Sociology of Tourism: A Study on Equality and Participation Issues

This essay explores the intersection of sociology and tourism, focusing on issues of equality and participation within the industry. It discusses the relationship between tourism and society, highlighting both the positive and negative impacts of tourism, including job creation, cultural exchange, and environmental concerns. The essay also analyzes the tourism life cycle model and uses PEST analysis to examine the political, economic, social, and technological factors influencing the tourism sector. It further considers changing customer preferences and the impact of digital technology on the industry. The essay concludes that while tourism generates wealth and employment, sustainability and addressing health consciousness are vital for its future, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a need to support local businesses and promote responsible travel practices. Desklib provides access to this and other student-contributed assignments.

SOCIOLOGY AND
TOURISM

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
First section ................................................................................................................................3
Second section ............................................................................................................................5
Third section ...............................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Tourism is defined as the activities which involves travelling and staying at different
places away from home. Tourism is a economic phenomenon which involves the movement of
individuals from their usual environment. Tourism industry is accountable for the rapid growth
across the world. Many people are engaged in travelling whether for having fun or for business
purposes. While travelling the people need a place to say, thus because of the tourism industry
the hotel industry is getting great profits. People like to visit to new locations to change their
scenery and relieve their stress. The main focus of this essay is on the issues which are
addressing equality and participation in tourism (Corbisiero and La Rocca, 2020). Tourism as an
industry is huge and rapid growing sector which helps in generating huge number of employment
opportunities. The major issues with the tourism industry is cross border regulations and
infrastructure issues. Tourism is a helpful for the society as it is reducing poverty by generating
employment opportunities. It is helpful in reducing inequality around the world on the basis of
gender, age, caste, races and many others. The major challenge for the countries is the changing
rates of the taxation and inflation. In developing country's the tourism industry is a booming
sector as it helps in increasing gross domestic products and is totally relying on the foreign
exchange reserves. Tourism industry is totally based on the demand from the customers, it is
important that the customers visit new locations again and again to increase the revenue. If the
customers visit to different country's then they have to develop their infrastructure and
continuously repair the most visited tourist places.
MAIN BODY
First section
Tourism and society- Tourism and society are interrelated with each other, as tourism helps in
generating jobs and wealth for the society. Tourism is allowing people from different cultures
and backgrounds to come together, which helps in encouraging cultural diversity in the society.
Tourism also helps in promoting peace across globe as different people tend to travel different
countries and meet their native citizens (Wood, 2018). For society tourism industry is very
helpful as they help in creating positive impacts on the minds of the people. Tourism also helps
in conserving the culture and heritage of the countries.

Tourism is said to be the activities in which people tend to spend some time away from
their homes for relieving stress, and have pleasure. The tourism industry has began in the 17th
century in Western Europe. It is seen that by the starting of 21st century the tourism industry is
continuously rising and has become one of the most growing economic activities. In ancient
times the people used to travel to experience the heritage sites and recognize different cultures.
The seven wonders of the world are the most visited tourist sites in the world. In recent years the
tourism industry has experienced continuous growth in global markets (Erdoğan, 2021). Tourism
industry is said to be the fastest growing sector across the globe. It is analysed that the
international tourists have reached 1.86 billion in 2015 from 25 million in 1950. The growth in
the tourism sector is said to be increase to 1.8 billion by 2030 according to the World Tourism
Organization. From the global data the most visited country by the tourists in the world is
France. From the past 30 years the country is offering its tourists a variety of attractions like The
Palace of Versailles, The Eiffel tower, The Musee du Louvre and Disneyland Paris. France is
offering beautiful mountains, countryside sceneries, vineyards and heritage castles to its visitors.
France is receiving millions of visitors every year and is earning a lot through tourism industry.
Tourism life cycle model- This model states that there are 6 stages in the life cycle of the
tourism product- the first stage is the discovery, where the tourists explore the destination and
analyse the local culture of the particular country. The second stage is the involvement stage
where the number of tourists gradually increases and the host country or community becomes a
tourist resort. During this stage the workers are also attracted related to the tourism centric jobs.
The third stage is development where the companies and businesses analyse the emerging area
and start investing their money. They tend to build large hotels for accommodation and provide
them with package holidays (Tully and Carr, 2020). The fourth stage is consolidation where the
local people tend to develop their business and make money from this industry. Fifth stage is
stagnation, where the competition rises among the resorts and also the number of tourists
decreases at this stage. The final stage is Decline or rejuvenation, at this stage there are 2
possibilities either the growth will decline or the resorts will slowly regrow in their business. In
this stage the resorts tend to bring new capital from the private companies or from government.

Second section
Tourism is having both positive and negative impacts on the society, it helps in
generating employment opportunities in the society. But the jobs offered are seasonal according
to the time of the year. The tourism industry is encouraging local culture and traditions and
tourists tend to enjoy traditional shows, this will bring to local vendors and shop owners. But the
culture and traditions are out shadowed by the high class showrooms. Tourists tend to shop more
from branded outlets which will reduce the income source of local vendors (Moscardo, 2020).
Tourists tend to pay a lot of money while travelling around the nation, this money can be used to
enhance the infrastructure of the heritage sites as well as the natural landscape. Due to the visit of
large number of tourists the natural environment is getting damaged and because of providing
accommodation to the visitors, the natural forests are destroyed. Regular visit of tourists
encouraged countries to build new roads and infrastructure which will attract the foreign visitors.
Tourism has positively affected the demand for the local food and craft vendors as the tourists
like to eat the local food of the particular countries they are visiting. Due to the visit of foreign
investors the prices at the local shops increases as the foreign tourists are more wealthy than the
local population.

PEST analysis
 Political factors- The tourism industry has opened up borders for the international
visitors to the countries. Now it is easier to travel to several countries without any
restriction, while there are still some countries where there are some restrictions on
travel. These restrictions are mainly due to the political reasons or government corruption
(Ormrod and Dickens, 2019). For tourism industry the political stability is the major
factor as the travellers want to be safe and do not consider any political unstable country
for visit.
 Economic factors- People across the world are getting more job opportunities, thus their
income sources are rising and they are enhancing their living standards. With the rise in
the economy of the world, people are able to earn more. Thus they are spending more on
travelling to relieve their stress.
 Social factors- The people are having a huge social pressure with the rise of the social
media. Individuals are travelling more so that they can make reels and put photos on
social media to impress others. Social media is creating a positive impact on the tourism
industry as people are moving out to travel. With the increase in the tourism sector the
people are accepting the other races and religion and are not targeting other people
because of their skin colour and values.
 Technological factors- The development in the transport industry has influenced the
tourism sector. The travellers have more transport options as the technological factors
have developed the transport. With the rise of the technological advancements in the
transport the customers are getting cheaper flight rates and can move to one country to
another in few hours (Sharpley and Harrison, 2019). Thus visitors are happy while
travelling with the new features and amenities.
Third section
The tastes and preferences of the customers are changing with the rise in the tourist
industry. It is seen that the customers are wanting more from the tourism industry. With the
changing expectations of the consumers the tourism industry has to become more flexible and
have to adapt to the changes. For maximizing the profits and the revenues it is important for the
industry to learn and adapt according to the customers. The generation z is said to be the only

generation born into a digital world. The young generations are spending huge amount on
travelling but it is seen that the older generations are spending more than the younger ones.
Tourism is continuously impacting on social and cultural environment and the individual
behaviours (Tribe, 2018). The businesses are requires to entertain different types of tourists like
mass tourist, individual tourists, explorers and drifters. It is difficult to measure the socio-
cultural effects of tourism as they are indirect and not known to the people involved in the
tourism sector. Tourism sector is affected by the digital technology, as the tourists are more
engaged with their digital accessories. Tourists analyse the location before visiting and explore
the accommodation bookings and online travel. Thus, the tourism industry is affected by the
digital technology. The tourists are demanding extended stay and technological developments,
thus it important that the tourism industry will focus on providing these facilities to the
customers. It is said that the tourism industry is generating a huge amount of employment
opportunities for the countries. Tourism industry is basically dependent on the demand from the
customers. Tourism industry is allowing the customers to experience different locations and have
knowledge about various countries. There are many people which are engaged in travelling to
different locations for having fun or for business purposes. So it is important for the tourism
industry to enhance their infrastructure and provide quality services to the customers while
travelling. In tourism industry the behaviours of the host population are important for the host
countries as the foreign tourists will be affected by their behaviours. So it is important that the
local citizens will give positive reactions on the rise of tourism, as this industry is generating
wealth as well as job opportunities.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that the tourism industry is generating wealth and
jobs for the society. But it is seen that the wealth generated and opportunities given are mainly
low income. In the past two years the COVID-19 has affected the tourism industry across the
globe. The pandemic has affected the way people tend to travel across the globe, visitors are now
becoming more health conscious. So after the pandemic tourism industry has got affected as well
as the hotel industry have to focus more on the cleanliness. The recovery will require more time
than ever as the customers have now become more demanding and requires new and innovative
ideas. For future perspective the tourism industry has to become more sustainable as the

protection of nature is vital after the rise of the pandemic. The travel and tourism industry can be
sustained by spreading awareness. Visitors can spend their time more on the local shops and
local restaurants rather than shopping in branded outlets. The small businesses will get support
and this will help in growing their business activities. Supporting local vendors means generating
wealth for them and this will help in the overall growth of the countries. Nowadays the
customers want contactless experiences while travelling and hassle free booking process. So the
consumer is aware about their needs thus for tourism industry it is important to fulfil their needs
and wants and give them quality services.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Corbisiero, F. and La Rocca, R.A., 2020. Tourism on demand. New form of urban and social
demand of use after the pandemic event. TeMA-Journal of Land Use, Mobility and
Environment, pp.91-104.
Erdoğan, Ç.,2021 The Relationship Between Tourism and Sociology, Psychology, and Social
Psychology. In Routledge Handbook of Social Psychology of Tourism (pp. 21-30).
Routledge.
Moscardo, G., 2020. Stories and design in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 83, p.102950.
Ormrod, J. and Dickens, P., 2019. Space tourism, capital, and identity. In Space Tourism (Vol.
25, pp. 223-244). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Sharpley, R. and Harrison, D. eds., 2019. A research agenda for tourism and development.
Tribe, J., 2018. Creating and curating tourism knowledge. Annals of Tourism Research, 73,
pp.14-25.
Tully, P.A. and Carr, N., 2020. The oppression of donkeys in seaside tourism. International
Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 3(1), pp.53-70.
Wood, R.E., 2018. Tourism, culture and the sociology of development. In Tourism in South-East
Asia (pp. 48-70). Routledge.