Governments Involvement in Local Tourism - Essay Example

Module and Portfolio essay It is not justifiable for a government to restrict tourist access to any area of their country. The government may wish to protect the local population or the natural environment from the effects of tourism, but the local population has the right to boost their economy through tourism Word Count Tutor’s name Student number Submission date Government’s Involvement in Local Tourism Tourism is a major socio-economic force in most countries that depend on tourism activities. It leads to the generation of income as well as promotion of local heritage. Tohidy (2011) notes that in many countries, tourism has been viewed a promoter of development. The government is a partner in the growth of this sector through the promotion of policies that support the growth of the tourism sector. However, the government may limit travel to some places to protect the habitats from damages caused by overpopulation. For example, limiting the visits to Archipelago Island to protect them from damages of pollution. However, it is not justifiable for a government to restrict tourist access to any area of the country. The government may choose to protect the local population or the natural environment from the effects of tourism, but the local community has the right to boost their economy through tourism. Local tourism activities have enabled the development of infrastructure and social amenities that help communities. Such include providing health care facilities, high-class hotels that provide employment, roads and sports centres that make it easy for the accommodation of the tourist and even towards offering recreation activities for the tourists. Moreover, Chen (2012) suggests that tourism forms the greater part of the global economy due to the efficiency of benefits from tourism production and consumption. Communities that have a weak economies and a rich culture, heritage, and history use their distinct elements to generate income for their countries. It is done through the preservation of important elements for tourism, for example, the lifestyle of the traditional community among other cultural and historical preservations. Local communities are gifted with rich cultural backgrounds that could be used to generate income through tourism. Maccarrone-Eaglen (2009) describes cultural tourism as an alternative form of travel that can sustain the local economy. In order to promote local tourism, governments should allow tourists’ access to designated destinations in through the local community to encourage cultural tourism. Maccarrone-Eaglen (2009) also notes that the concept of culture tourism thrives on the idea of freedom of choice for the tourists as well as sustainability of a rich cultural heritage. Additionally, Rothman (2003) explains that cultural tourists enjoy meeting new people and learning how they live. Adventure activities include recreational activities, which are also a key component of culture. For instance, according to Ryan (2003), world cup soccer attracts tourists who make other kinds of arrangements of adventure. However, adventure is not possible with the government imposing travel limitations to some local places in the country. Besides, tourists love adventure, and such policies would only keep them away. These tourists may in return develop a negative image of the nation. On the contrary, the government should coordinate all agencies to open up access to all corners of a country for tourism access. The states are developing the appropriate infrastructure for a more autonomous travel experience. For instance, enacting passport and visa policies that favour tourism travel within and across a countrys borders is one way of encouraging local tourism. Since the demand for cultural tourism is high, the government needs to allow the local community to tap all the available resources to ensure they promote tourism activities. The legislature should create policies that enhance such development while at the same time protecting the attractiveness of the local heritage and the environment. Each part of a country has its unique culture, a portion of distinctly tangible and intangible culture that could be fascinating for any cultural tourism. It is the role of the government to promote such learning through support and promotion of cultural tourism. As a result, local culture may attract investments and even new residents. Countries that are doing well in the tourism sector have benefited from the good leadership that has implemented sustainable cultural preservation strategies in the long term. The role of the government in sustainable cultural tourism is evident through the characteristic promotion of partnerships of stakeholders in tourism and culture of these countries. Tohidy (2011) notes that the benefits of promoting cultural tourism outweigh the disadvantages. The government should encourage it in all parts of a country in order to benefit from what cultural tourism has to offer. The sector has potential to develop businesses and create jobs, increase tax revenue, diversify the local economy and create opportunities for partnerships. It also has an opportunity in preserving local traditions and culture and attracting tourists interested in history and preservation. Investment in historical attraction, building community pride in heritage and creating awareness of the importance of a region are other benefits of promoting cultural tourism. The government need not limit interaction of tourism with culture in all places, it surely has a chance to promote diversity and peace within the country and with the international community. It has an opportunity to revive and rejuvenate regions with the low economy in a country through identifying and promoting opportunities for cultural tourism in such areas. The local people in marginalized areas can benefit from cultural tourism as an alternative form of income. “Cultural heritage tourism has the potential to generate both positive and negative impacts” (Kaminski, Benson, and Arnold, 2013, p.4). The government’s option of limiting access to some places is based mostly on the fears associated with tourism. Limitations related to the protection of local biodiversity includes erosion and over-visitation resulting in pollution of the environment. While this is important to enhance the sustained heritage, it should be combined with a regulation on the number of tourists visiting a site per day instead of entirely limiting access. Some examples of such policies are in the control of the visitors at the Archipelagos Islands which exists in the form of a treaty limiting visitors. The government may limit access to places to protect what remains of such pristine places. Limiting the number of people to visit a certain area is not sufficient enough for protecting such areas from the effects of visitation. There are chances that people may buy access considering that most tourists are wealthy and can afford to. Involvement of all the stakeholders in the protection measures of the cultural heritage is key to achieving this objective. The government should invest in public awareness of the importance of conservation of the pristine places. The government should also promote fair use of cultural sites by establishing criteria of use, different from limiting policies (Heidelberg, 2014). Ecotourism principles suggest that a site should have a small number of visitors in order to maintain the carrying capacity of a region. From past experiences, many countries have experienced other kinds of fears from tourism such as terrorism and cultural breakdown. Lew (2011) has viewed tourism activities to be relevant to the extent that it helps create job opportunity in the host country. These jobs are either direct employment in the tourism industry or indirect employment in other sectors such as transport industries, hotels among other sectors. Once those who get the job spend their salary to purchase commodities and service, this leads to multiplier effects hence creation of more job opportunities. Tourism increases the foreign earnings in a country. Hotel accommodations, restaurants charges and access to direct foreign investments are examples of the areas of revenue collection. Chen (2012) explains the relevance of tourism towards the restoration of countries economic growth and reducing imbalances in the macro economy. Bringing trade surpluses and deficits back to balances is a significant contribution of the tourism sector to a countries economy. Gains from tourism either through domestic or internal tourism are used to offset these imbalances. Travel helps in the development of global partnerships. The income generated is channelled back into the host country and used in the development of the country economic policies. Sun and Daniel (2006) associates tourism with the formulation of favourable public policies and decisions from the existence of greater respect for the tourism industry among public managers, the general public, and the business community. Lew (2011) suggests that tourism helps in the promotion of trade within the country as the tourist buy goods and services from businesses in the area of tourism practice. The income is used to pay salaries and wages to the employees in those companies. The presence of tourists in a given area leads to changes in prices of commodity and services in the area such as the costs of housing, clothing among others on a seasonal basis. It results in an increase in income which supports economic growth for both the owners of the business and the employees. This income aids in the development of lifestyles for the households and investment into new or existing business opportunities. Lew (2012) also suggests that tourism leads to increase in availability of goods and services in a given area whether the goods and the services are of good quality or lower quality in the absence of tourism. It eventually translates into higher sales and higher profits. The reduction of local taxes such as roads, hospitals among other due to either directly or indirectly taxing tourists. Lew (2011) notes that costs of provision of local services lower in the presence of tourism activities. Eventually, a reduction in local taxes leads to a reduction in poverty levels as the money withheld from taxes is used for both economic development and personal development. Tourism has enabled financial analysts to plan for and respond to natural disasters that have direct impacts on the economic welfare of the country especially the poor communities. Conflicting opinions arises on whether to allow tourist access to all areas of the country due to the adverse factors that may result in doing so. These factors include changes in prices of commodities and services. For example pushing prices higher may leave those not involved directly in tourism worse off than before the seasonal period. The local population may also be deprived of the activities that they were initially involved in such as forests, waters among others. Income generated from the tourism sectors may not benefit the local community as most of this income leaks out to big international companies such as hostels among others (Ruhanen, 2009). On the other hand, jobs created are mostly seasonal, and the employees are paid a miserable salary. Economic recession, natural disasters, and terrorism attacks affect the tourist destination in the host countries as most visitors prefer touring stable states. In conclusion, it is not justifiable for the government to limit the visitor access to some places. The government may want to protect the local community and the environment from the adverse effects that come with the tourism but limiting access does not ultimately achieve this purpose. Limiting access to pristine places for tourist may mean that the wealthy may purchase their access to these sites implying that the exclusions for mass tourism lead to a playground for a few. The government should formulate policies for fair use of and preservation of the local tourism resources. The local community, therefore, will have an opportunity to benefit from their heritage. Sensitization of the locals on ecotourism and conservation practices can go a long way in protecting endangered habitats from the negative consequences of tourism. The outcome of the initiative means that the community can harmoniously exist with the environment while benefiting from the resources.   References Chen, Y. (2012) The Fifth UNWTO/PATA Forum on Tourism Trends and Outlook. Anatolia, 23(3), pp.437-438. Heidelberg, B. (2014). Managing ghosts: Exploring local government involvement in dark tourism. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 1-17. Kaminski, J., Benson, A. and Arnold, D. (2013) Contemporary Issues in Cultural Heritage Tourism. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Lew, A. (2011) Tourisms Role in the Global Economy. Tourism Geographies, 13(1), pp.148-151 Maccarrone-eaglen, A. (2009) An Analysis of Culture as a Tourism Commodity. Tourism Culture & Communication, 9(3), pp.151-163. Rothman, H. (2003) The culture of tourism, the tourism of culture. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Ruhanen, L. (2009). Local government: Facilitator or inhibitor of sustainable tourism development? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 80-98.` Ryan, C. (2003) Recreational tourism. Clevedon, England: Channel View Publications. Sun, Y. and Stynes, D. (2006) A note on estimating visitor spending on a per-day/night basis. Tourism Management, 27(4), pp.721-725. Tohidy, Ardahaey (2011) Economic Impacts of Tourism Industry. IJBM, 6(8). . Read More