Author: Andre Coleman

According to Kreag G. (2001) the impacts of tourism are distinguished in seven different types, these are economic, service, social and cultural, natural, community attitude, crowding and congestion and taxes. These impacts are not applicable with every community because the resources and conditions are may differ. ‘Every coin has two sides’, means these impacts can affect negatively or positively. Planning and the plans of management with their current implementation helps to increase positive tourism issues and decreases tourism issues (Algansadi, 2009). In economic term, tourism helps to maximize the opportunities of employment like more number of jobs starting from entry level caries low wedges to high professional level positions in management and industrial fields. In service term, increase in tourism helps to create more number of opportunities to rise and develop facilities. According to Andriotis K. (2009) in terms of community attitude, as tourism increases range of facilities are used by the local people. Tourism helps to create place more thrilling and exciting. As new development is done by outsiders, community culture is get affected. In terms of crowding and congestion, people come together and get attracted to amazing places. In terms of taxes, tourist spends more money on behalf of services from which value added tax is gained.

According to Fennell (2008) in terms of social and cultural, it is in detail consideration of tourism consequence which can be the determinants or assets to the communities. Increase in number of tourist comes with their different values and affects the family life and individual behaviour. The close relation between tourist and the residents helps to create rise in opportunities.

Positive impacts of social and cultural are, the education and training plays important role for local people to learn and enhance their qualification and skills which is significant in tourism industry also help trained staff in the organisations. It helps to increase the standard life of the local people with positive economic growth. Increase in tourist spending power help to increase income of local person (Chin C.,2010). It helps to raise investment with the buying process of food, dress, culture and ceremonies etc, which can create tourist interest in the local culture. Negative impacts of social and cultural affects, increase in smuggling, gambling, drinking of alcohol also with the increase in underage drinking, rise in prostitution, drugs and crime. It affects lifestyle, culture, and most important language. Increase in the tourism area affects local residents. There is a negative impact on customs and values of local people (Kreag G., 2001).

In terms of natural, the areas of natural resources like oceans, waterfall, wildlife forests increases tourist attraction and new residents who loves the natural environment. Generally “clean” industry is known as tourism industry, hotels, parks, restaurants, shops are comes under that except factories. The historical and museums get preserved (Kreag G., 2001). Positive impacts as it work as a catalyst to preserve natural area also helps to gain economic benefits. Forests are preserved. The ecotourism is maintained which protects and preserve selected natural environment, also gain economic benefits of tourism development and reduces the impact on environment (Andereck K. L., 1993). Natural system also have negative effects like, it strongly affects on air and water pollution also sedimentation effects with demonising the forests for the tourist services (Kreag G., 2001). Flora and fauna has deep researched on wild life which includes mammals and birds arises the hunting and trapping activities increases also the marine life is get affected when toxic waste water runoff in sea. The soil and beaches are get damaged with the skies, cars, feet, horse etc. Oil refining situated in coastal areas with the water pollution and destruction. Solid waste major effects on soil and air pollution recycle and reusable helps to minimize the pollution (Mukherjee and Abir, 2008).

Okavango Delta is the amazing tourist place situated in north-western part of Botswana. It’s a home of wildlife where most of the tourist comes for photography and safari hunter. Annually, on average 50,000 tourists visit this place (Mbaiwa J., 2002). Tourism development has boost to create and enhance facilities like hotels, camps, airports, communication services, etc in region. This development has impacts on environment and socio – culture of region (Mbaiwa J., 2004). In positive aspect, the region major land is used for tourism development with helping local people to increase benefits from developing of natural resources and wildlife. Local people created an institution known as “Community – based Organisation” (CBOs) which help for tourism development and natural resource management. Institute distribute work in small parts, like ‘Khawai Community’ works on cutting of thatching grass and see it to the lodges in Delta, similarly others also choose their parts. This helps to empowerment of local community in region. 2) Tourism development widely creates employment which benefits for the financial development. Opportunities in jobs like accommodation services, tourism business, management, tour – operators, etc. The company like ‘Scot Wilson Consultants’ gave jobs to people in 20 ‘safari campuses’ (Mbaiwa J., 2002).As all the local communities has only create jobs and opportunities instead of depending on other companies. 3) Cultural rejuvenations promote tourism with their traditionally created products, services, shops, craft industries, etc which provides cultural services to the tourist to know cultural ways. The ‘Mekoro Safaris’ and ‘basket production’ are the major known businesses over there. The safaris are created like the dug in a wood, which use for transport and for hunting crocodiles and hippos. The basket production is their traditional business, which helps to generate more profit from the tourists as market comes to their home. 4) Positive approach among the local people, for development of tourism and conservation of wildlife helps to develop tourism and social economic benefits from tourist arrivals (Mbaiwa J., 2004).

According to Mbaiwa (2002) as negative aspect, tourism industry developed in Okavango Delta is largely owned and managed by internationals and developed in remote areas. The financial rates are so high that all services and goods beyond the local community richness. Major profit in earned by international companies and the margined income of the local people is low. The facilities are provided with which the tourist is comfortable. Most of the camps are run by Hospitality and Tourism Association with the international membership. 2) Racism development in tourism industry of Okavango Delta refers to relationship between black and white people. Management levels are occupied by whites, pay scale and benefits are very low for blacks (Fennell A., 2008). 3) Relations and structure of family is affecting by tourism. Foreign companies growing lodges and camps, less space to live local people accept wildness part. Relocate people affects their landmarks and relations. Working period of workers affects relationship with family and this impact on increases in HIV/ADIS spread. 3) Tourism and urbanisation put wide negative impact on social culture. The costumes and styles affect relationships. Prostitution is growing in most of the developing countries as urbanisation develops most impacts on local people. Tourism is the major economic sector, which increases in crime with illegal activities like drugs, violence and robberies (Mbaiwa, 2002, 2004).

Thus, looking back at the easy, tourism is growing rapidly dealing with positive and negative impacts on the tourist place. Increasing infrastructure put impacts on natural system. Its positive image is excellent for people but the negative image affects culture. Mainly socio cultural positive impact helps to development of tourist destination. Tourism helps to maintain nature and its components. Also it helps to create place attractive and thrilling. Development of tourism increases job opportunities. Positive impact of social culture help local people to educate with training, improves life standards and maintain their culture. Negative side effects mostly on diverse economic and culture, rise in crime, place issues, illegal behaviour.

Tourism is developing in Okavango Delta with combining positive and negative social cultural impacts on local people. Its positive impacts helps to develop destination mainly community based tourism. Participating local people helps to generate income and employment by self. ‘Mekoro Safaries’ and ‘Basket making’ helps to preserve their own culture. Tourism help local people to get international market at their place. Its negative social impacts affect on quality life of local people. Its important to focus on these impacts by all stakeholders of industry. The camps should be promoted but should not owned by international. The local people should get first preference in management jobs and there should be law to prevent racism.

Tourism industry nowadays is one of the worlds largest and dynamically developing sectors of external economic activities. For most of the country, tourism industry is the major economic and social phenomenond social phenomen the ground of and it has been predicted that it could be the largest income-generating source for a country in the coming year because tourism industry is the three main international industries along with the petrol and motorized vehicles. Southeast Asia is full and rich with the cultural and heritage sites which are worth for preserving and conserving. For the people in the country, these places help them to understand about their past, enrich their present lives and lay the foundation for their future generations. They inhabitants continue to practice and learn from their traditional beliefs, social practices and ritual and to use traditional management regimes to sustain the monuments and surrounding landscape that have nurtured them for several generations. Tourism is one of the world’s most profitable and fastest growing industries, if proper manage by the government of a country, which can be the effective tool for the conservation of culture and heritage sites and nature environment. It offers many economic benefits to the public and communities living in or near the cultural and heritage sites in terms of working opportunities, vitalization of the traditional crafts and cultural practices and opportunities for the inhabitants to express pride in their culture.

Problem statement

However, the uncontrolled tourism can also cause irreversible damage to physical and intangible heritage resources. These cultural and heritage sites in Southeast Asia region are under threat from different aspects and issues, such as the passage of the time, the forces of nature and disaster, modernization, uncontrolled development and population growth because these cultural and heritages sites is the powerful and strong magnet for the tourists who is interested on the rich cultural experience. Due to the high growth and development rates of tourism industry, volume of the foreign currency inflows which is considerable, infrastructure development, and introduction of new management and education experience dynamically might affect several different sectors of the economy, which might cause some impacts to the social and economic development of the country as a whole. This research intends to investigate and search on what are the impacts that the countries in Southeast Asia are actually facing, and examine the impact and how does the impact affect the countries in Southeast Asia. Also search on whether the government come out with any way or method to overcome such impart in the country.

Research objectives

Due to the preserving and conserving of the cultural and heritage sites, every country will come out different ways of management. Tourism industry will affect various aspects and issues within a country which bring a lot of impacts. Then publication is now focusing on the impact of tourism in every Asia pacific country. The uncontrolled tourism will cause different damages and impacts to both the economy and social sectors. To study on the impacts of tourism industry in Asia pacific region, may help to improve the advantages and prevent the disadvantages within the country.

Research question

-What are the impacts that the countries in Southeast Asia are actually facing?

-What is the most common impact that the countries in Southeast Asia is facing?

-What is the cause of the impact?

-How does the impact affect the countries in Southeast Asia?

-Is there any way or method to overcome the impact?

Hypothesis statement

Impacts can be divided into positive and negative impact. According to the impact of tourism in each country, it possibly will greatly affect the country. Normally the economic impact of tourism in each country is positive impact. As for social and environmental impact, these possibly will cause many social issues and problems if the government of the country did not handle it properly and apply or set any law enforcement. The morality in the country might get worsen and tourism industry will fall greatly due to the social issues and problems. Tourists would not like to travel to such a place which has many issues and problems. Environmental impact of tourism is more likely that the cultural and heritages site will be destroy by the exceed amount of tourists and also those who do not have the perception of recycle. The discharge of sewage will increase and it will destroy the beautiful natural environment in a country. Once the government able to sustain the environmental and stabilize the social problems and issues, then it will improve the tourism industry and attract more tourists.

Theoretical and conceptual framework

The purpose of this research paper is to research on the positive and negative impacts of tourism in Southeast Asia. The report would like to inform about the impacts that tourists might have to aware of when they travel to Southeast Asia countries.

This research proposal is mostly use the information that can be obtained from some journals and websites. From those journals and websites, researcher is able to obtain the information on impacts of tourism in Southeast Asia countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, and Philippines. It is important for researcher to use the true information and facts in order to convince the tourists about the positive and negative impacts of tourism in Southeast Asia. By informing the tourists about the impacts, then the tourists can have more awareness in their tour and travel in Southeast Asia. With the true information and facts can also know that how the impacts will affect the economic, social, environmental and etc. sector.

It is also to research on what actions have been taken or rules and regulation or law enforcement by the government of the countries in Southeast Asia.

View on tourism in Southeast Asia

Impacts of tourism in Southeast Asia

Impacts of tourism in Malaysia

Impacts of tourism in Burma

Impacts of tourism in Thailand

Impacts of tourism in Singapore

Significance of study

The purpose of this proposal is to find out the impacts of the tourism in Southeast Asia countries. Most of the social impacts of tourism in Southeast Asia are facing the sex tourism which is actually quite serious. Sex tourism is one of the problems that spread disease and from the research, there are some say that tourists from other countries do brought in the disease sometimes. There are also positive impacts of tourism and most of the country gets benefits from the tourism industry. Economic do improve and generate many jobs opportunities from the tourism industry. But it also bring harm to the environmental impact because the rapid growth of tourism industry, the government of the country will build more infrastructure in order to increase the carrying capacity of the tourists every year.

Scope and limitation

This research paper is only emphasizing on the impacts of tourism in Southeast Asia. To understand the view from the people so I actually trying to get some books or journal which specify on certain topic.

The collection of the date is restricted because there are many books and journals cannot be read due to the copyright issues. Therefore, researcher gets as many as data and read. After read then try to elaborate and briefly explain on what written on the data.

Basically the research is done purely based on the researcher own opinion and thoughts from the information and data obtained. All the data and information are limited and can be found and obtained from the websites and journals which are free.

Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1 Introductions on impacts of the tourism

Tourism is greatly affected and impact on the local communities in every country in the world. It can be both a source of income for a country, understanding towards a country and also a destroyer and corrupter of the cultures, social and environment in a country. The impacts of tourism are a popular and common topic in every country since tourism industry is now one of the largest industries in the world. Usually the most common impacts of the tourism industry we can found are the economic, environment, social and health aspects. By using the literature about the tourism as a baseline, should be able to found some impacts in each of the country and try to identify ways in whether these impacts can be affect positively or negatively. Tourism is able to bring benefits to a society or country in variety and different ways, yet there are also some inevitable negative impacts of tourism. Tourists and visitors are actually stood quite an important role towards the impact of tourism in a country. Tourists and visitors should be able to be attentive to the positive impact and aware for the negative side of the impacts.

2.2 Impacts of tourism in Malaysia

Tourism industry has greatly impact on Malaysia because tourism industry is the second largest industry in Malaysia. The social impact of tourism which Malaysia is facing is the growing industry of human trafficking. Sex tourism is a very common negative impact which can be found in all over the Southeast Asia country. In the sex tourism industry, majority of it are children which below the age of 18. Exploitation is normally driven by the wealth, poverty, unfair development, races and gender discrimination, corruption of traditional and cultural practices, lack of political will to end it. Based on one of the journal, most of the Malaysian children and women are sent to Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Canada, USA, Europe and Australia for prostitution. Otherwise, women and children from China, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, and etc. are sent to Malaysia for commercial sex exploitation and the low income labour. Female from the village and rural areas in Malaysia are also trafficked for the same purpose. There is a huge demand from the tourists who are intentionally travel for the sex tourism. Moreover in Malaysia, the illegal organized crime groups are believed to be involved in sending the Malaysian female and children to other countries and also receiving the illegal entry into Malaysia. When the sex tourism has been started in a country, the amount of tourists who travel for sex tourism will only increase and that will worsen the situation in the country. The government of the Malaysia should come out with some stricter rules and regulations in order to implement and enforce the rules and regulations to tackle the sex exploitation by prevent and tracking the victims from migrant workers and people arrested for prostitution. Government should also increase their efforts to prosecute and punish those who receive benefits and advantages from involving in the sex exploitation.

Another than that, tourism industry has bring rapid damage to the ecosystem of the cultural and heritage, natural and popular sites. In Malaysia there are many beaches and Tropicana forests which are naturally and have many tourists every year. Many private or government company wish to get profit and they keep on develop on these natural environment. However, the uncontrolled development like building the mega infrastructure and resorts along the beaches has caused the major destruction to the natural environment. The discharge of sewage and rubbish from the development destruction of the ecological environment can also be the result of the development such as habours, resorts or airports that built along or nearby the beaches. Many organizations have pay attention on this aspect and issue and suggest that preserve and conserve the sustainable ecological environment than uncontrolled development and causing harm and destroy the ecosystem.

Malaysia is a country that has different cultures since long time ago and the cultural mixing is very common in Malaysia. The mixing of cultural does help in improving the tourism industry. The development of the tourism has actually help in enhance the tourists’ perception to Malaysia. Tourists who travel for the experience of cultural mixing would like to travel to Malaysia for the different and various cultures. Yet with the different and various cultures, Malaysian is able to live in a harmony and peacefully which is actually can be the example or prototype to some other countries. Government of Malaysia will conserve and protect the cultural and heritage sites. This may help to local people and also the future generations to learn from their traditional beliefs and also social practices.

Tourism industry also brings impact towards to economic sector. Nowadays the tourism industry is one of the largest industries in Malaysia. In year 2007, Malaysia started to promote their tourism industry with the slogan “Malaysia, truly Asia”. Based on the reports, the total amount of tourists receive is increasing year by year. Government decided to develop in the tourism industry and they promote the country with the slogan “Malaysia, truly Asia” because of the cultural mixing in Malaysia. The receipts from tourism are shown rapidly growth and the spending power is also increase. To many tourists, Malaysia is a shopping paradise which the exchange rate is considerate compare to Europe countries. There are a lot of shopping mall had been built in order to improve the economy of the Malaysia. Many resorts and hotels companies decided to invest in Malaysia due to the high growth rate of tourists. It can offer many working opportunities for the Malaysian and able to reduce the unemployment rate. All of these have the substantial impact effect on economy of the country. It is able to increase the GDP of the country, reduce the unemployment rate and generate employment, improving the foreign exchange rate and also the economy of country. All the industries which related to tourism industry could be also improve and lead to expansion.

2.3 Impacts of tourism in Singapore

Singapore is a country which located at the south of West Malaysia. Singapore is one of the best cities in the world. Its economy is often ranked within the world top ten most competitive and innovative city. Singapore is a small but highly developed country and it consists of 75% Chinese, 14% Malay, 9% Indian, and 2% others. It is the same like Malaysia which is also the cultural mixing country. Singapore is a popular travel destination, and the tourism industry is one of its largest industries.

Somehow, Singapore is also well known for the sex tourism in the country. Many tourists travel to Singapore will travel to the district which is actually well known for sex trade. In the district can actually see that there are female from other different countries who are working on the commercial sex exploitation. Based on the research, there are increasing numbers of young girls in Singapore are offering sex for sale. This is the negative social impact of the tourism because there are many tourists actually travel to Singapore and looking for the sex tourism. The sex tourism in Singapore is actually quite famous but however, the government of Singapore did not take much action. The government of Singapore came out with some law enforcement effort in control the amount of trafficking in persons in order to prevent trafficking, especially the commercial sex exploitation. However, the law enforcement doesn’t seem efficiently and the sex tourism is still a serious issue and impact for Singapore. This may because the tourists that travel for sex tourism are quite in a big amount and it does help in improving the economy in the country.

The GDP and economic in Singapore are always one of the top in the world rank. It has one of the busiest ports in the world and it is the fourth largest foreign exchange in the world. There are many international companies in Singapore which make it one of the busiest countries in the world. Based on the research, the GDP of Singapore is growing year by year. Recent year, there are some entertainments like casino resorts and universal studio grand opened up in Singapore and these sites have become another main tourism attraction. The opening of the casinos is able to attract many tourists who travel for gambling and it may strongly and dynamically improve the tourism industry in Singapore. In order to control the social impact of opening a casino, the government of Singapore comes out with certain rules and regulation to prevent the Singaporean from addicting to the gambler. For the local the entry fee SGD100 per entry will be charged whenever they want to enter the casino or purchase the annual entry pass for SGD2,000. This is under the Casino Control Act 2006 and the government aim to reduce the negative effects of compulsive gambling. The two casino resorts intend to boost the tourism of the Singapore, they expect that it will generate 45,000 jobs and able to attract 10 million tourists by the year 2015. In economic impact, the government of Singapore handles the tourism well and it increases many jobs opportunities for the locals and also foreign workers.

2.4 Impacts of tourism in Thailand

Thailand is a country which located in the heart of the Southeast Asia and it embraces a rich diversity of cultures and tradition. Thailand has the great and proud history of itself, tropical climate and renowned hospitality, the country is a never-ending source of entertainment and enjoyment for the tourists from all over the world. Like other countries in Southeast Asia, tourism is also the major source of income in Thailand. Tourism has been strongly promoted because the government of Thailand believed that tourism promotion will be able to generate the jobs opportunities, raise foreign exchange rates and contribute to economic growth and improved income distribution.

In Thailand, the government is actually having the conflicts in water allocation. Thailand would face water crisis in the coming future if the government did not come out with any water management and allocation. Based on research, tourism industry in Thailand is relatively water-intensive sector. By focusing on the tourism industry, which mean the amount of tourists travel into Thailand will increase. Therefor the amount of water been used in Thailand will also increase because more tourists then the demand of water is higher.

Tourism do brings a lot of destructive effects. Since the Thailand is having the uncontrolled development on tourism, the government trying to search for the less destructive way and method to reduce the level of destruction. One of the most intriguing sustainable tourism is the rural tourism. Most of the rural areas in Thailand are rich with the cultures, traditions and natural resources, which is able to become a tourism attraction destination. The economic impact of the tourism towards the Thailand is positive because tourism generates more job opportunities, raise foreign exchange rate, and economic growth. But these benefits are mainly for the urban society and city. It did not bring much benefit to rural tourism because most of the profit goes to the urban and modern cities. The profits earn from the taxes and fees return to government and government like not really invest in rural tourism. Most of the cultures, traditions and natural resources are in the rural areas. Therefore, the government of Thailand agreed that the rural areas should be preserved, and conservation of culture, arts, traditions and natural resources are promoted.

With the growth in amount of tourists travel to Thailand, it may cause the heavy impact towards the environment. In order to increase the carrying capacity of tourists, the government of Thailand has created more infrastructures, transportation and other facilities which can cause environmental distortion. In Thailand there are a lot of jungles or forests which provide the activities such as jungle tracking and camping. This may affect and cause the pollution to the natural environment. There are many disposal of human waste and discharge of the sewage within the jungle areas and it will cause the environmental impact. The government of Thailand should set the strict rules and regulations in order to protect the natural environment and prevent the increase amount of disposal of human waste and discharge of sewage.

Thailand has long been promoted as “sex capital” in the world. There are many tourists travel to Thailand for the purpose but it brought a lot of problems and impacts especially on the spread of AIDS. The tourists who had HIV might travel to Thailand for sex tourism which actually brought up the cases of AIDS. Government realized the issue and started to promote the use of condoms, in order to reduce the cases of AIDS. Yet the AIDS cases are still very common in Thailand nowadays.

2.5 Impacts of tourism in Burma

Tourism in Burma can bring benefits in a various ways like it helps in opportunities for the economic stability and cultural exchange are severely limited. The tourism in Burma is actually supporting the opportunities of economic stability for the local people. This includes all infrastructures which are built for tourism industry such as patronizing hotels, restaurants and etc. Burma is a country that rich with tradition and cultures and so there will be a lot of different and various handicrafts. Tourists shall buy those handicrafts when they travel to Burma which is actually able to improve the welfare of the locals, they are all generally associated with increased opportunities for women.

Burma considered as a country which isolated from other countries, so most of the time the Burmese people will never be able to leave their own country. Whenever there are any tourists from the other country travel to Burma, then only the Burmese people able to learn and experience the cultures from other countries. Tourism industry in Burma is able to bring the Burmese people the cultural exchange and they are able to learn the cultural from outside. Burma is also a country which rich with different and various tradition and tourists who travel for the culture experience, they will be able to learn and study on the traditions and cultures in Burma. It can help in create the awareness of the tourists towards the Burma and there will be increase in the amount of the tourists in the future.

Somehow, there are some inevitable negative impacts caused by the tourism in Burma. Many of the tourism association in Burma are run by the government. When a tourist spend money on those government run hotels, using government public transport, employing government tour guide, the income and revenues will go directly to the government which do not benefits any of the citizen and local people.

The tourism industry in Burma is actually facing a high degree level of leakage. There are some foreign companies in the economic industry of Burma, and most of the economic leakages are caused by them. They involved in import goods from other countries, international marketing cost and the interest payment which will cause the currency leakage from Burma to other countries.

Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.1 Research Philosophy

In this chapter the researcher will briefly explain the ways of the research obtained for this proposal and also which method will be used in collect the data.

3.2 Research method and research design

This research will be done using a significant common research approaches and the methods will be used is the qualitative method.

3.3 Sources of data

The research only obtains the data with the secondary research which involve the valuable information regarding the facts and true information on impacts of tourism in Southeast Asia. Somehow there are limitations from getting the primary research, so researcher based on own experience traveled to these countries and write for the own opinion.

3.4 Secondary Research

Secondary research is normally done before the conducting the primary research. The research for this paper is involved a collection data form different books and journals which can be found from the internet. This research proposal is written based on the data and information got from the books and journals and add on some own opinion.

List and describe the potential positive and negative socio-cultural impacts of tourism in an area of your choice.

Tourism is a product that is produced and consumed at the same time. Tourism affects the economy and lives of communities and has proven to be a lifesaver for many destinations. Impacts occur when tourism changes the value systems/ behavior, threatening native identity and that changes occur in community structure, family relationships, ceremonies, collective traditional styles and morality. Tourism can also cause positive impacts as it can serve as a helpful force for peace, help avoid urban relocation by creating local jobs and foster pride in cultural traditions. The type of tourist will have a differing effect on the host community. The mass tourist is less likely to adapt to the local cultures and will seek amenities and standards found in his home community. On the other hand the independent tourist will adapt more readily. The process of tourism development is very important because the speed and nature of development can be a major influence on the magnitude and direction of socio-cultural changes. The term socio-cultural impacts refer to changes to resident’s everyday experiences, as well as to their values, way of life, and intellectual and artistic products.

NEGATIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM

Tourism can cause change / loss of local identity and values by:

Commodification
Standardisation
Loss of authenticity / staged authenticity
Adaptation to tourist demands

POSITIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
The promotion of cross-cultural understanding
The incentive value of tourism in preserving local culture and heritage
The promotion of social stability through positive economic outcomes

The potential positive and negative socio-cultural impacts in Cyprus

The positive and negative impacts of tourism on the Cyprus socio-cultural structure has been an issue for a long time. Social impacts can be considered as changes in the lives of people who live in destination communities, which are connected with tourist actions in regard to moral conduct, creative expressions. Cultural impacts can be the changes in the arts, traditional ceremonies, customs and rituals and architecture of people that result from tourism activity. Witt (1991) claims that, “the greater the difference between the host community and the tourists the greater will be the affect of tourism on society”. This presents a challenge to decision makers in regard to the type of tourism that a destination is trying to attract. Thus, for example, at the national level a specific development might be justified on the grounds that it is positive for the society as a whole even if on average it is not positive for the host community. All travelers seek tourism experience, yet very different goals and objectives are required through different roles and behaviors. This occurs because in Cyprus are many different types of tourists. Each type of tourist can be expected to behave differently while visiting a destination. Certain groups can be seen as more exploitive and less sensitive to social and cultural values. Explorers blend into the Cyprus life as local people do and stay longer but they have contact with fewer people than members of a charter tour that moves through Cyprus for shopping or sightseeing.

In the case of Cyprus, the tourist policy of the Cyprus Tourism Organization aims to attract middle and high-income class tourists in order to minimize possible resentment between locals and tourists. According to statistics by ‘Eurostat’, Cypriots enjoy a higher standard of living than other regions and the type of tourist that visits the island is not the typical high and middle class income tourist but mostly youngsters who tend to reach their limits once they are abroad. The effects of tourists’ behavior and activities on young people in the area are very noticeable. The increase in drug trafficking and crime are the two major effects of tourism on the local community. Young people tend to spend a lot of their free time away from their families and from community activities since they spend more time in the tourist areas going out clubbing or at bars. As a result, we have an increase in the number of school dropouts and in the number of people smoking at early stages of their age. Cyprus is considered to be one of the few destinations that have controlled tourism well, and it is now repaying the benefits.

Cyprus is still an up market destination offering a friendly atmosphere and high quality service. Cyprus has always marketed itself as a prestige resort. Surveys show that many residents see the tourists as a breath of fresh air into the society, economy and life of the locals. The Cyprus Tourism Organization is aiming to keep its high quality and consequently it’s up market clientele by offering excellent facilities and different types of tourism activities such as Agro Tourism, Bird Watching and Cycling. To achieve this selective advertising and promotion are adopted in order to attract this type of customer.

The development of the Tourist Industry led to an improvement in the standard of living for the local people in several areas as tourism expenditure increases the income and improve the standard of living and the quality of life for the locals. Tourism also contributes to the development of infrastructure with the building of airports, new roads, restaurants and hospitals, attraction to enable greatest number of citizens to benefit from the cultural, recreational and leisure activities of the tourism sector. Tourism has also aided in arising the interest for art festivals and crafts, for example weaving, embroidery, wood crafting, pottery etc that have been practiced in small villages for hundreds of years.

The impact of tourism on the conservation of old buildings is also both positive and negative. Cyprus residents claim that tourists look for and appreciate local architecture and authentic traditional style, so a lot of buildings are being renovated or conserved as mainly tourist attractions, which would have been destroyed by eager owner. On the other hand, old buildings do not have enough capacity to provide accommodation for the growing number of tourists, so they are destroyed to give room to new and large guest houses with appropriate capacity and tourist facilities.

The media have described Paralimni and Agia Napa as “a round-the clock neon-lit cosmopolitan mini-metropolis and topless sex capital of Cyprus”. The majority state that tourists have a negative effect on the Cypriot way of life and that tourism changes the traditional culture, also it decreases the lifestyle quality of Cypriots who live in tourist areas. The extreme concentration of tourists resulted in the modification of social attitudes among young people, particularly towards sexual behavior. The European way of living has altered the Cypriot society as younger generations are seeking different values than their families’, and thus resulting in weaker family bonds. A number of researchers examined the link between the perception that tourism contributes to increase in crime and the support for its development. The crime is related to resident perceptions of tourism development. There is also an increase in prostitution and rise in criminal activity and possible anger between local and tourists. Rural population, long term residents, farmers, and younger segments perceive tourism as contributing to an increase in crime especially in the area of Agia Napa. Agia Napa is advertised as a place of great consumption of alcohol, sex, drugs and crime and a great damage caused by thousands of topless beach goers. Moreover the massive arrival of youngsters changed the image of the area from a fun relaxing atmosphere to more of a nightlife entertainment with many nightclubs and discos. As a result, there is an increase in drug trafficking and crime as well as the young generation in Cyprus has started to adopt different set of values on morality and style of dressing which is not acceptable by the older generations. Tourists have altered the Cypriot values and beliefs especially among the young generation and as mentioned before the dress code has changed and nudity is much more acceptable now.

In spite of all negative and positive impacts of tourism on the socio-cultural structure of Cyprus it is not yet clear whether the benefits outweigh the costs. In general, the residents of Cyprus have a positive attitude toward tourism. Since the success of tourism depends very much on the human attitudes and behavior of the residents of a destination towards tourists, this seems to be an encouraging result for the future of tourism development. Residents recognize a range of potential positive and negative impacts of tourism however, current attitudes are generally quite positive and there is support for future modest increase in tourism. The tourism development strategy should aim to protect local culture, respect local traditions and promote local ownership and management of programs and projects so as to foster community stewardship of the natural resource base. As integrated processes take time, tourism umbrella organizations should start with voluntary self-restraint, until locally adapted objectives have been reached.

REFERENCES

Witt, S.F. (1991). Tourism in Cyprus, Balancing the benefits and costs.

Travel Management.

Elena Spanou (2007), The impact of Tourism in Cyprus.

Internet: www.srcosmos.gr/srcosmos/showpub.aspx?aa=10216

Assessed on 25/02/10 21:00pm

All the tourist who travel to and stay in places outside the normal range of not more than one year of time and business opportunities. An event that makes the demand of goods and services and provides the position is considered part of the tourism industry. This industry also includes the formation of a particular product sold to visitors even if they do not form a major part of tourist consumption. There are several infrastructure sectors such as electricity, telecommunications, water supply and cause the production of some sectors such as travel items, sports equipment, photographs, materials, drugs and cosmetics such as airports, railways, roads, water, facilities like electricity, clean water, drainage and disposal of solid waste. Services and facilities such as hotels, restaurants, recreational facilities and shopping.

Tourist today does not know much of Cambodia due to their place and environment. Their main attractions are Angkor Wat which the whole period of Angkor Wat spans from than 15 centuries. During this period the whole area of Angkor Wat was built.

Cambodia is a beautiful place for vacation but a lot of people are unaware of it and its place where the famous attraction is which the Angkor Wat is. Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy of King Sihamoni. Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city government, is a country economic, industrial, commercial and cultural centre of the main hub of Cambodia. Siem Reap, near the famous Angkor Wat ruins in a small town is the gateway to the Angkor region, Cambodia is a tourist destination. Battambang in western Cambodia, the largest city, is famous for rice, Sihanoukville, the coastal cities of the production is a major harbor and beaches resort.Cambodia one of about 181,035 (69,898 miles), with 1 square kilometers area population of more than 140,000 Chinese red. Usually identified as Cambodian citizens. Most of Theravada Buddhism in Cambodia, but the country also has a large number of Muslim majority Cham, as well as Chinese, Vietnamese and small animist hill tribes. Agriculture has been Cambodia most important sector of the economy, some clothing, tourism, development is also an important amount of foreign visitors to Angkor Wat more than 4 million.In 2005, the oil and gas reserves located in the waters of Cambodia, once commercial mining began in 2011, the oil revenues that can affect the economy of Cambodia

After a long series of wars with the neighbouring kingdom, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya sacked Angkor and abandoned in 1432 because of a failure of ecological and infrastructure damage. The Court to transfer the capital to Lovek any government attempt to return the glory through maritime trade. Short-lived effort, however, as the war continued with the Ayutthaya and Vietnam resulted in the loss of more territory and the occupied Lovek in 1594. Over the next three centuries, the Khmer Empire change as his country’s government and the kings of Ayutthaya Vietnam, and the relatively short period of independence and equipment found at the core of quartzite gravel along the Mekong River, Stung Treng and regions KratiA© Province, and in the State of Kampot, but they are not dating diandalkan. Some archaeological evidence shows little community of hunter-gatherers occupied Cambodia during the Holocene: an archaeological site is considered the most ancient Cambodia Laang Spean cave, in the Territory of Battambang, which includes the Hoabinhian mentioned. Excavations in the lower layer to produce a series of radiokarbon in 6000 BC. Top layer on the same page to give evidence to the Neolithic transition, gerabah ceramics containing early date in Cambodia archaeological record for the Holocene period and Iron Age remains the same limited. prehistoric site other than the date is somewhat uncertain Samrong Sen (not far from the ancient capital of Oudong), where the research began only in 1877, and Phum Snay in Banteay Meanchey province north. Prehistoric artifacts are often found during mining activities in Ratanakiri.
Prehistoric evidence of the most prominent in Cambodia, but may “Earthworks circle”, found in red soil in the near Memot and the surrounding area of Vietnam in the late 1950s. Function and age is still debated, but some of them may come from the second millennium BC at least. An important event in the prehistory of Cambodia is a slow penetration of the first rice farmers from the North, which began at the end of the third millennium BC. They may speak Mon-Khmer ancestors

Background of the problem

There is not much of awareness among the tourist in Malaysia and other countries about Cambodia. A lot of my lectures ask me have I been to Cambodia and I answer no I have not been there. He told me that Cambodia is very nice and it is worth to go there. Cambodia is a third world war country that is why a lot of people would not know about Cambodia.

The sex tourism in Cambodia is bad where one third of the country is filling with child. A country should advise the children to not do sex tourism as it will affect them mentally and internally. Cambodia should discourage sex tourism in their country.

Most of the tourist knows about Cambodia but they would never travel there. Sex tourism is one of the main problems because of prostitute it will engage HIV positive because of sex tourism. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries which are still recovering from their war and political repression. A child do not receive education from schools all they know is sex because of the parents did not send them to a proper education because the parents are not able to pay for the education fees. A child should receive a proper education without abiding their children education as you know education is very important to children.

Problem statement

Cambodia has been known as a country that provides sex tourism other than the attractions which have been associated with so many negative perceptions.

The negative view on Cambodia has been widely known as a country for sex tourism. Is Cambodia dredging its rivers to death which gives negative impacts in Cambodia due to the exports of sand to Singapore and now they are killing their own people for it where fisherman needs to travel further to feeds their family.

Does sex tourism gives negative impacts to Cambodia? And are Cambodia children receiving proper education? What can help Cambodia to increase in their tourism? Therefore in this research, researcher main intention is highlight to help Cambodia to increase in their tourism whereas can boost their economy also. To rectify the negative issues in Cambodia which is the sex tourism? The researcher hopes to promote Cambodia tourism and help them to solve these problems.

1.3 Research Question

1. Is there any ways to help Cambodia tourism?

2. How can we promote Cambodia tourism?

3. What are the positive issues that can help to boost Cambodia tourism?

4. What can the government do to help?

5. Is sex tourism one of the main problems of Cambodia?

Research objective

To rectify the public negative perception on Cambodia

To promote Cambodia tourism

To create awareness to the tourism

Come out with a proposal that can boost Cambodia tourism

To solve the negative issues in Cambodia

To base this research with facts obtained from journals.

Theoretical and conceptual framework

The purpose of this research paper is to rectify the negative perception of the public view on Cambodia. The researcher would like to inform the tourist on Cambodia attractions and culture.

This research paper will mostly use the real facts of information that can be obtained from Cambodia tourism, Government website, and other journals will also possible to obtain online. This will conveniently provide the researcher information in order to expose the true facts to the tourist about the wonder of Cambodia. From the resources that researcher has been able to obtain which most of the resources are journals that are written about positive issues in Cambodia and their attraction which benefits the tourism. It is important for the researcher to use the true information in this research in order to convince the tourist on the positive issues happening in Cambodia. At the same time to also rectify the negative perception among the tourist as it is a great loss if the tourist does not know the positive issues in Cambodia and their attractions.

It is also to note the actions that have should be done by the government of Cambodia by rectifying the negative perception and to promote their tourism and to come out with proposal to boost Cambodia tourism.

1.5.1Conceptual framework

With the conceptual framework that provided in mind map form below, it is to show how this research has been done and followed by accordance to the mind map. To come out with proposal to attract tourism in Cambodia and to solve their negative impacts that cause tourist not to travel to their country. Create awareness to the tourist regarding their cultural, heritage and history and to promote their attractions which is Angkor Wat.

Views on Cambodia tourism
Impacts of negative issues that affect tourist
Positive issues on Cambodia
Rectification of Negative Perception
Proposal to boost tourism in Cambodia

1.6 Significance of study

The purpose of this research is to find out the perception of the tourist on Cambodia. This is done on order to rectify the problem of Cambodia. The negative issues have an impact on the tourism which causes them not to travel to Cambodia. Sex tourism is one of the problems where the country might be filling with diseases which cause the tourist not to travel there and because Cambodia did not do much promotion on their own country to create awareness to the tourist. Due to the limited resources that might be available to the tourist and that not much of these attractions have been promoted to the tourist. The tourist still contain the wrong perception on Cambodia therefore the researcher is also hoping that after this research has been done many effective ways to promote Cambodia tourism to the tourist.

Scope and limitation

This research paper will only focus on the positive issues of Cambodia and to get a better view of the people thoughts and opinion on Cambodia. I will interview the people in Petaling Jaya area. Give a proposal to boost Cambodia tourism.

The collection of the data will therefore be restricted to the population of this area only. Due to the limited focus group it is assumed that this group will hence represent the general tourist view on Cambodia.

Researcher has therefore analytically reviewed the sampling the results of this research before summarizing it into a more conclusive data to be published in this research report. Researcher also disclaims the liability towards the opinion gathered from the tourist opinion as the data will be collected randomly.

The research is done purely based on the opinion and thoughts of the information obtained and researcher own view with no benefits of promoting Cambodia tourism in order to make profit. The information obtained by the researcher is limited by the information obtained from government of Cambodia and journals.

2. Literature review

Why people have negative perception on Cambodia? Because of its sex tourism and indeed it gives a negative perception to the people. There is so much more in Cambodia than just sex tourism that people did not see it. In this chapter the researcher will reveal the true facts about the beauty of the attractions, food and cultural of Cambodia. A further explanation regarding its positive issues of Cambodia and their attractions will be discussed in detail. In addition the research would help the public to gain more knowledge and depth understanding on Cambodia tourism it would help them to change their negative perception on Cambodia. The proposal to boost tourism in Cambodia will be discussed thoroughly in this chapter.

Negative issues

The political ecology of transition in Cambodia 1989-1999, Peace and forest exploitation

For the past few decades the forests have played and very important role in transition from war to peace. The most politicized resource of reconstruction process that has failed. The forest exploitation has a financed of continuation of war between the cold war. Cambodia being the most politicized resource of the process that failed either to be green or democratic international community. Cambodia forest is a process of transforming nature into money through political.

The poverty and environment in Cambodia

The environmental can inflict serious damage on poor people because of their live hoods usually depend on the natural resource and their living conditions. The same moment the poverty constrains may reduce in the poor and degrade the environment at some certain rates that are not incompatible with long term sustainability.

The importance of the poverty and the environment has sparse because the data are often difficult to obtain in developing countries. The geographic information on the poverty and using the indicator maps and statistical analysis. The implementation of the poverty and environment strategies may be cost effective for some environmental problems.

Status of the Cambodian inland capture fisheries sector

Cambodia has very few income generating possibilities beyond the natural resources for example agriculture, forestry and fisheries and is economically almost fully dependent on them. This research gives a brief overview of the country inland fisheries which support a thriving industry of a great economic and social importance. It aims to improve understanding of the issues at stake for the continued sustainable utilization.

Gender, sex and HIV

Human race have relationship through family, community and other through professional ties with one another. The issues of choices during our stage of our lives which will relates to sex but without having parents sexual intercourse there will not be us. Deaths are a issues of HIV because of having sexual intercourse that cause this disease that will cause us to terminate our lives.

Identify patients eligible for highly active antiretroviral therapy among HIV positive adults in Cambodia

The HIV infections in Cambodia determine the sensitivity; specify of the organization criteria to start a antiretroviral treatment based on clinical criteria alone or combination. The patients were wrongly identified to be in a need of HAART among the most.

Global child sex tourism

Pornography and children from commercial sexual purposes and one of the first organization that seeks to end the commercial sexual exploitation for children. Child sex tourism is especially happening in Asia and Cambodia is the most popular destination for sex tourism. The majority of adult male sex tourists in the form of industrial countries to travel to developed countries are lower where the law is weak because sex is cheaper and easily available. The majority of adult male sex tourists in the form of industrial countries to travel to developed countries are lower where the law is weak because sex is cheaper and easily available. Child sex tourism practices can erase the integrity of economic, social, and moral nation’s largest victims are helpless children are involved. The voices of the children too much and their stories untold and stolen their plainness. Children should have the effect of long-term emotional, psychological and physical from sexual exploitation

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Positive issues

Upland crop technologies in Cambodia economic evaluations

Research and development was being done in the highland districts of Cambodia to develop new farming systems and crop management technologies. Income levels of farmers in this region are relatively low because of small size and low productivity of agricultural crops. This paper is also intended to encourage the adoption of these technologies and to investigate how the process can be facilitated. To identify two key technology features or benefits relative to be considered successful and tradability. A minimum target figure of profit on investment in new technology as men look from investigating how much the increase in relative profitability may be enough to drive successful adoption of technology

What can be done about the private health sector in low income

The health sector is very large private low-income countries. This consists of various suppliers and used by many large service providers. There is great concern about the high services rendered to the various service providers. Private health sector can be defined as consisting of all providers who are outside the public sector where they are commercial purpose and that purpose is to cure illness and prevent disease. They also include large and small companies and professional groups like doctors, national and international organizations have no government. They provide services such as hospitals, home care and maternity clinics run by doctors, nurses and paramedical staff,

Cambodia enhancing governance for sustainable development

The Government is very important for the future of Cambodia during the last decades for the transition to liberal democracy and market economy. Cambodia donor policy makers and the public have recognized that the strengthening of good governance is essential to maintain economic and social. The study includes three domain structure of government is the public sector, civil society and the media. The scope of the study hall has two benefits can also help strategic programs at the project level in the government’s overall picture. Good governance in the development of an important issue in Cambodia. During the transition to liberal democracy and market economy during the last decades. good governance systems need to adapt to changes in the role of state and government as well is to show a key strategy for maintaining social and economic development in Cambodia

Therapy to prevent vertical transmission of HIV

The proposal is not recommended to extend ARV treatment programs to the regions where early in the training and equipment for HIV testing that will not happen because of the move resources to the less effective to use. The second run pilot projects at selected sites located in the district are eligible for health benefits. When running a pilot project would be useful to collect the same data as mentioned in the report in order to assess the real costs and benefits ex post.

Current issues on PMTCT Cambodia is facing

Drug is not only the cost voluntary counselling and testing and need also to be provided to the mother and child and to be integrated to the overall provision of primary health care:

According to the Journal written by the world health organization that drug is not only the cost voluntary counselling and testing and need also to be provided to the mother and child and to be integrated to the overall provision of primary health care clearly stated that:

Introducing a strategy of antiretroviral drugs use and replacement feeding is however a complex process. To take advantage of the intervention, mothers need to know that they are HIV-positive, and they must therefore have access to voluntary counselling and testing. Costs and benefits need to be carefully assessed. Policy makers need to decide what kind of program is feasible and most appropriate for their countries and whether or not to test models of the strategy in pilot projects before introducing it more widely. Such a program requires a commitment to ensuring there is an efficiently functioning primary health care system with certain key services as a basis for introducing the strategy. Where these conditions do not already exist, decisions need to be made about how to strengthen the health infrastructure, what time frame would be realistic, and what else is needed to create the conditions for sage and successful introduction of antiretroviral drugs and replacement feeding.”

The given level of resources to be committed on the provision of such a complex services and one may wonder if saving the lives of a few children that might be saved through this process when is worth our time and money to save a person live. There is so much to be done that they would require also a little more money and time available. It is necessary for the ministry of health to investigate the aspect in order to produce guidelines that are acceptable and quality oriented. There might be a risk to see the private sector taking over and providing a poor quality or an unnecessary antiretroviral treatment.

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Chapter 3: Research Methodology

3.1 Research Philosophy

Here the researcher will explain the methods of the research undertaken from this study. This chapter basically will explain which method to use to collect data.

3.2 Research methods and research design

This research will be done using two significant common research approaches. The researcher will be using qualitative methods.

Where qualitative method would involve a more subjective a way of sampling by assessing individual thoughts and opinions such as interview

3.2 Sources of data

This research would obtain the data from two resources where a secondary research would involve valuable information regarding the facts about Cambodia tourism and other related general technical information. However there might exist a limitation to the information gained due to its availability and relevance to the current perception. The primary research data would collect directly from the survey and interview conducted to specific groups of subject.

3.3 Secondary Research

This type of research is basically done before the primary research is conducted. In order to obtain more through information regarding this research paper before interview can be conducted. The researcher will be able to equip herself with the technical knowledge that is required of her for this research. Secondary research for this paper would involve a collection data from various sources of published data related to tourism in Cambodia. The researcher has used an amount of journal, articles, government site, internet and newspaper to form a secondary data.

3.4 Primary research

Primary research is done in order to obtain information from the public directly attributed to the research paper. This research will focus more on the perception of the public towards the negative perception of Cambodia and ways to rectify the negative issues that the public have. At a same time the researcher will also try to find out methods that can be done to promote Cambodia tourism.

In this research an interview will be conducted to the public around Petaling Jaya area. The data collected will represent the opinion of the public in Malaysia generally. An arranged interview will also be conducted with one of the tourism sector lecturer regarding tourism in Cambodia

The methods of this research would be conducting an interview to the member of the public. These research methods would be more of a selective sampling due to it being done on only specific groups of the people in public.

The interview would involve questions asked by the researcher one-on-one regarding on the negative perception on Cambodia and also to enquire their opinion on how to promote Cambodia tourism. The targeted of the public for this would be college students will be selected randomly.

A special interview will be conducted with the Lecturer that is teaching tourism in order to enquire their knowledge and opinion on Cambodia and also to enquire ways to promote tourism in Cambodia.

3.5 Respondent

In regards of getting the opinion of the public for this research the researcher will conduct a survey on specific group around Petaling Jaya area. This will also represent a broader view of the public in Malaysia. This is in order to gain more knowledge on their perception and opinion on Cambodia itself and at the same time also to enquire suggestion that can help to rectify the negative perception towards Cambodia.

3.6 Data analysis

The data obtained from the interview of the college students or the public on ways to promote Cambodia tourism and their suggestion on how to improve it would be selected based on feasibility. The other interview that is conducted with the lecturer which teaches tourism subject will be more feasible than the students. The lecturer information is more accurate and more appropriate for this research.

The fuel prices are determined by the crude oil prices. In order to produce fuel and other petroleum products, the main raw material used is crude oil. (Chevron Corp, N/A) The prices of crude oil are determined by the market force of demand and supply. If there are grows in demand or disruptions in supply of crude oil, then the market will adjust by increasing the price of crude oil, subjected to the changes in demand or supply. One of the most recognisable causes of fluctuation in fuel prices is disruptions in the supply of crude oil in the market. Political instability is one of the factors. Majority of oil producer countries are in the emerging regions, where disruptions in supply of crude oil always happened and affecting the price. (Chevron Corp, N/A) Besides, shortages of supply can be resulted from a sudden refinery outage or maintenance and pipeline problems. On the other hand, the rise in the price of crude oil is caused by the increase in international energy demand driven by strong long term economic growth especially in non-OECD countries. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, make a projection that in between 2006 to 2030, there will be a dramatic increase of 44% in the total world consumption of energy. (Caltex, N/A) Adding together political instability, disruptions in the supply and growing demand for crude oil cause the price of fuel to be volatile. (237w)

To manage airlines companies, the management will try to minimise any cost associates with the company. According to Air Transport Association, 25.4% of airlines operating expenses were contributed by fuel. As the fuel price becoming increasingly volatile, airlines industries will face risk in rising fuel price and one of the ways to get rid of the risk is by hedging the fuel price. Hedging is a risk management tool that allows airlines to lock in a price for fuel and protect them from the risk of soaring fuel price in future. Neeraj Kapoor, Go Air spokesperson commented that aviation fuel pricing in certain region like India does not favour hedging, but recent hike in fuel price make them reconsider on hedging their fuel. (Kabtta, K, 2008) On the other hand, South West Airlines, which hedged about 70% of its fuel, got to consume it at a lower price of $51 a barrel, compared to the market price of $135 per barrel. (Kabtta, J, 2008) Besides hedging, airlines usually will increase the price of its fuel surcharge. Fuel levy or fuel surcharge is the additional cost to the fare, imposed on per ticket basis in order to retrieve the rising price of the fuel. (Koch, R, 2010) As for example, Virgin Blue had decided to follow Qantas action of increasing fuel surcharges due to the spike in global fuel prices. (Oaˆ™ Sullivan, M, 2011) In short, an airlines company could avoid the surge of global fuel prices by either hedge the fuel price with any hedging instrument such as options or increase the fuel surcharge on the passenger. (268 w)

Now let us examined what are the possible impact that fuel price volatility may bring to the airlines industry and suggestion for the airlines company in dealing with this crisis. As we had discussed above, a surge in fuel prices will directly hit the airlines industry as the rising in cost of fuel will result in increase on the cost of operation. Besides, fuel prices are determined to have a relationship with economic recessions. Soaring fuel prices will trigger higher inflation which later be cooled off by monetary policy. As a result, demand for air travel will decline. Despite facing such challenge, there are airlines that determined enough to go against the tide by trying to reduce costs as well as implementing new strategies to be more competitive. Most of the airlines resorted in drastic action by firing some of their employee in order to cut cost since labour cost contributed almost 24.7% out of total operational cost. (Air Transport Association, N/A) As for example, due to sudden hike in fuel prices, Qantas determined to cut down the number of its employees. (Hannan, E, 2011) While other airlines company trying their best in finding new strategies in order to stay competitive with other airlines. For example United Airlines strategy is to use software developed for flight planning to choose the best route and speed of flight. (Wilen, J.2008) Another good example is Cathay Pacific where they decided to opt towards more fuel efficient aircraft such as Boeing 747-8F and Boeing 777-300ER other than issuing fuel surcharge on tickets to cover for soaring fuel prices. (Cathay Pacific Airways Limited 2010)In brief, increase in fuel prices may impact the airlines industry directly or indirectly and there are several ways to face this issue.(291)

In summary, airline industry has been badly affected by the rising fuel prices. The industry is losing both customers and revenues. Some airlines are trying to go against the tide by reforming themselves, but to a limited success. These airlines are working hard to reduce cost and implement new strategies to win back customers. While the world is still in recession, those efforts have started to show some good results. As such, it is possible to see airlines will bounce back and recover from bad financial conditions sooner.(88)

This business report addresses the impacts of cruise tourism offered by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. on the environment and its related issues. It aims to attend the necessity of Ecotourism as a sustainable business for the company.

Although Royal Caribbean (the world’s second largest cruise with 23.8% of world’s market share) has contributed positively to regional growth by diversification, creating job opportunity, earning foreign reserves but it has diverse issues related to economic, socio cultural and the environment. However the main focus will be on environment which is strongly affected by the increase in cruise lines and there is a need to protect the ecosystem.

The issues of cruise tourism pertaining to the environment arises because of three important reasons; lack of proper waste management, selection of improper tourists destinations, and lastly because cruises doesn’t restrict to the number of visitor carrying capacity of the tourism destinations, resulting in site congestion, gathering of wastes, deterioration of archaeological and historical sites. Tourist destinations should be national parks, flora and fauna instead of fragile destinations. Due to ocean pollution the company has to pay penalty which raises its expenses, incur losses and also social impact.

Even if cruise tourism is the fastest growing business of the travel industry however if the growth is not planned properly it may cause economic, environment and socio-cultural impacts on tourist destinations. Thus, the need for responsible tourism is highly recommended for the sustainability of the business, which can be achieved by ecotourism. Ecotourism is one form of tourism, which addresses the negative impacts associated with mass tourism through the implementation of sustainable practices. Its impacts and benefits are critically analysed and it was recommended for the company to implement it.

Necessity of Ecotourism as a sustainable measure for Royal Caribbean
1. Introduction

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is the world’s second largest cruise company founded in 1969 and it. The company is responsible for giving a new dimension to the cruise industry transforming a simple ocean carrier service into a mega vacation option. It sails in more than 160 destinations with a variety of travel options. The two brands are “Royal Caribbean International” and “Celebrity Cruises”. It operates globally, however majority of its passengers are from North America. Main competitors are Carnival Corporation, NCL Corporation, and Star Cruises Ltd. (Royal Caribbean International, n.d.)

The main objective of this report is to identify the issues, analyze the impacts of the issue on the sustainability, recommend a solution to fix the issue, find out its benefit, and its implementation by the company making it a sustainable business.

The issues and challenges faced by Royal Caribbean cruises in terms of social, economical and environmental factors are discussed in this report. The problem that was identified with the cruise tourism of RCCL was the improper waste management which lead to ocean pollution thus affecting the marine as well as terrestrial environment. The poisonous oil leakage from the vessels killed people and also had harmful effects causing deadly diseases. This impacted the environment as well as society. The economy of the company was negatively impacted because Royal Caribbean had to pay heavy penalty for polluting the environment. This raises the issue of sustainability because for the company’s long term business, it is essential to have a balance between these three factors. Ecotourism is suggested as a tool for sustainability. However it is important to critically analyze the potential of ecotourism as a strategy for development, evaluate the impacts and benefits of ecotourism, and the ways to improve ecotourism practices and policies for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

2. Issues

With the increase in popularity of leisure tourism, the company focuses on providing adventure, relaxation and entertainment to passengers from across the globe and tourist destinations as a part of the cruise package deals. However it is also necessary to maintain the glory of such destinations as it is linked to the environmental performance and the future of tourism also depends on it. Marine life should be protected which is the base of shipping industry. Cruises generate a high volume of wastes, pollutants into the water body which affects the marine environment. Royal Caribbean was found guilty of illegal waste-handling by disposing the toxic waste into the Alaska’s Inland Passage waters thereby polluting the marine environment and for which it has to pay a fine of $18 M. But the company was convicted by the U.S Federal for 11 times in charge of ocean pollution. The $9M and $18M fines each were the highest record set for the largest pollution penalty for a cruise-ship company (Fishman, 2000). These pollution scandals not only increased the expenses but also affected the company’s gracious public image. The socio- cultural issue in Haiti has also put Royal Caribbean under a heavy media fire. The company brings the vacationers to a private resort maintained by it in Labadee, Haiti, which is 60 miles away from the earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince (Bennett, 2010). Ms. Martinez, Manager Corporate Communications said, “the company is very sensitive to the idea of delivering a vacation experience so close to the epicentre of the earthquake,” but given the financial and social challenges the country is now facing, it needs the positive economic benefits Royal Caribbean’s cruises provide. Despite Royal Caribbean’s help to the Haiti relief effort, $1 M donation as relief fund, the company is charged for bringing cruisers to this place. It is criticized saying that the cruise line should never have tried to mix its commerce and humanitarian efforts in telling its side of the story (Bush, 2010).

In a nutshell, the main issue figured out was cruise tourism which had the serious problems like lack of provision for waste disposal leading to environment and economic crisis, destination selection raising social issues. We will further analyse the effects of cruise tourism in this report.

Impacts of Cruise Tourism on the Environment

The cruise tourism is likely to have effects on various aspects of the maritime and terrestrial environments. There is always a high possibility of oil spills by the ships in the sea which is very difficult to clean up in the cold remote locations. The impact of vessel activity in the breeding ground and feeding areas of marine mammals risks the wild life and is an area of concern. Whereas the terrestrial environment is affected by the numerous passengers who often make shore visit to places of natural and historical interests as a part of their cruise holiday package, either by speed boats, zodiac or helicopters thereby creating noise pollution and destroying the archaeological sites. Another potential threat is there to the flora and fauna of the place because these species have low tolerance capacity which leads to the destruction of the ecosystem. Not only this, there is a social and cultural disruption among indigenous people whose communities play host to cruise visitors on an increasingly regular basis.

While cruise tourism has the potential to disrupt local communities it also has the capacity to enrich them. It can contribute positively to the economies of remote communities and also can be viewed as an environmentally sustainable option.

Aspects of global environmental change with relevance to cruise tourism

The effects are on three sectors: Infrastructure, Access, and Attractions. Cruise tourism increases the open water which leads to storm surges and shoreline erosions. This creates structural damage and raises construction and engineering problems. An effect on Access is because of declination in sea-ice extent causing extended shipping season and melting of glaciers also causes iceberg hazards. Effect on the attractions is because environmental changes alter local activity possibilities, changes scenic values locally and variations in ecosystem lead to alterations in distribution and abundance of existing animal species (Gissling & Hall, 2005, p. 44).

3. Recommendations

Royal Caribbean should adapt Ecotourism business to address the sustainability dimensions which will provide a diversity of economic benefits to the company, environment and the community. The benefits of implementing this sustainability practice will reduce operating costs, protect the brand image, provide credible marketing advantage, increase client base, and improve the business efficiency.

It is recommended for Royal Caribbean to discourage mass tourism because travelling in small groups helps to conserve energy and the waste needs of passengers are managed in a better way, thereby having low impact on the environment (Paul F. J. Eagles, 2002, p. 20). The travellers should be educated on practices respectful to the local environment and the benefits of small-group responsible tourism. So limit in cruisers number will help to protect the local tourism infrastructure for future generations.

Cruise destination should be selected wisely because travel to unspoiled virgin areas is harmful and may damage areas of the environment that are exceedingly rare and fragile. It should sail to nature based places like national parks, areas of conservations where flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the primary attractions.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle should be the strategy for waste management. It should recycle all materials like glass, plastic, paper etc. Water bottles can be reused; special processing of wastes such as toner cartridges, wooden pallets and cooking oil should be done by approved shore side vendors. The outstanding garbage can be reused in some countries as road fill, or can be treated as special waste for further processing or disposed of in a landfill. The unconsumed foodstuffs by the guests can be sent to the crew galleys; remaining food scraps can be treated inside the vacuum system of the ship and can be discharged to the sea. Similarly water waste is filtered and purified into potable water.

Tour can contribute financially toward the local economy and nature conservation (WTO & UNEP, 2005, pp. 9-10). It should contact the local guides, local activity providers for the travel guide to the local places; the cruisers can purchase from the local buyers thereby promoting the local business, visit the national parks.

Support the integrity of local cultures by integrating tours within the cultural fabric of the sites. The passengers should be encouraged to stay in local hotels, visit places, and participate in activities that foster meaningful interactions with them. It helps in providing employment, encourages cultural exchange and strengthening of intercultural understanding and tolerance for both guests and hosts.

Ecotourism

Martha Honey defines as “Travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas that strive to be low impact and (usually) small scale. It helps educate the traveller, provides funds for conservation; directly benefits the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, and fosters respect for different cultures and for human rights.” (Honey, 1999, p. 25)

Advantages of Ecotourism

It can help in protecting the ecosystems, preserving natural areas and increase the tourism.

Increase the awareness on environment; educate people about the consequences of exploiting natural resources.

Help in providing employment to the local and regional people, e.g. selling of handicrafts, local food items etc.; this also creates some entrepreneurial skills (Leader-Williams, Hashimova, & Guliyeva, 2004, p. 45).

Increases foreign reserves of the region, enhances economic growth.

Raises the warmth to multitude country’s political, environmental and social climate

Cultivate a feeling of pride and community through a revival or safeguarding of customary beliefs, practices and enriching techniques.

Untouched destinations and natural activities may become a craze for tourists creating scope for ecotourism.

Diversifying the tourism package into interesting events such as halt in country boats, trail walks etc. will help retaining the revenue generated with the local people and promote local economy.

Figure 1: Sustainable Development Triangle (World Conservation Union, 2003)

Utilizing the above figure of sustainable development triangle we can say that ecotourism puts a balance between these three sides i.e. economy, environment, and the society. For the long term development of a company it is necessary to be sustainable; Ecotourism will bring future and current benefits as well as work as a form of sustainable development. SWOT Analysis of Ecotourism can be referred in the Appendix attached at the last.

4. Implementation

The company should get the new criteria for selecting destinations in a cruise ship port of call from the tourism council. It should follow the guidelines on ecotourism destinations set by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. After that a third party verification of its land excursions adhering to Global Sustainable Tourism Council-recognized standard by 2015 should be done. Once final GSTC Criteria for Destinations are in place, they will provide another standard by which Royal Caribbean can judge ports of call. (Wilkinson, Global Sustainable Tourism Council, 2012)

Timeline: An approval from the CEO has to be obtained and then the company should follow GSTC for obtaining the criteria. This process of implementation will take around 3 years which is the timeline.

Instead of activities like snorkelling, scuba diving etc. which has impact on the marine life there can be other attractions like visiting conservation area, Plantation house, lush forest trekking, catamaran ride to beaches where the guests can have beach barbeque. Maintaining the quality of these experiences means integrating the guidelines of sustainability, with the help of a GSTC consultant.

Timeline: There should be an approval received from the strategic planning department and It can be implemented within 6 months from now.

There should be proper waste disposal system in the cruises. Modern equipment like exhaust gas scrubbers should installed on smokestacks, superior wastewater purification should be on the vessels. RCCL can implement these systems on the newer ships as a measure to treat all kind of wastes like solid waste, water waste and air waste. It can also have highly developed systems like reverse Osmosis system that uses only 35 percent of the electricity consumed as compared to older units for converting sea water into drinkable ship water.

Timeline: Approval from the corporate governance department should be obtained and this can be implemented within 6 months from now.

In order to preserve the environment from dumping things overboard RCCL can initiate programs for educating the cruisers, travellers, crews for recycling all the wastes like aluminium canes, water bottles, food stuffs etc. It can also purchase more than one million pounds of recycled products each year. An approval from the CEO can be obtained for immediately implementing the plan and the sanction for purchasing recycled products can also be got from finance department.

Timeline: This can be implemented within 2 month.

5. Conclusion

Ecotourism is a win-win solution for destinations where the conservation efforts for the environment are also associated with the livelihood opportunities of the local people. For ecotourism to be effective in its true sense there is a need to develop a proper ecotourism package which should be different from the existing mass tourism packages.

Royal Caribbean’s plan to implement Ecotourism as a sustainability measure is indeed a commendable decision. The company’s initiative to sponsor programs such as setting new criteria for selecting holiday destinations, running programs like “Save the Waves” with mission as reduce, reuse, recycle will certainly help it for a long term development and overcome the challenges to sustain its business. Although RCCL’s investment will be more on these sustainable measures but it will not have a negative impact on the environment, social image and the economy as well because there will be no threat for hefty fines for creating pollution.

Introduction

Over the years the world’s poorest countries have become popular tourist destinations, drawing visitors with images of exotic environments and cultures (Harrison, 1995; WTO, 2004). Increasing cheap and easy travel has made long distance vacations a reality. Tourism countries is growing steadily in developing, urged by this governments, and by the international community, which includes the World Bank, as a means of encouraging economic diversi¬?cation, stimulating local incomes and earning most foreign exchange (Brohman, 1996; Christie, 2001; Harrison, 1995; Markandya et al., 2004; WTO, 2002, 2004, 2005; WTTC, 2005).But Tourism industry is prone to fluctuate and is a uncertain strategy which often strikes with minimal warning. Tourism promotion could be an economic relief to many developing and under developing countries but, if situations to become unfavourable; it could affect the ones engaged in a worse economic situation than they were before when introduced to tourism. The risks of over-concentration on a single sector of the economy can be high (Feenstra & Hanson, 1996) and this is especially true in poor counties of the world where tourism domineers the economy. The island of Bali in Indonesia is one example, peace was wrecked by terrorist bombs in October 2002, and again in October 2005. The bombs which exploded in October 2002 killed 202 people this was only the beginning, the immediate impact on it was devastating. More than 18,700 scared tourists fled Bali in three days, which is three times as more than during a normal month. After the first two weeks after the attack, visitor arrivals dropped by 80%. And hotel occupancy plunged from 73% to just 14% after the attack. Within a week of the attack major tour operators promptly drew back their holiday programmes from Bali and resorts throughout Indonesia.

This paper aims at proposing marketing strategies that could be adopted in Bali, to revoke Tourism after its terrorist attacks. They are Marketing Product, Promotion and distribution systems, Prices and retargeting. This paper will discuss all the strengths and weakness of these marketing strategies and also present a conclusion based on strategies which can be adopted to alleviate the impacts of terrorism in Bali.

Marketing In Tourism:

Industry don’t `evolve ‘. Instead time eager to overturn the present industry order challenge `accepted practise’, redraw segment boundaries, set new price performance expectations and re-invent the product or service concept (Hamel and Prahalad,1994:303).

Marketing and promotions are the key factors that should be considered when tourism industry has been shattered in a country that has suffered a crisis. Marketing Bali after terrorist attack is mainly bringing back economy to the country by the means of tourism since its economy majorly depends on tourism. There are several marketing strategies which can be implemented such as Promotion and distribution, Prices and Re targeting.

Promotion and distribution systems

Innovative techniques such as internet play a very important role in promotion and distribution channel in terms of volume and gathering information to choose trips and buy tourism services at the lowest possible price. A considerable increase in Internet sales has opened up a new way to improve and develop the management of distribution in the businesses. Systems integrate functions such as: marketing, information, sales and end-product integration by pulling together all the elements of a tourism trip. Due to its unique characteristics, growing number of countries are promoting their products through the Internet. Distribution no longer depends on traditional channels, that is, operators and travel agencies. The reduction or elimination of commissions on ticket sales and car hires is leading to the establishment of service fees, which is a fixed amount in many cases, and to a growing emphasis on the consulting or advisory function of travel agents. Virtual distribution channels are or tend to be interactive television, call centres, direct sales via the Internet, and websites of conventional travel agencies. The role of tour operators, traditionally associated with conventional sun-and-sand holidays, is being contained. There is a continuing trend towards consolidation and vertical integration among tour operators. In order to adapt to demand, they are also becoming more flexible and are segmenting their products to a greater degree. Among the objectives of this consolidation processes are: to better control operating costs, to make better use of their airplanes and to use their information systems more efficiently. Among travel agencies, cooperatives are gaining

increased prominence using a model that has been successful in the United States, as well as the establishment of a mix of distribution channels that take advantage of new technologies. The management of the chain of production is geared towards profitability, with key strategies being:

increasing the load factor of own planes, achieving economies of scale, reducing risk by diversifying into new markets and consolidating brands that cover various products in order to increase customer loyalty.

The Internet has a growing role but has not yet displaced print publications, television and radio, especially coupled with direct marketing, the Internet itself, the specialized press and special promotions.

A message to address safety concerns must be issued in order to let people know that the Bali has tightened up its security and it is now safe for the tourist. Bali tourism officials can plan to invite all their major travel agents check new safety measures which has been implemented. Travel agents provide bulk hotel bookings; it is very important to encourage them to take personal tours to make them aware of all new security measures implemented. This will create a good image of Bali to travel agents so they feel confident on promoting Bali as a tourist destination again. It can also invite important trade partners. Concerning security and safety, JATA (Japan Association of Travel Agents), China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), Singapore Travel Agencies expressesing their satisfaction with heightened security measures implemented in the aftermath blast which can help improve tourism form Japan, China and Singapore.

Advertisements.

Diplomatic and celebrity endorsement can be done to bring up the market. Advertisement about a new refreshing image of Bali introducing new idea’s such as surfing, honeymoon vacation, religious tourism can be enhanced better. But advertisements have to be targeted carefully. For instance, Caribbean islands invested a massive US$16 million publicity campaign to attract US tourist and tourist were still diminishing, This campaign had been suspended until and after the congressional elections of 5th November 2002. Americans were clearly not in the mood for travel, and no amount of advertising seems to be able to change.

Prices:

Prices are strongly influence travel purchase decisions. Price strategies have varied from straight price reductions, discounts for accompanying persons or even free travel for accompanying children, to added services. Many small and medium-sized enterprises have been especially affected by the downward trend in the price of tourism services. According to the International Federation of Tour Operators, we have gone through a year of falling demand, which has been stimulated through pricing. The effect of this factor is to reduce business revenues. Destinations with the best prices and where tour operators have own accommodations have a certain advantage of others.

Use price – follow PR with attractive price-led offers: both Malaysia and Sri Lanka did this very successfully post September 11th. Domestic airlines, including the national flag carrier Garuda and its subsidiary Merpati airlines, are to offer special discounts for visitors coming to Bali for the Muslim holiday of Idul Fitri, and also for Christmas and the New Year. The Indonesian Tourism Ministry and the Bali Tourist Board will work with the industry to prepare special, affordable holiday packages.

Retargeting

Domestic – the Chairman of the Bali Tourist Board has stated: “For the time being it would be wiser to focus first on the domestic market”. It is appreciated that the domestic market has far lower spending power that the international one, but it can at least serve to keep the product functioning even though profits will be low. Indonesia’s 1000 Steps to Bali domestic promotion campaign was launched on 2nd November.

The Government has announced that it will rework the public holiday calendar to create

more long weekends, thus boosting the domestic market.

Intraregional – Singapore, for example, will concentrate on India and China, both markets likely to be less affected by this type of event. Malaysians too are apparently unphased by the events in Bali, according to feedback from MATTA, the country’s biggest travel fair: they are responding avidly to good value offers.

Indonesia is also aiming to promote more in the Middle East (currently only 0.8% of total visitors).

The Government has instructed all state companies, as well as encouraging private ones, to hold their corporate functions in Bali.

Experienced travellers, not first timers – first timers are naturally more nervous.

Individuals – with a passion: special interest markets held up remarkably well post September 11th. Sport, culture, newlyweds – anything which gives a distinctive impetus to a trip should be targeted.

Co-operation

The main lessons which the tourism industry learned post September 11th is the importance of working together. The type of co-operation which it can be so hard to achieve in normal circumstances – like even persuading two resorts in the same country to advertise together – starts to happen spontaneously in times of crisis. The Australian Tourism Task Force’s immediate reaction to the attack in Bali was: “This means getting our marketing agencies together so that we have a co-ordinated campaign to remind Australians about the advantages of travelling at home and to remind the rest of the world that Australia remains a safe place for a holiday”.

Good security also requires national co-operation between Ministers, police, local authorities and the private sector.

But the emphasis on co-operation post September 11th went wider than this. Commercial organisations and Governments started to work together more closely, not only across sector groups, but also across geographical boundaries. For example, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji came together to do joint advertising. It is important that the WTO should keep encouraging this trend.

ASEAN, which held their 8th Summit between the 4th and 7th of November in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, had signed an important new Tourism Cooperation and Promotion Agreement. Malaysian Tourism Minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said the decision to deepen tourism cooperation was made two years ago but the Bali tragedy had given it more urgency. The 10 member grouping (plus 3 affiliated countries – China, Japan and Korea) aims to promote the area as a single tourism destination in the international market, launch joint marketing programmes, introduce “thematic” tour packages to specific areas of interest, and harmonise visa issuance to foreigners. But the core theme of the pact is to boost intra-regional movement by phasing out travel taxes and extending visa exemptions to ASEAN’s 500 million citizens. The pact also aims to establish an integrated network of tourism and travel services, to encourage commercial agreements among regional airlines and to promote cruising, travel by ferries and leisure boats.

ASEAN feels that if they stop visiting each other, the terrorists will have won. But, in an

illustration of the complexity of the current situation, John Koldowski from PATA

commented that it was the right move for ASEAN to turn inward to revive the industry but it

must not compromise national security in its rush to facilitate movement within the region.

Product:

We can develop events as part of the recovery phase, for instance, Indonesia will on 15thNovember invite the families of the victims to a special service in Bali to pray together. This will reinforce in a respectful way the generic spiritual image of the destination.

Tour operators, airlines and cruise lines, and strive to maintain capacity. Governments need to work closely with the industry in difficult times to ensure that there is not a damaging loss of product which could limit recovery when better times come.

Conclusion

Promotion and distributions, Co operation and Prices inter connecting play a vital part while marketing a tourist destination. Promotion and distributions is a huge channel of communication through various sources of media like television, radios, news and newspaper, internet etc… We can make a renewed image on Bali with proper media sources which will create a positive impact for tourists or travel agents. Thus it has power to reach people and can make a good impression. Co operation also is a very key strategy in marketing a destination where its needs supports from various countries to develop tourism. Good security also requires national co-operation between Ministers, police, local authorities and the private sector. Commercial organisations and Governments can work closely in joint advertising which such as straight price reductions, discounts for accompanying persons or even free travel for accompanying children, to added services and other offers which can help redeem the economy of Bali.

The potential contribution of the 2012 Olympic Games to tourism
Abstract

With budgets for the hosting of the Olympic Games often requiring significant upward revision before final costs are calculated there has been an increasing level of concern about the areas of benefits that these events bring to the host cities and nations. Much of this concern is focused upon the tourism benefits.

Using three previous Olympic events together with the staging of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester as case studies, this research seeks to ascertain whether the predicted tourism benefit from hosting the 2012 Olympic Games can realistically be achieved or if they are simply estimates raised in an effort to justify the huge capital investment required to stage the games.

The results of the case study into the three Olympic events show mixed results in terms of reality matching expectations. In particular, the area of concern in all of these events has been the failure of the cities to see a continuation of improvement to employment.

However, the Manchester case study produced a positive result on all counts of tourism benefits, including employment. What makes this event different from the others is that the organisers in this case concentrated a considerable amount of effort on developing a sustainable legacy programme. The committee responsible for this programme have treated it as a separate project and this has enabled the focus of achieving benefits to be maintained.

It is considered that if the LOCOG incorporates the positive aspects of this research into their Olympic planning it will be able to achieve the estimated expectations.

1. Introduction

In March 2005, four months before bid for the 2012 Olympic Games was won by London, the UK government extended the budget for this event from ?2.4 billion to ?9.35 billion, a nearly fourfold increase (BBC News 2005). In justifying this enormous increase in costs and echoing the comments of other Olympic cities in the past, the UK government and 2012 Olympic organisers have said there will be ongoing economic benefits resulting from the event being held in London.

It has been suggested that many of these benefits will accrue to the tourism and hospitality sector. In support of this comment the organisers, LOCOG^[1] (2007) and ODA^[2], point to the fact that it is increasing hotel accommodation in the London area and, in addition, providing a number of new sporting and cultural facilities that will be available for use in the future, attracting continual leisure and tourism activities. Furthermore, it is stated the increase in tourists during the event will have the effect of increasing subsequent tourist visits to London and the UK as a whole as well as their impact during the event itself. These moves are also expected to have a positive long term impact upon tourism businesses and employment in the area. However, reports into the results of tourism benefits achieved from previous events of this nature show a different view (Madden 2002) and suggest that the claims being made by the LOCOG and other stakeholders might be optimistic.

It is the resolution of this dichotomy of opinions that forms the focus for this paper. The aim of this research is to assess whether the pre-event claims being made by the 2012 Olympic organisers, which are supported by research conducted by independent researchers (Blake 2005 and Oxford Economics 2007) will bring tourism benefits to London and the UK. These will be measured against three factors, these being tourism numbers and financial benefit, hotel occupancy, and tourism and hospitality employment levels.

1.1. Aims and objectives

In order to address the issues focused upon within this study, the following research question being resolved is: –

Whether the hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games in London will provide the City and the UK tourism industry with potential benefits both during and post the event.

To provide a framework and direction aimed at addressing this question, two main objectives have also been set.

London 2012 Olympic Games legacy

There will be a detailed and critical analysis of the intended legacy of the Games which will also examine the supporting evidence.

Previous event results

For comparison purposes post event reports on three significant previous events of a similar nature will be presented and evaluated.

1.2. Overview

Following this introduction, section two provides an overview of the data collection method used. In section three the findings will be presented and discussed before the study is brought to a conclusion in section four, where appropriate recommendations will be made.

2. Methodology

Due to the limitations in terms of time, cost and geographical location, it has been decided that the appropriate research method to be used for this research will rely upon the collection of data from secondary sources. These will include information collected from the official 2012 Olympic websites of the LOCOG (2007) and other related stakeholders as well as independent research conducted by academics and other tourism stakeholders. Other resources have also been used, including publications available from bookshops and libraries and journal articles. Similar resource locations have been relied upon for the collection of data relating to the comparative events.

Although it is sometimes perceived that there are limitations to the secondary data collection approach in this case it was considered that the depth of previous and immediate research is sufficiently robust to add value to the findings of this study. For example, sufficient academic and practical research material is available to be able to provide a direct comparison between the intentions of the 2012 Olympic Games legacy expectations and the actual results that have been achieved from previous events, including those held within the UK and in other international locations.

3. Discussion of research findings

In all events apart from the London 2012 the research conducted for this study has included the examination of the legacy claimed to result from hosting special events by the organisers and the findings from subsequent research and reviews conducted by various academic and tourism stakeholders.

For ease of reference this section of the research has been divided into relevant segments. The findings of the research are presented within the first three segments and these are followed by a discussion, analysis and evaluation of these findings that will provide a conclusion to the research question.

3.1. London 2012 Olympic Games legacy

In their official legacy for the games, the London 2012 Olympic organisers have highlighted several benefits that they expect to result from hosting the games. In relation to the tourism sector, these can be identified in the following six key areas according to the LOCOG (2007), all of which are considered to have longer term benefits that will accrue to the hospitality and tourism sectors.

Accommodation

Included within the infrastructure costs of the games is the construction of an additional 15,000 hotel rooms, increasing current accommodation in the London area by around 15%.

Employment

It is anticipated that the event will require a significant increase in the numbers of persons employed within the tourism sector. This increase is expected to occur across a range of areas including hotels, restaurants and bars and other destination and attraction facilities.

Numbers of tourists

With 9 million tickets being printed for the games, added to the participating teams, their support staff and the international media attendance, it is expected that in excess of 10 million tourists will be attracted to London during the course of the event.

Sporting facilities

Of the sporting facilities being built for the games five of these will be made available for tourism, sporting and leisure use post the games themselves.

Infrastructure

Improvements are being made to transportation links and a regeneration programme for areas of London will be taking place, thus making these places more attractive to tourists.

Destinations and attractions

The creation of a new Olympic Park, which in addition to recreational facilities will have areas dedicated to the creation of natural wildlife habitats, is designed to add to the attraction of London as a tourist destination.

3.2. Findings of anticipated tourism benefits of the 2012 Olympic Games

Several studies have been commissioned and conducted in an attempt to evaluate and predict the economic benefit that will result from London’s hosting of the Olympic Games. Having considered these studies, it has been decided that those most appropriate to this study are the study conducted by Oxford Economics (2007) and Blake (2005). In both cases the central determinates of expectations have been used.

The findings of the Oxford Economics (2007) study were based upon a comparison of the results studied from fifteen previous events of the same nature. The results suggested that the net tourism gain in financial terms during the years from 2007- 2017 will be ?2.09 billion, of which ?1.47 (70.33%) will be directly attributable to London. In analysing this result, the following can be drawn from these figures when compared between the pre-games; event and post event periods (figure 1).

Figure 1 Tourism financial benefits

Benefit

Pre-Games

Games

Post games

London Percentage

17%

35%

48%

UK Percentage

15%

31%

54%

London Fiscal

?249.9 million

?514.5 million

? 705.6 million

RUK Fiscal

? 63.6 million

?133.4 million

? 423.0 million

UK fiscal

?313.5 million

?647.9 million

?1128.6 million

Data source: Oxford Economics (2007)

These results are largely supported by the research conducted by Adam Blake (2005) who, by using a combination of prediction methods, also agrees that although there is a small rise in pre-games spending the major benefits are attributable to the year of the event and the subsequent period. However, in addition to the financial statistics Blake’s research also provides statistical information in respect of the three main issues being studied within this paper.

For example, in terms of the increase in tourist numbers because of the event it is anticipated within this research that the following changes in percentage terms would be achieved (figure 2) over and above the anticipated growth in this area.

With regard to the increased numbers of full time employment position created, Blake (2005) also anticipates that this will increase because of the games, particularly within the following areas (see figure 3).

Figure 3 increase in FTE

Sector

2005-2011

Pre-Games

2012

Games

2013-2016

Post games

Sports Facilities

-302

4,361

708

Hotels

2,554

1,686

2,972

Bars

2,094

952

2,359

Land Transport

292

3,057

-701

Air Transport

661

191

745

Visitor attractions

-11

1,062

-40

Therefore, it is concluded by both of the studies examined that the hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games by London will produce positive and lasting tourism benefits for both the city itself and the country as a whole.

3.3 Findings from previous similar events

For comparison purposes, four previous events have been used within this research. These include three prior Olympic Games held in Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) and the Commonwealth Games held in Manchester in 2002.

To provide a detailed analysis of the tourism benefits in the case of the four the research has been concentrated upon analysing the statistical returns for the six years prior to the event, the year of the event and the four subsequent years. In terms of timescale this therefore will relate to the 12 year period being used for estimations by the researchers into the tourism benefits of the London Olympic Games event (Blake 2005) and therefore is anticipated to produce a reasonable set of comparatives.

Atlanta 1996

The 1996 Olympic Games, hosted by Atlanta, also saw its financial cost rise from a budgeted $1.7 to over $2 billion, which equated to a 30% increase (Humphreys and Plummer 2003), much of which increase (70%) had to be funded from the public purse.

Tourism numbers and their spending in Georgia during the year of the Atlanta Olympic Games increased by approximately $1.5 billion, achieving a record $14.7 billion in 1996, which was a considerable increase upon the previous seven years results. However, this revenue fell back in the following three years and only exceeded the 1996 record in 2000 when revenues reached $15.5 billion.

Tourism numbers for the state of Georgia also increased during 1996 and 1997 as a direct result of the games. In the subsequent years however, as Engle (1999) research indicated, this did not resolve itself into longer term benefits, due partly to the fact that the city of Atlanta lost a considerable amount of business convention tourism. This has affected hotel occupancy post the games event, which has remained static at 64% throughout the twelve year period.

In terms of the tourism benefit for employment, the result in this case was that in the 77,000 additional jobs anticipated were created as estimated by the year of the games. However, a considerable percentage of these were short-term positions and less than half that number remained long-term (Engle 1999). Nevertheless, this does show a positive benefit to the community.

Sydney 2000

In real terms the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 cost twice as much as its predecessor, with even the estimated budget of $4 billion (Madden 2002, p.9) being exceeded when the actual costs were computed.

The tourism benefits relating to the numbers of tourists and their spending in this instance can only be identified for Australia as a whole^[3]. These show that the numbers of tourists grew from just under 5.8 million in 1994 to 8.672 million in the year 2000, an increase of 47.33% during the period, nearly a quarter of which was achieved in the year of the games being staged. In the four years subsequent to this time there has been a further increase in tourism of 14.24%. All of the increase was achieved in 2004 following three years that showed a total drop of 2.39%. However, in terms of revenue impact, the statistics show that tourism spends has fallen in the twelve year period by around 2%. These results have been reflected in the rate of growth of hotel occupancy, which has seen a similar pattern of growth during the period under review (Arthur Andersen 2000).

However, one are of concern relative to potential tourism benefits from the Sydney games is the poor performance of employment. Despite a rapid growth in this area in the years leading up to the games, post the event there has been a sharp reversal of this trend (figure 4), with the New South Wales showing the sharpest fall.

Two other issues that have detracted from the tourism benefits of the Sydney 2000 games include the fact that the city has still not managed to make some of the facilities pay for themselves, which has left the authorities with a bill of around $46 million per annum (Owen 2005). Secondly, although during the year of the games tourism spend increased in the areas and for the businesses located close to the facilities, those not within the immediate vicinity suffered a loss in revenues during 2000 (Owen 2005). These costs are seldom accounted for by bid organisers and promoters but they do have an impact of the profitability levels for the tourism and hospitality sectors.

These results show that the legacy of the Sydney games has been mixed in terms of the subsequent tourism benefits that it has brought to the city and the country.

Athens 2004

The cost of the Athens Olympic Games again doubled against the previous games (Associated Press 2004). However, in this case there was a mitigating circumstances as these were the first games to be held post the 9/11 event, which led to additional security costs totalling $1.5 billion, a factor that is becoming increasingly important at events of this nature ((Baade and Matheson. 2002a, p.5).

Athens has seen mixed results in terms of the tourism benefits culminating from the games. In terms of the tourism numbers in the year subsequent to the games this showed a rise of 10%. (Hubbard 2005). However, other subsequent reports reveal that the facilities constructed for the games have not been made full use of in the past four years (Hersh 2008), leaving the country’s tourism sector in a position where it has not capitalised upon the impact of the event. Nevertheless, in terms of the revenue received from tourism in Greece, in the four years from 2000 to 2004, this rose from $17.7 billion to $29.6 billion, an increase of over 67% for the period. This has resulted in an increase in hotel occupancy during the same period.

However, like other of the case study cities, there has not been a marked improvement in the levels of employment in the tourism industry experienced since 2000. Therefore, it would appear that some of the tourism benefits from the Athens Olympics have centred solely on the year of the event whilst others have had an extended lifespan.

Manchester 2002

The last major international sporting event to be held in the UK was the Commonwealth games in Manchester in 2002. In regards to cost the budget and eventual cost of this event was insignificant when compared with the Olympic Games but, at around ?80 million it is still an investment that is expected to produce a positive return in relation to tourism benefits for the area.

The Manchester Commonwealth Games legacy programme anticipated that the games would produce the following benefits for tourism in the area (Ecotec 2007): –

300,000 new visitors a year spending ?18 million in the local economy
Increase in mid-range hotel accommodation
6,400 new jobs

According to recent reports (Ottewell 2006) tourism in Manchester has seen a significant growth in the past eight years, which reflects the benefit that hosting the Commonwealth Games has brought to the area. Visitor numbers have risen from 79 million to 94 million between 2000 and 2005 and tourism spend has seen a growth to a level of ?3.92 billion (?3.05 billion in 2000). Furthermore, in terms of tourism related employment, this figure has also risen to 59,046 in 2005 (51,704 in 2000), an increase of 7,342. When these figures are compared with the estimates that were produced as part of the original bid calculations it is apparent that in all areas the expectations have been exceeded.

This shows that the city has certainly benefitted from the legacy programme that used a considerable element of the capital budget set aside for the games has had the desired effect and produced the required returns (Eurotec 2007). The positive result achieved in this instance is further evidenced by a statement given by one of the games organisers in 2007.

“We estimated that ?22m in business benefits across the northwest derived from the Games at the time,” says Rosin. “There was ?2.7m added value for every ?1m invested. There has been investment in the financial sectors, in the city centre and in particular in east Manchester. Associated retail development and the creation of employment for local people in this area can be directly attributed to the Commonwealth Games” (Editorial (2007).

These results have occurred despite the fact that in other areas of the economy, including the GDP, Manchester has seen less of an improvement (Ecotec 2007).

3.4. Discussion

Perhaps the most important aspect of the findings to note is that, from the time of the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, the cost of hosting this four year event has escalated at an ever increasing rate. In fact, as the following graph shows (figure 4) the capital investment has doubled on every occasion, including the latest event in Bejjing in 2008.

Despite the fact that in most cases a proportion of the costs can be defrayed as a result of sales of media coverage and sponsorship, valued at in excess of $1 billion per event (CBS 1988), this cost escalation does mean that the expectation in regards to the return achieved on this investment has also risen. In other words the benefits, including those enjoyed by the tourism sector, need to have shown significant improvements.

However, if the cost of the London Olympic Games in 2012 does not escalate from its current costs of around ?9 billion, it will not only be the first time the games cost have reduced since 1996 but also its return expectations will be lower.

Nevertheless, when the expectations of the LOCOG (2007) and other researchers (Blake 2005) are considered against the actual results that have attached to the three previous Olympic Games events being used as comparisons, it is apparent that there are concerns that the London organisers need to consider. In particular, two issues seem to be a recurring problem during the years following the games. The first of these is the use and capitalisation of the sporting venues. In the cases of both Sydney and Athens these have proved difficult to make economically viable post the event. The second issue is tourism employment. In all three Olympic Games case studies, this area of benefits does not seem to have continued to any great extent post the games.

However, the result of the Manchester experience has shown that there can be tourism benefits in all of the major areas that have formed the focus of this study. In this city tourism numbers, tourist spend, hotel occupancy and employment have all seen continued growth both at the time of the Commonwealth Games and during the subsequent three years. One of the major differences between this case and the others is that a considerable amount of the investment raised for the games was directed into a definitive legacy programme, which was treated as a separate project and aimed to be an ongoing process rather than culminating in 2002.

3.5. Summary and evaluation

One of the difficulties of evaluating a research issue of this nature is that it is impossible to perform an exact comparison as each event takes place during a different chronological period. For example, an issue that can be said to significant alter the results would be the economic position of the country and other countries during the timescale being evaluated. Furthermore, the detailed statistics in each case is kept in a differing format which adds to the analytical difficulties.

However, by accessing and comparing the information relating to each case study from a range of previous researches it is considered that the information and findings presented have been able to be appropriately verified and can therefore be considered reliable. Therefore, although studies by other researchers (Baade, Robert A. & Victor Matheson. (2002) and Gratton and Henry (2001)) have indicated that the Games have not impacted upon following years GDP as a whole, it is considered that this has been due to other economic factors and not relevant to the benefits or otherwise of tourism.

4. Conclusion and recommendations

The research question set at the commencement of this research sought to determine: –

Whether the hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games in London will provide the City and the UK tourism industry with potential benefits both during and post the event.

Despite the limitations of the research conducted for this paper, this being restricted to five sporting events that have occurred within the past twelve years, it is considered that, with certain provisions, the response to this question is that the hosting of the 2012 Olympic games can produce potential tourism benefits for London and UK both during and in the years following the event. Whilst the comment of Baade and Matheson (2002, p.98) that “the evidence suggests that the economic impact of the Olympics is transitory, onetime changes rather than a ‘steady-state’ change,” is concurred with to a certain extent, it must be tempered with the fact that in certain areas of tourism benefits have been achieved. The poor results they refer to is more due to lack of planning and management by the organisers rather than any external forces or influences.

In this respect therefore, it is important to provide the following recommendations to the organisers of the London Olympic Games that should be considered if they wish to achieve a successful and sustainable outcome for the tourism industry.

4.1. Recommendations

In essence recommendations being made can be determined within two main areas, these being related to the planning and execution stages.

Planning

An essential element of the planning for Olympic Games events is to take notice of the research that has been conducted For example, in this instance the research conducted into the three games that have been used as case studies within this research have all identified areas where improvements might have been made, both at the planning stage and subsequently.

Furthermore, research into the Manchester sporting event has shown the benefit of have an identifiable and robust legacy programme which, to a certain extent, should operate independently of the event itself and continue into following years. This position has provided dividends for the Manchester tourism industry that have surpassed the expectations.

Execution

Secondly, the execution of the legacy strategy is important. All aspects of the post event period have to be meticulously planned and implemented within the required timescale, which as the Greek tourism minister indicated, includes the immediate six or seven months post the games (Hersh 2008), as this is a critical time to build foundations for future success.

4.2. Summary

If the London organisers learn from the lessons of past events and particularly take on board the successes that have been achieved in Manchester, there is no reason why the games should not produce a series of lasting benefits for the London and UK tourism sectors.

References

Arthur Andersen (2000) “The Sydney Olympic Performance Survey: The Sydney Olympic Games on the Australian Hotel Industry,” Mimeograph, November 2000, pp.1-7.

Associated Press (2004). Games cost Athens over $8.5 Billion. Available from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5761646/ (Accessed 23 December 2008)

Baade, Robert A. & Victor Matheson. (2002). Bidding for the Olympics: Fool’s Gold? In Transatlantic Sport, edited by Barros, Ibrahim, and Szymanski. Edward Elgar Publishing. New York, US.

Baade, Robert A. & Victor Matheson. (2002a). Mega-Sporting Events in Dveloping Nations: Playing the Way to Prosperity. Available from: http://www.williams.edu/Economics/wp/mathesonprosperity.pdf (Accessed 23 December 2008)

BBC News (2005). London plan at a glance. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/london_2012/4025027.stm (Accessed 22 December 2008)

Blake, A (2005). The Economic Impact of the London 2012 Olympics. Nottingham University Business School, Nottingham, UK

CBS (1998). Television, sponsorship revenue could top $800 million. CBS Sportsline wire reports. Available from: http://cbs.sportsline.com/u/olympics/nagano98/news/feb98/revenue2398.htm (Accessed 24 December 2008)

Ecotec (2007) An Evaluation of the Commonwealth Games Legacy Programme. Available from: http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/Evaluation_of_Commonwealth_Games_Legacy_programme.pdf (Accessed 23 December 2008)

Engle. S.M (1999). The Olympic Legacy in Atlanta. University of New South Wales Law Journal. Vol. 38

Fizel, John., Gustafson, Elizabeth and Hadley, Lawrence (1999). Sports Economics: Current Research. Praeger Publishers. Westport, US.

Fort, Rodney D and Fizel, John (2004). International Sports Economics. Praeger Publishers. Westport, US.

Hersh, P (2008). Athens post-Olympic Legacy: Empty spaces, unsightly venues, uncertain tomorrow. Chicargo Tribune, Chicago, US

Hubbard, A (2005). Olympic Games: Athens’ legacy bigger than the pounds 7 billion bill. The Independent, London, UK

Gratton, Chris and Henry, Ian (2001) Sport in the City: The Role of Sport in Economic and Social Regeneration. Routledge. London, UK

Humphreys, Jeffrey L and Plummer, Michael K (2003). The economic impact of hosting the 1996 summer Olympics. Available from: http://www.selig.uga.edu/forecast/olympics/OLYMTEXT.HTM (Accessed 22 December 2008)

Humphreys, Jeffrey M. and Michael K. Plummer (1995). The Economic Impact of Hosting the 1996 Summer Olympics. Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. Atlanta, US.

LOCOG (2007). UK Olympics: Our plans. London 2012. Available from: http://www.london2012.com/plans/index.php (Accessed 28 December 2008)

Madden, John R

Seasonality has been recognised as one of the most typical feature of the tourism industry derived from the movement of people resulting fluctuations in the demand(Bulter,1994;Baum,1999).The phenomenon, its causes and impact on destination regions have been widely researched within the academic literature and often seasonality is perceived as a problem for the industry.

Seasonality affects the human resource practices in any hospitality and tourism business and it is often held responsible for the seasonal employment, underemployment and unemployment (Jolliffe and Farnsworth, 2003).The pattern is particularly influencing peripheral destinations which experience increased demand (Baum and Hagen,1999).Due to the variations in demand, some resorts have a very short season lasting four to five months, which creates challenges for human resource managers.

The literature addressing the impact of seasonality on businesses located in peripheral regions is mainly concerned on strategies how to overcome seasonality or reduce the impact of it. There are few strategies focused on the HRM .In addition, little research has been conducted on the specific difficulties to HR managers in recruiting and training front office employees.

Tourism is one of the biggest and fastest growing sectors in the European community, greatly contribution to the European economy(CORDIS,2008).The industry plays an essential role in the employment growth as Europe is the world`s number 1 destination (EU,2010)

Aims and Objectives

The dissertation aims at providing a better understanding of the impact of seasonality on HRM practices in relation to recruiting and training front office employees in resort hotels in Europe

The objectives to achieve the aim of this study are:

To identify and critically analyse the literature in regards to seasonality and its consequences to human resource management practices within the hospitality industry in particular front office employees in resort hotels in Europe

Investigate the current practices applied by different resort hotels in Europe and to what extent the seasonality affects the HRM

Evaluate the most popular approaches outlined in the literature

Provide recommendations

Dissertation Structure

In order to achieve the outlined objectives above the work is structured as follows: starting with Chapter 1 establishing the rationale for aˆ¦., .

Research methodology

This following section will be focused on the type of research methods used to complete the dissertation.

Research Approach
Research Process

The first step in the research process was to generate a research idea that would be interesting to examine. There is a range of techniques that can be used to find and select a topic and the process used for this dissertation, named as rational thinking (Saunders et al.,2003),involved consideration of author`s interests and taking into account past and current projects. However, Altinay and Paraskevas(2008) suggest that applying more than one technique can only be beneficial to the project , thus relevance trees, a creative technique, has been used to ensure author`s interest and motivation will maintain throughout the research process(Saunders et al.,2003).Once a research idea was generated, in order to achieve author`s goals, objectives were established (Zikmund et al.,2010), which were amended a few times during the research process.

Secondary Data

In order to achieve the aims and objectives of this study, the author has chosen to use only secondary research data. Secondary data is defined as …….. Literature review is the initial step, in order to gain the knowledge required to set the dissertation objectives(Veal,1997).This allowed the author to review the existing literature and become more aware of the existing knowledge related to the research topic (Brotherton, 2008), and therefore identify a gap within then literature. Academic literature and journal articles have provided information about HRM practices and tourism seasonality

Primary Data
Justifications
Limitations
Summary

100 words max

This study aims at providing the reader with a deep understanding of the impact of seasonality on HRM. As mentioned aboveaˆ¦. The topic has been chosen as the author aˆ¦aˆ¦.

Chapter 2 Seasonality

In order to be able to analyse the impact of seasonality on HRM practices in resorts for front office employees, it is necessary to understand the phenomenon seasonality. Hence, this chapter will critically review and evaluate existing literature by firstly providing a definition of seasonality, proceeding then to its causes and finally the impact of its occurrence will be assessed.

Seasonality

Seasonality, a key characteristic of the tourism, is a major issue for the industry as it can place a great pressure on businesses in all aspects: social, financial and environmental. There is a variety of definitions of seasonality within the academic literature, depending on the context (Butler,1994, Baum,1999; Butler,2001, Bar-On,1975, Hartman,1986; Hinch and Jackson,2000; Mitchel and Hall,2003).Generally considered as a peaking of demand at different times of the year (Kennedy,1999; McEniff,1992;Krakover,2000; Moore,1989 in Baum and Hagen,1999; Jang,2004) and has a spatial component expressed in terms of number of visitors, employment and hotel occupancy rates(Butler and Mao, 1997). Baron(1973;1999) suggests that seasonality is concerned with as the effects occurring every year due to climate changes or national holidays, defined by Jolliffe and Farnsworth (2003:312) as “cyclical variations in tourism demand”.

The phenomenon is recognised as one of the most predominant and least understood features of tourism(Jolliffe and Farnsworth,2003) causing major problems to the tourism industry (Krakover,1999; Cooper et al.,2005;). It has been argued by Butler(1994) that seasonality can be measured in the number of visitors and employment, resulting fluctuation in demand and placing a great pressure on hotels located in peripheral resorts (Murphy,1997).

Before proceeding to the causes of seasonality, it is essential to be noted that in this paper seasonality is referred to the phenomena, which has stable and well-established seasonal patterns (Witt and Moutnho,1995).

Those hotels are usually located in the regional areas ……..

Causes of Seasonality

Seasonality occurs not only in tourism but also in a range of other sectors, and the causes of seasonality in general have been classified into three groups: weather, calendar effects and timing decisions(Hylleberg,1992 in Koenig and Bischoff,2005).Similarly the causes of seasonality in tourism have been categorised by various authors . Table xx presents a summary of the key authors and causes.

Causes of Seasonality
Authors
Causes

BarOn(1975)

Natural, Institutional, calendar, sociological and economic factors

Hartmann(1986)

Natural and Institutional factors

Butler(1994)

Natural and Institutional factors, social pressure, sporting events, inertia and tradition

Butler and Mao(1997)

Physical and socio/cultural factors in the tourism generating and receiving areas

Flechtling (1996)

Climate/whether, Social customs/holidays, business customs, calendar effects

Baum and Hagen (1999)

Climate/whether, Social customs/holidays, business customs, calendar effects and supply side constrains

Adapted from

It is generally established that seasonality can originate from two factors, “natural” (physical) and “institutional”(social and cultural) (BarOn, 1975) involving both the origin and destination region(Butler and Mao,1997). There is a high level of interdependence between the two (Baum and Lundtorp, 1999; Hartmann, 1986),shown in figure xx below. Natural seasonality is the result of cyclical climatic variations such as rainfall, temperature and snowfall (Baum and Lundtorp, 1999; Butler and Mao, 1997). As every country has different climatic patterns (BarOn,1975) some European coastal resorts located on the Mediterranean have higher demand in the summer compared to resorts in Alps where winter is the high season (Shaw and Willams,1998; Andriotios,2005).These causes affect businesses every year in the same way ,yet there are some differences over the years as whether cannot be precisely predicted (BarOn,1975)

Institutional seasonality, on the other hand, is the result of consumer decisions based on cultural, social and/or religious factors and therefore less predictable than natural (Butler, 1994 in Baum and Lundtorp,1999, Hingham and Hinch,2002).School and public holidays such as Christmas and Easter are playing an essential role in the volume of tourism demand as people have the time to go on holiday during those periods (BarOn,1975).

In addition to the generally recognised natural and institutional factors of seasonality, Butler (1994) identifies other three causes: social pressure, sporting events, one of the newest form, and inertia or tradition. Inertia is a factor related to the tendency of people to take holidays at certain time of the year besides the fact that it is no longer necessary, for example after children have left school (Butler,1994).However, Hingham and Hinch (2002) imply that social pressure and sporting causes can be classified into “institutional” category .On the other side, Hinch and Jackson (2000) argue that “inertia” cannot be classified as a cause of seasonal demand. The identified causes of seasonality by Butler overlap to great extend with the work of Frechtling (1996), who identifies four main causes of seasonality in tourism demand, extended to five by Baum and Hagen (1997) and displayed in Table xx.

Based on the findings of the key authors and taking into consideration the spatial component of seasonality (Butler and Mao,1997),Lundtorp et al.,(1999) classified all the causes into pull and push factors shown in diagram xx

Source: Based on Baum(1997), Frechtling(1996), Butler(1994),Butler and Mao(1997)

This dissertation will be focused on the seasonality caused by natural factors, which are predictable and recur relatively at the same time of the year.The climate in the receiving area will be the pull factor of seasonality.

Based on the variations in the demand, seasonality is presented in three different patterns identified as single peak, most of the summer destinations in Europe(e.i. Mediterranean destinations); two-peak, often evident in mountain resorts, for example in the Alps, where there are two seasons-summer and winter; and non-peak seasonality mostly happening in urban areas(e.i. London, Paris) (Butler and Mao,1997). Despite the fact of knowing the patterns of seasonality as well as the origins, the phenomenon is still seen as a complicated feature of tourism (Butler,1994), as the factors influencing seasonality are highly interrelated in both origin and destination regions(Butler and Mao,1997), which brings a number of issues for management of businesses located in peripheral areas, such as resort hotels.

The difference in demand generates seasonal variations such as peak, shoulder and off-peak season (Kennedy,1999). MORE

Impact of Seasonality

Much of the literature on seasonality recognises that the phenomenon can have significant impacts on hospitality businesses and it is often viewed as a challenge (Jolliffe and Farnsworth,2003) .Taking into consideration the identified causes of seasonality above , it has become clear that the causes are often unmanageable by any hospitality business, although this is not always the case (Butler,2001;Witt and Moutinho,1995).The impact of seasonality can vary significantly based on the location of the hotel (Baum and Hagen,1999).

negative impacts

Seen as a major problem by most authors in the tourism sector, seasonality is often perceived as bringing a number of disadvantages to the business itself as well as to the public and region, in relation to employment, costs and facilities and recently raised environmental aspects (Buler,1994; Hartmann,1986 ; Witt and Moutinho,1995).

From an economic point of view, seasonality can defer any investments into the business due to the short duration of high season and the instability of return on income (Commons and Page,2001; Goulding et al., 2004; Jang,2004;). Furthermore, there is a high risk of under- and over- utilisation of resources. It is essential to mention that there is a need to cover annual fixed costs throughout the high-season and generate profits in a limited time (Adler and Adler,2003;Duval,2004), which requires a good quality cash flow management(Cooper et al.,2005; Commons and Page,2001).As a result, businesses are forced to increase prices during peak seasons (Commons and Page,2001) and reduce rates in shoulder periods to attract customers(Koenig and Bischoff,2005). This is particularly affecting small businesses, for which seasonal closures would be the most cost-effective solution(Getz and Nillson,2004).

Another serious problem of seasonality is the effect on employment (Ball,1989; Krakover,2000). Seasonality creates seasonal employment, underemployment and unemployment (Jolliffe and Farnsworth,2003). The irregular variations in the demand, creates pattern of employing people on a seasonal basis, which leads to a repeatable cost of recruitment and training (Cooper et al., 2005). The high recruitment costs caused by seasonality (Mourdoukoutas,1988,Krakover,2000) leads to reduction in remuneration packages(Commons and Page; Goulding et al.,2004). In addition, the effects of seasonality upon employment in the tourism industry have been further explored and it is argued that employees lack sufficient training and career opportunities as well as commitment (Jang,2004; Krakover,2000), which leads to problems in quality service(Shaw and William,1997; Baum and Lundtorp,2001).

An additional area impacted by seasonality, environmental protection and safety, has been investigated by Witt and Moutinho(1995). The variations in demand can harm the local environment by creating high level of air pollution, noise and increased possibility of crime and terrorism due to overcrowding (Butler,2001;Jang,2004).It is also discussed in the literature that the high demand at certain times of the year puts a pressure on transport system, heavy traffic and exhaustion of the infrastructure(Commons and Page,2001;Ashworth and Thomas,1999).

positive effects

Undoubtedly, the literature provides an impression that seasonality in tourism is a major difficulty, seen as a “‘problem’ to be ‘tackled’ at a policy, marketing and operational level”(Baum and Lundtorp,2001,p.2). However, some authors have noted that besides the limited research on the advantages of seasonality to destination areas, there are certain benefits of the pattern (Butler,1994).One area of emphasis is the environmental side, as only the off-season allows the environmental pressure to be reduced (Nilsson and Getz,2004) and resource to be recovered(Witt and Moutinho,1995).Further benefits are recognised in relation to employment(Krakover,2000; Commons and Page,2001).The seasonal demand provides a need for casual and part-time work allowing locals to earn some extra income(Krakover,2000).

The local community can consider seasonality in a positive manner (Lundtropt et al., 1999) as low-demand seasons provide residents with time to rest (Goulding et al.,2004) and this is essential for small “family businesses” where owners` contribution is high (Nilsson and Getz,2004).In addition, the pressure from over-crowding in the high season on transport system (Commons and Page,2001) is reduced, allowing time for reconstruction on the infrastructure if needed.

Seasonal work

Seasonal work is characterized as being short term (Lautsch, 2002) recurring on an annual basis depending on the demand and it will end usually at a specified time (Marshall,1999). Often seen as unskilled, highly pressured and underpaid (Lee-Ross,1999),seasonal work tends to attract less educated workers (Koenig and Bischoff,2005). The seasonal labour market in the tourism industry consist of high proportion of young workers (Joliffe and Farnsworth,2003;).According to Lee-Ross(1995 in Lee-Ross,1999) seasonal employees are often expected to work long “unsociable” hours.However, despite all the existing research on seasonal work there is still debate over the definitions and differences between contingent, temporary and non-standard employment(Ainsworth and Purss,2008).Those terms will be used interchangeably throughout this paper.

While seasonal work is precarious, it has been acknowledged the possibility of seasonal re-engagement (Ainsworth and Purss,2008).Besides the fact that contingent workers have been characterized as being less motivated, less reliable and less committed (De Gilder,2003), it is very realistic to assume that due to the cyclical nature of seasonality, employees might develop an implicit expectation towards the organisation(Ainsworth and Purss,2008)

The nature of seasonality creates unstable demand for hospitality and tourism services which makes the industry unattractive to potential employees (Pizam,1982 cited in Krakover,2000)

HR Implications

As noted earlier, hospitality and tourism employment is influenced by seasonality, supported by various authors in the academic literature (Ashworth and Thomas,1999;Flognfeld,2001; Krakover,2000).Jolliffe and Farnsworth(2003) argue that seasonality has a profound impact on the industry employment leading to high fluctuations. As a result high levels of short term employment and high level of off-season unemployment are evident (Baum,1999). Krakover(2000) looks at the adjustments of labour to variations in demand researching the trends in eight tourist centres in Israel .His study indicates that besides the fact of knowing the patterns of seasonality, hotel operators are still unable to match their recruitment and dismissal procedures to the demand.

The tourism industry as a general and in particular resorts depend on the seasonal employment as it is a prerequisite to deliver customer service (Ainsworth and Purss,2009).The high level of human involvement in the delivery of services places a great emphasis on the role of human recourses as through the right attitude of employees quality can be improved (Baum and Lockstone,2008).As the seasonality causes workforce instability, the pressure on the operational standards is greater, requiring sufficient training of employees(Baum,1995),often insufficient for seasonal workers(Baum,1999) and short in time (Krakover,2000).Furthermore, the greatest issue being recruiting (Adler and Adler,2003),seasonality is undesired by quality employees as they prefer year-round employment(Getz and Nilsson,2004).However, Adriotios(2005) argues that seasonality has created a seasonal balance in the employment in combination of jobs in tourism and agriculture based on his research of seasonality in the island of Crete.

It has to be noted that the success of HR practices in highly seasonal businesses is dependent on company`s business strategy. Jolliffe and Farnsworth (2003) suggest that some companies respond to seasonality by “embracing” it meaning that the business accepts the patterns of seasonality, whereas others “challenge” the seasonal nature of their sector trying to extend their season. Getz and Nisson (2003) identify similar strategies based on research in family businesses on the island of Bronholm, Denmark .Their study suggests that businesses can adopt either coping or combating strategies, where coping involves actions such as closing the business, while the latter approach is characterized by staying open all year round.

HR practices are based on the chosen strategy presented in table xx

Embrace seasonality HR practices Challenge seasonality

Focus on temporary workers

Recruitment and Selection

Focus on full-time core workers

Limited training on the job, brief introduction

Training and Development

Continual development and training, formal appraisal techniques

Source: Adapted from Jolliffe and Farnsworth,2003

Labour market features

The labour market in tourism industry is with limited skills and issues such as formal education and training are often evident in the sector(Baum,2008).In peripheral regions where hotels are highly influenced by seasonality, there are numerous challenges in terms of employing staff able to deliver service quality(Baum and Lundtorp,2000).The impact of seasonality on employment has been further investigated by Baum and Hagen(1999) in the environment of small islands.

There are several characteristics of the tourism labour market mainly related to the role of labour in the delivery of services summarized by Shaw and Williams(2002).One of the most common strategy in labour market is the one referring to the theoretical framework of Atkinson, who distinguished the workers between core and peripheral and seasonal workers belong to the latter group. The core workers are functionally flexible full time employees with job security and high salaries, willing to move between departments. The Peripheral workforce, on the other site, is a secondary labour often recruited on a part time, temporary or short-term contract as a response to increase in demand. This group is numerically flexible. The model of Atkinson, “flexible firm”, is strongly linked to the theoretical framework of Doeringer and Piore (1971 in Shaw and Williams,2002;Krakover,2000) of internal and external labour market.

Resort hotels in peripheral regions
The Concept of resorts

Resorts can be defined as “complexes providing a variety of recreations and social settings at one location” (Gunn, 1988, p.108) Similar to Destinations

Limited research has been carried out

Metelka (1990, p.46) defines destination resort as “generally a large property offering a wide variety of facilities, services and activities”. A resort hotel is the most common form of resort development, often located in areas with beautiful natural characteristics, such as mountains and beaches(Mill,2001).

For the purpose of this dissertation the term resort hotel will be used meaning….

The resort industry is characterized by seasonality causing fluctuations in the numbers of customers and guests expenditures (Adler and Adler,2003)

Seasonality creates several implications for the tourist destinations limiting the business demand and therefore profitability of hotels (Getz and Nillson,2004).

Europe , hospitality and tourism industry; current figures and trends

The Summer Resort hotels, the winter resort hotels

It is clear that seasonality causes

the degree of seasonality varies within the resorts, reflecting on the physical conditions (Butler and Mao,xxx) and depending on the form of seasonality (Appendix-forms of seasonality-one-peak;two-peak;non-peak)Examples.

It has been suggested that hotels in regional areas are greatly affected by seasonality compared to hotels in urban areas as the transportation links are better and the pool of potential talented employees if greater (Butler and Mao,1997)

The impact of seasonality (mcEniff,1992);

Baum(1999) points out that all aspects of the hospitality organisations are influenced including the finance and labour turnover.

Discussion of the implications of seasonality to human resource management in resort hotels in the literature is very limited, yet there are some evidences. Few authors, Baum and Conlin(1994) and Conlin and Baum(2003) have focused on the issues faced by tourism businesses in remote areas in terms of the impact of seasonality and the limited talent workforce within the local market, concentrating within the context of small island locations. Similarly, Baum and Hagen(1999) address the impact of seasonality on employment in peripheral, cold-water tourism regions, mainly but not only within the environment of small islands. The most comprehensive study on seasonality and the management of flexible workforce in resorts is by Adler and Adler(2003).They explore the employment of workers within a hotel in Hawaii, looking at the contingent workers employed in resort hotels as a solution to seasonality.

Peripheral regions

A peripheral, remote and insular areas have been defined as the one in a distance from urban regions, being hardly reachable to and from the markets (Brown and Hall,2000;Buhalis,1999).In this context, peripheral places are also characterized with certain qualities such as natural beauty such as beaches. Often if developed and not managed well, peripheral destinations suffer from overcrowd and environment pressure. Botterill et al.,(2000) research some of the key issues that surround the context of periphery in the Welsh tourism industry identifying key differences between core and peripheral areas. Seaside resorts are typically located in peripheral areas (Botterill,2000) attracting tourists with summer heat, sun and beaches (Bramwell,2006).However, whether influences the coastal resorts and restricts the length of season (Wanhill and Buhalis,1999). For example, Mediterranean seaside resorts in Greece have more than 70% of their tourists between May and October forcing hoteliers to close down for rest of the year(Buhalis,1999). However, there are number of businesses that stay open all year round, for example in Costa del Sol, Spain . Islands are considered as peripheral destinations and Konstantinos (2000 in Bramwell,2000) have analysed the island tourism in Greece suggesting that those destinations suffer from isolation and scarcity of sources supported further by Buhalis(1999).As the seasonality is strongly influencing such locations, businesses are faced with human resource challenges.

Chapter 3 Human Resource Management
HRM

Definition

HRM no clear definition; as a competitive advantage

HRM is it the same as Personal Management (Legge,2005;Worsfold,1999)

Differences in appendix (Guest,1987;Baum,1995, Storey 1990 and 1995 Lashley,).

Practices associated with HRM and how they differ (Enz and Siguaw,2000; Redman and Mathews,1998;Guest,1997 ; Viney and Tyson,1997 and Schneider,1994)

The problems of labour turnover (Torrington,2005)

(Keltner and Finegold,1996) no quality investment in training

HRM plays a key role in the service quality (Haynes ad Fryer,2000)

HRM in the hospitality and tourism industry
Recruitment and Selection
Training

Training as a form of human capital investment(Becker,1975 in Tuers and Hill,2002)

Chapter 4 Analysis and evaluation
Strategic HRM in seasonal employment

In recent years, it has been widely recognised the benefits for businesses when human resource policies are formed on the basis of the corporate strategy(Michie and Sheeten,2005). This is defined as Strategic human resource management (SHRM), enabling the firm to achieve its goals, by employing people who will provide the source of competitive advantage(Writhg and McMahan,1992 cited in Jollife and Farnsworth,2003).It covers all HR strategies in a firm and the way they impact on the performance(Boxall,Purcell and Wright,2007).

HRM practices (Jolliffe and Farnsworth,2003)

Recruitment and selection

Training

Internal and external labour market (Krakover,2000; Connell and Burgess,2002)

Temporary workers and core employees; similarities, differences(Koene,2005; Shaw and Williams,1994)

HR challenges

Using temp – the relationship(Burgess and Connel,2006); the commitment; motivation (Lundberg,Gudmundson,Andersson,2008; Ainsworth and Purss, 2009); service quality

Chapter 5 Conclusion and Recommendations

1000 words

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Introduction

Tourism, a very advance and complicated sector, is still very difficult to express. The tourism sector of any country can never be measured easily. Many countries which do not have much foreign goods exchange from their country rely on their tourism income. Even small countries like Singapore and Malaysia are having more than half of their income coming from tourism sector. These are those counties which are growing only because of their tourism income.

Impact of Tourism over the Economy of a Country

The overall economic growth of a country depends upon two things viz. foreign exchange and internal rising income. Among these two, the foreign exchange contributes to approximately 60% of the increase in revenue of the country. Tourism is a part of foreign exchange where the country earns from the incoming and outgoing tourists. It plays a vital role in economic growth of any country. In most of the countries tourism has become their main source of foreign income. A number of OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries contribute to about 65% of tourism activity. Countries like France, Germany and Australia comes under OECD member list. The WTO (World Tourism Organization) reports that about 700 million people traveled to a foreign country in 2000, spending over US$ 480 billion while on the tour. (UAE tourism, 2010)

Positive and Negative aspects of Tourism Income

Of course every market issue comes with a good point and a bad point. The positive point of tourism is that it helps in growing the economy of the country and it increases the value of the country in the world market. It also increases employment opportunities and improves the socio-cultural level of the local mass. The local products reach a good amount value and are commercialized over the world market. But the coin has two sides. The negative side of the coin i.e. the negative points of tourism includes spoiling of the historical and antique monuments of the country. It also contributes to the increase in terrorism. It can also lead to information leakage of the classified documents which can cause some country to easily ground them. No one can ever say to what extent tourism can lead a country to.

Adding to which, on increasing tourism there is a loss to the environmental aspects that is, it results in raising the consumption of ground, water and energy which ultimately leads to destruction of land and environment. The tourists knowingly or unknowingly spoil the cleanliness of some other place. There is an imbalance in the ecosystem and leads to species getting endangered. In the worst cases tourism can also add to an increase in the prostitution business (sexual tourism). Moreover the narcotics market is also flourishing through tourism. It has been observed that most of the youth are getting drugs from the outside mass coming to their country.

What attracts a tourist?

As far as the cultural issues are concerned tourism helps in advancing the cultural aspects of any country to the whole world. Most of the tourists going from one country to another are very much inspired from the cultural outlook of other country. Everyone needs a change, needs a place to go and chill, so they prefer travelling to other country and enjoying the essence of their culture and their way of living. So this is also a route through which the tourism sector can flourish.

Beside the cultural trait the thing that attracts a tourist to go and visit another country is their history. They say, ‘it is the history of a country that affects its future’, well this statement is completely right reflecting the reason why tourist want to visit some other country. People like to visit Egypt to see their historical Pyramids and their famous stories of Mummies. Similarly the seven wonders of the world are visited regularly by thousands of people from different parts of the world. Most of the time people visit other country just for leisure. (UAE tourism, 2010)

Race between countries over tourist income

Seeing the overwhelming tourist coming to a country, every country wants to increase their own share of tourism income and it is quite obvious. To attract more and more tourist, people includes different tourism packages just to increase their income. They are willing to cut down their own food just to give them their share of food and that too not in good sense but only to have better income. Special privileges are given to tourist like some of the specific tourist spots are given much attention by the government. This helps them to have a better show off on their income masses.

UAE, the most attractive tourist spot

The UAE has strengthened its position in the tourism sector by offering a wide range of leisure and sports activity. This is the main point of attraction in UAE. There is no question that UAE is one of the most attractive and most visited country in the whole world. Beside the economic income from the oil business the government does not completely rely on its income from it and it has led them to put more emphasis on making several multi-billion and huge projects in both public as well as private sectors. These have led to attract many tourists from different parts of the world.

According to a report from the WTTC (World Travel and Tourism Council) it is estimated that by the 2015 tourism in UAE would increase by about 7% from today’s data. On the increasing accounts of Dubai’s expensive projects this percentage can even go higher. These include projects such as the Palms in Dubai, Burj Khalifa, the Waterfront and the Marina.

Dubai has been known for its fabulous ethnicity and hospitality. It has been one of the most favorite places with respect to tourist invasion. It has become a worldwide travel and business destination. According to files Dubai has attracted over 5 million tourists from all over the world to visit its great architecture. A wide range of hotels and beach side resorts have made it comfortable for the tourist to stay in Dubai.

Conclusion

From the above discussion it can be concluded that tourism is a sector which has major impact on economy of any country. Factor of being a favorite tourist place can vary country to country. Dubai is one of the favorite tourist places. Tourism also associates some negative factors also. (UAE tourism, 2010)