Contemporary Global Issues in Tourism.

Tourism is a significant industry globally, but it faces various challenges. This article explores the contemporary global issues in tourism, including technology advancement, safety and security, and environmental awareness. It discusses the impact of technology on the tourism industry, the importance of safety and security, and the need for environmental awareness. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for institutions in the tourism industry to understand these issues and implement the necessary strategies to remain competitive and relevant.

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Contemporary Global Issues in Tourism
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Introduction
Tourism plays a huge role in the economic development of every country. It remains to be the
largest, attractive, and most dynamic industry globally. As such, it is faced by various challenges
that need to be put into consideration for the industry to keep on thriving. Technology
advancement, economic crisis, and safety and security are the three main contemporary issues
affecting tourism worldwide.
Technology advancement
Technology advancement has shaped the field and dimensions of tourism to a larger extent. With
the current age of globalization, every organization needs to embrace the new technology that is
being introduced in the market every day. Technological change and innovation are central to
enhancing operations of the business hence improving the experience of tourists (Xiang, 2018, p.
148). Transport and communication technologies are the two main technological drivers that
influence globalization to a vast scale. Transport technology has enhanced the growth of the
tourism sector by cutting down the monetary as well as time-related costs of travel. Due to its
ability to break down geographical constraints and boundaries it has been regarded as a ‘space
shrinking technology’. Communication technology, on the other hand, has significantly
improved the capacity and speed of communication between tourists and organizations. The
synergy created by the high processing power and speed of the computers as well as the
transmission competencies and efficiency of the digital media has seen the industry expand. The
revolution that has been experienced in global communications has allowed affordable and fast
international communication leading to expansion of the tourism industry (Wahab, 2017, p. 261).

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Technological advancement, therefore, influences immensely the success of the tourism sector. If
an organization fails to keep up with the innovations, it will fail to remain competitive within the
industry (Nordin and Hjalager, 2017, p. 173). However, those that have invested in technology
they have experienced many breakthrough and attracted many customers. For instance, most of
the aviation and hospitality institutions now provide the option of advanced booking reservation.
The role of the social media also cannot be overlooked especially the use of search engines by
the tourists to determine the best destination. Therefore, they can make connections with the host
institutions and plan for all the requirements. As such, every organization in the tourism industry
need to understand the dynamics of the new technology and any changes occurring, and hence
take the necessary measures for it to remain competitive globally (Nordin and Hjalager, 2017, p.
168).
Safety and security
Safety and security remain to be an indispensable condition for the tourism industry. Although
safety and security have been a major issue for a more extended period, currently it has gained
much attention. Such acts as terrorists’ attacks, pandemics, epidemics, natural disasters, and local
wars have heightened the issue of security in the last two decades (Brondoni, 2017, p. 9). The
tourism industry is growing enormously on a regular basis, and people need to feel safe and
protected. The tourism sector as such is faced with a massive challenge of coming up with
security measures and strategies of ensuring their clients are secure. Although the security level
of any country cannot be 100%, the government of every nation has to come up with ways of
curbing unnecessary threats and attacks. Many tourists as they perform their search for a
destination, the first thing they consider is the political stability of that country. A country that is
faced with many insecurities is likely to make tourists to drawback thereby jeopardizing its

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economic and social order and also making the free movement of people to crumble (Brondoni,
2017, p. 13).
The 9/11 incident of terrorist attacks remains to be an excellent example of how the issue of
insecurity can affect the tourism sector drastically (Penic and Kurecic, 2017, p. 146). Although it
made many countries to introduce stringent security and safety measures in their operations,
more still is required to be done to tighten the security. For instance, many people regard the
Islamic nations and extremists to be a threat to tourist’s security. With the change of their
organizations and emergence of groups such as Al Shabaab in Africa, Tourism Tidbits, and Al
Qaeda they pose a significant threat to tourism globally (Walters, Wallin and Hartley, 2018, p.
475). Therefore, in many European and American countries, Muslim travellers undergo strict
frisking before entering a nation’s territory. An outbreak of diseases as well affects the industry.
For example, when cases of Ebola virus were reported in West Africa, the tourist flow in the
whole continent of Africa reduced. Therefore, its crucial for every country to implement the
necessary measures of curbing insecurity.
Environmental awareness
Tourism is influenced hugely by environmental drivers. The natural environment is the leading
global resource that attracts tourists to a specific destination. The more a country has unique and
attractive resources, the higher number of tourists it will draw. As such, any non-sustainable
practices that are detrimental to the environment in one region impacts significantly upon others
(Juvan and Dolnicar, 2017, p. 883). The World Tourism Organization (WTO), therefore, requires
every member country to implement essential measures that aim to prevent pollution of nature
from every kind of harm. With the increased globalization, several problematic issues concerning
the environment arise. Nowadays, the effectiveness of various regimes acting unilaterally has

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been reduced thereby weakening the groups set apart for regulating and preventing pollution.
Many of the emerging externalities are not usually addressed, and the issue of economic,
cultural, and environmental boundaries emerges (Joshi, Poudyal, and Larson, 2017, p. 829). As
such, the development of green tourism would go a long way in promoting a safe environment.
Environment awareness cuts across the tourism companies and the tourist as well. Every party
has a duty or responsibility of ensuring the environmental resources are protected, and any
wastage dumped properly. Its due to these natural resources that the tourism sector is growing
daily. Therefore, every effort to safeguard these unique habitats will significantly help in
maintaining the tourism sector at higher levels.
Conclusion
Tourism is one of the sectors that is growing tremendously over the years. It is a source of
income for many countries thereby promoting economic development. However, it’s still the
sector that is faced by many contemporary issues such as technology advancements, safety and
security, and environmental awareness. For any institution in this industry to keep on growing, it
has to understand these issues and implement the necessary strategies required to remain
competitive and relevant in the industry.

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References
Brondoni, S.M., 2017. Global Tourism and Terrorism. Safety and Security Management.
Symphonya. Emerging Issues in Management, (2), pp.7-16.
Joshi, O., Poudyal, N.C. and Larson, L.R., 2017. The influence of sociopolitical, natural, and
cultural factors on international tourism growth: a cross-country panel analysis.
Environment, Development and Sustainability, 19(3), pp.825-838.
Juvan, E. and Dolnicar, S., 2017. Drivers of pro-environmental tourist behaviors are not
universal. Journal of Cleaner Production, 166, pp.879-890.
Nordin, S. and Hjalager, A.M., 2017. Doing, using, interacting: Towards a new understanding of
tourism innovation processes. In Driving tourism through creative destinations and
activities (pp. 165-180). IGI global.
Penic, J. and Kurecic, P., 2017. Security as the key factor in contemporary tourism: specificities
identified through the analysis of responders’ attitudes. In Economic and Social
Development (Book of Proceedings), 23rd International Scientific Conference on
Economic and Social (p. 146).
Wahab, I.N., 2017. Role of information technology in the tourism industry: Impact and growth.
International Journal of Innovative Research in Computer and Communication
Engineering, 5(2), pp.260-263.
Walters, G., Wallin, A. and Hartley, N., 2018. The Threat of Terrorism and Tourist Choice
Behavior. Journal of Travel Research, pp. 472-485.

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Xiang, Z., 2018. From digitization to the age of acceleration: On information technology and
tourism. Tourism management perspectives, 25, pp. 147-150.