Tourism has both positive and negative economic, socio-cultural, and environmental impacts. Economically, it creates jobs but also seasonal unemployment. While it contributes to local economies, it can also result in unequal development and loss of incomes. Socio-culturally, it enables cultural exchange but can also lead to loss of local identity and income inequality. Environmentally, tourism supports conservation efforts but the large number of visitors can exceed an area's carrying capacity and degrade the natural environment through pollution, litter, and damage to fragile ecosystems. Ecotourism aims to mitigate these impacts through responsible tourism that sustains local environments and communities.

1. SECONDARY TWO GEOGRAPHY
TOURISM (PART ONE)
Definitions
• Tourist
• Tourism
• Tourist destination
• Tourist origin / tourist generating area
Types of Tourism (based on where tourists come from)
1. Domestic tourism
− Increasing trend
2. International tourism
− Increasing trend
Reasons for the Growth of Tourism
a. Demand factors
 Disposable income
 Leisure time
 Changing lifestyles
b. Supply factors
 Attractions & amenities
 Accessibility
 Affordability
 Ancillary / subsidiary services
 Quality service
c. Other factors
 Media advertising & marketing
 Ease of making travel bookings
 Business meetings/conventions
 Reduction of political barriers

2. TOURISM (PART TWO)
The Growth of Tourism
• Why countries (esp LDCs) are keen to develop tourism
• Mass tourism: large no. of visitors going to a place
Impacts of the Growth of Tourism
a. Economic impacts
Positive impacts (+) Negative impacts (-)
 Creation of jobs
 Tourists buy goods (eg souvenirs, local
food and products) and services (eg.
massage) from the destination country.
 This creates a large number of jobs
for the local people (eg. hotel
receptionists, tour guides, bus drivers,
chefs, retailers etc).
 Seasonal unemployment
 During some seasons or during off
peak periods such as disease outbreak
(eg SARS) / unstable political
situations (eg. riots) / natural disasters
(eg. tsunami), tourist arrivals will
decrease.
 This can lead to seasonal
unemployment for the people
working in the tourism industry.
 Drop in tourist arrivals will cause
the tourism revenue of the
destination country to drop.
 Contribution to local economies
 When tourists visit a city, they spend on
goods and services.  This provides
income for the local people and
improves their standard of living. 
With more income, the local people can
now afford and buy more goods and
services.  This creates jobs and
improves the incomes of other people.
(multiplier effect)
 Enclave tourism
 Tourists staying in resorts/taking
cruises only allow limited economic
benefits to the destination countries.
 There is little interaction between
tourists and the local community 
This widens the social/cultural gap
between these the tourists and the
local community.
 Diversification of local economies
 The tourism industry creates an
economy with a variety of industries
and businesses.  This reduces the
overdependence on a particular type of
industry.
 Unequal development of industries
 Governments may be eager to develop
the tourism industry.  Primary
industries (eg. agriculture) and
secondary industries (eg.
manufacturing) may be
neglected/underdeveloped.

3. Positive impacts (+) Negative impacts (-)
 Contribution to country’s revenue
 When tourists visit a country, they
spend money in the country.  This
allows different stakeholders in the
tourism industry (eg. tour guides, travel
agencies, hotels etc) to earn profits.
 When tourists travel to a country, they
pay taxes.  This contributes to
tourism revenue for the destination
country.
 Loss of incomes
 As some of the tour companies and
hotels are owned by foreigners, the
profits/revenue earned from tourists
goes to the foreign owners instead of
the locals. (leakages)
 Foreigners who have better
qualifications/more working
experience may be employed instead
of the local people.  This results in
loss of job opportunities for the local
people. (leakages)
 Development of infrastructure
 To attract more tourists, the government
needs to develop the country’s
infrastructure (eg. better roads &
amenities etc).  This would enrich the
lives of the local people.
 Governments can use the revenue from
tourism to upgrade attractions and build
facilities such as hospitals/schools. 
This would improve the standard of
living of the local people.
 High infrastructure costs
 A large capital is required to build
supporting infrastructure/upgrade
tourist attractions.  But the money
may be better spent on providing
education and healthcare which may
be more beneficial for the local society
in the long run.
 Increase in foreign investment
 Foreign investors may set up new hotel
businesses in the destination country.
 Other foreign investors may be
encouraged to follow.  This
would make the country more
attractive to foreign investors. 
This promotes local economic
growth and provides jobs for local
people.
 Foreign-owned hotels may provide
training for the local people (eg.
training in customer
service/hospitality, & train local
people to speak the English
language).  This would upgrade
the skills of the local people.
 Increase in prices
 When there are many tourists, there is
a greater demand for goods and
services.  This causes competition
for basic goods and services, and this
competition increases the prices of
these goods and services.  The local
people end up having to pay more for
these goods and services.

4. b. Socio-cultural impacts
Positive impacts (+) Negative impacts (-)
 Exchange of values
 When tourists interact with
local people, the tourist will
develop a better
understanding of the local
culture / traditions / way of
life.
 Clash of values
 Tourists may not be aware of the local customs
and etiquette (ie. right behaviors).  Thus, locals
may perceive tourists’ attire (ie. scantily-
clad/spaghetti top) and behavior (eg. PDA) as
inappropriate/disrespectful.
 Preservation of heritage
 Tourists come to a place to
visit and learn about the
local culture and customs.
 This encourages the
locals to actively preserve
the local heritage &
maintain buildings/artifacts
to attract tourists.
 Loss of local identity and local culture
 Local people may be encouraged to discard their
traditional activities for tourism-related ones to
make a living.
 Conflict for resource use
 The growing demand for tourism facilities may
result in competition for resources like water and
electricity between tourists and local people.
 Economic/income inequality
 Foreigners are usually better skilled/better
qualified. Thus they usually get the higher-paying
tourism jobs while the locals get the lower-paying
jobs.  This creates an income gap which can
lead to conflict between foreigners and locals
working in the tourism industry.
 Friction may arise from frequent contact between
the poorer local people and the rich tourists.
 Crime generation
 Tourists usually bring along with them cash &
expensive products (eg. cameras, phones and other
electronic products).  This may tempt local
people to pickpocket tourists as an easy way to
make a living.
 Tourists may be attracted to the availability of
drugs/gambling opportunities in some countries.
 As more and more tourist travel to these
countries to buy drugs/gamble, it encourages
the drug/gambling trade to flourish.
 This may also cause the local people to
become addicted to drugs/gambling.

5. c. Environmental impacts
Positive impacts (+) Negative impacts (-)
 Conservation of natural areas
 Governments/local authorities conserve
natural environments, as they are
valuable tourist destinations (potential
source of income!).
 Tourists are also taught to abide by
rules to protect fragile environments
(eg coral reefs, caves etc).
 Environmental degradation
 Footpath erosion
 Littering
 Pollution
 Pest infestation
 Plane flights release large amounts of
carbon dioxide emission into the
atmosphere.
 Exceeded carrying capacity
 The environment is not able to cope
with the great number of incoming
tourists.  Thus, the quality of the
environment deteriorates.
 Eg. Too many tourists trampling
on the vegetation & soil can cause
the area to suffer from soil
erosion.
 Damage to fragile ecosystems
 Tourism developments (eg. building
steel structures/cable cars/hotels) can
damage the natural environment (eg.
reshape mountain slopes/tree
removal/change the coastline).
 When ships bring in tourists and dock
near the coast, it can damage the
surrounding coastal environments (eg.
coral reefs).
Ecotourism
• Responsible travel to natural areas that:
o conserves the environment
o sustains the well-being of local people
• Growing awareness of the increasing negative impacts of tourism on the
environment & people  led to growth of ecotourism.
• With proper management: ecotourism can bring greater benefits to the
environment & people
Case study of Serengeti
• Positive impacts of tourism
• Negative impacts of tourism