BA Business Hospitality - Tourism & Socio-Economic Growth

This dissertation investigates the contribution of tourism to promoting socio-economic growth and development. It begins by defining the concept of tourism and highlighting its importance and benefits, such as revenue generation, job creation, and cultural preservation. The study identifies challenges faced by the tourism industry, including taxation, infrastructure issues, and currency fluctuations. It also explores strategies for tourism development, such as engaging tourists and utilizing social media for promotion. The research employs a comprehensive methodology, including literature review and data analysis, to address key research questions related to the concept of tourism, its impact on socio-economic growth, the challenges it faces, and effective development strategies. The conclusion provides recommendations for overcoming these challenges and further enhancing tourism's contribution to socio-economic prosperity. Desklib provides access to similar dissertations and study resources for students.

Dissertation

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1
Research topic........................................................................................................................1
Overview of the study............................................................................................................1
Significance of the research....................................................................................................1
Problem statement..................................................................................................................2
Research aims and objectives.................................................................................................2
Rationale of the research........................................................................................................2
Research Questions................................................................................................................3
Structure of the project...........................................................................................................3
Theoretical framework...........................................................................................................4
Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................................5
The concept of tourism...........................................................................................................5
The importance and benefits of tourism in socio-economic growth......................................6
Challenges faced by the tourism industry..............................................................................8
Strategies that helps in tourism development.......................................................................10
Chapter 3: Research Methodology.................................................................................................12
3.1: Introduction...................................................................................................................12
3.2: Research Philosophies...................................................................................................12
3.3: Research Approach........................................................................................................13
3.4: Research Strategy..........................................................................................................13
3.5: Research Method...........................................................................................................14
3.6: Research Choice............................................................................................................15
3.7: Research time horizon...................................................................................................15
3.8: Data collection and analysis..........................................................................................15
3.9: CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................16

CHAPTER 4- DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS...................................................................16
Introduction..........................................................................................................................16
Theme 1- To understand the concept of tourism..................................................................16
Theme 2- To evaluate the importance & benefits of tourism in socio-economic growth...18
Theme 3- To analyse the challenges faced by the tourism industry.....................................20
Theme 4- To identify the strategies that helps in tourism development..............................21
Conclusion............................................................................................................................22
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation................................................................................23
Conclusion............................................................................................................................23
Recommendation..................................................................................................................24
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................27

CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION
Research topic
“Tourism contribution to promoting socio-economic growth and development”
Overview of the study
For the several countries tourism is vital sector because there is generation of income by
the consumption of goods and services by tourists. It has developed an important part of the
economic foundation for several countries. In tourism it comprises of the movement of people to
countries outside their usual environment for the purpose of personal & professional. Across the
globe it is a rapid growing industry which becomes significant part of the global economy as
several people travel to different countries & becomes interested in visiting new locations. In the
global economy tourism is one of the growing sector with the increase in tourism flow it brings
positive outcomes to nations especially in GDP and employment opportunities (Islam, Zhang,
and Hasan, 2020). Whereas tourism development is the procedure of establishing and
maintaining the tourism industry in specific location. There is development of strategies and plan
which helps in encouraging tourism. In research there is discussion based on tourism concept
with its importance and benefits. Further researcher will cover the challenges faced by the
tourism industry along with strategies leading to tourism development.
Significance of the research
The current study is significant as it helps in providing the understanding of the tourism
concept along with its importance which contributes in socio-economic growth. The tourism is
important for boosting the revenue of economy and in different areas number of jobs are created
by tourism. The study of current investigation will help in analysing the challenges faced by
tourism industry & strategies which helps in tourism development. The activities related to
tourism sector contributes in the generation of income, employment and foreign-exchange
earnings (Mazzola, Pizzuto, and Ruggieri, 2019). The contribution helps in developing brand
value and identity. The socio-economic growth impacts the tourism involving improved tax
revenue and personal income, increases standard of living with this socio-cultural impacts is
related with the interaction between people with different cultural backgrounds, attitudes and
behaviours. In term of employment, the local community will expand their earnings and socio-
economic conditions which leads to improvement of living standards.
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Problem statement
The main research problem in the current investigation which is determined how tourism
contributes in promoting socio-economic growth and development. The lack in contribution
hampers the growth of economy as travel agencies are not able to target their customers. The
challenges which are faced in tourism development is related to the taxation, infrastructure
issues, travel marketing. The other problem which tourism industry face is the fluctuations in
currency exchange rates (Rogerson, and Rogerson, 2020). There is difficulty in predicting the
long rage tourism prices due to inability to know the value of currency. The challenges hamper
the growth and development of tourism which contributes in promoting. For the tourism
development several strategies are determine which helps in overcoming the problems.
Research aims and objectives
Aims
The aim of the research is to evaluate the tourism contribution to promoting socio-
economic growth.
Objectives
 To understand the concept of tourism
 To evaluate the importance & benefits of tourism in socio-economic growth
 To analyse the challenges faced by the tourism industry
 To identify the strategies that helps in tourism development.
Rationale of the research
The main aim of the conducting the research investigation to analyse the contribution of
tourism in socio-economic growth. It is essential to know and understanding the benefits and
importance of tourism as this sector is growing. For the organisation the economic growth is
important within same time to take care of society is equally important. There can be direct
economic growth of the nation if effective services are provided by the tourism industry which
also helps in attracting customers (Sahoo, 2019.). By conducting this research, personal
objectives can be attained as there will be development of the different research skill such as data
analysis, problem solving and many more that benefits in completing the research in systematic
manner. With this Professional objective can be attain by having the understanding of tourism
which helps in development of professional career in Tourism. Henceforth, current investigation
will help in accomplishing research objectives in sound manner.
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Research Questions
 Explain the concept of tourism?
 What are the importance and benefits of tourism in socio-economic growth?
 Determining the challenges faced by the tourism industry?
 What are the strategies that helps in tourism development?
Structure of the project
Chapter 1- Introduction – This section involves the brief overview of the research study
along with the research aims & objectives related to the topic of tourism. The rational and
significance related to the research topic is been mentioned.
Chapter 2- Literature review – It is the second chapter in the research which comprises
review of different literatures in which viewpoints of different authors are compare that is related
to research topic.
Chapter 3- Research methodology – In this section different methodology is been
selected for gathering and analysing data regarding the study. It helps researcher in performing
the research study systematically as to attain aims.
Chapter 4- Data analysis and research findings - This is fourth chapter in which data is
analysed and findings are discussed that help researcher to draw conclusion of the research
study. the raw data for the study is being measured as to gain useful information (Zhu, Zhan, and
Li, 2021).
Chapter 5- Conclusion and recommendation – It is last chapter in research where
overall summary of the investigation is provided related to research topic and recommendation is
provided as to overcome with the challenges.
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Theoretical framework
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Research aim is to
evaluate the tourism
contribution to
promote socio-
economic growth.
Understanding the
concept of tourism
Defining tourism
Elements of tourism
Motivation factors
Evaluating importance &
benefits of tourism in
socio-economic growth
Preserving local culture
Increase employment
Opportunities
Improves infrastructure
Challenges faced by
the tourism industry
Proficient human
resource
Cost of inflation &
vacation
High rate of
competition
Identifying strategies
which helps in tourism
development
Engage tourists
Using social media for
promotion
Determining target
customer

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
The concept of tourism
According to the view of Labanauskaitė, Fiore and Stašys (2020) tourism refers to as the
process and act of spending time away from home in chase of relaxation, recreation as well as
pleasure while making the use of commercial provision of services. The concept of tourism is
based on the movement of people outside from their home areas. It can be defined as the
movement of the people within a state, city, country or across the international boundary. At any
one point every individual has been taken part in some of tourism activity, whether they visit
their grandparents staying at a nearby city or going for a trip for visiting monumental places
within their city or a foreign trip for holidays and many more. It has been analysed from these
tourism activities that the many people are involved in providing the services like the travel
agent, transporter, guide, ushers and many more. In today's dynamic world, it has been analysed
that tourism industry has been constantly changing and evolving (Xiang, Stienmetz and
Fesenmaier, 2021). It is mainly because of its linkage with other industries like accommodation,
aviation, water transportation, surface transportation, attraction management, telecommunication
and so on. There are three main elements of tourism which define as fundamental without them
any kind of tourism activities are not possible. The first element is man which define as the
human element as the creator of the act of tourism. Another element is space which means a
physical element which require to be necessarily covered by the act itself. Last one is time which
means the temporal element which is composed by the trip itself. Tourism industry create
positive impact on socio-cultural because it helps in making renewal of cultural pride (Jamal and
Higham, 2021). Tourists visits help the local in order to revisit their own culture and heritage as
well as it also help in enhancing a sense of belonging as well as helping in order to preserve
traditional arts and crafts of the country. Tourism industry also create positive impact of
economy of the country by giving rise to employment in the local destination along with the
guest tourist generation region.
As per the view of Chen, Law and Zhang (2021) tourism is the term which means the
activities of a person travelling to a location outside their usual environment for less than a
specified period of time as well as whose main purpose of travel is other than the exercise of an
activity which remunerated from within the visiting places. There are three things which has
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been identified in connection with the tourism business. These are movement of people from
their residence, a certain period of time (more than 24 hours and less than 1 years) and tourism is
an economic activity. There are some motivation factors of tourism that motivate travellers in
order to move out of their home region for tourism activity. The first factor is physical
motivators, these are defined as those motivators who are related to the refreshment of mind and
body, sports, health purposes and pleasures (Alarcón and Cole, 2019). These motivators are
linked with those activities that help in reducing tension. These motivators motivate those people
who are want to refresh their mind and body by travelling. Another motivation factor is cultural
motivators, these motivators are those who are identified by the desire in order to see as well as
know more about the other cultures in order to find out about the natives of a country along with
their music, art, lifestyle, dance, etc. The motivators basically motivate those person who want to
travel those destination that provides an opportunity in order to visit the historical monuments as
well as take participate in dance recitals, music concerts and many more (Beck, Rainoldi and
Egger, 2019). Another group of motivators are interpersonal motivators which define as those
group who like to meet new people, visit relatives or friends as well as to seek new and different
experiences. Another motivation factor is the status and prestige motivation. It involves those
factors which has a desire for the continuation of their education. It includes personal
development in relation to the pursuit of education and hobbies.
The importance and benefits of tourism in socio-economic growth
As per the perspective of Ruhanen and Whitford (2019) tourism play very important role
in the growth of socio-economic benefits. There are many factors that shows that tourism
industry is most important for the socio-economic growth of the country. Some of these are
described below:
Preserving local culture- It define as great importance of socio-economic growth of the
country. Most of tourists are often come in order to visit the local culture of country. For
example most of the tourists visit Beijing for learning more about the Chinese dynasties, some
tourist visit Thailand for tasting Thai food and so on. Most of the destination places makes a
conserved effort for protecting and preserving the local culture of their country.
Strengthening communities- Another importance of tourism in socio-economic is to
strengthen the community. The festivals and events in which local residents have been take
participation and spectators are also interesting for the tourists which makes them to visit in the
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country. Increase in tourism service in the country, increase the job opportunity that can create a
great boost in their local community (Senetra and Szarek-Iwaniuk, 2020). It has been analysed
that the people with these kinds of jobs are happier and more social than those without a
disposable income.
Provision of social services- Another importance of socio-economic culture is the
provision of social services in the host community. The tourist industry needs several
infrastructure and facilities for meeting the wants and desire of the tourist. It means that the
development in many areas for the tourists. These developments are also beneficial for the local
people of the country also. These are use of new roads, new sewage systems, bus services, new
playgrounds and many more.
Commercialisation of culture and art- Tourism industry helps in creating rise in many
commercial business. It can be considered as positive socio-economic impact of tourism. It helps
in enhancing the community spirit because people tend to have more disposable income
(Shcherbakova, 2018). These commercial businesses are the reason that promote the local culture
and arts of the country. Galleries, Museums and shows are described as an effective method that
helps in showing local customs and traditions of a destination.
Preservation of heritage- Another importance of tourism in socio-economic is the
preservation of heritage. There are many tourist who visits the different destination in order to
see their local heritage. This is the reason that make many destination to make every possible
efforts for preserving their heritage.
As per the view of Dushanova and Radjabov (2021) there are many benefits that the
socio-economy of the country gain by encouraging more tourism. Tourism boosts the revenue of
the economy, creates thousands of employment, develops the infrastructures of the country as
well as create a sense of cultural exchange in between the citizens and foreigners. Some of the
benefits of tourism that helps in increasing the growth of socio-economic are described below:
Increase employment opportunities- The number of employment which has been
created y tourism in many areas are very important. These employments are not only part of
tourism sector but it may also includes communication sector, agriculture sector, health sector as
well as education sector also. Many tourists are like to visits many destination for gaining
experience of their culture, different traditions as well as gastronomy. It become profitable for
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the local restaurants, stores and shopping centres of country. Around thousands of people get
employment through tourism only (Buhalis and Cooper, 2022).
Increases gross revenue- Tourism provide most effective benefit for the socio-economic
growth is it increases the gross revenue of the country. The more and more employment for the
local people helps in increase the gross revenue of the country. Higher revenue is the most
important factor for the economic growth of the country. The more and more tourists come in
particular destination increases their revenue.
Improve infrastructure- Tourism is the major source of revenue of the country. Thus,
the government of country invest a large amount of revenue for the development infrastructure of
the country. In order to attract more and more tourists for visiting in the country, the safe and
advanced facilities are very important. It leads new highways and roads, improved public spaces,
developed park, better school and hospitals as well as new airports. Innovative and safe
infrastructures allow the smooth flow of goods and services. It help local people of the country
in order to gain opportunity for educational and economic growth (Klyachko and Semionova,
2018).
Create a culture of exchange- Tourism helps in creating a cultural exchange between
the local citizens and tourists. Many places like conferences, exhibitions and events usually
attract foreigners towards them. It provide opportunity for the organising authorities to gain
profits through gift sales, registration fees, exhibition spaces as well as sales of media copyright.
Foreign tourists are also helps in bringing more diversity and cultural enrichment in the host
country.
Challenges faced by the tourism industry
As per the view of Kwok and Koh (2019), tourism industry is an important industry that
helps in generating most of the revenue in the economy. Tourism is considered to be a vast,
dynamic, vibrant and growth oriented industry in the business market. This industry helps in
providing employees with all the different types of products and services which different tourists
need at the time of travelling from one place to another. It is already known that customers in the
tourism industry are always unique and demanding for the particular goods and services
provided by the for their benefit. It is the responsibility of stakeholders to carry out the
challenges in an effective manner so that they retain more and mote customers towards the
business organisation. Tourism industry is one of the growing sector that helps in providing
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livelihood to different people so that they live their life in a proper and effective manner. There
are different types of tourists existing in the market that like various places and are attracted
toads that place due to their quality and beauty of that particular place (Insch, 2020). It can also
be defined as a travel industry for leisure, business or recreational purposes in a proper and
effective way. The tourism and travel industry is considered to be one of the major ad largest
industries across the world. An essential prospect of economic life, the industry is closely
facilitated with the different set of factors such as food, travel and accommodation. It is very
important for the hotels to understand the needs and wants of the tourists so that they feel
satisfied and happy while visiting the place and always choose us at the time of visiting again.
There are different challenges that tourism industry face as there are different type of people who
have different tastes and preferences and this makes them focus more on customers reliance
(Gallagher and Huveneers, 2018). COVID-19 has also effected the performance and productivity
of the tourism and hospitality industry in a negative manner and this creates a major challenge
for the business for their survival. The challenges faced by tourism industry are defined as under:
 Proficient human resources – Skilled and proficient human resources is a major
challenge for the tourism industry as it helps in treating the customers or tourists in the
right and effective manner (Battistella and et. al., 2018). High quality of trained human
resources helps tourism industry in gaining high competitive advantage in the market and
in delivering value in their services. For building qualified and experienced staff, it is
important for the business organisation to provide effective education and training related
to the tourism standards and opportunities. Training and education related to tourism
mainly involves concepts, knowledge and techniques related to the specific area and how
to treat customers in an effective manner.
 Cost of inflation and vacation – Another major challenge that tourism industry faces in
the rate of fluctuation in the exchange rate of currency. Due to the inability to know
properly the value of the currency, the price of tourism becomes hard to predict and this
results in decreasing the overall profitability of the business (Peceny and et. al., 2019).
The tourism and hospitality industry is of seasonal nature and it do not have a regular
flow of high income as different place has various seasons in which tourist visits. With
the high rate of inflation the rate or price of restaurants and hotels increases with time and
this also differs the rate of profits and revenue earned by them.
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