Tourism and Society: Impact, Relationship, and Sustainability

This essay explores the relationship between tourism and society, discussing the positive and negative impacts of tourism on society and the environment. It also highlights the need for sustainable tourism practices and analyzes factors that influence tourist behavior.

Essay Tourism and
Society

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The topic of this essay is tourism and society and the essay will highlight the relationship
between tourism and society. Tourism can be defined as travel either for business or pleasure.
Tourism is one of the vital component of global economy and it creates huge revenue and jobs
globally. Tourism play a significant role in developing countries economy. Tourism can impact
society in many ways because it helps in creating revenue and jobs in a country (Cardoso, 2020).
Tourism helps a society in improving the quality of life by providing jobs and improving the
economy. However, tourism also have negative impact on the society. Some activities of tourists
and tourism businesses effects adversely to the society values, culture and environment. Tourism
help society to come together, people from different countries, background and cultures meet
each other and it creates a cohesion in the society. But due to increasing competition it the
tourism industry many countries are losing their cultural identity. Due to globalisation many
villages and small towns are losing their ethnicity and are on the way of disney-fication of the
village or town. Also tourist have been a problem for environment of the host country. Tourist
create pollution and it effects the society negatively. But it also help environment positively.
Because of the tourism new national parks are built which help nature and animals in many
ways. It also helps in reducing air pollution. Overall tourism have both positive and negative
impact on the society (Moreno de la Santa, 2020). Tourism industry need to make few changes to
become completely sustainable industry. The sociology of the tourism is referred to the study of
process that help in defining roles, building relationships and generating motivation in tourists
By integrating sustainability in their practice the industry can provide mesmerising experience to
the industry.
MAIN BODY
Tourism refer to short term movement of people out from the place they normally live.
Purpose of the movement can be commercial or personal. Tourism industry in the United
Kingdom is growing and UK tourism is famous for providing quality service to tourists. The
term society refer to a group of people who have similar culture and values. Both society and
tourism can impact each other in many ways. The tourism sector in the country is developing at a
very good pace. Inbound tourism in the UK is fast growing sector in the industry. Number of
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tourist have increased globally because of increased number of paid holidays. Travelling has also
become cheap and convenient which increased the demand in tourism industry. The tourism
industry invested so much to fulfil these demands which helped whole industry to grow (Couret,
2020). Tourism life cycle is the modal which can help us to understand the development of the
tourism industry in the country. The model include six steps, exploration, involvement,
development, consolidation, stagnation and decline. Exploration in the area in which very few
people visit the place. Visitors find the place to visit and make all the arrangements on their own,
in this step local people are not looking to make money from the visitors. The second stage is
involvement, in this stage the number of visitors increase constantly and that's why the local
people identify the benefits from visitors in this step. Third stage in the process is development,
during this stage the place become popular among tourist. Investors and tourism companies start
investing in the area to grab the opportunities. In this stage local people are more likely to lose
their grip from the market. Tourism industry in the UK is on development stage and big investors
are investing in country. Consolidation is a stage in which number of visitors are higher them the
number of local residents. Tourism is this stage can impact negatively on society and economy.
In this step economy is dominated by the tourism industry. Consolidation drive stagnation in the
tourism, stagnation is a step where industry reach its maximum potential and can not grow more
(Wu and et.al., 2019). In this step repeat visitors are required to keep the market in balance. The
last stage in the process is decline. After stagnation the place lose its attraction and it face
difficulties in the market to survive. Local people's involvement can increase in his stage.
As we now tourism and society can impact each other in many ways and to analyse
environmental, social, economical and political factors we can use the PESTLE analysis. The
analysis can help us to understand each factor and its influence on the society. Political factors
include factors like government policies. These policies can impact entire tourism industry in
both positive and negative ways. If a government sets a policy which allow easy visa to
international visitors then it can help tourism industry positively. This can also influence society
because if so many visitors will visit the area then the place can move in consolidation stage
which can cause harm to economy and society. Economical factors like interest rates, currency
value and inflation can also influence the industry in many ways. Tourism industry plays a
important role in any nation economy. Economical factors decided the expense of a tourist for a
trip. Big difference in currency value can influence tourist idea to visit a country. Social factors
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include social beliefs, norms, culture and values. To create a sustainable business it is important
for businesses to maintain social factors. Tourism industry have a complex and changing
environment, societies taste and preferences change frequently and tourism businesses have to
adapt to these changes to maintain their place in the competitive market. Tourism also help
society in many ways. It help society in increasing quality of life and it also bring people from
different background together. Globalisation and increasing competition in the market effecting
societies culture and values (Litvin, 2019). It is also changing local people's ideology.
Technological factors can also impact the industry. Innovation and technology can change the
way a industry operate. Travel has become easy, affordable and convenient for people in last few
years. One of the main reason behind this is digitalisation. Internet has facilitate tourists to book
and review a hotel online. Businesses in this industry should keep an eye on new innovations
adopting these innovation before competitors can give the a competitive advantage in the
industry. Legal factors are factors which decides the way a business operate. Every business
should study the law to make sure that they are doing what is legally right. Environmental factors
like pollution, climate change and depletion of natural resources can impact any business or
industry. It also impact society in many ways. Tourism during consolidation and stagnation stage
can be harmful for environment. Tourist spots and places face increased pollution levels. It will
automatically increase the usage of natural resources from a particular place which also effects
negatively to the environment. A tourism business should focus on following sustainable practice
if the tourist visiting a place are causing pollution then it can be harmful for the local peoples.
Tourism have social benefits because it help in preserving local cultures tourist visit places to
know about different cultures which promote the local culture also it creates social cohesion.
Understanding tourist behaviour is very important for everyone in tourism industry. Tourism
creates so many jobs in the country which also helps in growing economy of a country. For
sustainable tourism business study of tourist behaviours and the typology of tourist is required.
There are basically two types of tourists in an economy. International tourists and domestic
tourists, tourists with a particular aim to visit etc. The decisions tourist makes are complex and
can be planned or unplanned (Prayag and Lee, 2019). Marketing can influence tourists when they
are choosing a service or product. Value of these services and products determine tourists
behaviour or decision. Tourists have expectations with the tour and services they receive during
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their journey. These expectations are formed by previous experiences, advertisements and
personal characteristics. Tourist attitude, perception and satisfaction also decides the way they
behave. Trust and loyalty are also important aspects in determining consumer behaviour. A
tourist can either have intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is when the
motivation arise from within the body. Some tourist travel because they want change in their life
and they travel to relax and enjoy. While people with extrinsic motivation travel because they get
motivate with some external factors like cheap price, advertisement. These travellers travel to
just spend their time. Intrinsic travellers feel more satisfied as compare to extrinsic travellers
with a tour (Korstanje and George, 2022). A authentic travel is important for creating best
experience for the travellers. Tourism is a modern quest for the authenticity and authentic travel
engage more tourists. Cultural differences also influence the tourism industry in so many ways.
Culture can also influence the behaviour of tourists. Every tourist destination face its rise and
fall, peoples taste and preferences change and in addition to that there are stages of a tourist
destination which determine the growth of the place. Destinations face falls and there can be
many reasons. For example, Hawaii is facing the fall in number to tourist because it it
overcrowded and local people do not accept tourists. Disneyland is facing troubles because of the
high prices. Culture of tourist and local society also influence the businesses and their
performance. If local society do not accept tourists then it can negatively effects the businesses.
Tourism and culture shares a unique relationship. They can impact each other in both ways.
Tourism bring people from different background together, it allow different people to learn
others cultures and beliefs but when people from different culture get together it can also create
conflicts and arguments (Saarinen, 2018). Historical events makes the history of the place rich
and people seek to learn and see the place where the historical event happened. It create the place
a tourist destination.
CONCLUSION
The above essay provides an overview of tourism and society and how both impacts each
other. In this essay we discussed relationship between tourism and society by using various
sociological theories and principles. The essay provide a background to the tourism sector and
how tourism sector has developed in past. With the help of tourism life cycle we can understand
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the process of growth of a tourist destination or place. Increasing population and competition in
the tourism sector can put so many tourist destinations in stagnation or decline stage in future
which can be harmful for the industry. For sustainable tourism business it is important for them
to understand tourist behaviours and follow a practice which do not cause any harm to economy,
society and environment. In the essay we also did a PESTLE analysis which helped us to
understand the factors which can impact the tourism industry and society. Tourist behaviour can
get influenced by many ways by the if the tourist get his/her motivation through intrinsic factor
them they feel more satisfied by the tour. However it is important for tourism businesses to
motivate or influence individuals to travel more. Travel and tourism can not be sustained as it is
in future. Every industry make significant changes with time and tourism industry should also do
the same. Artificial intelligence and virtual reality is the future and tourism industry need to
make use of it to satisfy tourists. Different consumers can have different expectations from the
travel and these expectations are set by various factors like past experiences and advertisements
etc. With the advancement of technology consumers are receiving personalised services and they
can expect the same from the tourism industry. Consumer motivation, attitude, trust, loyalty are
few factors which can determine consumers expectation. It is important for businesses to try to
meet every expectation of a consumer to provide them satisfaction during their journey.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Cardoso, C., 2020. The contribution of tourism towards a more sustainable and inclusive society:
Key guiding principles in times of crisis. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes.
Couret, C., 2020. Creative tourism–providing the answers to a more inclusive
society. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes.
Korstanje, M.E. and George, B., 2022. The Nature and Future of Tourism: A Post-COVID-19
Context. CRC Press.
Litvin, S.W., 2019. Hofstede, cultural differences, and TripAdvisor hotel reviews. International
Journal of Tourism Research, 21(5), pp.712-717.
Moreno de la Santa, J.G.S., 2020. Tourism as a lever for a more inclusive society. Worldwide
Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 12(6), pp.731-738.
Prayag, G. and Lee, C., 2019. Tourist motivation and place attachment: The mediating effects of
service interactions with hotel employees. Journal of Travel & Tourism
Marketing, 36(1), pp.90-106.
Saarinen, J., 2018. Beyond growth thinking: the need to revisit sustainable development in
tourism. Tourism Geographies, 20(2), pp.337-340.
Wu and et.al., 2019. Rethinking travel life cycle with travel career patterns. Tourism Recreation
Research, 44(2), pp.272-277.
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