Social Impacts of Tourism
- ms3304dealer
- Oct 1, 2017
- 5 min read
[Source: https://www.verywell.com/tips-for-avoiding-constipation-when-traveling-4062491]
In today’s world, travelling has become more and more common, thus, many cities are now putting more effort in developing the tourism industry in order to capture more economic benefits. For example, South Korea government has paid lots of effort to reform its tourism industry since 1998. Through different measures and government’s support, its tourism industry has developed rapidly with a growth of 14.2% in just 2 years. However, is tourism really a good thing to a society? Is there any negative impact from tourism? Should we support the growth of tourism in our home city? We will evaluate the pros and cons below.
Positive Impacts:
1. Boosting the economy
The most significant and direct impact would be the positive change in the city’s economy. With better development in the tourism industry, more tourists are attracted to visit and consume in the country. This can create more job opportunities in the market. The higher employment rate will then lead to a higher disposable income of individuals, as a result, it will strengthen the local economy. And this is what the “multiplier effect” suggested. According to a study conducted by the World Travel & Tourism Council, travel and tourism has contributed to 9.6% to the world’s total employment and has created 292,220,000 jobs in 2016. Hence, tourism can benefit the economy.
Figures retrieved from The Economic Impact of Travel & Tourism March 2017.
[Source: https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/regions-2017/world2017.pdf]
2. Improving infrastructures & facilities
In order to attract more visitors, government may increase their spending on developing the infrastructures and facilities in the city. For instance, building more roads, improving the public transportation system and developing more recreational facilities. In 2003, the HKSAR would like to recover the economy from SARS by promoting Hong Kong’s tourism, so they negotiated with The Walt Disney Company and constructed the Hong Kong Disneyland. This can not only benefit the tourists, but also the local community as they can also enjoy the improvements of the society.
[Source: https://disneynews.us/hong-kong-disneyland-statistics-fun-facts/]
3. Enhancing globalization
Having visitors from all over the world can enable cultural sharing and enhances globalization in the city. By meeting with people from various countries, citizens may have more opportunities to expose to different cultures and widen their horizons. As a result, it allows people to learn some new knowledge and technology.
[Souce: https://dinmerican.wordpress.com/2017/02/26/universal-values-not-just-globalisation/]
4. Building up citizens’ sense of affiliation
Promoting tourism allows a city to build up better image and gain higher reputation in the world. Citizens will feel proud of their home town and increase their sense of affiliation towards the city. This would make them more willing to help preserve and promote the local culture to tourists.
[Source: https://news.iskcon.org/the-power-of-cooperation,6099]
Negative Impacts:
1. Generating crimes (Raising security concern)
Tourism may create some security issues. According to a research about Nadi citizens’ feeling towards tourism, some pointed out that the crime rate in the city has significantly increased, including both individual and organized crimes. The sexual permissiveness, drug addiction and alcoholism in the city have also become more serious. Therefore, tourism may increase crime rates and negatively influence the city’s safety and security.
[Source: https://www.picquery.com/c/airport-passengers_vdit8gNhSNtaji2%7co%7cKhLYcYrofwwH70zbfqHBY8lhc/]
2. Creating pollution & disturbance
More people may generate more noises and pollution, which may create disturbances to the neighbourhoods nearby. For example, there was an Ihwa Mural Village in Seoul with various colourful mural painted on walls in order to promote art in the community. However, the influx of tourists has caused serious pollution problems, such as littering and noise pollution, and some residents even complained that they have lost their privacy. As a result, they removed some of the art pieces. It is important for tourists to respect and be self-disciplined when visiting other countries.
[Source: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=1996703]
3. Causing greater inflation
Take Hong Kong as an example, after the implementation of the Individual Visit Scheme in 2003, the number of Mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong has increased rapidly. Due to the appreciation of RMB against HKD, they consume more in Hong Kong. This lead to shortages in many goods, including some necessities, such as baby milk powder, diapers or even some luxury items. As a result, the prices of goods in Hong Kong also increase and this attributed to part of the high inflation in Hong Kong.
[Source: http://www.payvand.com/news/14/sep/1160.html]
4. Creating Xenophobia
Xenophobia is the fear, dislike and prejudice against foreigners. Tourism enables people to communicate and meet with people all over the world, but some cultural differences may create misunderstandings in between and affect the relationships. For instance, some Mainland tourists ate and drank on the MTR when they visited Hong Kong. As they may not have clear understandings about the Hong Kong’s cultures and regulations, so they misbehaved. This incident has resulted in a hot debate and Hong Kong people have created the bad feelings towards the Mainlanders.
[Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWnUIpfn8TA&feature=youtu.be]
Learning Reflection
I have never realized that travelling has such a large impact to the host country and the local residents there. When I went travelling in the past, I just cared about my own experiences; whether the trip was fun or whether the food is delicious. However, I have always neglected that my behaviours may influence the daily life of the others. My actions may have caused disturbance to the local citizens and may have caused their negative feelings towards foreigners. So, from now on, when we go travelling around the world, we should be more careful not to affect the others and we should learn and respect the local cultures in order not to create any conflicts.
References
[1] OECD. (2002) National Tourism Policy Review Republic of Korea, Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/49/33649881.pdf
[2] Sergiu Rusu. (2011) Tourism Multiplier Effect, Journal of Economics & Business Research, pp.70-76
[3] World Travel & Tourism Council. (2017) THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TRAVEL & TOURISM MARCH 2017, p.3, Retrieved from https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/regions-2017/world2017.pdf
[4] Haley, A., Snaith, T., & Miller, G. (2005). The social impacts of tourism a case study of Bath, UK. Annals of Tourism Research, 32(3), 647-668. doi:10.1016/j.annals.2004.10.009
[5] China's two Disneylands: competitors or complementary attractions? (2016, March 03). Retrieved from http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1907607/chinas-two-disneylands-competitors-or-complementary
[6] Scholtz, M., & Slabbert, E. (2015). The relevance of the tangible and intangible social impacts of tourism on selected South African communities. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 14(2), 107-128. doi:10.1080/14766825.2015.1031796
[7] Brian King, Abraham Pizam, Ady Milman (1993). Social impacts of tourism: Host perceptions. Annals of Tourism Research, Volume 20, Issue 4, P.650-665.
[8] Ihwa residents want to remove murals. (2016, May 13). Retrieved from http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2016/05/116_204705.html
[9] Parts of Hong Kong suffering serious shortage of baby milk powder. (2015, April 20). Retrieved from http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1709599/parts-hong-kong-suffering-serious-shortage-baby-milk-powder
[10] Xenophobia | Definition of xenophobia in English by Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2017, from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/xenophobia
[11] Kenneth Tan in Other on Jan 20, 2012 6:50 pm. (n.d.). Watch: Bitchfight between mainland tourists eating on the Hong Kong MTR with local passengers. Retrieved from http://shanghaiist.com/2012/01/20/hong-kong-mainland-mtr-bitchfight.php
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