Positive and Negative Impacts of Tourism in the 21st Century - Coursework Example

Nigeria 01 Positive and Negative Impacts of Tourism in 21st Century Today, tourism is one of the largest and dynamically developing sectors of external economic activities. Its high growth and development rates, considerable volumes of foreign currency inflows, infrastructure development, and introduction of new management and educational experience actively affect various sectors of economy, which positively contribute to the social and economic development of the country as a whole Tourism is a chance for people to get into contact with each other, and as tourism has an educational element to it, this can create an understanding between people and cultures and provide opportunities for an exchange of these own personal culture and ways of life. Tourism can contribute to the vitality of communities in many ways. An example of this is festivals, fairs and local events, as these attract local resident's which has been primary participants and spectators which are often revitalized and developed in response to tourist interest. Nigeria's plan to be one of the 20 best economies in the world by 2020, tourism is considered a major entry point. Nigeria has a rich culture as well as any other group all over the world, whether in the area of history, oral tradition, dance, dress making and other attractions. Hence, a calendar of cultural events like festivals is important. Nigeria is utilizing tourism to promote Nigeria as a destination for international events, culture and eco-tourism as she has rich natural and cultural heritage. However, many said they are not satisfied with how tourism is growing in Nigeria. As they do not feel good about tourism in Nigeria because the country has not taken advantage of its size, location and climate, they claim that the sector is not buoyant (Okpanku, 2002). Nigeria 02 Industry analysts said that despite the raised advocacy for tourism and the rapid change since the return to democracy, Nigeria is yet to make tourism the cornerstone of her economy. Countries that have high growth in tourism have stabilized power supply, moto-able roads, legislation for tourism businesses, statistical data for planning, accessible tourist sites, purchasing power for its citizens. It is not so for Nigeria. Not much have changed due to lack of enabling environment. Nigeria is behind in tourism development compared to other African countries. Negative Impacts of Tourism Tourism can increase tension, hostility, and suspicion. Claims of tourism as a vital force for peace are exaggerated. On the other hand large hotel chain restaurants often import food to satisfy foreign visitors and rarely employ local staff for senior management positions, preventing local farmers and workers from reaping the benefit of their presence. High cost of flight and hotel accommodation as well as inconsistency of government policy are factors militating against tourism development in Nigeria. Tourism has the power to affect cultural change. Successful development of a resource can lead to numerous negative impacts. Among these are: 1. Overdevelopment 2. Assimilation 3. Conflict 4. Artificial reconstruction. 5. Over consumption 6. Pollution 7. Lack of resources Nigeria 03 8. "Issues of stability of electricity, security of lives and property and bad roads" were to be addressed in 2004. These issues were observed to be the most urgent negative impacts on Nigeria's tourism potential. 9. Expropriation of land, water, and other assets of the poor by tourism industry; 10. An entry barrier to poor entrepreneurs since the industry is information & marketing intensive; 11. Less economic linkages due to high transaction costs; 12. Undesirable cultural impacts; 13. Environmental degradation may result if necessary actions are not taken.  While presenting a culture to tourists may help preserve the culture, it can also dilute or even destroy it. The point is to promote tourism in the region so that it would both give incomes and create respect for the local tradition and culture. Tourism often grows into mass-tourism. The problem is that it is not easy to change the traditional way of life of the local communities. It often creates pseudo conflicts. These negative effects of tourism can be overcome if there is sound tourism development policy and implementation focusing on poverty-reduction through the involvement of both the local community and entrepreneurs. Thus, its advantages outweigh the disadvantages if tourism development is planned and implemented properly. Positive Impact on Tourism Socially tourism has a great influence on the host societies. Tourism can be both a source of international amity, peace and understanding and a destroyer and corrupter of indigenous cultures, a source of ecological destruction, an assault of people’s privacy, dignity, and authenticity. Nigeria 04 Here are possible positive effects of tourism: 1. Developing positive attitudes towards each other 2. Learning about each other’s culture and customs 3. Reducing negative perceptions and stereotypes 4. Developing friendships 5. Developing pride, appreciation, understanding, respect, and tolerance for each other’s culture 6. Increasing self-esteem of hosts and tourists 7. Psychological satisfaction with interaction 8. Securing the country's many potential attractions by launching cultural and environmental restoration projects. 9. Proposed annual carnival will contribute giving a new image to the capital city of Nigeria. 10. More labor intensive than manufacturing and also can involve more intensive use of un-skilled and semi-skilled labor; 11. Employs a high percentage of women as compared to other industries; 12. Can build on assets of the poor such as culture and natural resources; 13. Can involve a wide variety of micro enterprises, informal sectors. 14. Potential means for responsible and sustainable tourism development. So, social contacts between tourists and local people may result in mutual appreciation, understanding, tolerance, awareness, learning, family bonding respect, and liking. Residents are educated about the outside world without leaving their homes, while their visitors significantly Nigeria 05 learn about a distinctive culture. Local communities are benefited through contribution by tourism to the improvement of the social infrastructure like schools, libraries, health care institutions, internet cafes, and so on. Besides, if local culture is the base for attracting tourists to the region, it helps to preserve the local traditions and handicrafts which maybe were on the link of the extinction. Leisure traveling within Nigeria is improving as more families travel to Calabar and Abuja for holidays and the hotels business and airlines that are market markers are showing signs of growth, but leisure travel is constrained by insecurity and bad roads (Babatunde, 2008). The euphoria with which the world greeted the new millennium is but an outward projection of Nigeria’sr innermost desire for positive development. Everyone has looked up to the 21st Century as a period when all the dreams of individuals, organizations, communities and nations will be met. The world is indeed thirsty of development. However, the vision for development cannot be exactly the same for the developed world and the developing countries of Africa, particularly Nigeria. While the former group might be striving to consolidate their gains in the control of the outer space and the world's economy, the latter hope to get started with the basics. Development is associated with the progress and material well-being of men and nations. It wanted to provide people with the basic necessities of life, for their own sake and to provide a degree of self-esteem and freedom for people which could be denied them by poverty. For African countries which in the last century got liberated from colonialism only to be ravaged by wars, desertification, erosion, military dictatorship, unfulfilled dreams of nationhood and all forms of natural and human calamities, the 21st Century holds much hope - hope of political stability, hope of economic prosperity, hope of technological advancement, hope of enjoying the Nigeria 06 basic necessities of life like food, shelter, Medicare, education, liberty and a host of other aspirations already taken for granted by the developed world. For Nigeria, it is a great challenge to make a profitable business running tourism in an area without some negative effect to the local communities. It is possible for the tourism industry to cooperate with other industries and bring benefits to both the tourism organizations and local businesses. The first step to achieve it is to understand the needs and desires of both the host community and the tourists. As has been observed, Africa and the developing world cannot leapfrog into development in the 21st Century. For their lofty dreams to be actualized there is the need to plan. There is also the need to invest a significant proportion of their national wealth to the generation, management and utilization of quality information for development. Since independence, African countries have had a catalogue of long and short-term development plans the failure of which is largely attributable to lack of proper information management and utilization. To boost economic development Nigerian government is looking at the need to diversify the tourism industry and concentrate on doing those things that are positive (Okpanku, 2002). The government is positive that they will have more robust market if tourism thrives in the country. For tourism potentials in Nigeria to be utilized sustainably, the necessary infrastructures and enabling environment and information on tourism which will attract tourists must be available. Enabling environment in this case refers to all the parameters required to make a complete tour, such as good roads, functional telecommunications good accommodation and adequate security References: 1. Babatunde, Jimoh, 2008 October 24. “Domestic Tourism will get boost from travel fairs”. Vanguard Media Ltd. Read More