Benefits of Tourism

holiday TOURISM SOMETIMES seems like the perfect industry.notTourists get a tourism and the hosts get a boost to their finances. While this is entirely true, does have the potential to benefit us all.

Economic benefits
Tourism is big business. Along with the big crowds comes big money. International tourism generated more than US$470 billion of income around the world in 2002. The World Tourist Organisation forecasts that by the year 2020 it will be the worlds biggest industry. In Australia in 2000, the year of the Olympic Games, tourism contributed some $31.8 billion to the nations total earnings and employed 551 000 Australians. Many of these were employed in the tourism industry itself, as travel agents, airline pilots and so on. Others were employed indirectly, for example as cleaners and taxi drivers. It has been estimated that seven per cent of all workers in the world are employed in tourism. In order to attract tourists, local and national governments often improve facilities such as roads, electricity, public transport, water and sewerage. These benefits are also enjoyed by the local people. When a city hosts the Olympic Games, a considerable amount of money is also spent on sporting infrastructure and catering for the influx of international tourists. The Chinese Government, for example, expects to spend nearly seven billion dollars on new facilities for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Social benefits
Tourism is all about bringing people together. It can increase peoples understanding of each others values and way of life and bring communities closer together. It can also strengthen some cultural traditions, because tourists become interested in the traditions of the countries they visit and therefore create a demand for their survival. The revenue that tourism generates can also be used to raise living standards within a community or a country.
Like the Anangu people of central Australia, who now have ownership of UluruKata Tjuta National Park, tourism has allowed the San people of Namibia (shown here) to control some of their traditional tribal lands.

Environmental Benefits
The money that tourism brings to a community can be used to help conserve or repair the environment. This can lead to more tourists wanting to visit the area, making even more money available. In some areas of the world, natural environments such as rainforests, rivers and reefs have benefited from tourist dollars. The mountain gorillas of Africa, the orang-utans of

Following the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the layout of Stadium Australia was adjusted. The athletics track was removed and moveable seating installed so games of Australian football, rugby and soccer could be played there.

Indonesia and Kenyas elephants all rely on tourism for their long-term survival. Kenyan authorities estimate that a single lion can generate $7000 a year in tourist income, while a herd of elephants is worth over $600 000. Quite simply, they are worth more alive than dead.

ACTIVITIES
1 How many Australians were employed in the tourism industry in 2000? 2 Explain why Kenyan elephants are worth more alive than dead. 3 Do you think it is important for indigenous people to control tourism in their traditional lands? Justify your opinion. 4 Explain how the photograph of Stadium Australia shows an example of a longterm benefit to tourism. 5 The tourist dollar flows right through the economy, benefiting not only those industries directly associated with tourism, but also many other companies. For example, bakers benefit because they supply bread to hotels and restaurants. Construct a mind map (spider diagram) in your book showing how the tourist dollar can flow from one job to the next. 6 The type of relationship shown between industries in the mind map you have drawn is sometimes called the multiplier effect. Explain what you think this means. 7 Can you think of any building in Murray Bridge or Adelaide that has benefited from being visited by tourists? Investigate this building to find out how many tourists visit it each year and what changes have occurred to it because of these visits. 8 Investigate the facilities that have been built for the next Olympic Games in China. Explain how some of these benefit all local residents while some are built purely for athletes.

The survival of these animals is threatened by many human activities such as deforestation and farming. However, another human activity tourism - may be what saves them.

The human environment can also benefit from tourism. This is most obvious when historic buildings are restored in order to attract more tourists. Tourist dollars have helped to restore both the famous ruins of Pompeii in Italy and the convict settlement at Port Arthur in Tasmania.
Two thousand years after Pompeii was buried by the eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius, the town has been excavated for the benefit of tourists and archaeologists.

I can:

Checklist

understand some of the ways tourism can benefit a country describe how tourism can positively affect the environment of a local area discuss employment opportunities available in the tourist industry