Contemporary Tourism: Growth, Impacts on Economy and Environment

This essay examines the evolution and growth of contemporary tourism, highlighting its shift from consumerism to meaningful experiences. It discusses the positive and negative economic impacts, including job creation and revenue leakage to multinational corporations. The environmental impact is also analyzed, noting both the promotion of sustainability and the challenges of over-consumption and pollution. Furthermore, the essay explores tourism's influence on local cultures, including the promotion of local arts and traditions, as well as the exploitation and commodification of local communities and heritage. The report concludes that contemporary tourism has complex and multifaceted impacts, requiring a balanced approach to maximize benefits and minimize negative consequences.

Understanding the
World of Tourism
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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERNECS...................................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
Tourism is defined as the action of travelling or spending time away from native area or whole
with the aim of pleasure business or leisure (Moneva, Bonilla-Priego and Ortas, 2020). The
tourism industry is defined a set of businesses which focuses on facilitating tourism practises and
activities by offering infrastructure products and services which support travelling for various
reasons such as leisure or business interests (Andriotis, 2018). The tourism industry focuses on
transporting, accommodating and entertaining tourists and travellers. It involves variety of
businesses and enterprises such as Hotels, tourist agencies, online tourism sites, accommodation
sharing application and many others. The tourism industry facilitates attainment variety of
objectives including economic development social activities and environmental preservation
(Christou, 2022). On the other hand, the tourism industry also has negative impact on economic
environment of a region along with its social structure and environment resources. This essay
focuses on praising the evolution and growth of contemporary tourism along with its positive as
well as negative impact on economy social structure and the environment.
MAIN BODY
The concept of contemporary tourism is considered as an instrument for economic
development supporting economies in developing regions of the world which have thriving
tourism markets. Contemporary tourism is considered a tool and agent for cultural change along
with an important contributor to environmental development and change (den Hoed, 2020).
Contemporary tourism is dynamic in nature with complex relations with other industries and its
impact on society culture economy and environment. Many factors have supported the growth of
contemporary tourism including technological advancement globalisation prize of free trade and
rising importance of meaningful experience in travelling and hospitality industries. The meaning
of experience off the word tourism has changed significantly in the past few years as it is not
merely limited to travelling for consumption two new places with aimless activities focused on
consumerism (MacKenzie and Gannon, 2019). Instead, the contemporary tourism meaning
focuses on developing profound experiences while travelling instead of solely consuming the
media and products offer specific reason in an aimless manner with detachment from local
culture or environment. Consumerist mind-set towards tourism and travelling as a whole has
evolved in the past few years as consumers all across the globe have come to realise the negative
consequences of product-based tourism which does not give importance or respect the local
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culture and environment leading to negative impact on economic environment and culture of a
specific tourism location. contemporary tourism is more concerned with developing an emotional
experience while travelling whether it is for personal objectives or business objectives so that the
cultural values of local area are respected while also supporting economic development in
Environmental protection (Frisch and et. al., 2019). This view towards contemporary tourism has
been partially developed by rising environmental concerns and environmental activism as
consumers in the water is to not want to contribute to climate change and focus on supporting
responsible ancestor table shopping and travelling.
The tourism industry is most commonly associated with the tertiary sector of the
economy is it includes business activities related to transportation of travellers and woods along
with the distribution of services traveller and tourists. This view towards economic impact of
tourism limits the understanding of actual impact of tourism on the economy as it not only
affects that their city sector but also promotes anomic development in the primary and secondary
sector of the economy (Pforr, Dowling and Volgger, 2021). The primary economic sector is
concerned with extraction of raw materials while manufacturing is the area of secondary
economic sector. The impact of tourism industry on primary and secondary sector can be
understood with the help of multiplier effect. According to the multiplier effect the tourism
industry supports all the three sector of the economy as the money spent by tourists on tourism
activities such as transportation accommodation or entertainment circulates to every sector of the
economy fuelling overall economic growth of a region. This is an important positive impact
caused by tourism an economy of a sector. Another important economic impact of the tourism
industry is the large number of jobs it further tourism industry in a specific region. Tourism
industry of UK contributes £106 billion to the British economy & GDP and supports 2.6 million
jobs (Explore UK Tourism Trends & Statistics on Inbound Tourism, Spend, Employment,
Popular Tourist Destinations & more!, 2022). The primary negative impact of the tourism
industry on local economy is the leakage effect. Most thriving tourism industries are not able to
support economic development of the specific region because the money derived from tourism
activities last two multinational businesses which supports economic development of foreign
countries rather than the local area from there the tourism revenue is derived (Han, 2021). In
addition to this another negative impact of tourism on economic environment of a region is rising
prices of common commodities because of excessive tourism. This is a common impact of
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tourism which causes difficulties for the common public in the region as prices of simple
commodities such as transportation rise because of tourism boom in the region negatively
affecting the local population and economic.
Tourism in the current age supports promotion of sustainability and Environmental
Protection by promoting eco-friendly tourism and supporting sustainable travelling. The rise in
eco-friendly tourism can also be contributed to the rising awareness of climate change and global
warming along with knowledge about the impact of unsustainable tourism on the environment
(Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020). Tourism helps highlight local environmental challenges and issues
to global population as more tourists come to visit natural resources of a region which supports
collection of funding to promote eco-friendly tourism and remove sustainability challenges. In
addition to this another positive impact to reason on local environment is extra government
attention given to the local natural resources to keep them suitable for tourist visits. This supports
Environmental Conservation and protection of natural habitats (Rogerson, 2019). The primary
negative impact of tourism on local environment is the over consumption and pressure created by
excessive tourism on local resources. Natural resources are drained because of heavy tourism
which causes pressure on the local environment and causes challenges in reducing habitat loss
soil erosion and endangerment of local species (Kirillova, 2019). In addition to this another
negative impact of tourism on local population is the rising pollution caused by over tourism and
excessive travel. The tourism industry is dependent on transportation of goods services and
individuals from one point to another which includes air travel, road travel, rail travel and water
transport. Exit prison leads to excessive pollution caused by all the transportation activities
supporting travel and tourism which prompts the environment as the carbon emissions of the area
increase leading to global warming changes in ecosystem balance.
Tourism involves visiting local monuments with social and cultural significance in the
region which means that tourism industry has impact and influence on the social and cultural
environment of a region (Hopkins, 2020). The positive impact of tourism on local culture is
promotion of local art, dance, customs, traditions, textiles and other cultural components. This
positive impact of tourism is specifically beneficial for indigenous communities as their cultural
values are protected and promoted throughout the world supporting development of the specific
community. Another positive impact of tourism on local culture and communities is
commercialisation of local customs traditions and heritage as tourists from all across the globe
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give payment to view local monuments depicting cultural heritage. in this way marginalised
communities of specific regions are able to get revenue from their heritage and culture which not
only promotes but also helps preserve local culture in the global tourism environment. The
primary negative impact of tourism on local culture is exploitation of local communities for
commercial gains by multinational businesses (Huang and Chen, 2021). Local communities are
exploited for their local art and culture while most of the revenue is taken away by multinational
businesses. This not only results in economic exploitation of local communities but also consider
exploitation as their local heritage culture and values are commodification for gains of foreign
businesses. Exploitation of local community and culture leads to disrespect of local culture by
international communities as their cultural values customs and heritage is considered nothing
more than a product (Hosany, Martin and Woodside, 2021). In addition to this excessive tourism
also hurts local heritage including local monuments as tourists pollute and trash the culturally
valuable area. This is a major negative impact of tourism on local culture as sometimes pollution
caused by excessive tourism may also damage artefacts with significant cultural value without
any possibility for restoration (Xu, Nash and Whitmarsh, 2020).
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CONCLUSION
From the album report it is determined that contemporary changed in recent years shifting from
focus on consumerism to emotional and meaningful travelling and tourism experience. Tourism
has negative and positive economic impacts as it leads to loss of economic revenue to
multinational businesses while also supporting job creation. In addition to this, the positive
environmental impact of tourism includes preservation of local natural resources and government
care. The negative environmental impact of tourism is excessive pollution and over-consumption
of local resources. Tourism has positive cultural impact in the form of promotion of local cultural
values on global scale and providing local communities possibility to make profits from local art
and dance. Finally, the negative impact of tourism on local culture is exploitation and
commodification along with damage of values heritage artefacts.
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REFERNECS
Books and Journals
Andriotis, K., 2018. Degrowth in tourism: Conceptual, theoretical and philosophical issues.
Christou, P. A., 2022. The History and Evolution of Tourism. CABI.
den Hoed, W., 2020. Where everyday mobility meets tourism: An age-friendly perspective on
cycling in the Netherlands and the UK. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28(2). pp.185-
203.
Frisch and et. al., 2019. Tourism and everyday life in the contemporary city. Routledge.
Han, H., 2021. Consumer behavior and environmental sustainability in tourism and hospitality:
A review of theories, concepts, and latest research. Journal of Sustainable
Tourism, 29(7). pp.1021-1042.
Higgins-Desbiolles, F., 2020. The “war over tourism”: Challenges to sustainable tourism in the
tourism academy after COVID-19. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 29(4). pp.551-569.
Hopkins, D., 2020. Sustainable mobility at the interface of transport and tourism: Introduction to
the special issue on ‘Innovative approaches to the study and practice of sustainable
transport, mobility and tourism’. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28(2). pp.129-143.
Hosany, S., Martin, D. and Woodside, A. G., 2021. Emotions in tourism: Theoretical designs,
measurements, analytics, and interpretations. Journal of Travel Research, 60(7).
pp.1391-1407.
Huang, W. J. and Chen, C. C., 2021. Influence of transnational leisure on diaspora tourism
among contemporary migrants. Journal of Travel Research, 60(3). pp.603-617.
Kirillova, K., 2019. Existentialism and tourism: new research avenues. International Journal of
Tourism Cities.
MacKenzie, N. and Gannon, M. J., 2019. Exploring the antecedents of sustainable tourism
development. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
MacKenzie, N. and Gannon, M.J., 2019. Exploring the antecedents of sustainable tourism
development. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Moneva, J. M., Bonilla-Priego, M. J. and Ortas, E., 2020. Corporate social responsibility and
organisational performance in the tourism sector. Journal of Sustainable Tourism,
28(6). pp.853-872.
Pforr, C., Dowling, R. K. and Volgger, M. eds., 2021. Consumer Tribes in Tourism:
Contemporary Perspectives on Special-Interest Tourism. Springer Singapore.
Rogerson, C. M., 2019. Peripheral tourism trajectories: Evidence from the King Sabata
Dalindyebo municipality, South Africa. Geo Journal of Tourism and Geosites, 26(3).
pp.974-992.
Xu, F., Nash, N. and Whitmarsh, L., 2020. Big data or small data? A methodological review of
sustainable tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28(2). pp.144-163.
Online
Explore UK Tourism Trends & Statistics on Inbound Tourism, Spend, Employment, Popular
Tourist Destinations & more!, 2022. [Online] Available through <
https://www.condorferries.co.uk/uk-tourism-statistics>
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