Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(Moyo, 2012). A decade after he coined the term BRICs in 2001, economist
Jim O'Neil proposed MIST (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey)
as important markets to watch (Fillingham, 2012). It is clear that the econ-
omies of some of the emerging developing countries are gaining increased
attention on the global scene. The G20, for example, comprises 20 of the
major economies of the world (19 countries and the European Union) and
includes South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, China, India, Indonesia,
Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It has led many to question whether the
West is on the decline, to be replaced by a new international system shaped
by the BRICs or a geographically defined entity known as Asia (Cox, 2012).
In particular, the rise of China in global economic affairs is noted by Moyo
(2012) who states that:
China now funds foreign governments (providing loans and buying their
bonds), underwrites schools and hospitals and pays for infrastructure
projects such as roads and railways (particularly across the poorest parts
of the world), catering to the needs of the host nations and making China
an altogether more attractive investor than international bodies such as
the World Bank, which often tie loans to harsh policy restrictions....
China's increasing global influence has mirrored its economic rise and
invariably, a concomitant rise in its demand for resources.
Cox (2012), however, argues that while emerging states are playing a bigger
role in the world economy, there are still continued structural advantages
held by the United States (US) and its major Western allies and one needs to
question the popular idea of a significant power shift with the West and US
in steep decline. Nevertheless, as countries such as China and India continue
to develop and have a growing middle class, there is intense global competi-
tion to attract Chinese and Indian visitors.
Climate change, which is the focus of Chapter 11, has come to the fore-
front in environmental issues in tourism. Some countries, such as the Maldives
and Kiribati, are under threat with rising seawater and there are pressures in
the industry to reduce carbon emissions. Climate change is clearly one of the
major global issues that will impact tourism. Under the geopolitical category,
the impact that terrorism has had on security after 9/11 has been significant.
Island territorial disputes between nations such as China and Japan over
Diaoyu/Senkaku and between Korea and Japan over Dokdo/Takeshima have
had an impact on tourist numbers as political tension increases. Chinese visi-
tors to Japan, for example, fell from 1.43 million in 2012 to 980,000 in 2013
(Wen, 2014). The collapse of the state of Somalia has resulted in pirate attacks
along the coastal waters on tourists. Under the societal category of Figure
14.1, the vulnerability of a pandemic was seen though the 2002-2003 Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, the 2001 United Kingdom
(UK) Foot and Mouth disease, 2009 swine flu pandemic and recently the
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