Tourism Factfile

Tourism

Learning outcomes:

Explain and describe tourism in connection to physical and human attractions of an area.

Explain why tourism is growing.

Outline positive and negative impacts of tourism.

Describe the evolution of a tourist area using Butler’s model.

Outline the above by utilising a case study.

Definitions:

Leisure: activity that takes place in free time 

Tourism: 1) people visiting a place for leisure 2) the industry that provides services for tourists

Domestic Tourist: goes on holiday within its country (national holiday)

International Tourist: goes on holiday to a foreign country (international holiday)  

Butler’s model: a theory (and graph) that explains the evolution of a tourist area

Primary Tourist Resource: attractions that were not specially build for tourists e.g. churches, beaches, mountains, museums.

Secondary Tourist Resource: attractions that were specially build for tourists e.g. hotels, restaurants, museums.

Human Attraction: An attraction that has been built or made by humans e.g. castles, churches, museums.

Physical Attraction: Natural attractions e.g. rivers, mountains, beaches or even the weather.

Tourist attractions

Physical attraction > why interesting? > example

General > beautiful scenery, nature > Maldives, Alps, Taormina

Mountains > for skiing and hiking > Mt. Etna, Alps

Sea > water sport, swimming, diving, fishing > Catania, Maldives

Rivers > Fishing, swimming, boat trips > Danube, Rhine

Beach > sun bathing, games > Acicastello, Rimini

Human attractions > why interesting? > example

Museums > learning about culture > Catania (Museo Civico)

Churches > architecture, culture, religious activities > Catania (Cathedral St. Agatha), Vatican

Archaeology > culture > Taormina (amphitheatre), Rome (colosseum)

Good communications  > easy to travel there > airport, road and rail connections

Many hotels / restaurants > many options for all tastes (location, type of food) > resort hotels for families, nightclubs for young people

Growth of Tourism

More leisure time: weekend free, holiday free (100 years ago people had no holiday)

Paid holiday: people still get money from work when they go on holiday

Higher income: people are earning more money, women and men are working Transport: more road and rail connections, cheaper flights, more destinations possible Advertising: people learn about more places that they can travel to Facilities: more and better facilities and services in many places Easy access: internet allows easy booking of holidays Money: no exchange within EU, credit cards accepted all over the world Travel documents: more people have passports, borders are more open (e.g. EU), easier to get visa (internet etc.) Retirement: people live longer, older people have time to travel after they retire

Reasons for Growth in LEDCs

• cheaper 
• improving services and communications
• improved security
• more awareness
• exotic locations more attractive

Reasons for declining tourism (in an area / country):

Why tourist don't visiting a country / area?

• Terrorism e.g. bombing in Bali
• High crime rate e.g. Mexico
• Natural disasters e.g. tsunami in Thailand
• War e.g. Ukraine
• Area becomes undesirable e.g. polluted sea, too many tourists etc.

Why people don’t go on holiday?

• Less money e.g. economic crisis in EU

Positive and negative impacts of tourism

Positive

More money for local economy

• eat at restaurants
• sleep in hotels etc.
• pay to visit museum
• buy souvenirs

More jobs

• directly e.g. restaurants, hotels, shops, airport
• indirectly e.g. agriculture which supplies food to restaurants, people who build hotels and roads

More money for government

• people have work so pay taxes to government
• businesses pay more taxes because they earn more money

Protection of environment

• creation of national parks etc. to attract tourists
• protection / restoration of historic / archaeologic buildings e.g. rebuild/ preserve Greek theatre
• collection of rubbish e.g. cleaning of beach to attract tourists
• waste water treatment to prevent pollution (tourist don’t like pollution!)

negative

infrastructure

• too many new buildings e.g. build-up of coast line by many hotels, no more nice scenery
• too many roads , communications e.g. road through national park
• congested roads e.g. not enough parking, too much traffic, air pollution from fumes

economy

•  only seasonal work (e.g. only in summer)
•  money only goes to small part of people who work with tourists, causes resentment in others
• dependence on tourists, if decline in tourism; no more income

other

• stress on resources e.g. not enough water for all the tourist who come in summer
• pollution (air, water, noise)

Development of a tourist area – Butler’s Model

Stage 1) Exploration / Discovery

Few people know if the place. There are no special services for tourists.

Stage 2) Involvement

Some more people come to visit the place. Some local people offer specific services to tourists. E.g.: Woman rents out room in her house. Local man sells ice-cream at the beach.

Stage 3) Development

Many more people come to visit the place. Many special services for tourists are being built and established; advertising takes place. E.g. Many different hotels are built for different types of people (young/old/families) and you see advertising for it on the internet.

Stage 4) Consolidation

Many people come to the place. Tourism is well established and important part of the local industry.

Stage 5) Stagnation

The number of people visiting does not increase anymore as facilities (hotels etc.) become old and the place is not as attractive as before because of the many people and pollution.

Stage 6a) Decline

Tourists don’t come anymore as the place is no longer attractive.

Stage 6b) Rejuvenation

The place cleans the pollution, attracting different kind of tourists.

Case Study: Tourism in Seychelles

70% of national income comes from tourism

30% of people are employed in tourist industry

Problems:

Economy is dependent on tourism (i.e. many people rely on job)

• Causes problems if the number of tourists declines (no more jobs)

Not enough resources

• Water shortages experienced
• Not enough food (overfishing, needs more imports)
• Congested roads

Pollution

• Air pollution from cars and planes
• Water pollution from many hotels / restaurants

  Environment

• Damage to marine life (diving/snorkelling damages corals)
• Deforestation (to build hotels)