Travel and Tourism Sector Challenges

This assignment delves into the multifaceted challenges confronting the global travel and tourism sector. It examines the impact of issues such as climate change, terrorism, and the pursuit of sustainable tourism practices. The text emphasizes the need for collective action by industry stakeholders, including governments and international organizations, to address these concerns and ensure the long-term viability of the sector.

Running Head: Contemporary issues in Tourism
Table of Content:
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Global Tourism Issues............................................................................................................................3
Climate Change......................................................................................................................................3
What the industry needs to do..........................................................................................................3
Degradation of Destinations/Degradation of the biodiversity, ecosystems and landscapes.................4
What can be done.............................................................................................................................5
Disruption..............................................................................................................................................5
Preventive Measures the industry can take......................................................................................5
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................6
References:............................................................................................................................................7
Contemporary issues in Tourism
Global Issues affecting tourism

Global issues affecting tourism P a g e | 1
Introduction
Travel and tourism is touted to be a key sector for the economic development and job creation. In
the year 2016, travel and tourism directly contributed around US$2.3 trillion and offered 109 million
jobs worldwide, this is equal to 10.2% of the World’s GDP and approximately 1 out of 10 jobs.
Despite growth in travel and tourism industry, there are a lot of issues clouding the industry. In the
report we will be discussing on some of these issues (Mahrous & Hassan, 2016). For the purpose of
the report the issues identified for analysis are:
 Climate Change
 Destination Degradation
 Disruption

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Global Tourism Issues
Climate Change
Climate change has a great impact on travel and tourism, exposure to climate related risks such as
floods, crop failure, and rise in the sea level can have a huge impact on the valuation of tourism
property and the infrastructure. In a recent report from UNESCO, it is been pointed that there are 31
major attractions being under the risk due to climate change, it is pointed that these 31 attractions
are in danger due to melting glaciers, intense weather events, bad droughts, longer wildlife seasons,
rising seas and increase in temperature. Coastal destinations are one of the largest components of
global tourism; they are at risk due to rising sea level, floods, hurricanes, storms and acidification
due to climate change. The destination of winter sport is also getting hugely affected by
deterioration of snow conditions. The main risk to business comes from different demands of the
consumer and the viability of operations, at the same time travellers increasingly opt for different
destinations, thus leaving some tourism infrastructure at previously popular location unused assets
(Freitas, 2017)
The future of the sector will move to darkness, if alternate sources of energy or clean energy are not
found for aviation, the media scrutiny will increase if people believe that the tourism industry is not
looking for cleaner sources of energy. Hence it is the need of the hour to reduce the harmful
emissions on the ground and other harmful environmental and social effects. The ownership is on
the land transport and hotels as well to step up and mitigate the risk to the over tourism sector .
The Paris agreement which came into force the last year setting up a road for low carbon emission is
a step towards a positive change. It is also put forward that the increase in temperature has to fall
below 2 degree Celsius. The authorities have asked all the concerned organization and the countries
to report on their carbon emission and their implementation efforts (Leon & Arana, 2016)
What the industry needs to do
There are certain businesses and organizations which are ahead of the race by setting up of
ambitious targets based on the science of climate, green financing, internalising carbon pricing and
engaging in climate policy developments. A program which is set up by WWF, aims to support
business in adopting emissions reduction targets which are aligned to science and the climate
requirements. The industry has to be a part of such organizations to damask the effect of carbon
emissions (Rogerson, 2016)

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It is the need of the hour for travel and tourism sector to speed up its transactions towards a low
carbon future, in order to achieve this the goals have to be very much clear, the connections have to
be built across tourism sub industries and developing and implementing joined action plans.
Strong awareness has to be raised around the negative impact of climate change, it also has to be
measured and the progress in the sector has to be communicated. Hence, it can be said that to get
the transformation the travel & tourism sector has to collaborate across the entire value chain and
form new partnerships to expedite technological, policy and social innovation that will put the
tourism firmly on the pathways of a low carbon economy (Hall, 2015)
Degradation of Destinations/Degradation of the biodiversity,
ecosystems and landscapes
One of the major concerns for the travel and tourism sector is the ever fast degradation of the
landscapes, biodiversity and the natural ecosystem. Tourist travel to a destination depending on the
beauty and attractiveness of that place, if that sublimes or falls below the expected level, the tourist
is sure to get into disappointment and not spread a positive word of mouth about it, causing a
substantial loss in the revenue from tourism. The industry heavily relies on the beauty of the
destination which has natural and cultural resources, thus it is really important to build a strong
connect with the local communities who can realize the importance of destination management and
can contribute towards maintaining the beauty and preserving the natural resources (Jahan &
Rahman, 2016)
Two factors which seem to decrease the appeal of the destinations are commoditisation and
degradation; these factors are strong contributing attribute which makes the tourism popular. Travel
and tourism needs to play a proactive role out here and work with relevant international and
national stakeholders to provide sustainable livelihoods and secure the social and cultural integrity
at local levels. Incidents of overcrowding at certain destinations like Barcelona, Venice, Thailand
have contributed a lot towards deterioration in relationship with the local communities and have
also been linked with ruining the cultural heritage sites (Buckley, 2017)
What can be done
One of the strong reasons of degradation of the heritage sites and the landscapes is not having
proper ties with the local community, it is very important to maintain the cultural and social integrity
of destinations and show a positive contribution by promoting the benefits of decent work,

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economic growth, safeguard the destination and also address the negative impacts. Once this
concern is addresses there is a strong possibility of getting support from the local community, who
will do everything to preserve the natural heritage. Helping and letting the local economy is the only
way to survive in this sector (Boley & Green, 2016)
Disruption
It is of no doubt that the potential of tourism is immense, it has been forecasted that for at least 10
years the industry will grow at 4% (YOY). In the way of achieving this forecasted number, climate
change, destination degradation and epidemic diseases are the major obstacles. Adding to it is the
terror attacks which destroy the peace of the entire world.
Terror attacks stop a tourist from visiting that city or the country due to the fear crated around it, it
has been reported that 2014 and 2015 were the worst effected year due to terrorism and has hit
tourism industry the most. At the most time epidemic like Zika, stops tourist to enter a country due
to their health and safety reasons. Thus again hampering the growth of the sector (Goldman &
Shani, 2017)
In the recent pasts there have been many such incidents of terror attacks and violence which have
substantially reduced the terror flow in that state, thus depriving the local communities of their
livelihood and also hitting the economy by a whip. Such situations adversely affect the growth of
travel and tourism sector. The same situation occurs with epidemic, Zika virus disallowed people to
move freely across the borders, as they were under the risk of catching the virus and bringing it back
to their own country. This was a big blow to the economy as well. Hence, disruption by terror attacks
and epidemic disease adds up with climate change & degradation of the destination and serves a
major blow to the travel and tourism sector (Liu & Pratt, 2017)
Preventive Measures the industry can take
One of the very first few things industry can do is to speak up about the damages being caused to
the sector because of the increasing barriers to the trade and the restriction in the movement of
people, reduce the threats from climate change and also invest in the quality of staff while building
stronger communities.
The thinking on the issue has to be done by thinking of it as a global community, define the
economic growth and success and ensure the benefits of globalization.

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Safeguarding the interest of the local community and boosting their interest can go a long way in
strengthening of the travel and tourism sector (Tang & Tan, 2016)
Conclusion
Travel and tourism does not do good only for the economy, but it does the overall development of
the city, the state and the entire country, it does so much good to the local community and the
society that it becomes extremely important to take care of the natural heritage, the culture, the
ecosystem and the landscapes around. Many critical issues like change in the climate, degradation of
the destination, terror attack and epidemic diseases are already acting as factors of plague to the
industry, so now, if people don’t open the eyes to the danger of such issues, in not time the entire
sector will collapse causes a situation of Mayhem. Collective actions by the travel and tourism
authority and related sub industries like hotel, transport is required to build an impermeable wall
around the sector. Such actions will make people understand the severity of the situation and the
need for the hour to stand together and fight for it. Action and leadership is what even the UN states
are the attributes that can do well for this sector. Allowing freedom to travel, opening up the
borders and make the travel easier for people will go a long way in boosting the sector. The year
2017 is designated as the international year of sustainable tourism for the development by the
United Nations, and this comes at the time when the travel and tourism is provided with a great
opportunity to fight the challenges posed to it. Thus, if everyone comes together and works for the
collective good, the global issues clouding the sector can be done away with in no time.

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References:
Boley, B.B. and Green, G.T., 2016. Ecotourism and natural resource conservation: The ‘potential’for a
sustainable symbiotic relationship. Journal of Ecotourism, 15(1), pp.36-50.
Buckley, R., 2017. Tourism and Natural World Heritage: A Complicated Relationship. Journal of Travel
Research, p.0047287517713723.
de Freitas, C.R., 2017. Tourism climatology past and present: A review of the role of the ISB
Commission on Climate, Tourism and Recreation. International Journal of Biometeorology, 61(1),
pp.107-114.
Goldman, O.S. and Neubauer-Shani, M., 2017. Does international tourism affect transnational
terrorism?. Journal of Travel Research, 56(4), pp.451-467.
Hall, C.M., 2015. On the mobility of tourism mobilities. Current Issues in Tourism, 18(1), pp.7-10.
Jahan, N. and Rahman, S., 2016. Identifying the key factors influencing sustainable tourism in
Bangladesh: A Quantitative Analysis.
León, C.J. and Araña, J.E., 2016. The economic valuation of climate change policies in tourism: impact
of joint valuation, emotions, and information. Journal of Travel Research, 55(3), pp.283-298.
Liu, A. and Pratt, S., 2017. Tourism's vulnerability and resilience to terrorism. Tourism
Management, 60, pp.404-417.
Mahrous, A.A. and Hassan, S.S., 2016. Achieving Superior Customer Experience: An Investigation of
Multichannel Choices in the Travel and Tourism Industry of an Emerging Market. Journal of Travel
Research, p.0047287516677166.
Rogerson, C.M., 2016. Climate change, tourism and local economic development in South
Africa. Local Economy, 31(1-2), pp.322-331.
Tang, C.F. and Tan, E.C., 2016. The determinants of inbound tourism demand in Malaysia: another
visit with non-stationary panel data approach. Anatolia, 27(2), pp.189-200.