• Analyse issues that affect the popularity of tourist destinations.
• Discuss the potential for responsible tourism to enhance the host community at worldwide tourist destinations.
Tourism is defined as the travel undertaken for a limited duration either for leisure, recreation, family, religious or business purposes (Papatheodorou, et al., 2012). The World Tourism Organisation has defined tourism as the activities which an individual undertakes in order to travel to or stay in places that are outside their usual environment, for a period not more than one consecutive year either for business, leisure or other purposes (Evans, et al., 2012). Travel and tourism is the fastest growing industry and makes a considerable contribution to world’s economy and employs the highest number of individuals. Depending upon the purpose tourism can be classified into three broad categories namely; leisure tourism, business tourism and visiting friend and family tourism (Evans, et al., 2012). However with people becoming more and more concerned about their society and its well being, responsible tourism and volunteering tourism are two forms of tourism that is gaining popularity at a fast pace.
Tourism is the fastest growing industry, more and more new businesses coming up and more and more people are getting involved in it. Places acts as products in this case and like any other business it needs effective marketing strategies in order to create an awareness of product specialities (Hall, et al., 2003). Word of mouth publicity plays the most vital role in tourism. PESTLE Analysis helps determining the macro-environment of an industry and can be used to analysing the factors that affect the popularity of tourist destinations.
Use of Tourism as a political tool: At some tourist destinations tourism is used as a political tool and is used in political war decreasing the popularity of the place (Dwyer & Forsyth, 2010). Myanmar is an excellent example where internal and external political forces shape the tourism of the place and has become a highly contested and visible political issue.
Growth of nationalism and religious fundamentalism: It also leads to a decline in the popularity of a tourist destination as it imposes a threat to security. Recent attacks on Asian in Australia is an example of cases which imposed a threat on tourists of specific nationality
Economics: Economic health of a tourist destination greatly impacts its popularity (Dwyer & Forsyth, 2010). Destinations with strong economy possess the ability to invest in infrastructure and providing high quality facilities to the tourists. However a strong economy indicated strong value of currency which creates an affordability issue for tourists. For example, Europe which is a very popular tourist destination owing to its infrastructure, facilities and natural beauty however affordability is the primary concern associated with the place.
Sustainability: As people are becoming more and more concerned about the well-being of their society and environment they are looking for sustainability in tourism such that it does not create any negative impact on the society, environment and economy (Vodopivec & Jaffe, 2011). Lesser the efforts made by tourist destinations to ensure sustainability lesser is the popularity.
Human Right: As tourism is developing as the biggest economic sector worldwide protecting human rights of the local community of tourist destinations has become a serious issue (travelmatters, 2014). Use of child labour, forced labour, prostitution, human trafficking etc, are some of the activities which are threat to the popularity of the destination.
Ethics: Unethical activities such as cheating customers by charging them hire amount, selling them fake products, providing services that does not meet specified standards, thefts, sale of drugs without licence etc considerable reduce the popularity of tourist destinations (travelmatters, 2014).
Terrorism: Terrorism creates a threat in the minds of people completely destroying the popularity of a tourist destination (Clavé & Wilson, 2013). Best example of this is Kashmir Valley in India which is beautiful as heaven however presence of terrorist activities in the place has greatly reduced its popularity as a tourist destination.
Conflict with agriculture: In order to maintain the popularity of tourist destinations it must be ensured that tourist activities should not be in conflict with agriculture (travelmatters, 2014). Recent report on tourism in Bali reveals how the agriculture of the place is struggling due to diminishing water resources which is being overexploited to meet the rising demands of tourism.
Trade links and Sports Links: Popularity of a tourist destination is enhanced by its strong trade links and sports links as these appear as added attractions to tourists (Page, 2012). Australia is recognised worldwide for its specialised trade links and sports links making the place a highly popular tourist destination.
Role of Media: Media plays a vital role in creating awareness of a tourist destination. Greater the recommendations made by the media greater will be the popularity of the place (Rodgers, 2001). Greater the information provided on media greater is the willingness to visit the place.
Advancement: Destinations that provide high-tech facilities like are most sought after destinations. Places that have telephone networks, internet connection, process automations etc are considered safe as compared to remote locations.
Climate: Climate and popularity of tourist destinations goes hand in hand (Zainal, et al., 2012). Most of the tourist destinations are preferred in a particular season only. For example, places that are famous for their beaches are less popular during summers while popularity of hill stations increases during this season. Some places are popular for their beauty during rainy season while some are avoided specially during rains. Places that face extremes of climatic conditions are generally not preferred for tourism, for example, Antarctica and Greenland.
Global Warming: Global warming also has a considerable impact on tourism and greatly affects the popularity of tourist destinations (Rodgers, 2001). Small islands and coastal regions that depend on tourism as their main source of living are under great threat as global warming is resulting in a rise in sea levels which will slowly submerge these destinations. Venice is an example of such destination which is facing threat of rising sea level (Mack, 2012). Global warming causes various other problems like desertification and the scarcity of water in hot destinations, deforestation and harm of biodiversity in destinations famous for their wildlife and melting of snow and glaciers in destinations famous of snow covered mountains and ski activity.
Arctic Flows and Ocean Current: Popularity of coastal regions is greatly affected by arctic flows and ocean currents (Page, 2012). Flow of water in case of oceanic currents is disturbed owing to winds, tides and differences in water density making the destinations unsafe.
Natural Disasters: Natural disasters have devastating effects on the popularity of the tourist destinations not only because it destroys the infrastructure of the place but also creates a fear in the heart of tourist about the place (Singh, 2008). 2003 hurricane in Grenada and 2004 tsunami in South East Asia are still remembered by tourist while planning their travel to such areas. People still avoid such places completely destroying their popularity as a tourist destination.
Laws and Legislations: Government rules and regulations of a tourist destination greatly affect its popularity (Clavé & Wilson, 2013). Greater the restriction and legal formalities lesser will be the demand. For example, Andaman and Nicobar Islands are recognised worldwide for its naturally beautiful seas however the laws of the place prohibit people from using private transports; everything closes by 7pm in the evening due to which the place appears dull and has no night life thus, fails to attract too many tourists.
There are a number of ways by which it can be analysed that the popularity of a tourist destination is being affected namely; increase or decrease in the visitor numbers directly indicate a rise of decline in the popularity of a place, statistical data related to various resources of the place, economic data that shows the contribution made tourism to strengthen the economy of the place, number of tourist generated by the place in peak seasons and world distribution (Page, 2012).
One of the major impacts of increase in tourism activities at a tourist destination is the decline in the quality lifestyle of the host communities (Rodgers, 2001). There are many examples where an increase in rise of tourism interferes with the day to day life of local people and also is also effecting the environment adversely. Venice is a place that is almost sinking under the weight of tourism, another example being Bali where water resources are being used to meet the needs of increased tourist resulting in considerable water shortage for agricultural use.
Responsible tourism is the answer to all such problems and has the potential to enhance the host communities at worldwide tourist destinations. Responsible Tourism is the approach of managing tourism in a way that leads to maximisation of social, economical and environmental benefits which minimising the cost of the destinations (Leslie, 2012). Responsible tourism aims at creating places that are better to live and better to visit. It helps the host communities by improving the quality of their lives which has been disturbed by tourism. It helps ensuring that the tourism has minimum impact on the culture and environment of the host communities. It helps satisfying the needs of host communities and the present tourists while ensuring their needs will be protected and enhanced in the future (Spenceley, 2012). Responsible tourism is highly recommended as it helps enhancing the sustainability to the tourism sector of the destination. In order to take advantage of this fast growing industry it is important to ensure the environment and culture of the host communities is preserved (Leslie, 2012). Apart from preserving the environment and culture it helps enhancing economical growth, creating employment opportunities for local people, women empowerment, and conservation of natural resources, growth or agriculture and development of a strong infrastructure.
Responsible tourism like any other form of tourism has its own problems and implications such as adverse impacts to environment and climate change as it also involves air travels and other means of transportation (Leslie, 2012). At times responsible tourism results in too much interference with the wildlife and biodiversity of the tourist destinations causing huge damage to the host communities. It also interferes with the culture and ways of living of the local people reducing their quality of life. One of the most effective ways of managing the problems associated with responsible tourism is encouraging people to travel to nearby places instead of places that are far away. This will help reducing all forms of pollution created by means of transportations and will also help conserving natural resources. These problems can also be managed by ensuring that only limited numbers of tourists are allowed to travel to places that are under threat due to excessive rise in tourist activities.
References
Clavé, S. A. & Wilson, J., (2013) Geographies of Tourism: European Research Perspectives. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing.
Dwyer, L. & Forsyth, P., (2010) Tourism Economics and Policy. London: Channel View Publications.
Evans, N., Stonehouse, G. & Campbell, D., (2012) Strategic Management for Travel and Tourism. New Jersey: Taylor & Francis.
Hall, C. M., Timoth, D. J. & D. T. D., (2003) Safety and Security in Tourism: Relationships, Management, and Marketing. New Jersey: Routledge.
Leslie, D., (2012) Responsible Tourism: Concepts, Theory and Practice. Burlington: CABI.
Mack, B., (2012) Tourism overwhelms vanishing Venice. [Online]
Available at: https://www.dw.de/tourism-overwhelms-vanishing-venice/a-16364608
[Accessed 2014].
Page, S., (2012) Tourism Management. New Jersey: Routledge.
Papatheodorou, D. A., Forsyth, P. P. & Graham, D. A., (2012) Aviation and Tourism: Implications for Leisure Travel. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd..
Rodgers, J., (2001) Advanced Travel and Tourism. Oxford: Heinemann.
Singh, L., (2008) Fundamental Of Tourism And Travel. New Delhi: Gyan Publishing House.
Spenceley, A., (2012) Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation and Development. Hamburg: Earthscan.
travelmatters, (2014) What is Ethical Tourism?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.travelmatters.co.uk/ethical-tourism/
[Accessed 2015].
Vodopivec, B. & Jaffe, R., (2011) Save the World in a Week: Volunteer Tourism, Development and Difference. European Journal of Development Research, 23(1), pp. 111-128.
Zainal, A. et al., (2012) Current Issues in Hospitality and Tourism: Research and Innovations. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
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