Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
environmental protection and care. However, it is important to bear in mind
that the impacts of tourism are not simply unidirectional as they are highly
complex, temporary and may be location- and time-specific and dependent
on many factors. Consequently, tourism development may not bring lasting
economic benefits to a country; rather, it might trigger inflation and bring
environmental degradation and economic dependency. Hence, it is unrealistic
to expect tourism to be a magic wand that can resolve all the problems of
under-development and close the economic gap between the developed and
the Majority World. Therefore, this chapter briefly reviews tourism's main
economic impacts but primarily focuses on fundamental issues and discusses
many factors and contexts that may enhance or reduce its economic develop-
mental potential for a given economy. Due to the differing factors and situa-
tions that shape tourism's developmental potential in different countries, the
figures presented here are merely illustrative. They may support different
sides of an argument and should be interpreted in the wider economic, social
and political context of the country in question.
Tourism Consumption
It is tourism consumption or visitor demand that underpins the economic
impacts of tourism and that is, thus, at the centre of economic measurements
of tourism. Tourism consumption represents 'the total consumption expen-
diture made by a visitor or on behalf of a visitor for and during his/her trip
and stay at the destination' (UN & WTO, 2010). The definition of visitors
covers not only individuals who travel for holidays or personal reasons but
also those travelling for business purposes. The resources used for tourism
consumption are an individual's or household's own cash resources, savings
and other personal incomes and social transfers, as well as the accounts of
businesses, governmental or other non-profit organisations.
Tourists spend their money on tourism services and other products. The
first group are products created by tourism industries, such as accommoda-
tion, food and beverage services, passenger transport, travel agencies and
tour operators, cultural services and recreation and entertainment. Yet tour-
ists may also spend their money on other goods, such as tourism-connected
products like fuel or tobacco, or on non-tourism-related consumption prod-
ucts such as cosmetics, shoes or other goods (WTO, 1999a). Regarding the
above division, the structure of tourism consumption may vary significantly
from country to country and, accordingly, so do the tourism-related eco-
nomic benefits.
While visitor consumption always relates to people travelling or intend-
ing to travel outside of their usual environment, the acquisition of goods and
services may also occur within their normal home environment (before and
after travel) as long as the use of such goods and services clearly forms part
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