History, Evolution, & Future Directions of Tourism - Coursework Example

Name Course Tutor 16th February, 2012. Topic 1: The Tourism Phenomenon – Concepts & Definitions Tourism has been defined in various ways, but all definitions revert to the same basic principle of travelling for pleasure and provision of services to travelers. Tourism involves many industries and is a fast growing industry. Wahab (6) describes tourism as a complicated combination of co-operating industries and integrated trades. To fully describe tourism definitions of its related, industries and concepts must be understood. Tourism phenomenon refers to significant development in the tourism sector, it includes both development in tourist origin regions and destinations. According to Wahab, (pp. 6) tourism is the activity involving travelling for pleasure. It is concerned with provision of accommodation and entertainment services to tourists. The WTO (World Tourism Association) defines a tourist as a person who visits another country and stays longer than a day but not reside there for more than one year, and whose purpose of travel is leisure, business, family visit or mission. A tourist differs from an excursionist in that he spends more than 24 hours in the country visited. A tourist purpose of visit should not lead to permanent residence (Craig-Smith & Collier, 8). This definition considers a business traveler a tourist as earnings are gained accommodation businesses. Murphy, (9) differs and recognizes an excursionist as a tourist maintaining that an excursionist doesn’t take up permanent residence destination country. South Australian tourism authorities define tourism as: ‘the economic and social activity based on the enjoyment of experiences of visitors-gained by their interaction with a natural and host environment ’. Clearly travelling, stay; entertainment and accommodation are the common factors to be considered by any definition of tourism. When classifying tourists, Tourism Australia considers several characteristics of the visitor tourist. First, distance travelled by a tourist to reach destination indicates appeal of any tourist attraction and confidence in the authorities running it. Secondly, the duration of travel impacts the activity the visitor can participate in when she arrives in the country. Thirdly, the purpose of a trip has considerable implications to the amount of earnings Australia gains from visitors. Tourists visit our country for various reasons, some travel to see specific sights while others choose their destination when already in the country with help from local tour guides. Another important factor is the motivation for a tourist to decide to visit our country. Tourists arrive mostly by air, upon arrival, road and rail transport is used. Cruise ships berth on the ports of Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney and other resort ports bringing thousands of tourists into Australia. Tourism Australia further profile tourists on uptake of tourism services. Earnings from accommodations depend on hotel chosen, the length of stay, and the uptake of the hotel’s services (Feiffer, 106). Tourist hire the vehicles of tour operators to travel around the country, they also engage the services of their tour guides. Topic 2: The History, Evolution, & Future Directions of Tourism People have always journeyed into distant lands to see different sights. Greeks attended the Olympic Games first held in 776 A. D. and even today, sporting events are major attractions for tourists. Tourism in Greek tended to be related to religious practice, not unlike modern times when thousands flocked to Mecca, the Vatican, Jerusalem and other religious shrines. Ancient Egyptians also traveled for pleasure. Romans too traveled to Egypt to see the sphinx and the pyramids. In early Egypt inns were built along major routes to provide accommodation for travelers. Mass tourism was pioneered by the European grand tour that started in 1660 and people continued to take the tour until 1840. According to Rojek and Urry (78), the middle and upper class toured Europe and the Middle East. The tour was similar to modern day educational tour and was considered an educational rite of passage and still nowadays students visit other country’s universities on exchange program and educational tours. The tour was originally an affair of the affluent upper class, but in later years, more youths from the middle class started to participate benefiting from the advancement of rail transport. According to Feifer, (92), Thomas cook is considered “ the father of mass tourism” he started by taking a group of campaigners from Leicester Campbell train station to a rally in Loughborough a mere 11 mile away. Cook shared a percentage of each person’s fare with the rail company. Cooks arrangement mirrors what modern day tour agencies do. Advancement in technology across a number of industries has contributed to evolution of tourism from an industry exclusively for the affluent middle class to today’s mass levels. Advancement in transport has contributed most significantly to this evolution. Harris and Leiper, (156), credit the industrial revolution for this distinction between early and modern tourism. During this revolution, railways and trains were invented meaning more tourists could travel, longer distances could be covered and travel cost decreased. Mass production of road cars contributed equally to the evolution of tourism. Steamships could now sail across oceans and later evolved into today’s luxurious cruise ships. Tourist volumes are affected by economic, social and psychological factors. Economic factors include the home country’s affluence with per capita income per person influencing number of arrivals from a particular country. Wealthier people have more disposable income, thus travel for pleasure more than poorer people. A number of social factors are responsible for changing demand levels for tourism services (William, 237). Population growth leads to decreased demand for a destination, as tourists avoid crowded destinations. Cultural practice may also discourage or encourage tourists from visiting a particular destination, a beach where wearing of bikini is banned attracts lesser tourists than one with more relaxed restrictions is but an example of how culture can restrict tourism and tourist activities in particular region. A culture healthy cuisine attracts more tourist as healthy eating is a popular global trend. Tourism has evolved to reach today’s mass levels but the reasons why people travel remain the same. The Pilgrimage to Jerusalem began in the middle ages and even today the practice continues. Tourism expects unprecedented growth in the future as humankind advances in technology. Feifer, (89) supposes that advances in information communication technology imply that a tourist would still work while on holiday. Tourism will remain a high contributor to the Australian GDP, albeit with significant contribution to destination promotion and branding Topic 3: Tourism as a Global Phenomenon It is beyond reasonable doubt that the world is a global village since there has been a tremendous improvement in transport and communication systems. As a result, tourism has featured in almost if not all countries on earth. Tourism is said to be domestic when people from a given country tours or travels to explore new areas so as to get satisfaction, within the boundaries of that country. On the other hand, international tourism happens when tourists travel from one county to another with the aim of visiting selected areas of interest. Tourists are mostly attracted by physical features, wild animals, historical sites, advanced technology, and new discoveries among others. The most recent word patterns on tourism shows that there were over 940 million arrivals worldwide which demonstrated a growth of 6.6% when compared to the year 2009. International tourism receipts also grew to US$919 billion (619 Euros) in the year 2010 which corresponds to an increase of 4.7% in actual terms. The poor tread of tourism in the year 2009 was associated with the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus that caused a decline of 4.2% in that year. The year 2001 also had a negative impact on tourism in the United States following the 2001 September 11th attack (World Tourism Organization). Tourism has created employment in the service industry associated with tourism for example transportation services like airlines, cruise, ships, and taxicabs among others. Other related services are hotels, resorts and entertainment venues. According to the world tourism organization, the most visited countries include: China, U.S.A, France, Thailand, United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Malaysia, and United Arab Emirates among others (world tourism organization). Australia is one of the new lands discovered in the world. However, it has not been left behind as far as the general development is concerned which implies that its tourism sector is also developed. According to the Federal government, Australia must re-examine its position in light of major shifts in the global tourism to promote a place. Today, Australia has negotiated very successfully a complicated trading environment and has therefore emerged stronger than the rival destinations. The education system has also attracted many people in Australia hence the number of travels have been increased amidst the decline in the world. It has also been noted that many have traveled in Australia due to the availability of many jobs. The government has played a significant role in maintaining the position of Australia’s tourism sector even in worse times of economic recession. According to Ferguson, the current Australian tourism minister, it was the government’s timely intervention to the tourism sector and the successive investment in the transport and the general public infrastructure that helped the sector to sail through in the presence of the global financial crisis. Current statistics show that tourism contributes 2.6% (AUD 33 BILLION) to Australian gross domestic product. The sector has managed to occupy almost half a million people or 4.5% of the Australian labor force. Also, the sector represents Australia’s most important services export industry that represents 8% of the exports. Finally, the sector is very imperative regional Australia, with 46 % in every dollar of tourism spending being used up in the regional Australia. A conclusion based on Australia’s position is that, the government should strive to maintain and if possible endeavor to boost the sector since the current competition is severe and likely to deepen particularly from Asian countries that have got lower costs structures. The tourism industry will therefore need to be positioned in such a way that it will able to capture a higher value customer and at the same time attract quality and a large capacity. Topic 4: Tourism Organization and Structure Tourism is a multifaceted sector that incorporates a networking of interconnected stakeholders and organization which are both communal and private. The success of a destination relies on a coordinated approach to the planning, development, management and marketing of the destinations. There are long term strategic planning processes that help top guide sustainable management, development and marketing of tourism. To begin with, it is necessary to seek the community support of the champions who usually have technical, communication and marketing skills. Second, it is better to involve an experienced tourism consultant in case there lacks planning expertise at a destination level. Third, the support of the government should be sought lastly but not least, the community should be engaged in all the levels so as to ensure that the community owns the plan hence more willing to support the plan (Skelton, 43). The structure of tourism sector encompasses the social environment, political environment, economic environment, technological environment among others. Break down of this structure further gives us the demand side and the supply side of the sector. On the demand side’s case, tourists have to travel to different marketed and well advertised areas of attraction. On the other hand, the recipient country, company or organization which in this case represents the supply side should by all possible means attract the tourists so that they can travel to those destinations (Perrons, 93). The general infrastructure especially the transport system should be already improved. Other preconditions that fall on the supply side mainly include; hospitality, accommodation and rental rates, entertainment, security and hygiene among others. In conclusion, the world tourism bodies should be on the front line in making sure that the trends in tourisms are not declining. These bodies like the world tourism organization should focus on positive future trends by making sure that there prevails less bureaucracy in the whole process. They should also project more tourists in future by impacting a bigger influence in the world. Governments of different nations should also prevail in maintaining political stability not forgetting the United Nations (U.N) body and the other related bodies responsible for maintaining world peace. If the above future trends are to be achieved, then tourism sector will emerge as one of the major contributors to the gross domestic product of many nations. Works cited Tracey, Skelton and Tim, Allen. Culture and Global Change. London: Routledge publishers. 1999. Stephen, P. Hanna and Vincent J. Del Casino Jr.. Mapping Tourism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota press. 2003. Perrons, Diane. Globalization and Social Change. London: Routledge publishers. 2004. Wahab, Salah. Tourism management: An Introduction to the scientific study of the study of tourism management. Cornell, UK: Tourism International Press, 1975. Murphy, Peter. Tourism a community approach. Australia: Pearson Education, 1985. Feifer, Maxine, Tourism in History: From Imperial Rome to the Present .London: Independent Pub Group, 1986. Rojek, Chris and Urry, John. Touring cultures: transformations of travel and theory London: Routledge publisher, 1997. Theobald, William. Global tourism. New York : Butterworth-Heinemann, 1998. Duval, David. Tourism and transport: modes, networks and flows. New York: Channel. View Publications, 2007 Harris, Rob and Leiper, Neil .Sustainable tourism: an Australian perspective. Sydney: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1995 Wilma A. Dunaway, Immanuel Wallerstein. Immerging Issues in the 21st Century World system. Westport: Plaega. 2003. Read More