Tourism development can put pressure on natural resources when it increases consumption in areas where resources are already scarce. The three main impact areas of concern are:
- Water resources, especially fresh water. The tourism industry generally overuses water resources for hotels, swimming pools, golf courses, and tourist personal use of water. This can result in water shortages and degradation of water supplies, as well as generating a greater volume of waste water.
- Pollution. Tourism can cause the same forms of pollution as any other industry: air emissions, noise, solid waste and littering, releases of sewage, oil and chemicals, and even structural visual pollution.
- Physical Impacts. Attractive landscape sites, such as sandy beaches, lakes, riversides, and mountain slopes are often transitional zones, characterized by a rich species ecosystem. An ecosystem is a geographic area including all the living organisms and their physical surroundings and the natural cycles that sustain them. The threats to and pressures on these ecosystems are often severe because such places are very attractive to both tourists and developers.
Any kind of development interferes with nature and over-development damages natural flora and fauna. With an increase in people within a specific area, more natural resources are required leading to their depletion. The increase in waste disposal is often overlooked and can have a negative effect on the plants and animals.
Fortunately, there are conscious tour operators trying to mitigate these effects.
When big-business tourism enters a region, there are political hurdles. procedures and guidelines to be considered. There is pressure on the governments to bend their rules and by-laws to secure the tourism contracts. But at what cost? Let's look at taxes for example. We know that tourism is a for-profit business but let's think of a scenario where two towns are vying for the chance to host a brand new Disneyland location. This will be an increase in jobs and tourists dollars for the new location.- For the land size required, both town A and town B charge the same in property taxes, which would typically be $20,000 annually.
- Town B decides they want to ensure the new Disneyland location comes to their town so they have an emergency town council meeting.
- At the meeting, they pass a special by-law to waive the taxes and charge the Disney corporation $0.
- Of course, the Disney corporation would choose Town B.
Is this fair for the other local business in Town B who still pay taxes? Is it better for the entire Town B?
This kind of thing happens all the time. Take a look at the
investment incentives Barbados has instilled.
Hotels suffer massive losses due to cancellations of bookings or travellers unwilling to travel to a region embroiled in global conflict. This, in turn, directly affects the local region. The worst effect on this decrease in tourism is the massive unemployment of locals directly and indirectly employed in tourism. This directly affects the local economy as there is less money that locals can afford to spend.
War has also been known to be destructive to attractions and geographic terrains. Sometimes the local region has been damaged beyond repair.
Another common negative with global conflict is the grounding of airline services. With the decrease in tourism interest, the airlines cannot afford the costs to bring travellers and will often cut routes to these regions.
The impact of terrorism on the travel and tourism industry has been enormous. Tourists consider their potential risks whenever making travel decisions. Potential travellers are often exposed to media coverage of international political violence. This increase in negative media often creates a heightened fear factor.
It is definitely worth researching reliable sources such as the
Government of Canada's Travel Advice for accurate information before informed choices can be made. However, it is worth noting that cases of terrorism have occurred in places where no advisories were in place, but that is what terrorism is, evoking fear where you least expect it which why many people choose to no longer travel. Look at the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, in New York. It had an immediate negative impact on worldwide travel. With time, that impact lessened and slowly, tourism resumed. School boards throughout Canada have introduced new policies to restrict where student travel can happen with many more restrictions.
History does show that after a time period, tourists will weigh the risks logically and not let terrorism negatively affect their day to day life and enjoyment. They choose to enjoy every day and not live in fear.
- There are many hidden costs to tourism which is not in the destination's best interest. There is a large-scale transfer of tourism revenue out of the host country. This term is called leakage. Direct income for the destination area is what the tourist spends, minus local taxes, national taxes, external transportation, travel agency fees, import taxes, profits, wages to out of region staff, all examples of leakage costs. Often tourists require a higher standard of equipment, food, drinks, products than the host country can supply. This means they need to be purchased from outside the region.
Here's one example: in almost every all-inclusive package tour, about 80% of the travellers' expenditure goes to the airlines, foreign hotel owners, or investors instead of the local businesses or workers. The overseas owners and investors take their profits back to their country of origin.
Another example shows Thailand estimates that 70% of all money spent by tourists ended up leaving Thailand.
- Another area of negative economic impact involves infrastructure and taxes. Higher tourist numbers demand improved airports and roads which is paid from through increased tax to the locals, jeopardizing local funding for education and health.
- Thirdly, when tourists come in, there is an increase in demand for basic services and goods so the prices go up. This makes it more difficult for local residents to meet their basic daily needs.
There is often a negative impact on local residents when tourists enter their region and culture. These can be generalized into two categories.
- Cultural Distance. This is used to define the cultural difference between tourists and locals. It can be seen through lack of adaptability, the appearance of large groups, disturbing behavior on the part of the tourists, lack of tourist sensitivity to the local culture, beliefs, and laws, or even a lack of sensitivity from the locals because they are not happy about the invasion of tourists.
- Space Concerns. This refers to the over-crowding and the sheer number of tourists or strictly the concentration of tourists in a space or during a small amount of time. This crowding can lead to irritation and even disturbances where local's personal space is invaded. There are many examples throughout the world where locals leave their homes during tourist season. Right here in our own province, I know many Calgary residents who leave the city during the world famous Calgary Stampede.
