What are the Benefits of

Tourism
 Economic Benefits

• The tourism industry generates substantial

economic benefits to both host countries and
tourists' home countries.
• Especially in developing countries, one of the
primary motivations for a region to promote itself
as a tourism destination is the expected economic
improvement.
• As with other impacts, this massive economic
development brings along both positive and
negative consequences.
Economic Benefits

• Employment
• believe it or not, tourism is the largest industry in the world.
It far exceeds the automobile and information technology.
About 500 million or roughly 10 percent of the entire world
population have traveled to countries other than their own
tourists.
• Tourism can generate jobs directly through hotels,
restaurants, nightclubs, taxis, and souvenir sales, and
indirectly through the supply of goods and services needed
by tourism-related businesses.
Economic Benefits

• Revenue Generation
Revenue generation would mean income produced by the
tourism business entity or by the government (both national and
local units). The business entity generates its revenue through
the operation of its tourism programs. On the other hand, the
government can get its revenue share through direct tourists
contribution (travel tax, room tax) and other forms of taxes and
permits (value added tax, business permits, etc)
Economic Benefits

• Foreign Exchange
• Tourism expenditures generate income to the host economy and can
stimulate the investment necessary to finance growth in other
economic sectors.
• Some countries seek to accelerate this growth by requiring visitors to
bring in a certain amount of foreign currency for each day of their stay.
• An important indicator of the role of international tourism is its
generation of foreign exchange earnings.
• Tourism is one of the top five export categories for as many as 83% of
countries and is a main source of foreign exchange earnings for at least
38% of countries.
Economic Benefits

Stimulation of Infrastructure Investment

Tourism can induce the local government to make infrastructure
improvements such as better water and sewage systems, roads,
electricity, telephone and public transport networks
This can improve the quality of life for residents as well as
facilitate tourism.
Economic Benefits

Contribution to local economies

• As the environment is a basic component of the tourism industry's
assets, tourism revenues are often used to measure the economic
value of protected areas.
• Other local revenues that are not easily quantified, as not all
tourist expenditures are formally registered.
• Money is earned from tourism through informal employment (e.g.
street vendors, informal guides, rickshaw drivers)
• The positive side of informal employment is that the money is
returned to the local economy, and has a great multiplier effect as
it is spent over and over again.
• The WTO estimates that tourism generates an indirect contribution
• equal to 100% of direct tourism expenditures.
Social Benefits

• Social impacts of tourism refers to changes in the lives of people

living in destination communities
• Cultural impacts of tourism refers to changes in the arts artifacts,
customs, rituals, and architecture of a people.
• The term socio- cultural impacts refers to changes to resident’s
everyday experiences, as well as to their values, way of life, and
intellectual and artistic products
Social Benefits

Conservation of Cultural Heritage

• Tourism provides a good economic value to numerous cultural heritage

sites. People visit the sites and spend money that is then used to help
maintain or manage the sites and provide economic benefits to the
locals.
Social Benefits

• Renewal of Cultural Pride

• Having outsiders visit a particular community gives the locals a sense of
pride of their place. Thus, effort are consciously made that will help
preserve or renew their own local culture.

Understanding of One’s Country and Culture

Tourism is a good medium to help understand and appreciate other
cultures. Firsthand experiences between visitors and hosts would open up
opportunities to understand and respect the cultures of other people. This
works even for domestic tourists who would then learn the cultural values of
their own countrymen.
Environmental Benefits

• Conservation of Important Natural Areas

• In many countries, nature is the major source of tourism
products. Areas such as mountains, caves, and coral reefs are
visited and appreciated both by domestic and foreign visitors.
Many governments and tourists service operators realize that in
order to continually benefit from tourism, the quality of the
natural areas that tourists visit should be maintained by
protecting the sites from unwanted impacts and degradation.
Usually, national parks where recreation is allowed are the
bests examples of protected natural area where tourism serves
as a conservation strategy.
Environmental Benefits

Biological Conservation
• Tourism has also been instrumental in protecting significant plants
and animals in many countries. With the introduction of tourism, a
more sustained, non consumptive, and benign industry can help save
plant and animal species that would have otherwise been wiped out
in a particular area.
• Some of the biological species that are protected with the help of
tourism are the giant pandas in China, the whale sharks in the
Philippines, and the whales and dolphins in many pats of the worlds.
Environmental Benefits

• Improvement of environmental quality and

enhancement of the environment
• In some destination, the self interest of tourists establishments to make
themselves attractive would consequently influence how environmental
quality is maintained or enhanced. Such influence would come in the form
of improved landscaping and more efficient utilities (such as water supply
and disposal of waste water). The demands of the tourism industry for a
good environmental quality also forces governments to invest in designed to
maintain or improve the environment in their areas.
Environmental Benefits

• Increase in Environmental Awareness

• The need to sustain tourism through the maintenance of the quality of the
local environment helps increase the environmental awareness of local
stakeholders (which include the tourists service providers and local
communities. For example, instead of taking a tree mainly for its wood
value, the people in the area discover other intangible values of the
resource. On the other the learning made in the area, tourists can bring in
fresh environmental information that they can share with the locals.