Tourism Resource Development

Individual Assignment

Tourism – A Curse or a Blessing?

Tourism – Blessing or Curse?
Introduction
Tourism is one of the most influential and powerful industrial service sectors in the global economy. With a current contribution of 6-7% of the overall number of jobs worldwide and an annual receipt of around 1,030 billion US Dollars in 2012 (UNWTO, 2012), tourism proves itself as a strong and solid industry. Furthermore, tourism ranks fourth as an export category behind fuel, chemicals and food indicating the power of a service-based industry in the global market (UNWTO, 2012). Nevertheless, tourism is also dealing with its negative impacts on different destinations such as the great …show more content…

Tourism provides more than 6-7% of the overall number of jobs worldwide (UNWTO, 2012) and empowers workers who are battling with finding occupation in other industries. Furthermore, it is a relatively flexible industry especially appealing for newcomers who just entered the market or mothers having a household and children (UNWTO, 2008).
Profit as a Concept of Sustainable Tourism
When it comes to the economical component of tourism, it is to be mentioned that this industry contributes 5% to the world’s gross domestic product (UNWTO, 2012) and thereby demonstrate its power in the world economy.

Nevertheless, tourism is an industry highly dependent on seasonality which means that during low season, many touristic suppliers have problems with maintaining their businesses (Page & Connell, 2009). In addition to that, the global scope of tourism aggravates businesses for local and small suppliers, since foreign investors often gain more money from tourism at the destination than the local entrepreneurs. This process is called leakage and is threatening local businesses (Page & Connell, 2009).

A process which is the basis of leakage and hence closely related, is the multiplier effect. This effect describes the cash flow by tourism spending at the destination which influences different local industries and can result in economical benefits all over the area (Page & Connell, 2009).