Impacts of Tourism

1
Impacts of Tourism

• - Aritro Dasgupta

2
Impacts of Tourism

• This includes major changes to the tourism
  destination which has long term repercussions
• Changes may be either physical or to the people
• Tourism exerts a disproportionately high effect
  at certain places
• Destinations where tourism is the primary
  economic activity sees far greater impacts than
  areas where tourism is one of many business
  activities
• Certain external forces too strong cannot be
  immunized again at local level

3
Types of Impacts

• Environmental physical
• Socio-cultural
• Economic
• Technological

4
Levels of Impacts

• Positive
• Negative

5
Environmental Physical Impacts
6
Positive

• Increased patrolling of wildlife areas for
  conservation efforts top wildlife species like
  tigers rhinoceros attract tourists so
  conserving these species becomes a target for
  tourism developers
• Afforestation projects specially launched in big
  cities along countryside for purpose of
  beautification
• Protection measures against natural calamities
  increased
• Tourism creates alternative sources of income in
  places prone to over-fishing poaching

7
Negative

• Pollution environmental degradation of the area
  on over-exposure
• Auxiliaries of tourism being stretched to the
  limit
• Tourist inflow leads to vast accumulation of
  wastage, most dangerously solid wastes
• Leads to demographic shift as large number of
  people get attracted to the destination for
  employment purpose, resulting in added pressure
  for limited resources

8
Negative

• Soil water quality deterioration due to
  effluents released from hotels other service
  industry firms
• Increased chances of landslide other man-made
  disasters
• Foreign plant animal species enter native areas
  on larger scale resulting in unsustainable land
  usage

9
Socio-Cultural
10
Positive

• Exposure to new cultures brings modernity
• Shedding of superstitions
• Better educational opportunities arise
• Specially in the Indian context, caste-based
  discrimination has gown down remarkably along
  tourism routes
• Local art culture gets boost through contact
  with tourists, they often appreciate local craft
• Indigenous cultures may get protection when alien
  cultures come into contact show interest in
  raise awareness on their conditions

11
Positive

• Indigenous cultures may get protection when alien
  cultures come into contact show interest in
  raise awareness on their conditions
• Economic development may also spur the protection
  of culture

12
Negative

• Commoditization of cultures
• Traits considered negative by general human
  population may get transmitted during process of
  cultural exchange through tourism
• Alcoholism, drug-peddling sex-trade have become
  major ills in certain tourism destinations
• Food habits in particular have seen major change
  leading to mass scale obesity across parts of the
  developing world in places where it didnt exist
  previously

13
Negative

• Cultural stereotyping as certain people are fixed
  by popular imagination to be expected to behave
  in a certain manner the opposite disappoints
  the tourist
• Dilution of local cultures when contact with
  bigger, more powerful ethnic communities

14
Negative

• Community cultural programmes are inimical to
  certain beliefs have a significance for the
  local people but tourism commercial pressures
  have forced people to replicate cultural events
  on a regular basis even at times where the
  significance does not exist
• eg travelers to New Zealand expect to see the
  Maoris to perform the Haka (war dance) at any
  time of their pleasure in exchange of money

15
Economic Impacts
16
Positive

• Ready made market now available for sale of
  locally made commodities raw materials
• Destination awareness spawns an entire gamut of
  job opportunities through tour operators, travel
  agents, drivers, shop keepers selling various
  kinds of commodities, service providers etc.
• Improved income for state through local taxes
  like luxury, sales property
• Multiplier effect

17
Negative

• Due to tourist inflow cost of local commodities
  rises exponentially tourists may have high
  budgets, but locals get priced out
• Off season unemployment or underemployment (more
  likely) as too much dependence on1 sector for too
  many people
• 1 bad year due to some unforeseeable happening
  may lead to complete economic ruin of the area

18
Negative

• Hype of certain local commodities means they all
  get exported to urban upper class markets within
  or outside the country locals dont get to
  consume traditional quality products grown on
  their own backyard
• eg best grapes from Nashik all get exported or
  made into wine, locals no longer get best grapes

19
Technological Impacts
20
Positive

• Work has become more efficient in places through
  exposure by use of technology eg GPS trackers to
  predict coming of cyclones across the eastern
  coast of India, idea initially spawned through
  tourism as such devices were used by tour
  operators in Sunderbans
• Tourism development plans have become more
  efficient through use of satellite image maps
  (GIS)
• Better security arrangements may be made

21
Negative

• Over- dependence on technology may lead to
  unemployment as labour gets weeded out
• Certain skills become redundant too early

22
Multiplier Effect

• Multiplier is a factor of proportionality that
  measures how much an endogenous variable changes
  in response to a change in some exogenous
  variable
• Endogenous variable is one which originates
  within the system
• Exogenous variable is one which originates
  outside the system
• It is the effect where the addition of certain
  variables leads to an exponential impact

23
Tourism Multiplier

• In tourism sector, per unit of direct spending in
  the sector leads to generation of investment many
  times more
• Spending may be divided as- primary, secondary
  induced
• Primary is the direct expenditure
• Secondary is the derived expenditure resulting
  from related activities
• Induced is the spending which results from an
  automatic rise in living standards which arises
  out of the above 2 causes

24
Tourism Multiplier

• Multiplier effect is more high in tourism than
  in most other sectors because of the
  labour-intensive nature of the industry
• Effect is greater in underdeveloped countries
  with a greater dependence on tourism as a source
  of foreign exchange
• The spread of tourism revenue in an economy is
  usually more even due to the large number of
  players in the market
• Tourism revenue also stays within shores of a
  country, dos not get shipped out

25
Components of Primary Tourism Revenue

• Airfare
• Duties related to travel
• Local travel within tourism destinations
• Hotel fare
• Food consumed other expenses within hotel as
  part of lodging bill
• Spending at historical sites, national parks
  other places of interest specifically understood
  at tourism hotspots

26
Components of Primary Tourism Revenue

• Direct purchases from souvenir shops
• Commissions to tour operators, travel agencies,
  transport operators (who specially conduct
  tourism based modules), event management agencies
  etc.
• Toll taxes on tourism circuits

27
Components of Secondary Tourism Revenue

• Local travel as part of general public transport
• Spending on food other knick-knacks outside
  hotel or usual tourism circuit
• Spending on visits to unusual places, not famous
  for tourism
• As security is beefed up, security agencies
  mushroom
• Purchase of essentials local comforts while
  traveling
• Toll taxes on general roads
• Investment in tourism education by setting up of
  specialized institutes universities

28
Components of Induced Tourism Revenue

• Due to higher levels of income expenditure on
  more expensive, luxury products
• Exposure to foreign culture leads to investment
  in technology like internet

29
Measurement of Tourism Multiplier

• Orthodox method Multiplier (primary
  secondary)/primary
• Unorthodox method Multiplier (primary
  secondary)/initial expenditure

30
Thank You