SEc 4 UNit 2 tourism part 3

1. ELECTIVE
GEOGRAPHY
OUR CHANGING
WORLD
GLOBAL TOURISM
IS TOURISM THE WAY TO GO?

2. GATEWAY 3
DEVELOPING TOURISM AT WHAT
COST?
• Assess the impact of tourism on a country
• Explain how tourism can be made
sustainable
• Compare the role of various groups in
taking care of tourist areas

3. IMPACTS OF TOURISM
Impacts Economic Socio-cultural Environmental
POSITIVE • Employment
opportunities
• Growth in income
• Increase in foreign
exchange
• Infrastructure &
facilities
development
• Preservation of
heritage, culture
& local customs
• Conservation of
natural habitats
NEGATIVE • Leakage of tourism
receipts
• Seasonal
unemployment
• Under-use of
facilities
• Shortage of facilities
• Dilution of
heritage, culture
& local customs
• Increased crime
• Vandalism
• Littering &
pollution
• Destruction of
habitat
• Increased
carbon footprint
• Increased
congestion

4. IMPACTS OF TOURISM -
ECONOMIC
• Employment opportunities
• Growth in tourism industry can
lead to increase in in tourism-
related jobs
• Eg: airline staff, hotel staff, tour
guides and tour agents,
producers of souvenirs

5. IMPACTS OF TOURISM -
ECONOMIC
• Other jobs are indirectly linked to
tourism when they travel and
consume goods & services
• Eg: taxi drivers, shop
owners, restaurant waiters
• UNWTO estimated that tourism
industry employed over 235
million people in 2011

6. IMPACTS OF TOURISM -
ECONOMIC
• Growth in income
• Tourism leads to growth of
income for individuals and a
country
• Eg: fishermen on Pamilacan
Island (Philippines)
• US$80 - $100 for boat trips to
see whale sharks and dolphins

7. IMPACTS OF TOURISM -
ECONOMIC
• Leakage of tourism receipts
• When tourism revenue is lost to
other countries due to import of
goods & services
• Eg: foreign hotel
chains, international airline
tickets
• See pg 57, fig 1.70

8. IMPACTS OF TOURISM -
ECONOMIC
• Increase in foreign exchange
• Refers to money earned from
other countries in exchange for
goods & services
• When tourism business
investments exchange their own
currency for Singapore dollars
• Increases demand for S$

9. IMPACTS OF TOURISM -
ECONOMIC
• Contribute to government
revenue
• Directly from taxes on tourists
• Indirectly from goods & services
supplied to tourists
• Taxes are collected in local
currency, which increases the
foreign exchange of host country

10. IMPACTS OF TOURISM -
ECONOMIC
• Infrastructure development
• Refers to all supporting
structures
• Helps tourism to operate on a
large scale and to attract tourists
(good facilities)
• Specific infrastructures may be
developed for some activities

11. IMPACTS OF TOURISM -
ECONOMIC
• Eg: stadium for sporting events,
hospitals for medical tourism
• Rail and road networks improve
general accessibility
• Developing infrastructure also
creates employment for the
locals

12. IMPACTS OF TOURISM -
ECONOMIC
• Seasonal unemployment
• When tourist activities are
dependent on climatic conditions
• Locals employed in these tourist
activities may have to find
alternative employment when the
activities are not available
• Eg: ski resorts in summer

13. IMPACTS OF TOURISM -
ECONOMIC
• Underuse of facilities
• When purpose-built facilities for
certain seasons or events
become too costly to maintain
because of drop in tourists
• Venues and facilities become
neglected
• Eg: Bird Nest and Water Cube

14. IMPACTS OF TOURISM -
ECONOMIC
• Shortage of services
• Compromise of services for
locals when channeled to tourist
infrastructure
• Refer to examples in pg 61, fig
1.78

15. PITSTOP 11
Pg 61
Questions
• 3
• 4 (a), (b), (c)
• 5

16. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
SOCIO-CULTURAL
• Culture – includes
morals, beliefs, heritage and
customs
• Heritage – beliefs, values and
customs
• Eg: buildings, monuments, art
and language

17. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
SOCIO-CULTURAL
• Customs – traditional ways of
doings things and behaving
• Eg: person-to-person
greeting, practices during
wedding ceremonies, practices
during meals

18. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
SOCIO-CULTURAL
• Preservation of local culture
• Protect the way people live
• Preserved historic and cultural
sites are more attractive to
tourists
• Enhances locals’ national
identity, and sense of history &
belonging

19. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
SOCIO-CULTURAL
• Revenue generated from tourism
can be used to fund the
preservation and restoration of
cultural heritage
• Eg: entry fees to Angkor Wat
complex can fund repairs and
conservation works

20. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
SOCIO-CULTURAL
• Dilution of local culture
• Identity, culture and values can
be lost when tourism becomes a
major activity or when it is too
commercialised
• Tourist activities may force
original local inhabitants to other
places

21. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
SOCIO-CULTURAL
• Examples:
• Buildings converted to host
tourists
• Mass production of local crafts
• Shortened rituals to fit itineraries
• Locals displayed as ‘exhibits’
• Reduced authenticity &
significance

22. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
SOCIO-CULTURAL
• Increased crime rates
• High crime rates tend to occur at
popular tourist locations
• Mugging: an assault upon a
person with intention to rob

23. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
SOCIO-CULTURAL
• Tourist traps:
• Overpriced goods: goods &
services sold at inflated prices
• Scams: to cheat or swindle with
intention of making quick profits
• Tourist traps can refer to
locations where scams are
common too

24. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
ENVIRONMENTAL
• Conservation of natural environments
• Revenue and profits generated
from tourism can contribute to
conservation of natural
environments
• Recall ‘Ecotourism’ and 6
principles

25. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
ENVIRONMENTAL
• Increased congestion
• Popular areas can attract large
number of tourists
• Some attractions in remote
locations cannot handle the
amount of traffic
• Cause pedestrian and vehicular
congestion (air pollution)

26. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
ENVIRONMENTAL
• Vandalism
• The deliberate act of defacing and
damaging cultural, historical and
natural sites belonging to other
people
• Eg: removing wall pieces from
Berlin Wall

27. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
ENVIRONMENTAL

28. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
ENVIRONMENTAL
• Pollution and littering
• Caused by improper waste
management
• Tourists can leave behind large
quantities of waste matter
• Eg: plastic bottles and food
packaging

29. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
ENVIRONMENTAL
• Destruction of habitats
• Natural environments can be
overwhelmed by the large number
of tourists
• Eg: Trampling of plants, collecting
samples as souvenirs, increased
noise level

30. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
ENVIRONMENTAL
Take nothing except photographs
Leave nothing except footprints

31. IMPACTS OF TOURISM –
ENVIRONMENTAL
• Increased carbon footprint
• More greenhouse gases emitted
due to tourist activities
• Eg: flight from Singapore to KL
releases 30kg of CO2 per
passenger

32. PITSTOP 12
Pg 66
Questions
• 2
• 4
• 6
• 8 (a), (b)

33. MANAGING IMPACTS OF
TOURISM
• Conservation and sustainable
tourism
• Tension between tourists and
locals
• Tension between tourists and
environment

34. MANAGING IMPACTS OF
TOURISM
Needs of
tourists
Condition
of the site
Concerns
of locals

35. CONSERVATION &
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
• Conservation involves careful
management of resources
such that they would not be
depleted
• Important for fragile
environments
• Eg: coral reefs and mangroves

36. • Sustainable Tourism
• Tourism organised such that:
• the environment is not
damaged
• the locals do not experience
negative impacts
• the needs of tourists are met
CONSERVATION &
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

37. • Sustainable Tourism also involves
minimum leakage of revenue through
• Training locals to perform skilled
tourism jobs
• Develop homestays where visitors
can pay locals directly
• Promoting local F&B in restaurants
CONSERVATION &
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

38. • UNESCO – UN Educational,
Scientific & Cultural Organisation
• Provide funding to threatened
sites
• World Heritage Sites: 12 (1978) to
1,000 (2012)
• Well-protected sites ensure steady
arrival and repeated returns of
tourists
CONSERVATION &
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

39. TENSION BETWEEN
TOURISTS AND LOCALS
• Conflict between needs of the
tourists and needs of the
locals
• Eg: tourists wearing skimpy
clothing and public displays of
affection make locals
uncomfortable
• Eg: Bali (read page 69 & 70!)

40. TENSION BETWEEN TOURISTS
AND ENVIRONMENT
• Conflict between needs of the
tourists and needs to conserve
the environment
• Tourist arrivals damage the
environment, however the
revenue also contribute to the
conservation of the site
• Eg: Machu Picchu, Peru (read
page 70 & 71!)

41. • Government authorities plan an
important role
• Limit number of visitors to
minimise congestion (recall
Waitomo Caves)
• Witholding permission to projects
that could harm the environment
MEASURES TO MANAGE
TENSIONS

42. • Employing staff to carry out
maintenance and repair
• Holding discussions with locals to
address their needs
• Restricting some locals-only areas
MEASURES TO MANAGE
TENSIONS

43. • Local communities
• Visitors
• Tour operators
• Non-governmental organisations
• Planning authorities
RESPONSIBILITIES OF
VARIOUS GROUPS

44. • Group of people in the same
territory or community
• Have interests in protecting
tourist areas for economic
benefits
• Community-based tourism:
tourism with close contact with
locals communities
LOCAL COMMUNITIES

45. • Eg: Candirejo Village, Borobudur,
Central Java, Indonesia
• 2003: set up tourism-related
programmes
• Developed homestays and
organic farming, organised local
transport
• Trained villagers to tourism-
related work (catering, guides)
LOCAL COMMUNITIES

46. • 2004: 22 homestays, 22
andongs, 6 local restaurants
• 2002: 10 homestays, 5
andongs, 0 local restaurants
• Created 63 new jobs, 5 new
businesses
• 12.5% increase in average
income per villager
LOCAL COMMUNITIES

47. • Involves locals in decision-
making
• Increase in tourism-related
employment & businesses for
locals
• Difficulty in obtaining external
funding
• Shortage of skilled labour
LOCAL COMMUNITIES

48. • Have responsibility to respect
both the environment and the
locals
• Consider the conservation efforts
of tourist site
• Visitors can feel their visit is more
rewarding when they know they
have minimised their damage on
the environment
VISITORS (TOURISTS)

49. • Fund conservation & preservation
• Provide income locals
• Raise awareness to conserve
and preserve attractions
• Damage tourist attractions
• Dilute local culture & customs
VISITORS (TOURISTS)

50. • Have interest in protecting
environments visited by tourists
• Tourists unlikely to visit places
with spoilt landscapes, reduced
biodiversity and deteriorated
cultures
• Eg: Phuket Alternative Tours
(PAT) in 2006
TOUR OPERATORS

51. • Tour operators required to commit to
an Environmental & Cultural Code of
Practice
• Operate in an environmentally
sustainable way
• Seek to enhance the natural
environment and the way the
industry uses it
• Create awareness about
conservation to visitors
TOUR OPERATORS

52. • Provide feedback on tourist
attractions
• Regulate tourist behaviour
• Need to generate profits
TOUR OPERATORS

53. • NGOs are non-profit and operate
independent of governments
• Eg: TIES (recall Ecotourism)
• Developed guidelines, conducted
training, provide technical
assistance, published papers
• Works with travel associations
and conservation groups in 124
countries
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORG.

54. • Facilitate communication
between various stakeholders
• Support stakeholders in
managing impact of tourism
• Difficulty in obtaining external
funding
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORG.

55. • Able to influence the quality of
environments and how many
visitors the site can cope with
• Allocating space for infrastructure
• Eg: Singapore Tourism Board
• Balance between attracting
visitors and conserving
Singapore’s national heritage
PLANNING AUTHORITIES

56. • Implement programmes to
conserve and enhancing ethnic
districts of Singapore
• Chinatown, Kampong Glam and
Little India
PLANNING AUTHORITIES

57. • Develop and maintain
infrastructure & attractions
• Draft laws and policies
• Work with other government
agencies
• Difficult to plan for unforseen
factors
• Opposing stakeholders
PLANNING AUTHORITIES

58. CHECKPOINT
Pg 53
Questions
• 2
• 6
• 10 (Open-ended question)
• 12 (Open-ended question)
• 13 (a), (b)
• 14 (a), (b)

59. TOURISM IN SINGAPORE
• Page 76 to 80
• You should be able to:
• Discuss the tourist activities in Singapore
• Locate the tourist sites and attracts
• Explain how tourism has impacted S’pore
• Explain how these impacts are being
managed
• Explain why tourism is a vital sector of
Singapore’s economy

60. END OF CHAPTER