generators are the same countries. Most of them have people who have a high disposable income to venture out and spend on luxury, and the countries offer such a choice readily. On the other hand, developing countries offer many facilities nowadays with increasing foreign investment in this sector (UNCTAD, 2010, pp 9). Most destinations have renovated possible places of interest and tried to attract tourists and they also try to maintain a reputation. This way they try to ensure a constant flow of incoming funds. Totally tourist dependent countries There are many countries which are completely tourist dependent, such as small islands like Maldives, Jamaica, Mauritius, Fiji and many others. Bigger countries, where tourism is a major contributing sector, are China, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil and others. The small island states have no such major alternatives and thrive mainly on tourism (Pro-poor tourism info sheets, pp 1). Tourism is thus a key export earner for many of these countries and some of these countries have majority of their population engaged in tourist related activities. Countries such as Maldives have more than 50% of their population engaged in tourism related activities, with many Caribbean islands lagging not far behind (Pro-poor tourism info sheets, pp 4). Developed countries attract more tourist groups Tourism industry has a very significant impact on the GDP of a country, employment and revenue, but tourism development have had different outcomes at various regions. For example the people of developed countries tour developed countries more, such as the flow which exists between Europe and North America. This trend have been attributed to many factors such as the closeness of the two landmasses which reduces traveling costs, superior quality of facilities, accessibility is very high even to the most remote regions, friendly and safe surroundings of both the origin and the destinations, wide range of services to choose from and presence of diversification within a small cross sectional area and numerous tourist destinations involving sights and events. These tend to check the number of tourists visiting the developing countries. Thus the benefits of tourism are mainly concentrated in these developed countries. Empirical studies show that although North America and Europe account for only one third of the worlds total area, they register 60% and more of all global arrivals, while South Asian countries along with Africa and South America register only 7% of the total arrivals. The revenues earned from tourist inflow had been a mere 10% for these countries compared to the greater two (Thessalonikis, 2009, pp 31-32; Murphy, 1985). Conclusion Mass tourism is still dominated by the value for money principle but with the opening up of cross border investments and funds for the developing countries the picture seems bright. The tourism demand trends have changed a lot since the 80’s and reflect the diverse interests of the traveler along with the opening up of concepts such as Special Interest Tourism. Current trends include outdoor activities, awareness of ecological problems, educational advancement and improvement and development of society. Countries are actively pursuing the “tourist dollar” and competition has been escalated to high levels. With more and more exotic locations opening up in many of the developing countries, they can look up to more and more revenue earnings from tourism as the world become a global village. 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