Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
endogenous form of development (Brohman, 1996b). Community-based
tourism planning is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 6.
Tourism and Regional Development
At a broad level, Malecki (1997) evaluates some of the concepts of tour-
ism that make it attractive as a regional development tool. Tourism is a grow-
ing focus of economic policy in regions where employment creation through
other means of investment is difficult. The tourism industry is labour-intensive
and it also provides entrepreneurial activities. Locations, which have special
natural, cultural or historic attractions, can turn these items into exports by
attracting tourists. Tourism is also created by the construction of shopping
malls, casinos, theme parks and convention facilities, along with hotels, res-
taurants and gift shops. Tourism can also be developed around special events
and festivals. Along with this list of positives, Malecki (1997) noted a series
of negative factors which can prevent tourism from being an effective tool
for regional development. Tourism often has low paying jobs that can be
seasonal. The amount of benefit a region receives relates to the level of leak-
age which occurs through imports. In some small countries, the level of leak-
age can be quite high, thereby reducing the multiplier effect. Within the
international tourism industry, competition can be quite intense and as
regions fall out of favour, they will go into decline. In order to develop tour-
ism, a series of barriers have to be overcome, including the building of infra-
structure for hotels. Luxury hotels in developing countries also require
excessive financial support and can use a disproportionate amount of water,
energy, food and construction materials, all of which may be in short supply
in the region. If a region pursues concentrated enclave type tourism develop-
ment, it is also open to competition from other tourist regions and, over
time, the demands of tourists for more amenities tend to increase. Finally, as
more countries opt to pursue options such as ecotourism, there is great
debate as to whether or not ecotourism can be developed in a sustainable
manner. The overall difficulty with the industry is that destinations are
trying to respond to demand factors which are beyond their control and,
often, the industry supply is controlled by multinationals (Malecki, 1997).
Discussing the relationship between tourism and regional development,
Shaw and Williams (1994) examined three aspects of tourism: (i) tourism is
a product which must be consumed at the production point; (ii) most forms
of tourism are highly temporal; and (iii) tourism is an industry subject to
restructuring. In the context of mass tourism, the supply points are spatially
fixed and subject to a high regard for spatial polarisation. These points are
influenced by things like climate and geomorphological distribution of tour-
ist objects such as beaches/sunshine and mountains/snow. Social construc-
tion also has a role in distinguishing what is important for tourists to see.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search