Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
former are reflected in tourism consumption. He also points to the widespread
increase in the globalization of supply over the multitude of local small busi-
ness sectors and the increasing encroachment of government in the provision
of services and infrastructure to meet the needs of mass tourism. Finally, he
expresses a concern that resources for tourism are being used as if they were
inexhaustible and that, somehow, the side effects of economic growth can be
readily fixed by technology. Thus, for Krippendorf, the tourism system and
mass tourism have many flaws; tourism as an escape from everyday life con-
tains the seeds of its own destruction.
Trends and the environmental impact of tourism
Domestic tourism (overnight stays, rather than day visits) remains the most
important element of demand in most countries. Despite this, there are rela-
tively few studies which focus on this aspect (Cooper et al, 2008). Bigano et
al (2004), however, have undertaken a comparison of domestic and interna-
tional tourism. This illuminating work indicates that for most countries,
domestic tourism accounts for the majority of tourist trips. For example, in
the mature USA market there are an estimated total number of 1059 million
tourist trips per annum, of which 999 million are domestic (i.e. some 94 per
cent of all trips). In emergent markets such as China, India and Brazil, some
98-99 per cent of all tourist trips are domestic.
In most countries the number of domestic trips per annum remains less
than the total population, indicating that people are taking less than one
holiday trip per year. However, in 22 affluent countries, residents take more
holiday trips than this. For example, in Sweden the average holiday trip ratio
is 4.8 trips per person per annum. In the USA, the average is 3.7 trips per per-
son per annum. It is, however, essential to note that domestic tourism is far
more prevalent than international tourism; the estimate by Bigano et al (2004)
is that it is five times larger. They also note that developing economies such as
Brazil, China, India and Indonesia have important tourist markets which tend
to be underestimated in size and potential for growth.
International trips tend to be the focus of most tourism texts. Even allow-
ing for a margin of error in the calculation of global arrivals, the figures
provided by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) are
substantial. In 2008, there were 924 million international arrivals (UNWTO,
2009c). This is in comparison to a base figure of 25 million recorded in 1950.
The rate of change has until recently been accelerating at a considerable pace;
the total arrivals figure has doubled since 1990. The upward trend has been
impressive and this has sustained a vision of growth through development
across the world. The UNWTO projection is that intraregional trips will grow
by 3.8 per cent per annum, and long-haul trips by 5.4 per cent per annum,
thus giving 1.6 billion international arrivals per annum by 2020. Arrivals refer
to the registration of a person entering a country for tourism purposes. Thus,
it does not equate to a trip which may include arrivals at several different
countries. It is nevertheless a firm indication of the scale of international
tourism.
