Positive and Negative

Impacts of Tourism

Corinna Chin
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What to do
Read through the lecture slides
Make notes
Write down anything you dont
understand and bring to class
after the holidays where I will
explain to you in more detail
Complete the assessment at
the end of the lecture slides
bring to class after holiday
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The Tourism Industry

Tourism industry is a very large
industry
probably the single most important
industry in the world (Holloway,
2006)
Large portion of jobs come from the
tourism industry
Developing countries use tourism as
a means to improve their economy
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ECONOMIC

SOCIOCULTURAL

ENVIRONMEN
TAL

IMPACT
S OF
TOURIS
M

DOXEYS
IRRITATION
INDEX

ECONOMIC
Large industry generates a lot of
money
Tourism appeals to countries hoping
to improve their economic situation
Cheaper travel and accommodation
means more tourists
Increase in wealth in a country can
help generate successful tourism
plans e.g. China and India
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Positive Economic Impacts

Balance of payments
Employment
Income
Investment and Development
Multiplier Effect

Balance of Payments (BOP)

The difference between the amount
of money leaving a country and the
amount of money coming into the
same country
Tourism can help minimise BOP
Tourist brings currency into country
and spends
Benefits the host country
Particularly ones that have tourists
from high value areas such as the
UK, EU, US

Employment
Tourism creates many various jobs via:
Direct employment
Directly involved in tourism e.g. hotel, travel
agency

Indirect employment
Jobs in the tourism supply sector e.g. catering
company providing food to an airline

Induced employment
Created because of an increase wealth of the
locals from tourism; locals spend more
money in their local economy
8

Income
Money created in local economy at a
destination through:
Wages and salaries
Locals employed in the local area
Profits
Local businesses benefitting from tourist
spending
Rent
Leasing accommodation to tourists and
migrating workforce
Tax
Value Added Tax (VAT); local or national tax
gained from tourist spending

Investment and
Development
Public or private sector

Public

Government wants to develop a destination

Invests in infrastructure (roads, airports,
buildings etc)
Make destination more appealing to tourists

Private
TNCs or MNCs (Multinational Companies)
invest at a destination in order to set up their
own organizations there
Can lead to other companies investing in the
same area
10

Multiplier Effect
A knock on effect within the economy at a
destination
tourist expenditure will inject additional cash
flow into the regional economy and increase
regional income (Page and Connell, 2006)
Employment
More jobs because of tourism

Income
Tourist spending in local area brings more money
to the destination
Locals earn from tourist spending and in turn
spend that money in the local area also,
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Effect of tourist spend on the local

economy

LOCAL
ECONOMY

LOCAL ITEMS
Employees
Local
businesses

IMPORTS
Good bought
outside local

TOURIST
SPEND

INCOME
Hoteliers,
facility owners

SPEND
Wages &
salaries
Suppliers

TAXES
Governme
nt
SAVING
Profit

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Multiplier Effect [2]

Tourist spend
Money directly spend by tourist whilst on
holiday

Income
Tourists money received by hotel and
facility owners

Taxes
Hotel and facility owners have to pay
government tax (council, corporation tax
etc) at local and national level
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Multiplier Effect [3]

Saving
Some money received by hotel and
facility owners will be kept as profit

Spend
Owners of businesses who receive money
from tourists, spends on wages for
employees, supplies (stock) in the local
economy or outside local area (imports)

Local items
Employees and locals spend wages in
local shops e.g. supermarkets

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Negative Economic Impacts

Leakages
Opportunity Costs
Inflation
Tourism Dependency

15

Leakages
Money spent on goods and services
outside local economy
Money saved (in banks etc)
Investment from MNCs or TNCs means that
some money earned by that organization
will leave the local economy e.g.
headquarters in a different destination
Importing goods means another economy
is benefitting from spending e.g. bananas
in the UK
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Opportunity Costs
Also known as displacement effect
developing tourism at the expense of
other activities or areas of
investment (Page and Connell, 2006)
Public money invested in tourism that
is not invested elsewhere e.g. local
infrastructure at another location
Cost-benefit analysis best way to
minimise opportunity costs
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Inflation
Increase in demand leads to
increase in inflation
Inflation = value and price of
land, and products increases
Locals may not be able to
afford to live in a particular
area, local businesses may
suffer
Can lead to negative sociocultural impacts

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Tourism Dependency
Some countries rely heavily on
tourism in order to maintain the
countrys economy
Occurs quite often in developing
countries
If tourism suffers in a country, the
whole economy suffers a huge
negative impact
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ENVIRONMENTAL
Rio Earth Summit 1992
Concern for the environment through
human development around the
globe
Tourism stakeholders take an active
interest in the effects of tourism on
the environment

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Positive Environmental
Impacts
Conservation and preservation
Enhancement of environment
Environmental awareness
Financial contributions
Protection

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Conservation and preservation

Can be done by zoning areas
of the natural environment e.g.
national parks
Strict guidelines to follow for
developments, and visitors

Built or man-made constructions

can also be preserved
Restricted access to certain areas
Money raised from visitors can
help restorations
E.g. castles, cathedrals etc.
22

Enhancement of environment
Make an area look
visually more pretty to
visitors
Can involve cleaning
areas, reforestation,
installation of public
spaces (e.g. public art)
Funded by money from
tourism industry

E.g. London 2010

Olympic Park
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Environmental awareness
Public more aware of environmental
issues
Private and public sectors inform
consumers of environmental impacts
Hotels will inform customers of laundry
process and how to save energy and
water etc

Tourism industry adapting to tourists

needs
Sustainable tourism, ecotourism etc

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Financial contributions
Money directly given towards the
environment
Can be from:
Park entrance fees
Hunting and fishing fees
Rental equipment fees etc

Used to pay for conservation and

preservation of environmentally sensitive
areas
Projects, maintenance, salary for park rangers etc

25

Protection
Environmental protection
Conservation of environment (flora
and fauna)
Sustainable use of natural resources
Achieved through tourism and
government involvement
Energy efficient building, effective waste
treatment removal, pollution prevention
etc
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Negative Environmental
Impacts
Depletion of natural resources
Loss of natural habitats
Pollution

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Depletion of natural
resources

Water resources

Overuse of water for hotels, swimming pools, golf

courses, personal use
Local population dont have enough water for their
own needs

Local resources
Energy, food, raw materials used excessively in
tourism damages environment physically

Land degradation
Land destroyed due to tourist activities
Construction of facilities and attractions damage
natural environment
Tourist activities e.g. walking, skiing, cause erosion
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of the earth

Loss of natural
habitats
On land (terrain)
Flora and fauna displaced (moved) due to tourism
construction
F&F damaged in natural environment

Offshore (water-based, marine)

Damage to fish and water pollution due to
development in the water (e.g. marina
development) or tourist activities in the water
(e.g. diving, sailing, water sports etc)
Coral reefs suffer worldwide from damages
Over-fishing, trampling by tourists and divers,
pollution etc

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Pollution
Air
CO2 emissions (carbon dioxide) damage
the air and effects the Ozone layer
Lots of transport used for tourism e.g.
cars, coaches, planes etc

Noise
Traffic noise from transport
Entertainment (bars and nightclubs)
Disturb natural wildlife and have negative
impact of destination
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Pollution [2]
Visual
Littering
Barren land due to construction of tourism
infrastructure
Pollution of rivers, beaches, sea, natural
scenic areas etc
Constructions can be eyesores

Water
Tourist activities, development, waste
disposal contaminates water effects
wildlife and humans

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SOCIO-CULTURAL
Tourism can have a positive and
negative effect on the locals and
their culture at a destination
It is important for socio-cultural
impacts to be recognised as very
important to tourist development

32

Positive Socio-cultural
Impacts
Education and training
Enhanced quality of life
Pride
Socio-cultural awareness and peace

33

Education and training

Provides opportunity for locals to
learn new skills and qualifications
Skills and qualifications are essential
in tourism industry
Staff training and development
within organizations
e.g. customer services, IT etc

34

Enhanced quality of life

Positive economic impacts of tourism
effect the quality of life locals will
experience
Increase in tourist spending in tourist
destination leads to an increase in
disposable income for locals
Public sector investment in an area
can improve local infrastructure
(roads, facilities etc)
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Pride
Increase in local pride as:
more tourists visit a
destination and
as increase in investment into
local area

Pride in local traditions,

customs, culture, food, crafts,
ceremonies etc
Can renew interest in host
populations culture

36

Socio-cultural awareness and peace

Tourism allows people to understand
and learn about new cultures and
experiences
Learning about a culture first hand
can increase a better understanding
of different backgrounds and
heritage
Can benefit both the locals and the
tourists
37

Negative Socio-cultural
Impacts
Commodification
Crime
Demonstration effect
Displacement
Economic
Exploitation

38

Commodification
Turning a product or service into something
different in order to please the tourist
Performances and ceremonies are
commodified (made more attractive and
dramatic) in order to appeal to tourists
Not representing the true culture of the
locals
Also known as staged authenticity
39

Crime
Where there are more tourists, crime rates
are higher
Tourists are easy targets for thieves
Tourists carry a lot of valuables when travelling
Appeals to poor locals who cannot afford these
goods

Tourists may also become involved in illegal

experiences
Prostitution and drugs etc
Tourists therefore help to develop the illegal
industries

40

Demonstration effect
Locals observe tourists and try
to copy (emulate) them
This can be in terms of:
Behaviour, culture, clothes, food
etc

Leads to a loss of identity and

culture
More apparent in younger
generations
Westernisation western culture
favoured over other local cultures
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Displacement
Development of tourism areas can
lead to an area becoming too
expensive for locals to continue living
there
Land needed for large constructions
can also move local inhabitants
Governments believe that the tourism
infrastructure will outweigh the need for
displacement
42

Economic
Increase in prosperity within host
population can lead to new social classes
Can create tension between:
Locals
Locals and tourists
Migrant workers and locals

Resources become more expensive:

Cost of living increases e.g. foods, service,
housing etc
Causes resentment between locals and
tourists
43

Exploitation
Employment opportunities may seem
exciting to begin with but may become a
negative socio-cultural impact
Some companies may exploit (abuse) local
populations for their own benefits through:
Child labour
Forced labour
Cheap labour

so that the large corporations reap most of

the economic benefits
44

DOXEYS IRRITATION INDEX

(IRRIDEX)
Created in 1975
Designed to measure a host
populations perception of tourists as
a destination develops over time
Linked to Butlers Tourist Area Life
Cycle

45

4 stages of Doxeys Irridex

Euphoria Area
Apathy
Annoyance
Antagonism
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Euphoria Area
Occurs in early stage of Butlers TALC
Destination has few visitors, tourism
relatively new to locals
Locals happy that tourists are
interested in their destination
Welcoming host population
Good, informal relationships between
locals and tourists
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Apathy
As destination develops, tourist
numbers increase
Relationship between locals and
tourists become more informal
Visitors are taken for granted
tourists are only seen as a source of
money
48

Annoyance
Destination has developed to
saturation point
Development of attraction, facilities
and services are occurring
everywhere
This continuous over-development
annoys the locals and they are
frustrated with the tourism industry
stakeholders and tourists

49

Antagonism
Development at tourist destination is
now only producing negative impacts
Host population blame tourists for all
the negative impacts tourism has
brought to the destination
Host population angry at tourists and
expresses their anger towards them
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Assessment
To be done over the holidays
Bring work into class on Friday 16 April
You need to have 2 good case studies that you
can use as an example in your exams
1. Using 1 tourist destination in a developed
country AND 1 tourist destination in a developing
country, make a list of the positive and negative
impacts of tourism to both destinations.
2. Compare and contrast the 2 destinations:
a. Which positive and negative impacts are the same?
b. Which positive and negative impacts are different?
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Summary
Positive and negative effects of
tourism via:
Economic factors
Environmental factors
Socio-cultural factors

Doxeys Irritation Index (Irridex) 1975

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