IMPACT OF TOURISM AND MAINTAINING SUSTAINABILITY

INTRODUCTION
ECONOMIC:
Tourism has been traditionally viewed as a great force in promoting
understanding among nations and, within the national boundaries, facilitating
emotional integration. But its economic importance 1s less commonly
understood. It is only in recent years, in particular the latter half of the 20th
century, that tourism has been accepted as an important catalyst for economic
development. It is in terms of its contribution to employment generation,
foreign exchange earnings, incomes generation and output growth that tourism
has significant impact on our economy. It is because of this significance that
tourism got the status of an industry in the 7th Five Year Plan (1985-90).

HOW IT HELPS:
EMPLOYMENT

INCOME

FOREIGN EXCHANGE EARNING

EMPLOYMENT:

In assessing the economic impact of tourism, let us first turn to employment.

The Government of India's National Action Plan for tourism mentions that
during 1989-90 the tourism industry in India generated direct employment of
5.5 million persons and another 8 million who were employed indirectly.
Further the projection is that employment opportunities should be at least
double the present level by 2000 AD. Tourism industry has tremendous capacity
to create both, direct and indirect employment. starting from hotels to various
tour operators, tourist offices, transport operators, tourist guides; etc. it provides
direct employment to various categories of people. If we proceed to take into
account the indirect employment generation through tourism
INCOME:

The employment and income effects of tourism are very closely inter-related
and follow a common source, namely, tourist expenditure. Income in general
comes from wages and salaries, interest, rent and profits. Tourism gives rise to
numerous demands for goods and services, as for example, accommodation,
food and drinks, long distance and local transport, entertainment, shopping,
guides for sight-seeing, etc. Not only does the tourist expenditure provide direct
income to all these different services, but it also generates employment in
hotels, restaurants, transport operators and workers, travel agents and their
employees, owners of entertainment houses and those who work there e.g.
bearers, artists and many other like craftsmen and souvenir makers. The extent
to which direct employment and income is generated in each of these services
depends on the:

 volume of tourist traffic

 amount of tourist expenditure
 pattern of their spending

Tourism also generates an immense volume of indirect employment and income

with a multiple effect. Apart from the first recipient of the tourist money, there
are many others who become beneficiaries.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE EARNING:

The estimates of the RBI are usually available after a two year gap. The
Department of Tourism, Government of India works out quick estimates every
year by multiplying the number of tourist arrival every year by the estimated per
capita expenditure of a foreign tourist. The annual rate of growth in earning
from tourism in 1991-92 was 16.5 per cent as against 12.7 per cent in the world
tourism growth rate. According to the United Nations report on The Economic
Impact of Tourism on India it has been noticed that the tourism receipt m dollar
terms has declined even when there has been an increase in "tourist arrivals".
The possible 1 I reasons for such a phenomenon are:

High rate of devaluation of Rupee in the recent past, rise in the proportion of
budget tourists, and leakage of money into black market due to the existence of
premium for foreign currency, etc.
The value of goods or services imported to meet the tourism needs is termed as
leakage. The more the leakage the less is foreign exchange earnings and less
leakage means more foreign exchange earnings. We must look into the factors
responsible for leakage:

 Costs incurred to import goods and material for infrastructure like air
conditioned coaches, planes, airport equipment, etc.
 Foreign exchange spent on publicity, promotions, setting of Tourist
Offices abroad etc.
 Entry of multinationals reduces profits and taxes in the host country since
payments are made m tourist origin country
 Commissions paid by tour operators etc to foreign retailers
 Reduction in or exemption of duties and taxes by host countries on
foreign companies, etc.

SOCIAL, POLITICAL, CULTURAL, AND ENVIORMENTAL:

It is natural for people belonging to different cultures, life styles or social

settings to interact, and leave an impact on each other. In tourism this happens
at a massive level. Tourists may explore the social life at the destinations,
whereas the host population attempts to imitate the lifestyle of the tourists. This
is generally termed as the positive impact of tourism which can be described in
terms of: friendship, learning from each other, better understanding among
people, and their social development.

SOCIO-CULTURE IMPACT:

Among the most debated issues pertaining to the tourism in the Third World are
those related to the effects that tourists and the industry have on societies and
cultures of local communities, A general argument is that tourism contributes to
international understanding and harmony. On the contrary it has severely
effected indigenous customs and ways of life in certain cases.

Tourists expect a glimpse of 'native culture' during their visit. Travellers have
traditionally been welcomed, in most societies, to join and participate in rituals,
ceremonies and performances - such as harvest festivals, marriages and other
rites de passage. With growing numbers of tourists now demanding such
participation as a 'right', Third World countries offer 'cultural shows' devoid of
intrinsic meaning. This phenomenon is known as 'staged authenticity'

The demonstration effect, therefore, contributes to deepening the real as well as

the perceived gulf between the tourist and the host. It creates conditions where
residents may try to copy tourist behaviour and spending patterns, at the same
time resenting their inability to do so and lacking comparable purchasing power.
At many destinations social tensions emerge in the form of:

 Increase in begging
 Prostitution
 Cheating
 Mugging of tourists
 Drug peddling.
ENVIORMENTAL IMPACT:

Water

Atmosphere

Vegetation
Human Settlement

Monument

Wildlife

POLITICAL IMPACT:

The links between tourism and politics in many Third World nations are almost
inevitable. Given the need to boosting images of their sagging regimes and
fattened bureaucracies, politicians often see the tourism industry as a direct way
of gaining powerful friends, including Western governments, ad agencies and
investors. A healthy balance of payments can be achieved by prominently
displaying gross earning from tourism, which in turn can be used to obtain aid
and investments. On the part of the critics, they have emphasised several aspects
of tourism that have political implications, some of which are:

 The relationship of 'master-slave' between tourists and locals, akin to that

of collateral realities,
 The priority given to external assistance, investments and imports, over
and above developing local capabilities, enterprise and production,
 That a priority for tourism takes budgetary allocations away from social
sectors such as education, health, sanitation and provision of other basic
necessities,
 That tourism being of a volatile nature, over-dependence on it can be
dangerous for a country's future development which ought to be more
diversified, less mono-cultural,
 The lack of protection for workers in the tourism industry

EMERGING TRENDS OF TOURISM:

 Bleisure Travel
  Automation
 Mobile Bookings
 Personalization
 Tech-Empowered Travel
 Sustainable Tourism
 Active Ecotourism
 Transformative Travel
 Experience Tourism
 Wellness Travel
 Longer Trips
 Staycation

Bleisure Travel: Bleisure travel is a growing tourism trend where people

extend their business travel to leisure activities. These business-leisure trips
can either be pre-planned, whereby clients schedule their vacation within the
same period of a job-related trip. Companies may also offer their workers
some tourist experiences during work trips.
On the other hand, this can come as an afterthought. Once the meetings,
professional conferences, and other work engagements are over, business
travellers may decide to extend their stay and explore their destination.
Automation: Gone are the days when booking a trip required clients to make
a phone call, speak directly to a service provider, or walk into the supplier’s
office for face-to-face negotiation.
Digitization has led to a rise in online bookings. Not only has this
made advertising cheaper for travel companies, but also customers are
enjoying and increasingly prefer the convenience it offers.
Booking systems help tour & activity providers automate their processes and
be more effective by adopting cutting-edge technologies. Long gone are the
days when you are using spreadsheets, pen and paper to manage your
reservations: booking systems do it all automatically, save your time and
money.
Mobile Bookings: Another important aspect when it comes to digitization
is mobile bookings.
Operators report that 2 in 5 online bookings are made on mobile devices.
These Smartphone shoppers are also more valuable to your business because
of the following reasons:
 They spend 50% more on tours and activities per trip.
 They average 2.9 tours per trip.
 They are twice as likely to leave online reviews.
Personalization: Personalization is also important when it comes to the
actual tour or activity. By offering flexible experiences that can be tailored to
a traveller’s needs, you stand a chance of better satisfying your clients, and
that can lead to repeat visits. Your priority should, therefore, be on offering
customer-oriented services.
It starts right from the time they see your advert on social media or your
website. The messaging should resonate with what the client prefers. Travel
and tour suggestions can be offered according to, for instance, what the
customer has been browsing on the internet. This is possible to set up using
specialized marketing tools and ad platforms like Google and Face book.
Tech-Empowered Travel: In the coming year, tech innovations will
continue to bring ease to the travel experience. The top five technologies that
would increase confidence to travel in the next 12 months are:
 Mobile applications that provide on-trip notifications and alerts (44%)
 Self-service check-in (41%)
 Contactless mobile payments, e.g., Apple Pay (41%)
 Automated and flexible cancellation policies (40%)
 Mobile boarding (40%)
The first step for technology-empowered travel experience is a website.
However, to make sure your customers can easily find you in the search
engines, it is important to care about your SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
metrics. Try our free SEO Grader tool to learn how your website performs
and get free recommendations on how you can improve it.
Sustainable Tourism: Countries are urged to accelerate climate action in
tourism. So encouraging sustainable tourism practices and environmental
initiatives is of utmost importance for the resilience of the sector. “climate
emergency is a bigger threat than Covid”. As international travellers become
aware of this crisis, they come to believe that people need to take action now
and make sustainable travel choices in order to save the planet and preserve it
for future generations.
Active Ecotourism: Active Ecotourism is another trend that has emerged in
response to the calls for more sustainable and thoughtful tourism. It
encourages combining the passion for travel with direct involvement in
conservation and supporting the local environment.
Transformative Travel: This is a new tourism trend that’s quickly gaining
popularity. Transformative travel is about not just travelling for leisure but
also aiming to make a difference in both the lives of others and oneself.
Experience Tourism: Experience tourism is on the rise. This trend is about
having a once-in-a-lifetime experience or gaining an emotional connection
with cultures and nature.
As travellers get tired or bored of cookie-cutter vacations in touristy hot
spots, they begin looking for an authentic experience in their travel
destination. They can easily go for a brand that will allow them to mingle
with the locals and experience the culture of the people.
Wellness Travel: These are travellers looking for an enriching experience
with the primary purpose of achieving, promoting, or maintaining the best
health and sense of well-being and balance in life.
Longer Trips: With international travel returning to some degree, tourists
are starting to dream about extended long-distance trips again. While
countries are advocating for less air travel, this trend will allow people to
travel less but better.
Staycation: Staycation is another trend that gained popularity during the
pandemic. It represents a holiday spent in one’s home country or home rather
than abroad. Often involves day trips for exploring local attractions and
activities. This type of vacation is ideal for people who are feeling the need
of escaping out of their homes

Principles of Ecotourism
Ecotourism is about uniting conservation, communities, and sustainable
travel. This means that those who implement, participate in and market
ecotourism activities should adopt the following ecotourism principles:
 Minimize physical, social, behavioural, and psychological impacts.
 Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect.
 Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts.
 Provide direct financial benefits for conservation.
 Generate financial benefits for both local people and private industry.

ALTERNATIVE TOURISM
Ecotourism
Ecotourism is now defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that
conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and
involves interpretation and education” (TIES, 2015). Education is meant to
be inclusive of both staff and guests.

Senior Citizen Tourism

According to Antunes (2012), senior tourism can be defined as “the
practice of activities and experiences by people over 55 years of age,
outside of their daily lives, without dependent children and for a
minimum period of 24 hours and for undefined time”
The main characteristic that defines a senior tourist is his age, this is
what differentiates him from other tourists. In this sense, a senior tourist
for some authors is one who is over 65 years of age, for others it is one
who is 55 years of age or older.

The “senior” category is often divided into two subgroups: the younger
seniors from 55 to 64 years old and the older seniors from 65 and older.
When it comes to travelling, senior tourists are looking for a destination
that helps them maintain their physical, mental and social well-being, as
well as increase their personal enrichment, so that they can best face the
challenges of their old age (such as the case of loneliness).

Wild Life Tourism

Wildlife tourism refers to the observation and interaction with local
animal and plant life in their natural habitats.
It encompasses segments such as eco-tourism, safari tours and mountain
tourism among others. Wildlife watching tourism occurs mainly in
protected areas.
Wildlife represents biodiversity, essential for our health and the well-
being of the whole planet. We live in an interconnected ecological
system, where each macro- and microorganism, whether animal, plant
or fish affects the other. Alteration of the natural habitat of any
organism will trigger a dynamo effect, so non-equilibrium in the
ecological system as a whole endangers the life cycle of many species.
Rural Tourism
Rural tourism is a form of tourism that goes beyond city breaks and
popular tourist attractions

Rural tourism is travel to natural places that are non-urbanised; often

rely on agriculture and with low populations, such as villages and
cottages, home stays, farms, and ranches or eco lodges.

Possible activities when rural travelling are camping, hiking, outdoor

sports and spending time connecting with the nature.

It is related to ethical and sustainable tourism, travelling off the beaten

path, outdoor activities and sports and spending time in nature. It has a
great potential to make the travel more responsible and richer in
experience.

Ethnic Tourism

Ethnic tourism has now arrived on the tourist map of many a countries.
Policy-makers and planners, in many instances, have turned many
traditional! festivals and fairs into places of interest for the Ethnic
tourists. The later strive to have a closer contact and understanding with
the lifestyles, dresses, foods etc. of the people they visit.

Positive effect of Ethnic Tourism:

Economic Benefits: Economic benefit accruing to the inhabitants,

middlemen and the country as a whole is the same as happens in other
forms of tourism. More employment, higher income, improved standard
of living etc. are some of the benefits. However, most of these benefits
go to' the people who are outside the ethnic groups visited by the
tourists.

Cultural Revitalization: In many instances Ethnic Tourism helps

revive the local people's interest and pride in their cultural traditions and
values. The homogenising influence of mass media and the hegemonic
culture generally tend to push the local folk traditions into oblivion.

Negative effect of Ethnic Tourism:

Commoditisation of Ethnic and Cultural Products: It is

stressed that as a form of special interest tourism, Ethnic Tourism ' 2 has
folk traditions as its basis. But the problem starts when the local culture
itself is treated as a commodity.

The Natives Assume Artificial Behaviour: The Ethnic tourist

searches, for "authentic" manifestations of local culture since social and
cultural changes are always occurring. what the tourist is looking for
may not be actually available. The local traditions popularised among
the tourists by brochures and travelogues may actually have undergone
some changes. In that case there exists a hiatus between the tourist's
desire and real situation

Space Tourism
Space tourism is another niche segment of the aviation industry that
seeks to give tourists the ability to become astronauts and experience
space travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes. Since space
tourism is extremely expensive, it is a case of a very small segment of
consumers that are able and willing to purchase a space experience.
There are several options for space tourists
Space tourism, recreational space travel, either on established
government-owned vehicles such as the Russian Soyuz and
the International Space Station (ISS) or on vehicles fielded by private
companies. Since the flight of the world’s first space tourist, American
businessman Dennis Tito, on April 28, 2001, space tourism has gained
new prominence as more suborbital and orbital tourism opportunities
have become available