Tourism and Economic Development Issues - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 105

benefit from trade will depend on the real terms of trade at which they agree
to exchange tourism services for industrial goods. As unique natural (or cul-
tural) attractions can also become a source of a country's competitive advan-
tage, countries with rich endowments of natural attractions such as beautiful
beaches should, in theory, develop international tourism in order to 'export'
products that depend upon them and thus exchange 'island beaches for
industrial goods' (Smeral, 1994: 499). Some authors (for example, Marcouiller
et al. , 2004) have studied the impact of natural amenities such as land, rivers,
lakes and warm and cold weather attributes and their potential for recreation
in rural America and conclude that, in particular, water-based resources pro-
vide a key factor in the distribution of income.
However, although the existence of a premium value on account of envi-
ronmental goods is clear in theory, there are situations and external factors
that might bring this into question both generally or in specific destinations.
One such situation might be when the property rights to environmental
goods are not determined and, therefore, this value belongs to the domestic
or foreign tourism company which 'sells' them as part of its fabricated prod-
uct. In some cases, the premium earnings resulting from the exploitation of
the destination's natural and cultural property belong to foreign firms and
are transferred out of the host country. Consequently, tourism may become
a form of neocolonialism, whereby the control of national property is taken
over by foreign capital. On the one hand, this may be seen as very similar to
the colonial exploitation of other natural resources such as minerals; on the
other hand, it is significantly less transparent. Namely, international tour-
ism, as an invisible export, may create leakages from the economy before the
consumption of tourism even commences in the host country. A significant
share of the financial flows might not accompany travellers but instead
remain with foreign or multinational companies based abroad. In particular,
in the case of package destinations the payment for goods and services in the
host destination passes through the hands of the outgoing tour operator that
normally enjoys a high level of bargaining power and is able to negotiate low
prices with local suppliers. The consequences are twofold. First, the impact
of the foreign expenditure in the local host area is, of course, reduced. Second,
and of greater relevance here, the premium value for the natural and cultural
attractions that should, in theory, belong to the host country is appropriated
by the foreign company. As a result, the tourism output in the economy is
reduced, the capital-output ratio increases and the economic development
effects of tourism are therefore eroded. An extreme case is international ves-
sels that 'sell' cruises. Frequently, such ships anchor in the national waters of
certain tourism destinations close to beautiful beaches, yet they leave with-
out generating any tourist expenditure if the tourists on board have not been
given the opportunity to visit the mainland.
A second situation that might reduce the valuation value refers to envi-
ronmental damage through tourism development. The reduction in the value