Urban Tourism Development Strategies

Urban Tourism Field Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................................................3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................6
RESULTS .......................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Urban tourism is defined as the tourism activities which revolves around a city
destination. This complex and ancient form of tourism consider cities as the centre of attraction
and key interest area. With several technological developments and growth in structure of cities
the urban tourism is gaining wide popularity. This type of tourism is also encouraged by the
development in primary facilities such as transportation systems, roads and other living facilities.
The higher extent of this development is making urban tourism more comfortable, adventurous,
easier and cheaper. These tourism activities occurs in the urban space (Papadimitriou,
Apostolopoulou and Kaplanidou, 2015).
The inherent attributes of this type of tourism are characterised by economy which is
based upon non-agricultural activities such as manufacturing, administration and trade services.
The destinations of urban tourism provides a wide range and thriller experience of culture,
architecture, social structure and technological developments. Apart from leisure perspective of
tourism these spots are also being used for business purpose and as a nodal destination of
transportation. More than 50% of world population is living in urban areas and this percentage is
increasing rapidly. The key policies of urban development strategies consider the tourism as one
of the major factor for their revenue, growth and source of employment to their inhabitants.
The social and geographical attributes of many urban destination provide them
opportunity to discover the broad scope of employment and growth from tourism activities.
Apart from providing benefits in terms of capital and growth the urban tourism also serves as the
driving force for the development agenda of urban destinations and sustainable developments
goals such as making human settlements safe and secure (Colantonio, 2017). The development
of better living conditions for promoting urban tourism is also beneficial for the local residents. It
helps them to explore new advancements and opportunities of growth. In order to fulfil the
objectives of growth in cities it is necessary that urban destinations uses multilevel approach and
multi-stakeholders participants in it. This approach not only includes cooperation among tourism
related agencies but also the non tourism administrations such as local communities and other
public or private sectors.
In the tourism market of cities various products are available for tourists. Depending
upon cultural and geographical characteristics of city these urban spots can offer different
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materialistic and non materialistic objects such as buildings, museums, entertainment,
architecture and cultural events (Jansen-Verbeke, 2017). The products such as festivals, sports
are few of the most attractive elements of urban tourism which gains the attention of
international as well as domestic tourism. Culture and religion are integral part of urban cities
thus several other tourism such as cultural tourism are also included in urban tourism category.
The growth of urban tourism depends and reflected by number of factors such as
transportation levels, number and variations in attractions of the city, proximity among all
attractions, quality of accommodations and their availability and marketing elements. The
attractive elements of urban tourism have wide range of diversity. The typical eye catching
attractions can be entertainment services, historically important destinations, unique street and
building patterns, art and cultural venues and objects, nightclubs and food services, shopping and
amusement services, cultural and festival events as well as botanic gardens, greenery and sports
services.
The most dynamic development lead by this type of tourism in cities is the generation of
employment and enhancement of income levels. It also supports growth in social and cultural
values such as improved living standard and life quality, income levels and community services.
However along with several positive impacts the urban tourism also have negative effects
(Miller, Merrilees and Coghlan, 2015). The massive burden of tourists can cause more noise,
pollution and local inhabitants may experience less availability of city attractions due to higher
density of tourists. It can also turn the precious and valuable destinations into endanger category
if appropriate care is not taken by the visitors and regulating authorities. The concept of
sustainability is considered as the latest trend in context of urban tourism.
While meeting the needs of tourist it becomes challenging ensuring that benefits of local
inhabitants are not compromised and the increasing density of visitors also does not cause
permanent damage to environment of city. For instance if an urban city has number of places and
attractions for visitors but water scarcity is common issue then tourism will definitely give huge
revenue but longer stay of visitors in large number can cause severe issues of water availability.
Thus, urban tourism must establish a balance between growth and welfare of local inhabitants
(Tourism and hospitality, 2018). This is the main reason that urban tourism has popular trend of
spending only short durations such as maximum 7 days in city.
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