Analyse the consequences of tourism to the host community[1]
1. TOPIC
ANALYSE THE CONSEQUENCES OF TOURISM TO THE HOST COMMUNITY
NAME : MMBADI E
STUDENT NO : 11620886
SCHOOL : SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT : GEOGRAPHY & GEO-INFORMATION SCIENCES
MODULE : GEOGRAPHY OF TOURISM
MODULE CODE : GEO 3643
ASSIGNMENT NO: 02
DUE DATE : 19-09-2014
2. CONTENTS
PAGE NO
INTRODUCTION
a) What is tourism?
1
b) What are tourists?
1
c) Different tourism consequences
1
BODY
Consequences of tourism to the host
community
2
i. The economic consequence of tourism
to the host community (i.e. positives &
negatives)
2
ii. The cultural/social consequence of
tourism to the host community (i.e.
positives & negatives)
3
iii. The environment consequence of
tourism to the host community (i.e.
positives & negatives)
4
CONCLUSION
6
REFERENCES
7
3. P a g e | 1
INTRODUCTION
Tourism is defined by (Okech, 2008) as a “process for traveling for purposes such as recreation,
leisure, family of business reasons, usually for limited period of time”. Tourists are individuals
traveling and staying outside their usual places of residence which is usually temporal and short
stay at the visited place in nature (butler, 1980).
The consequences of tourism on host communities, ranges from positive and negative
impacts/consequences, from direct to indirect consequences. This simply means that tourism has
consequences that both benefits a host community and also may have harmful impacts on a host
community. The consequences of tourism on a host community could be on culture, economy,
social and environment, this can be summed up by saying, tourism development in a host
community has many benefits, but there are also costs which are attached to economic, social,
cultural and environmental development of tourism.
The economic consequences of tourism on host communities relate to generation of employment
and income, contributions to government revenues, foreign exchange earnings and stimulation of
regional development. The social and cultural consequences of tourism on host communities
ranges from changes in social behaviors and values, threaten traditional customs, and promote
cultural preservations. The environmental consequences of tourism on host communities relates
to pollution, environmental hazards, ecological disruptions, and conservation of natural areas in
the host communities (Leonard and Jenkins, 1997).
4. P a g e | 2
The economic consequences of tourism to the host community
Positive
I. Generates employment opportunities.
The consequence of tourism on host communities is that it provides employment opportunities
for both skilled and unskilled local population. Because tourism is a labor-intensive industry,
large group of people end up being employed, in restaurants, hotels, bars and local transportation
industry. This high increase in employment contributes greatly to an increase in gross national
product, thus an increase in GDP, results in the host community’s economy also increasing
(Shaw and Williams, 1994).
II. Increased foreign exchange earnings.
Tourism also contributes in increased foreign exchange earnings through selling of and services
to foreign tourist. These earnings are obtained when tourists from foreign countries brings in to
the host community money from where they are coming from which has more value and buy
goods and pay for many more related tourism services such as accommodation, food and tourism
activities. These foreign earnings are obtained from currencies that are said to be having more
value as they are issued by countries that already are economically advanced, as they are used to
international trading (Leornard and Jenkins, 1997).
Negatives
I. Shortages in money for investments in educational and health facilities.
The investment in development of tourism facilities such as roads, hotels, motels and museums
by the government may result in shortages in money for the development of more important
facilities that greatly benefits the host community as a whole such as schools and health
facilities. This means that tourism has a tendency of wasting money, and as a results it affects the
economy of a host community negatively, as more money is being spent on building such
tourism facilities which cannot guaranteed that they will be used and that they will be able to
generate back the money that was invested for their development (Leonard and Jenkins, 1997).
II. Seasonal job status.
Tourism is associated with seasonal jobs, meaning that during peak seasons a huge number of
local populations will be employed and thus, this contributes to an increase in gross national
product of a host community, which means the economy of that particular host community will
be boosted, but during the off-peak season, the employed local people might be retrenched,
which will prompt a drop in gross national product of a host community, thus a drop in GDP
means a drop in the economy of the host community (Choy, 1995).
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The cultural/social consequences of tourism to the host community
Positives
I. Cultural exchanges between people leading to greater understanding.
Tourism leads to cultural exchanges between populations in the host community and tourists
which creates a better understanding of one’s culture and ways of doing things, and as to get a
clear understanding behind the reasons for performing certain traditional or cultural rituals
(prentice, 1993). A good example could be that of African populations that are well known for
performing rituals such as killing animals for religious reasons, as tourists come to visit this
destinations they seek to try and get reasons as to why these certain rituals are performed, this
will enable them to understand our culture more, as such removing from their minds any
perceptions that they previously had towards certain group of cultures.
II. Tourist income may help to maintain cultural heritage and traditions.
Income from tourism helps to maintain cultural heritage and traditions. The income could be
used employing local people that will help in ensuring that the heritages sites remain clean so as
to make sure that they keep their aesthetic appeal, and it can also be used to pay security
personnel that protect such site, so that the sites are not vandalised or any of the historical or
cultural artefacts are not stolen (Williams, 1998). The income from tourism contributes to the
conservation and preservations of culture and heritage sites. This occurs when areas declared as
heritage sites are protected in order to be used as tourists attraction sites, thus contributing to
cultural preservation and conservation, which means that they will be able to exist for years and
even generations to come can get a chance to learn about their cultures and history, as the sites
will be preserved.
Negatives
I. Wearing and tearing of historical structures and artefacts.
The most evident impact of tourism on physical heritage of a host community is wear and tear
(Bainbridge, 1979). This occurs when tourists touch, climb on, or rub historic structures and
artefacts, when tourists touch historical artefacts in a careless way they risk breaking such
artefacts, and when they climb on historical structures they could alter or wear off the distinctive
markings on such structures. By rubbing on historic structures, tourists contribute to wearing off
those historical structures or artefacts that are non-renewable, as such they cannot be regenerated
organically, simply meaning that wearing and tearing such features places them at risks of
extinction (Bainbridge, 1979).
6. P a g e | 4
II. Littering.
Another problem is that of litter that is associated with tourism impacts on heritage sites of host
communities (alley, 1998). The littering of leftover foods, plastic bottles, aluminium soda cans,
chewing gums, cigarette butts, and dirty diapers are common litters that are found at tourists
sites, and this contributes to the heritage site losing its aesthetic value, thus, the site will no
longer be attractive overtime. The littered materials can also contribute to corrosion of materials
or structures that are of historic importance (Cumming, 2003).
III. Conflicts among tourists and the host peoples.
The establishment of historic places into tourism resources has had a huge negative impact on
the society and cultural relationship. Many people in host communities mostly developing
countries depend on the archaeological sites for their livelihoods, because they have grown in
those areas, when these resources are now being developed for tourism purposes, conflicts may
arise as the people who depend on those resources, view this as a form of intrusion into their
private lives, traditional homes and their cultures (Mathieson and wall, 1982).
IV. Forced removals of indigenous people.
The other problem that arises is forced displacements, in which local populations are relocated in
order for heritage conservation as a form of tourism attraction sites. This means that people or
populations that are indigenous to that area are forced to move out and find new places to reside,
which now conflicts with the human rights of having access to land which they are indigenous
too (Guha,1997).
V. Commodification of culture
The impacts of tourism on culture also involves the commodification of culture, in which culture
becomes a product that is to be packaged and sold to tourist (Medina, 2003).this happens when
traditional celebrations, dances, music, and also handicrafts that should be performed and sold
during certain holidays or periods being performed almost regularly so as to attract tourists and
also to please visiting tourists in a host community.
The environmental consequences of tourism to the host community
Positives
I. Conservation of archaeological and historic sites.
Tourism provides income that help pay for conservation of the archaeological and historical sites
as an area of tourist attraction, which without tourism would either wise vanish through
deterioration and mismanagement by local people as they search for fire woods and clearing
7. P a g e | 5
vegetation for other developments, such as construction of houses or agricultural purposes
(Leonard and Jenkins, 1997).
II. Improvement of environmental quality.
Due to a high demand of tourism, the quality of the air, water and noise pollution, plus littering
in the host community have been cleaned up as a way of improving the aesthetic appeal of the
destination to attract more tourists into a particular host community (Leonard and Jenkins, 1997).
III. Brings in revenues.
Tourism helps to bring in revenues when tourists pay entrance fees to enter into parks and other
wildlife resorts (Baldares and Laarman, 1990). This simply means that during the peak seasons
more revenue will be brought in by tourists from all over the world, thus, generating more
revenue for the host community.
Negatives
I. Environmental Disturbances of wildlife.
Tourism disturbs all types of wildlife, ranging from lions to leopard sharks. These consequences
of tourism disturbances on wildlife can be either direct or indirect. The direct impacts of tourism
occur through speeding vehicles, off-road driving or nights driving in which animals get killed
by the vehicles of tourists or those transporting tourists (Myra, 1996).
the indirect disturbances as a consequence of tourism on wildlife of a host community ranges
from collection of wood fire which results in small animals being killed as their habitats have
been destroyed and removed. This is mostly evident in tourism activities such as camping, in
which tourists stay in the wild for several days and nights in their tents, as they collect fire woods
to cook and also to keep them warm during the night, they end up unknowingly disturbing and
also destroying small animal’s habitats (Myers, 1972).
II. Pollution
Tourism results in wildlife noise pollution, due to over concentrations of tourists, their cars, and
sometimes by attractions at a particular tourism destination, such as racing tracks and amusement
parks, which results in high levels of noise pollution and sometimes becomes uncomfortable and
irritating to animals, and other wild species at that host community (Myra,1996).
III. Behavioural changes.
Due to disturbances in wildlife, and due to destruction of wild animal’s habitats, their breeding
patterns are changed as they migrate in search of new habitats for breeding purposes. The other
impact is due to feeding of animals by tourists, which contribute to animals being aggressive as
their feeding patterns have been changed, as a results animals such as monkeys end up chasing
tourists for their foods due to this newly introduced habit of eating (Myers, 19720).
8. P a g e | 6
Conclusion
In conclusion I could say that even though tourism has many negatives effects on both the
economy, environment and culture environment and less positive effects on host communities, if
it is carefully implemented in a manner that will maximise the benefits and mitigate the negative
effects the rewards could be endless.
9. P a g e | 7
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