[LEISURE, TOURISM, SPORTS] LECTURE 3 Flashcards
Define Niche Tourism
A tourism strategy that appeals to a small number of people who are especially interested in something
Benefits of Niche Tourism
- often promoted by national tourism strategies (seen as more sustainable way of developing tourism)
- low no. of tourists
- genuinely interested in seeing the destination
- willing to pay more - more likely to be preserved as it is seen as economically and socially valuable
- conservation efforts are more successful and tourism is more sustainable
Risks of Niche Tourism
- Susceptible to ‘shock’ events
- relies on particular environments
- smaller, specialised target means businesses may have less economic resilience to this kind of disruptions if tourism fails - oftens attracts people from a very specific from graphic whose taste may change too quickly
- destination may suddenly lose its customers because of competition
- too many niche tourists can exceed the carrying capacity, resulting in negative experience
Mt Everest case study
- Nepal is an LIC with an annual GNI per capita of US $1083 in 2019
- tourists have been steadily increasing
- however there was a dip in 2015 due to an earthquake
- tourism only makes up 1.9% of the nepali economy
- potential to become more valuable as amt of capital they receive from conducting Mt Everest tours (their tourism strategy) has been growing consistently for several years
conflict among tourism sectors:
- number of niche tourists is increasing leading to overcrowding and environmental consequences at the base camp
> queues on slopes (waiting periods dangerous causes exhaustion, dehydration and even death)
> littering/pollution
gov tried to reduce number of tourists however failed as tourists from HICs were still willing to pay $60,000 to $100,000 to climb the mountain
sherpas complained of low pay and excessive risks (in 2014, an avalanche killed 16 sherpas and exposed the risks of their works)
- government increased their pay
- paid for their children’s education
- changing to safer routes
Positive impacts of TNCs
- cheaper travel
- can achieve economies of scale
- they have the same website to deal with several companies under them
- able to change to native language on the site
Eg. Skyscanner enables over 60 mil customers to view identical information in over 30 languages each month .
- through price checking sites, customers can easily compare sites in one go - simpler travel
- offer packaged holidays
- by operating the travel agency, difficulty of travelling is removed
- does not need to speak the local language or convert money as company does it for them - more accessible travel
- TNCs and airlines are constantly expanding
- new and larger airports are being developed
- offer passengers the ability to switch flights, access to more travel destinations increases
- TNCs operate a simple flight schedule at a low cost from small airports > easier for people to travel regardless of where they live - industry consolidation
- many brands are owned and operated by the same parent company
- TNCs buy their competitors to form larger travel companies (industry consolidation)
- made it cheaper for tourists to travel
- lwr costs, tourists travel further and more frequently
Vertical integration: same company owns each stage of tourism
- easier to profit by offering full packaged tours (small profits at each lvl leads to larger profit at the end)
Horizontal integration: company owns several companies offering the same lvl of tourism
- make a profit by combining parts of each business
Negative impacts of TNCs
- Leakages
- profits from TNCs go back to the home country rather then the host country
Eg. 70% of all money spent by tourists ended up leaving Thailand via foreign-owned operators/TNCs - Exploitation
- vv powerful since they control a lot of tourism
- allows them to demand lwr costs from their suppliers
- harms local economies
Costs and benefits of tourism for development (Economical)
BENEFITS:
- Cumulative causation:
- taxes provided govs the revenue to pay for countries development
- money from tourists circulates through the economy benefiting people at different stages
With more capital from tourism, governments (especially in LICs) have. more revenue to invest in infrastructure to improve health, education and environment
- Employment:
- generate tourism related jobs (travel agents, tour guides etc)
- offers a large volume of low skilled jobs which is ideal for people in LICs who are less educated and deprives them for certain jobs
COSTS:
- Enclave tourism
- tourist opt for “all-inclusive” vacation packages where they spend their entire trip at cruises or resorts
- limits opportunities for locals to profit from tourism - Leakages
- points under TNCs
- little to no money goes back into local economy
- unable to benefit from tourism - Over-reliance
tourism is vulnerable to fluctuations
- natural disasters
- global pandemics
- global recessions
- political situations
Costs and benefits of tourism for development (Social)
BENEFITS:
- Preservation of culture
- preserve historical/cultural sites to attract more tourists
- restored sites help locals preserve and promote their culture and identity (benefit the local economy by enhancing their sense of history and belonging to their community)
2 . Improved infrastructure and facilities
- increase range of social facilities for the locals
- allow locals to have better access to more markets, health care, education and jobs, benefitting the locals
COSTS:
- Cultural authenticity/commodification
- religious/cultural traits modified to fit the identity of tourists
- locals cultures can turn into commodities when rituals and festivals are reduced and modified to conform to tourists expectations - Increased crime and Vice
- increased instances of crime targetted at tourists (pick-pocketting)
- cases of alcoholism and drug abuse increases as drinking and drug abuse becomes more available to satisfy the demands of foreign tourists
- over charging goods and services at touristic places, cheats tourists and some locals have to pay more for these services too
- leading to increased competition for resources as goods and services may inc due to the demand from tourists - Tension among tourists and locals
- tourists to not respect dress codes or culture, leading to dissatisfaction among the locals
- locals have to endure noise pollution, nudity, rude behaviours.
- overcrowding - Slavery and exploitation
Orphanage tourism
- children become tourists attractions - orphanage trafficking is the recruitment of children into orphanages for the purpose of exploitation and profit
Eg. In Cambodia, despite the fact that
the number of orphans has significantly reduced, the vast majority of children in these institutions are not orphans but children from poor families
Sex tourism
- women, girls and other vulnerable people are often trafficked domestically or internationally
- Land grabbing
- loss of locally owned land
- land is taken for touristic development without payment of consultation of the residents
- lead to displacement of locals
- locals may be denied access to such areas designated for tourists activity
Eg. Many beach resorts in Bintan deny local access to provide exclusivity to tourists
Costs and benefits of tourism for development (Environmental)
Consequences of unsustainable tourism (Overtourism)
Management options to increase site resilience
Define sustainable tourism
tourism organised in a way that its level can be sustained in the future without creating irreparable environmental, social and economic damage to the receiving area
Define ecotourism
refers to responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the wellbeing of the local people
Benefits of ecotourism
