Geography

Tourism is defined as the temporary short-term movement of people to places outside the home environment and the activities they engage in; it may or may not involve overnight stay away from their homes.

Tourism is not only an important industry in the world; it is also the largest and one which is still expanding. The world population has increased and thus corresponding there is an increase in the number of people travelling. The growing affluence of people or certain groups of people and the desire to explore the rest of the world are important motivating factors for travel.

With increasing literacy, people learn more about place which in turn arouse their curiosity and desire to see the world. With increasing urbanisation, more people travel to escape from the stress of city life. Technological development in terms of better transport and communication facilities also facilitates travelling. Information technology has also heightened the people’s awareness and stimulated their interest in travelling.

Tourism brings in revenue and employment for countries. Thus, governments have been promoting tourism in their countries and have even set up tourism offices in other countries to attract foreigners to tour their countries. With the global shift in industries and that many MNCs have branches overseas, people are given additional reason and opportunities to travel to other countries.


Factors affect the nature of tourism
• Places of scenic beauty e.g. mountain regions, coastal resorts, national parks -honeypot tourism
• Places with good facilities – MICE (e.g. Singapore) educational tourism, medical tourism, health tourism,
• Places with rich culture - film-induced tourism (e.g. Korea), heritage tourism, pilgrimage tourism (e.g. Mecca),
• Places of conflicts - dark tourism (Killing Fields and Tuoi Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia, Auschwitz Camp in Poland),
• space tourism (e.g. USA)

Factors affecting tourism trends
Domestic tourism, international tourism, demand, disposable income, evolution of mass tourism (beach holidays) to niche tourism (e.g. whale watching, green tourism) and from tour groups to independent travelers

Impacts of regional fluctuation on tourism
Impact of disasters, regional and global recessions, political situation and diseases

Impacts of tourism
• Economic – advantages (e.g. employment opportunities, growth in income, increase in foreign exchange, development of infrastructure and facilities) and disadvantages (e.g. seasonal unemployment, under-use of facilities at certain times of the year, a shortage of services eg. Water supplies)
• Socio-cultural (e.g. preservation versus dilution of local customs and heritage, increased crime)
• Environmental (e.g. vandalism, littering, destruction of habitat, carbon footprint, increased congestion, pollution)

Managing the impacts of tourism
• Conservation of fragile environments and sustainable tourism (through laws and regulation and support from local population)
• Responsibilities of various groups (e.g visitors, tour operators, planning authorities, non-governmental organizations like the International Eco-tourism Society and conservation International) in conserving and protecting tourist areas