Travel and Tourism Environment from an Analytical Perspective - Case Study Example

Travel and Tourism Environment from an Analytical Perspective Overview of the Historical Development and Modern Trends in Tourism From the very beginning of human civilization and even -to speak more specifically- from the emergence of human being on the earth, travel has always been an activity that is intertwined with human with human life either to fulfill human necessity or to satisfy some of the pleasure principles of human mind by viewing and enjoying the novelty of places, cultures, life-styles, etc. “Tourism” is fairly a modern concept that connotes a set of ethics; that involves a number interest groups; and that, after all, requires a careful definition that differs from the concept of “travel” in earlier societies (Rojek & Urry, 1997: 47-9). In modern context, as tourism has emerged as an increasingly influencing factor in the economy of a country, it is more in the focus of the people in concern. Tourism is a modern concept in the sense that its evolution in modern context has been greatly contributed to by various unique features -of modern life, state, and society- that were absent in the earlier concept of travel and tourism. Though the traits of an individual’s life and society are self-evident, the role of a modern state can be problematic to perceive. But the concept of modern state is crucial to the development of tourism because it involves the idea of localities and area with newer rules and regulations (Rojek & Urry, 1997: 45). The development of tourism in term of its broadening connotation can be sketched in the following figure: Figure 1: Development of Tourism Industry Basic Drives of Tourism in Modern Context The basic idea that tends to shape the definition of tourism in modern concept is that the desire of an individual to visit a place is highly subjective and monopolized by a man’s own pleasure principles. The definition of a tourist destination crucially involves a man’s cultural and individual pleasure concept of an area. But this definition may also include the necessity of an individual to visit a place or a country, as World Tourism Organization (1993) defines that tourism is “the activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outsides their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, and other purposes”. Consequently, the concept of modern tourism evolves from a man’s sought for pleasure and from the fulfillment of his necessity to visit a place where he is not involved in any money-earning activities or does not go to reside. Therefore tourism happens “when people travel from their residence to the destinations to enjoy the beautiful landscapes or the historical interests” (Redy, 2009: 7). The following figure encapsulates the basic drives of Modern tourism industry: Figure 2: Continuum of the Emergence of Tourism Industry Structure of Travel and Tourism Industry The concept of tourism essentially includes the destination which a tourist wants to visit, and the distance between the tourist’s residence and the destination. A tourist’ attraction for the tourism destination as well as the means of movement to it plays a significant role in realizing his tourism desire. In this regard, Leiper notes that the concept of tourism includes three basic aspects: tourists, sectors of tourism, and the geographical elements. The geographical elements of Leiper’s tourism model can be outlined into three distinct parts: “Traveler-generating region”; “Tourist destination region”; and “Transit route region”. Leiper’s tourism model is important for an overall idea of tourism because it encapsulates all the places a tourist comes from and goes, and the means of his travels (Leiper, 1995). Among these three aspects, the tourist destination is the most important one. Indeed most of the tourism industry is established on the ideas and concepts of a tourism destination. Essentially the idea of a tourism destination emphasizes on the activities of the people who are involved in enhancing the potentiality of a place as a tourist destination. In other words, a tourist destination can be considered as a ‘pull’ factor in the tourism market (Kotler, Haider and Rein, 1993: 79). It promises the fulfillment and realization of a tourist’s temporary goal of travel through management strategies and quality of management and service. Source: Lieper, 1995 Sectors of Travel and Tourism In general a tourism industry comprises of the collective efforts of different organizations –that are motivated by the commercial interests in tourism- to promote the tourism product. These organizations can be located both in private and governmental sectors. But Leiper suggests that these tourism industrial sectors can be scattered in different locations, such as both in tourist generating region and tourist destination region (Leiper, 1995). Different travel agent and tour operators work in the traveler generating region, whereas destination-branding operators and the hospitality industries are located in tourist destination region. Again the transport agencies are located in the transit route region. In a tourism system, a tourist is positioned at the central place. Indeed a tourist appears to be the primary drive for the development of the whole tourism system (Redy, 2009: 7-9). Now the sectors that are involved in promoting the potentials of the tourism destination provide different tourism products, leisure facilities, accommodations, and other ancillary services (Hsu & Cai, 2009). In the same way, the travel sectors are involved in promoting the quality of travel. The relationships of these sectors with tourism industry are as following: Source: BTEC National Travel & Tourism Functions of Government-Entity and International Agencies Tourism industry is not any independent system; rather it is closely related to other social institutions. Different national governmental and private organizations can exert influence on the total growth of the tourism industry in a country. Also different international organizations such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO/OMT), etc play significant roles influencing this development. These organizations tend to influence the development of tourism because of their shares of interest in it. These interests are mainly socio-cultural, political, economic and physical, environmental, agricultural, etc. Also they can be both cautionary and motivating. Especially a governmental entity is involved in making policies that are intended to attain the goals of tourism while keeping its other policies unspoiled such as environmental policy, national security, economic policy, etc (Rowe, Smith & Borein, 2002: 15). The functions of government organizations according to their hierarchy are presented in the following figure: Influences of Government’s Economic Policy Since tourism is related to a number of socio-political and economic issues such as employment opportunity, growth in the GDP, infrastructural development, the governmental bodies make policy that are congenial to these issues. But sometimes some of these issues may contradict each other. For example, extensive tourism in the countries may affect sea-resources. Also the excessive and reckless presence of tourists may endanger the flora and fauna in a country. Even tourism may increase the crime rate such as drug smugglings, drug abuse, cultural distortion, etc. In such case these governmental bodies in cooperation with other related non-governmental organizations are supposed to with deal these tourism-related problems (Rowe, Smith & Borein, 2002). In the UK, there are several governmental entities that are responsible for contributing to the growth of tourism as well as for overseeing and supervising other agencies and industries operating business in the UK tourism. One of the most influential semi-government organizations in the UK is “Association of British Travel Agents” (ABTA). The ABTA is responsible for overseeing the whole tourism industries and for protecting consumer rights (Rowe, Smith & Borein, 2002: 40). Though the ABTA does not have any statutory base, it is regulated by the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing rules of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Britain. The ABTA works at national level in Britain. Again another statutory Government entity the Civil Aviation Authority are responsible for implementing and maximizing different customer’s safety and facility related policy. The CAA's responsibilities include: 1. Licensing of any operator or agencies that are connected to air-travel; 2. Medical regulation of safety flight in the British Airways; 3. Maintaining the UK register of aircraft; 4. Regulation of safety measures; and 5. Development of customer-oriented aviation policy, both in the UK and Europe. Simultaneously other government organizations such as Visit Britain (functioning at both national and local levels), Visit Northumbria (working at regional level), Department for Transport (DfT), and Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) contribute to the growth of tourism in industry in Britain. (Civil Aviation Authority, 2010; VisitBriatin, 2010) Influence of Political Stability and Changes on Tourism Industry According to Hall and O’ Sullivan (1996), political stability and political relations have a huge influence on the destination image of a country or place in Leiper’s tourist generating regions. Indeed the political image of a country is much associated with the security and safety of the tourists’ stay in a tourist destination. A good political image of a country, in the first place, renders the trustworthy responsibility of the authority of a country. In this regard, Hall and O’ Sullivan (1996: 117) say, “Perceptions of political instability and safety are a prerequisite for tourist visitation. Violent protests, social unrest, civil war, terrorist actions, the perceived violations of human rights, or even the mere threat of these activities can all serve to cause tourists to alter their travel behavior”. In the same manner, political chaos, political strife, warfare, coups, and political protests have negative impacts on the tourism industry of a country, as Ankomah and Cropman (1990) says, “Any evidence of domestic turmoil is likely to result in a decision not to visit that country” (p19). The positive effect of stable politics on the tourism industry is viewable in Malaysia. In the country, the prevalence of a stable political culture has greatly contributed to the sustainable growth of tourism industry in the country. From 1980 the country had been under the leadership of ex Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammad for about 29 years (Funston, 2002: 413). During those years tourism has flourished to be the leading source of foreign currency in the economic sector of the country. The stable political environment has contributed to the tourism industry in the following ways: The government got enough time to develop long-term policies and implement the related strategy to grow a sustainable tourism industry; absence of political anarchy like other a number of other Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippine, etc boost up the prestigious destination image of Malaysia in abroad; Continuation of one government over a long period did not hamper the implementation of long-term tourism policy that usually occurs immediately after the succession of another party to the government; A sustainable political environment was also a plus point for the country’s destination image among the tourists of the western countries; Practice of liberal democracy inspired the cultural liberalism that allowed people of different cultures to coexist peacefully; Also it boosted up the destination image of the country as a multi-cultural nation; and, Finally whole heartedness of the ruling government to boost up the tourism industry was at the centre of this development. Also the negative implications of political instability and political change are remarkable in Togolese tourism industry. After dispelling a long history of political chaos, the African country Togo, now, has ushered into a new era of tourism industry. The present political authority of the country is moving forward with a view to establishing it as one of the major economic sectors that will contribute to the country’s reservation of foreign currencies (Euromonitor International, 2009:1). In the 1970’s the Togolese tourism industry was the trail blazer in Africa and the largest investor in the tourism sector of West Africa. But Togo entered into a political crisis in the early 1990s. (Republic of Togo, 2009) During the reign of the preceding paramilitary regime, the tourism industry of the country suffered great havocs including the spiral falls in the number of incoming tourists. But due to the proactive policy of the Government, this industry is supposed to grab a strong hold in the country’s economy. The effects of the present government’s policy on tourism have started to be perceptible in the incessant increase in the number of the tourists during the years between 2005 and 1007. During this period the figure of the international tourists that was almost 80000 in the year 2005, reached 83900 in the later half of the year 2007. According to figure 2 this increase in the number of the tourists was preceded by a break between the years 2004 and 2005, when the decline was amounted to be 2000 people (Euromonitor, 2009:3), as it is evident in the following table 1. The US Department of State reports that this Sub-Saharan country “[being] listed in the 50 least developed country is following the same increase of it international tourist arrivals” (U.S. Department of State, 2009). Euromonitor International assumes that the increase rate in the tourist arrival rate “will be just an increase of 44 percent” in the year 2009 (Euromonitor, 2009). In this regard Neumayer (2004) elaborates the idea further that “tourists are only willing to travel to foreign places in mass numbers if their journey and their stay are safe” (Neumayer, 2004:259). This could be viewed as the reason why the economic and tourist sector in Togo went down at that time. Now that the political situation appears to be stable the country can focus again on the development of its tourism. Figure 2 (Source: Euromonitor International, 2009) Factors that Influences the Demand of Tourism Demand of tourism is a term that refers to the motivation of a tourist to visit a place. A person’s interest in a place and the destination image of the place are interrelated with each other. But in a broader context, the demand of a tourist correlates with the socio-cultural, political and environmental issues of both the tourist generating region and the traveller generating region (Gilbert, 1991: 80-89). The difference between the socio-cultural, political and environmental features of the two regions (Leiper’s model) generally determines the pull factors of a tourism demand. For example, the cultural, social and environmental novelty of a place functions as a pull factors to attract a tourist. But the push factors of tourism-demand are shaped by any specific cause that motivates a tourist to visit a place irrespective of its cultural and environmental difference. Indeed the push factors remain active in the tourist generating region, whereas the pull factors relates to the traveller generating region (Howard & Sheth, 1973: 94). Another implication of the factors in constructing a destination image from a socio-cultural constructivist perspective is that it highlights the significance of the role of an individual’s culture in the perception of another place as well as its culture that is apparently novel to him (Hsu & Cai, 2009: 45). Therefore, the construction of a destination needs to focus on the demands of the targeted tourists in a particular tourist generating region. The constructivist paradigm is shown in the following diagram: Again a tourist’s demand can be influenced by some intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The intrinsic motivation evolves from a person’s desire to visit a place, whereas the extrinsic factor may influence these intrinsic motivations. The destination image of a place primarily engages with the pull factors of a tourist’s demand (Technische Universitat Dreschen, 2006). But though a destination image can do much with the push, factors, yet it can manipulate some of the push factors to pull the tourists to a place (Middelton, 1994: 109). For example, the religious destination image of Mecca or Jerusalem cannot pull the Hindu pilgrims, but the destination image of Singapore as a country of developed health service can attract people from all country because here the pull factor of better health service manipulates the push factors of a person’s illness. How Supply Change to Meet the Effects of Demand Supply can play a significant role in influencing a tourist’s demand. It can affect both the pull factors in the tourist generating region, traveller generating region, and in the transit route. Supplies are mainly related to the destination image of a place. A tourist may have a particular or a set of primary goals related to the destination image: to visit a place with unique features such as mountains, savannahs, rivers, sea-beach, cultural heritage, historical heritage, etc. But often tourists are influenced by the motivation to visit a place that has the maximum number of these features (Kotler, Haider and Rein, 1993: 89-92). The qualities of hospitality, accommodation, transportation, safety, security, etc influence the demand of a tourism spot in the traveller generating region. In the tourist generating region the presence of information centres in order to provide information, available travel operators and agencies to provide travel services can affect the demand of a destination image (Hsu & Cai, 2009: 49). These supplies are closely related to Mathieson and Wall's (1982) model of selecting a tourist destination: Economic, Environmental and Social impacts: Their Interrelationships Tourism has both positive and negative impacts on a country’s economy, environment and various social aspects. The positive economic impacts of tourism can be surmised into the growth of a country’s economy. Several factors –such as direct and indirect income generations, increase in employment opportunity, motivating infra-structural development, elevation of the living standard through the increase in the per capita income, stimulation of economic activities in a backward area, increase in GNP, etc- contribute to the economic growth of a country (Pro-Poor Tourism, 2004: 8). But the tourism has also some negative impacts such as overdependence on a country’s economy on tourism, inflation in local economy, leakages through imported goods, services, and foreign investment, seasonality, etc. The impacts of tourism are interrelated with each other through a convoluted relationship, because each of economy, society and environment are not any independent entity. Rather they themselves are related to each other (Cater, 1995: 24). Consequently, when any of these elements is changed by tourism, the other elements are also affected either positively or negatively. For example, though the growth of economic activities motivated by tourism enhances the standard of living of the people in a society, it has to suffer the decay of moral and social values. Also the environment of the tourism area has to suffer environmental problems (Mowforth & Munt, 1998: 78). The positive and negative environmental and social impacts are as following: The positive impacts: a. Growing awareness and knowledge of wildlife, environment and ecological balance among the people of the tourist area. b. Improvement of socioeconomic condition of the; c. Growth of cultural awareness of both the local people; d. Growth of cultural awareness of the tourists; e. Development of living standard; f. Improvement of healthcare facilities; g. Improvement of the education of the local; h. Motivation of Infrastructural Development; The negative impacts: a. Environment pollution by the tourists b. Disturbance of the seclusion of wild life, habitat destruction c. Threat to the rare species of flora and fauna; d. Soil erosion and soil compaction; e. Drastic change in population; f. Changes of cultural values among the native people; g. Decay of religious values; h. Distortion of native language; i. Spread of HIV/AIDS and health problems; j. Increasing Crimes scopes for international criminal gang; and, k. Chemical waste disposal by the tourists; Strategies on Reducing the Negative Impacts of Tourism In current tourism industries, “sustainable tourism” is a recurring idea that implies the development and the implementation of policies to reduce the negative impacts of tourism on economy, environment and society. Economic sustainability of tourism requires the development of economic policy that will reduce the stresses of tourism on economy. For example, economically sustainable tourism focuses on the following points: a. Policy to control the import of foreign goods and service in order to reduce leakages; b. Motivating the local business entrepreneurs to provide the tourists with local produced goods; c. Creating Alternative business scopes during the off-season in order to reduce the negative effects of seasonality of tourism; d. Effective steps to reduce Inflations; e. Developing alternative sustainable and compatible economic policy in the target. Strategies of Environmentally and Economically Sustainable Tourism Developing an environmentally sustainable tourism often involves in bringing two opposing poles of interests in a line of compromise. Since environment and tourism are two opposing issues, an environmentally sustainable tourism strategy focuses on reducing environmental problems of tourism while maximizing the benefits (House, 1997: 90-92). For example, “cultural tourism” and “ecotourism” focuses on growing awareness of the tourists about environment while taking initiatives to reducing the impacts. In context of growing awareness of the drastic environmental and ecological changes worldwide, the offers and imperatives of the ecotourism can be praised as to its attempts to raise the tourists’ awareness of the environment (Cater, 1995: 22). Ecotourism necessarily grabs the outstanding position in comparison with other forms of tourism because of its environment-friendly and other sustainable characteristics. Therefore ecotourism industry endowed with the following dimensions: the demand dimension, 2. Ecological Issues, 3. the ecological Concerns of the tourist professionals and products. In the first place ecotourism deals with two topics of tourism. First it takes the tourists’ interest in nature into consideration. Secondly it is concerned with the ecological balance and the environmental changes induced by the tourism related activities of human beings (House, 1997: 95). The essential characteristics of ecotourism are as following: a. Nature based and Eco-cultural activities of the tourists b. Eco-cultural sustainability of the tourism industry c. Ecological awareness of the tourists about the conservation natural and cultural assets d. Inclusion Pro-environmental elements within the tourism industry e. Concern of the tourism professional within the industry to reduce the negative impacts of tourism on both environment and cultures f. Reservation and safeguarding the natural properties of the tourist spots g. Employing the community based economic activities in order for the development of socio economic status of any cultural communities. References Ankomah & Cropman1990, in Sarah JR Ryu, Political instability and its effects on Tourism, Victoria University, Australia. BTEC National Travel & Tourism n.d., ‘Travel & Tourism Industry Structures’, Viewed 10 November 2010, Cater, E 1995, ‘Environmental contradictions in sustainable tourism’. The Geographical Journal, 161(1), 21-28. Euromonitor International 2008, ‘Travel and Tourism: World’. Viewed 10 November 2010, Funston, J 2002, Government and Politics in Southeast Asia, p. 413. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. Gilbert, D.C1991, “An Examination of the Consumer Behavior Process Related to Tourism”. In Progress in Tourism, Recreation and Hospitality Management, edited by C.P. Cooper .London: Belhaven, pp.78-105 Hall, C. 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