Contemporary Issues in Tourism

This presentation discusses the contemporary issues in the tourism industry, including technological advancements, increase in environmental awareness, and the need for increased security. It explores the impact of these issues on the industry and provides strategies to overcome them and ensure sustainable growth. The presentation also highlights the importance of addressing these challenges for the development of the tourism industry.

Contemporary
Issues in Tourism

Introduction
 Tourism Industry can be considered as an important driver of the economy of a nation
 Tourism can be understood as a short term or temporary movement of individuals
from the place they reside and work to a different place for the purpose of leisure and
travelling
 While travelling the tourists would patronize the facilities and services of the places
they travel to and stay induring their tour
 Tourists can be understood as individuals who travels for holidays, recreation, sports,
health, family reasons, business purposes or to delegate conferences or meetings.
 Tourists generally stays for atleast 24 hours or overnight in the host destination but
stays less than 1 year
 Individuals such as diplomats, emigrants, representatives at consulates and
individuals workin in armed forcs and humanitarian forces cannot be considered as
tourists.
 Types of tourists: International, domestic and regional

Challenges faced by Tourism
Industry:
 Tourism is a volatile industry
 The industry can be significantly affected by various
factors such as economic, political, social,
environmental, technological.
 Each of these factors can impact the movement and
accommodation of tourists and their experiences
 The three main issues that is currently faced by the
tourism industry that would be discussed are:
 Technological advancement
 Increase environmental awareness
 Increased security

Global Tourism Issue No. 1
Technological advancements
 This is a major factor that has impacted tourism
 Technological advancements have helped Aviation and Hospitality industries to
provide better services to the customers
 Online platforms have given significant opportunities for growth to the tourism
industry
 With search engines and social media, the customers are able to explore their
destinations thoroughly and plan their vacations in a much better way
 Online platforms also provides a vitual experience to the customers before they
start their tour and thus have helped the tourism sector
 Online platforms have also allowed the tourism business to reach to more
customers across the globe and therefore improved communication between
the business and customers/tourists
 Online advertisements can also allow customers more freedom of choice as
they can select the most appropriate service to suit their needs in terms of
service quality, price and travel plan.

Global Tourism Issue No. 1
(continued)
 Technology have significantly penetrated the tourism industry
and it has help the businesses to grow significantly
 On the other hand, improper implementation of technology
have also adverse;y impacted businesses.
 Tourism industries should therefore adapt to the technological
advancements and understand the best strategies to use
technology in order to foster further growth of the industry.
 Economic Costs/Concerns:
 Technology can be expensive to be implemented and used in an
organization.
 Factors such as the cost of equipment's, installing or implementing
technology and training employees on the new technologies are
significant cost that needs to be incurred by the businesses

Global Tourism Issue No. 1
(continued)
 Response of the local businesses to technological advancements:
 The local businesses have also started using technology in their business.
 However, small businesses often uses the cheaper technologies due to lower
affordability and economic strength of the business.
 Several local businesses are already using online platforms and social media
platforms for their marketing campaigns and to reach more customers.
 Technology and Local Business:
 Usage of technology in local business is limited to the less expensive and cheaper
ones
 This opens up scope ofr large businesses to use more sophisticated and advanced
technologies
 The local businesses generally target local customers or customers who can access
their service locally or directly and generally they market to existing customers
 Local business often depend on cheaper innovations which are less expensive to
use or implement

Global Tourism Issue No. 1
(continued)
 Strategies: The following aspects are mainly considered while
using technology
 Price of the technology
 Mobility of the business due to the technology
 Return on investment
 Market Segments impacted by advancing technologies:
 By Age: People from all age groups have access to internet and online
platforms. The marketing is generally focused on people between 10 to 70
years of age.
 By Demography: Technology have allowed to reach out to customers all
over the globe and to different demographics
 By Behavior: and psychology Customers who likes to travel for various
purposes (casual, leisure, business, or profession related) are being mainly
targeted

Global Tourism Issue No. 2
Increase In Environmental Awareness
 There is an increasing awareness among the tourists
about global climate change issues
 International tourists are showing increasing concerns
about erratic weather phenomenon and natural disasters
all over the world
 Tourism activities have also been associated with an
increase in pollution and waste production, especially in
remote tourist areas
 Uncontrolled tourism can also cause environmental and
ecological degradation as well as cause inconvenience to
local communities
 Safety and environmental protection are therefore
important consideration for the tourists and the tourism
industry

Global Tourism Issue No. 2
(continued)
 Environmental degradation not only damages the
aesthetic value of a place, it also adversely impact
tourism in those areas
 Moreover, pollution and environmental degradation
can also increase risks of different diseases and health
conditions which in turn can also adversely impact
tourists
 Pollution can cause contamination of air, water and
land and also can impact the health and wellbeing of
people, including the tourists
 Increased litter, garbage and waste can cause
inconvenience to the local communities and can cause
conflict between the tourists and local communities

Global Tourism Issue No. 2
(continued)
 Many tourism companies have therefore adopted the idea of
green tourism, eco-tourism and environmentally friendly
tourism
 In these kinds of tourism, the business is run in a sustainable
way, ensuring that it does not adversely impact the
environment
 The tourists are also educated on how to minimize and prevent
environmental degradation by acting more responsibly
 This form of tourism also helps to involve the local
communities and helping their development
 Eco Tourism and Green Tourism helps to increase
environmental awareness and sensitivity and helps in the
conservation of the ecosystem
 Tourists who are more environmentally conscious are now
preferring such form of tourism businesses

Global Tourism Issue No. 2
(continued)
 Eco Tourism or Environmental Tourism can help to implement
environmental sensitivity in the industry
 This can ensure sustainability of the industry
 It can significantly help to develop the travel market further, providing
new tourism destinations
 Tourism businesses should rebrand their services to show their focus
on Green or Eco Tourism and thus exhibit their focus on environmental
sensitivity.
 Rebranding to Green or Eco-Tourism can help to attract
environmentally conscious travelers.
 Tourist destinations can respond to this initiative by:
 Developing policies on eco-tourism
 Educating the staff and employees on how to maintain environmental sensitivity
 Preventing the adverse impact of tourism on the environment
 Following the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle

Global Tourism Issue No. 3
Increased Security
 Security is an arrangement of safety against threats from
community and society
 With a rise in tourism, providing security has been a
major concern for the industry as well as local authorities
 Since thr tourists often spends a significant amount of
time in the tourist destinations, inadequate security
measure can put them in danger of various incidents
 Incidents such as terrorist attacks have also increased
across the world, including various tourist destinations
 These incidents have on several occasions caused injury
and death to the tourists as well as the local people

Global Tourism Issue No. 3
(continued)
 Terrorist activities can include violent crime against civilians or
giving threats and intimidation for political or personal
motives.
 In many cases, these terrorist acts have ben exclusively
targeted towards the tourists, especially western tourists
 Terrorist activities have jeopardized the safety of the people
and therefore have adversely impacted the growth of the
tourism industry
 Terrorist activities are aimed to gain a political advantage by
actually harming or threatening to harm civilian, making the
government to agree to their terms and conditions
 In several cases, terrorists can also disguise themselves as
tourists to gain entry into a country

Global Tourism Issue No. 3
(continued)
 Terrorism therefore jeopardizes the safety and
wellbeing of the local communities, the tourists
as well as the government
 Several counties have developed stricter
immigration and travel laws and restrictions to
prevent the entry of terrorists. These
resections include:
 Stronger VISA laws
 Limiting the amount of time spent in the country
 Doing background verifications
 These strategies have adversely affected the
movement of tourists and therefore on the
tourism industry

Global Tourism Issue No. 3
(continued)
 To overcome the restrictions, tourism industry as well as
various tourist destinations have adopted approaches
that can help to promote tourism.
 Developing VISA friendly destinations
 Implementation of better surveillance system in hotel premises
 Using security staff
 Terrorism in several tourist destinations have also
significantly reduced the flow or tourists in those places
 Such tourists prefer safer destinations with fewer VISA
hassles so that they can enjoy their travels better
 Businesses that are able to address those safety and
comfort needs of tourists have had better success over
the years.

Conclusion:
 Tourism is a rapidly growing industry
 The industry faces several risks due to the dynamic nature of societies, cultures, politics
and environmental impacts
 In order to promote the development of tourism Industry, such aspects needs to be
addressed.
 The three main challenges for the tourism industry that were identified includes:
 Technological advancement
 Increase environmental awareness
 Increased security
 By addressing these challenges, tourism businesses can ensure their sustainability and
growth

References:
 Bac, DP, Bugnar, NG & Mester, LE 2015, ‘Terrorism and its impacts on the tourism
industry’ Revista Română de Geografie Politică, vol. 17, no.1, pp. 5-11.
 Coles, T 2015, ‘Tourism mobilities: still a current issue in tourism?’, Current Issues in
Tourism, vol.18, no.1, pp. 62-67.
 Gurtner, Y 2016, ‘Returning to paradise: Investigating issues of tourism crisis and disaster
recovery on the island of Bali, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, no. 28, pp. 11-19.
 Khan, A & Amelie, V 2015, ‘Assessing climate change readiness in Seychelles: implications for
ecosystem-based adaptation mainstreaming and marine spatial planning’, Regional
Environmental Change, vol.15, no. 4, pp. 721-733.
 Martin, D, Rosenbaum, M & Ham, S 2015, Marketing tourism and hospitality products worldwide:
Introduction to the special issue, viwed 24 Nov 2018, <
http://commons.lib.niu.edu/bitstream/handle/10843/18526/Marketing%20tourism%20and
%20hospitality%20products%20worldwide%20Introduction%20to%20the%20special
%20issue.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y>
 Tussyadiah, IP, Wang, D & Jia, CH 2017, ‘Virtual reality and attitudes toward tourism
destinations, In Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2017, pp. 229-239,
Springer, Cham.

Thank you