Author: Andre Coleman

Section One: Identification of research area (10% 250 words) In this section you will be expected to identify an area of research. You must justify it as an area of research in your academic field; explain why it is topic of importance, why it is of interest and how it will help for the industry your subject area is located in.

Research question: Did the venues built for the Olympic Games in Beijing have a positive effect for china?

This research topic exemplifies an excellent business model for growth and change and an opportunity to exact best practice for a city in need of renovation, inspired by the International presence of the Olympic Games. It seeks to demonstrate the cause and effect of long-term change and sustainable development that can occur and the value placed upon often risk-taking investment by way of national necessity.

From a business perspective the research will focus on determining what the economic, social, political and technological implications have been for China in the light of their internationally profiled focus on making the city of Beijing a more environmentally stable location, having been rated one of the most predominantly polluted and energy and resource hungry cities in the world.

The Olympic Village itself contained a number of innovative technologies including a heat pump system, solar collectors, water saving devices, and rainwater collection.

Introducing the use of sewage water is likely to save tons of coal each year

The Olympic Village also contains a vacuum glass tube solar collection system installed on the buildings’ roofs which heats tap water. There are water collection tubes installed as part of the roof gardens on the buildings. The 2008 Headquarters Office has estimated that this solar heating system will save nearly 2,400 tons of coal per year. This building will now function as a kindergarten following the Games and the Olympic Village will serve as a residential area. The architecture was designed to save as much energy as possible, through, for instance, orienting the building to take in sunlight in winter, and an exterior sun shading system to cool the inner spaces in summer time.^[1]

Overall the environmental design and construction of these buildings and surrounding carbon neutral woods, parks and greenbelt areas paved the way for the implementation of new systems that impacted on air quality, energy use, transportation, water, forests and toxics and waste across the city which has influenced the way in which China as one of the most rapidly developing nations in the World is now appreciating its responsibilities to exact environmental standards universally. Beijing now provides an example of China’s commitment to expand in an environmentally cautious way.

Section Two: Setting your research aim(s) and objectives (15%) State your research questions, develop a research aim and set your objectives.

The hypotheses for this research will aim to answer the question as to whether the building and environmental measures adopted that took place in Beijing for the benefit of the Olympic Games has impacted at all significantly on the wider future appreciation by China to adapt its buildings, resource usage and the subsequent way in which it will continue to conduct its business.

This will need to be achieved by presenting the changes that occurred in Beijing, prior, during and following the Olympic Games, to assess the environmental objectives that were woven into the design and implementation of all its new venues and landscapes. A comprehensive summary of the types of buildings and venues that were constructed for the benefit of the Olympic Games in Beijing will need to be provided. Once this has been established, the ways in which these environmental additions proved successful can be measured alongside their sustainability and productivity from a business and environmental perspective. An historical evaluation of the city before it became the chosen host of the games will need to take place in terms of investigating its original economic, political, environmental and technological situation and how this was viewed globally by other nations, as well as in relation to China itself. This will then build an understanding of the way in which the city functioned in comparison to how it now functions in 2008; whether any significant changes have occurred in its growth and fiscal situation. Consequently evidence to support how China has responded to the success of these buildings in relation to the way in which they have increased Beijing’s political, economic and social standing will need to be ascertained with regard to whether this has raised the profile of China generally around the world. Evidence of influence and genuine impact will need to be provided.

Section Three: Literature Review (25% 1000 words)

Identify the areas of secondary literature you need to be looking (The subject areas which will assist you (Think theoretical areas) Then you will need to give a precis of the main issues, indicating their relevance to your subject. Literature reviews should also raise issues and develop an argument in the literature if possible.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the fundamental rationale for determining the best way in which to build a framework to take forward a research paper tackling the subject of the effects of Leisure Tourism on a whole nation. Examples of literature will be illustrated through a variety of texts, journals and internet references in order to demonstrate the numerous academic theories and examples that can help shape a contextualised argument exploring a number of hypotheses.

The investigative approach for determining the question Did the venues built for the Olympic Games in Beijing have a positive effect for china? can be measured and rationalised by way of several hypothesis; What is the political, economic, technological and social background of Beijing prior to it being awarded host city to the 2008 Olympic Games? How does China function currently as one of the World’s most developing countries economically, what type and level of resources does it use in order to sustain its growth? What was the nature, design remit and approach to building in Beijing in relation to preparing for the Olympic Games and how was it influenced to apply an environmental approach – what physically was constructed and for what purposes? Has the city’s reconstruction made an impact on its environmental situation at all? How has this been communicated to the rest of the world and consequently raised the profile of China?

A number of sources relating to these questions can be utilised from journals, texts, reports and online material that will form the fundamental framework to this study and the dissertation will flow in accordance with these lines of reasoning.

In order to demonstrate the history of Beijing and its context within China there are a number of sources of material Growth Without Miracles: Readings on the Chinese Economy in the Era of Reform illustrates China’s economic reform during the second half of the twentieth century. How not just the living conditions of the Chinese population but through its economic transition from central planning to a market economy. The book is complied of thirty widely-cited articles by well known economists in the field of China studies.^[2] The Cambridge Handbook of Contemporary China by Colin Mackerras and Amanda Yorke emphasizes China’s openness to Western technology as well as its rejection of Western democratic ideals. This volume offers up-to-date information on all aspects of Chinese life since 1949, with particular emphasis on the 1980s. Maps and tabled statistics accompany the text relating to all areas of Chinese life. China in the Global Economy Environment, Water Resources and Agricultural Policies: Lessons from China and OECD Countries, by Nong ye bu informs the reader about China’s water resources which are extremely low, poorly distributed, and increasingly polluted and how China’s future development depends on initiatives that will raise the efficiency of how water is used.

More specific to Beijing many studies have been conducted over the years into the environmental affects of this busy expanding city. One example can be found in

Air pollution and daily mortality in residential areas of Beijing, China. Is a research paper which documents the relationship between air pollution and daily mortality in 1989 two residential areas in Beijing, China. ‘A highly significant association was found between [sulfur dioxide] and daily mortality….The association of [total suspended particulates] with total daily mortality was positive but not significant….In the cause-specific analysis, the strongest effects on mortality were consistently seen for respiratory diseases in both [summer and winter].’ ^[3]

The most modern analysis of the processes undertaken by Beijing in the run-up to the ensuing Olympic objectives for the city are highlighted in The Concrete Dragon: China‘s Urban Thomas J. Campanella discusses China’s great building boom that there were fewer than 200 cities in China in the late 1970s compared to the 700 odd today. The scale of China’s urban revolution is detailed, alongside its roaring economy and rapid urbanization elsewhere compared to the rest of the world. In relation to articles and journal citations this area of understanding is well documented. Most useful examples can be gained from examining Spectacular Beijing: The Conspicuous Construction of an Olympic Metropolis which presents a critical review of Beijing’s Olympic redevelopment, and of the social, economic, and political impacts of hosting ‘mega events’ as a means of urban image construction. How Beijing’s restructure played an important role in China’s transition to capitalism as the Olympics have helped concentrate economic and political power in the hands of a coalition of government leaders and private investors. ^[4]

(Broudehoux, 2007) With similar information to be accessed from New Beijing, Great Olympics: Beijing and its Unfolding Olympic Legacy by Ryan Ong and Olympiad Dreams of Urban Renaissance by Rob Imrie.

In terms of the most recent analysis carried out in relation to the impact of the games physically and financially, this is a well documented area of dialogue in the media and with scholars.

Estimating the Cost and Benefit of Hosting Olympic Games: What Can Beijing Expect from Its 2008 Games? Represents a forecast of what will ensue as a result of the impact on Beijing whilst anticipating ‘The potential for long term economic benefits from the Beijing Games will depend critically on how well Olympics related investments in venues and infrastructure can be incorporated into the overall economy in the years following the Games.’^[5](Owen, 2005)

For a more generic approach to this argument James Higham’s Sport as an Avenue of

Tourism Development: An Analysis of the Positive and Negative Impacts of

Sport Tourism looks at the positive economic repercussions for cities who host the Olympic Games.

As this is still quite a modern debate it is difficult to source a great deal of scholarly information that determines the subsequent impact to be had on China as a whole. Evidence for this is still emerging and it is suggested that news archives, economic reports and environmental reviews be explored in greater detail in order to address the outcomes of the question under discussion. Many have prophesized or forecast this debate but for factual information a most up to date study of observations being reported from China will be required to substantiate the debate.

Another helpful source can be utilized from documents associated with the Beijing Municipal Government and United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The most relevant of these being the UNEP report Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – An Environmental Review and the official Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games paper Beijing 2008: Environmental Protection, Innovation and Improvement, 2001-2006, Update Report.

Section Four: Research Methodology and Design (10% 500 words) Here you will need to focus on the types of methods you intend to use and why. Why for instance will you use one research method over another or why do you need to use more than one method? As a rule of thumb, think about

The problem being addressed in this dissertation is to attempt to demonstrate evidence that is both economic and environmental, not only to Beijing but in the broader context of China and how this has essentially been strengthened by the influences of leisure and tourism. It is necessary to conduct considerable research across a number of areas in order to reach the conclusions that will effectively answer the question.

Many dissertations of this nature require a definitive method of research in order to build a framework to take forward the means to answering the hypothesis.

For the purposes of this essay the way in which the methodology for developing this framework came about is primarily informed by the Literature Review. This type of secondary analysis helps clarify both the type of information available as well as the limitations of that material.

Burns’s An Introduction to Tourism and Anthropology demonstrates the fast-growing field of tourism studies. How anthropology is the window through which tourism dynamics should be analyzed and evaluated. ^[6] In terms of assessing the impact of tourism and how in the case of Beijing it acted as a catalyst for change as well as changing the world’s opinion of the region; this volume suggests an anthropological approach to research, in other words statistical data to explain the phenomena under discussion. Appreciating that this may be the best way of assessing an outcome with which to measure impact, Tourism and leisure research methods: data collection, analysis and interpretation provides the tools to recognise and produce good research through qualitative and quantitative research techniques focusing on reliability, validity and representativeness of data using SPSS for Windows and an SPSS data file to undertake statistical analysis, data management and data documentation. In terms of the business studies approach to solving this question, carrying out quantitative research which in the context of Social Sciences includes a wide range of examples and activities offers a solid foundation in research design, measurement, and statistics.’ ^[7]

Applying quantitative research to this study should help develop and create a model for the hypotheses and measure the connection between the data received from the Government and UN reports cited in the Literature Review alongside the empirical results fielded from any contrasting qualitative research that emerges from subsequent interviews, surveys or observations collated from relevant citizens of Beijing, China, officials connected with the construction programmes and the Construction and Environment department of the Beijing Organising Committee as well as analysing relevant documents and material.

With the emphasis on quantitative research methods this will largely involve planning, sampling, designing measurement instruments, choosing statistical tests, and interpreting the results ^[8]

In order to effectively analyse leisure and tourism within the business, management and environmental disciplines a number of factors will need to be taken into consideration including anthropology, the economics of China, the history of its growth exemplified by Beijing, human geography, the philosophy and sociology of the environment.

Fieldwork will need to be planned and conducted according to ethnographic methods including participant observation, interviewing, focus groups, and video/photographic work to capture and appreciate the changes occurring in China and the move towards an environmentally more astute philosophy. ^[9]

Section Five: Your reflection on the overall process (15% 200 words) Sum up your reflections on the whole research methods process, how you coped with it and how you will approach final year study. This can be in the first person (i.e. ‘I think this I think that.’).

This is a fairly challenging area of study which requires the collation of a number of different areas of research to be processed and analysed. In order to quantify and qualify data such as this from a fundamentally empirical approach it is imperative to categorize the subjects or ‘instruments’ in much greater detail. For example should the data be gathered from specific areas in order to provide a holistic approach to determining the question, if so should these reflect economic, social, political and technological affects and form the categories that make up the focus of the discussion points?

The need to establish a well thought out framework is crucial. It seems very clear from all of the complexities involved with assessing the impact of construction and technology for the purposes of staging the Olympic Games and how it can best be implemented requires further attention in terms of what is achievable and justifiable in this study. Primary research needs to be completed in order to establish the exact nature and challenges of existing opinions, observations and comparisons relating to the city of Beijing; compared to official government documentation, measured in relation to the overall accepted international objectives of China as a nation in its own right.

The different actors, cultures, structures and goals will vary, sometimes considerably between communities under scrutiny. A common vision relating to the objectives of Beijing and its country needs to be legitimised in order to argue whether this has directly influenced China in a beneficial way.

Depending on how this research is developed and taken forward in the future will influence the way in which data is recorded and the evidence presented.

References

Black, T.R. (1999). Doing Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences. London. Sage.

Blaxter, L et al. (1996). How to Research. Buckingham. OU Press.

Broudehoux, A Spectacular Beijing: The Conspicuous Construction Of An Olympic Metropolis, Journal of Urban Affairs, Volume 29 Issue 4

Brunt, P. (1997) Market Research in Travel and Tourism. Oxford. Butterworth – Heinemann.

Bryman, A and D. Cramer. (1997). Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS for Windows. London. Routledge.

Burns, P.M. (1999). An Introduction to Tourism and Anthropology. London. Routledge.

Campanella, T.J (2008) The Concrete Dragon: China’s Urban Revolution and What It Means for the World: Princeton Architectural Press

Clarke, M, M. Riley, et al. (1999) Research methods in hospitality, tourism and leisure. Thompson International.

Cook I and Crang M. (1996) Doing Ethnography. CATMOG. Norwich.

Garnaut, R, Huang, Y (2001)

Growth Without Miracles: Readings on the Chinese Economy in the Era of Reform: Oxford University Press

Higham, J (1999) Commentary — Sport as an Avenue of Tourism Development: An Analysis of the Positive and Negative Impacts of Sport Tourism, Current Issues in Tourism Vol. 2, No. 1

Imrie, R (2007) Olympiad Dreams of Urban Renaissance, Modern Language Assoc, Volume 122, Number 1

Mackerras, C, Yorke, A (1991)

The Cambridge Handbook of Contemporary China: Cambridge University Press

Nong ye bu (2006) China in the Global Economy Environment, Water Resources and Agricultural Policies: Lessons from China and OECD Countries: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Ong,R (2004) New Beijing, Great Olympics: Beijing and its Unfolding Olympic Legacy, Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs, Vol 4, no.2

Owen, J.G (2008) Estimating the Cost and Benefit of Hosting Olympic Games: What Can Beijing Expect from Its 2008 Games? The Industrial Geographer, vol 3, issue 1

Saunders, M.K. Lewis, P. Thornhill, A. (2006) Research Methods for Business Students, (4th ed), Harlow, Prentice Hall Publications.

UNEP (2008) Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: An Environmental Review

By United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Environment Programme

Published by UNEP/Earthprint, 2008. Available from http://www.unep.org/publications/eBooks/beijing-report/Default.aspx?bid=ID0EWBBG

Wu, F, Webber, K (2004) the rise of “foreign gated communities” in Beijing: between economic globalization and local institutions: Elsevier Ltd.

Xu, X, Gao, J, Dockery, D.W, Chen Y (1997) Air pollution and daily mortality in residential areas of Beijing, China. In: Research papers on interrelationship between population growth in developing countries and global environment, Volume II. Tokyo, Japan, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, 1997 Mar 3. : 321-

1

Environmental management and sustainable development is one of the most recent ecotourism trends. The term environmental management first surfaced in the 1980s describing the importance of organizations, populations, and communities to practice and handle their environmental impacts. Conservation of resources and sustainable developments are the key components to protecting and managing the environment, as well as addressing the effects of the tourism industry and other various sectors. Tourist areas such as Costa Rica, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and other various destinations are in desperate need of implementation of the ecotourism trend environmental management. All tourist destinations suffer from the lasting impacts of their visitors, continuous construction of infrastructures, deforestation and finally pollution affects. Government laws and regulations alongside with community, professional and personal concerns, when combined, may lead to significant improvements in environmental management.

The article, A methodology for creating greenways through multidisciplinary sustainable landscape planning, by Selma Beatriz Pena and other colleagues (2010), discusses a precise method in particular to greenways by sustaining tourism areas. “Greenways are networks of linear elements that are planned, designed and managed for multiple purposes, including ecological, recreational, cultural, aesthetic or other purposes compatible with the concept of sustainable land use” (p.971). By using landscapes in a cultural and natural process that does not have detrimental environmental effects, interpretation, knowledge and understanding is required for the sustainment of tourism areas. Landscape is a complex concept and system that is the result of the combination of natural and human force factors. The cultural and natural elements were incorporated through an ecological structure that is the product of natural and fundamental systems. “The comprehension of environmental sensitivity can give way to sustainable development by supporting decisions regarding interventions from ecological, economic and social perspectives.” (p. 971) By the positive and helpful use of landscape alongside with steady use, the management of the environment will continue to become known and more effective.

The discussed methodology envelops three phases of criteria including eco-cultural analysis, synthesis and diagnosis, and the proposal. The approach consists of landscape structures and dynamics consisting of biophysical, dynamic, vegetation and other various cultural characteristics. The eco-cultural analysis was used by searching and gathering valid information collected solely from field data and cartography. “The study of habitats is critical to acquire knowledge of the territory and sustain the foreseeable correct management measures.” (p. 978) Many other analyses such as the biophysical component, geomorphologic dynamics, the vegetation analysis, cultural landscape, and the cultural and natural analysis, compiled together the information needed to make a successful proposal in identifying the necessary steps towards environmental management and the sustainment of landscapes. Preserving natural areas such as fields, meadows and forests leads to the sustainable maintenance of ecosystems and is the principle of managing the environment. “Once the priority actions and the management measures for habitats that ensure ecological equilibrium of landscape have been implemented, it is then possible to propose sustainable greenways.” (p. 980)

Article 2

The use of choice experiments in the analysis of tourist preferences for ecotourism development in Costa Rica, Robert R. Hearne (2002) explains, “During the past decade Costa Rica has successfully promoted its tourist industryaˆ¦” (p. 154). Hearne also addresses the dynamic aspects and advances of sustainable infrastructures and their extreme efforts towards protecting their natural areas via nature-based tourism. Nature-based tourism is used “to promote the dual goals of nature conservation and income generation.” (p.153) To further make an environmental management impact, Costa Rica must combine within the tourists an appreciation for the nature, sustainable infrastructures, specified and defined restrictions, as well as the acknowledgement of national parks and protected areas. An increase of tourists in any area immediately generates revenue, a positive effect. While “tourist dollars can generate income for local populations and contribute to the financial self-sufficiency of protected areas” (p. 153), they also propose harmful possibilities on the environment including leaving their imprints on the land, loss of resources and creating a large volume of pollution.

Chosen experiments appear as means to evaluate the impacts on the Braulio Carrilo National Park due to a major increase of tourist visitations in the area. The experiments and tests are a comprehensive and accumulative evaluation that analyzes “direct links with economic theory of derived utility that consumers’ utilities are defined over a bundle of attributes or characteristics of a purchased good or service.” (p. 156) A large majority of the park aims its’ focus on the protection and conservation of wildlife habitats including pumas, jaguars, tapirs, quetzals, and eagles. Along with the variety of species, the park is located among five different climate zones. Therefore, an environmental management plan and experimental assessment is key to the preservation of the National Park and to inform the park rangers the essential needs of the area. “This study demonstrates that choice experiments are a feasible mechanism to analyze user preferences for the management of protected areas in developing countries.” (p. 161)

Article 3

The third article, Sustainable Strategies for the Brazilian Amazon Region: An Ecotourism Perspective, Raul Gouvea (2008) discusses the importance of implementing an ecotourism industry along the Amazon region due to the influx of tourists and the lack of sustainable development accommodations. The Brazilian government has become aware of the environmental dangers that may occur because of the growth in the tourism industry. Each year Brazil becomes a more known tourism destination with the continued expansion of hotels, theme parks and convention centers. With the developments of new infrastructures, the environment will suffer from deforestation and major disturbances among the wildlife animals and surrounding habitats. Taking action now and considering the needs of an ecotourism trend such as environmental management will ensure the sustainment of the country. “Ecotourism offers an avenue for translating sustainable development strategies into profits and a feasible alternative to finance the conservation of ecosystems.” (p. 89)

The Brazilian government has tried various perspectives of environmental management regulations since 1987. With the establishment of their ecotourism industry, the “protection and conservation of the visited areas, and efforts to generate benefits to the local communities as a way to promote the conservation of local habitats” (p.91), are their two main focuses on tackling this problem. Collectively, with their focuses, The Brazilian Tourism agency and the Ecotourism Poles Project and the Brazilian Ecotourism Institute, works towards a successful program of devising, identifying and promoting poles for ecotourism development. However, a major problem that Brazil faces is the lack of educated professionals appointing the ecotourism advances. The three corporations that are working so hard to develop and implement the ecotourism trend of environmental management are having a serious problem with acknowledging where to begin, finding the manpower needed for the necessary changes of infrastructures and difficulties with their communication and transportation efforts. The only answer towards lasting environmental management in Brazil is that “several steps need to be taken to establish a persuasive eco-mindset in the Amazon region. The creation of an ‘ecological triple-helix,’ bringing together the local private sector, local educational institutions and local and federal governmental agencies is of paramount importance to move the ecological agenda forward in the region.” (p. 93)

Article 4

Leida Mercado and James P. Lassoie, wrote the article, Assessing Tourist’s Preferences for Recreational and Environmental Management Programs Central to the Sustainable Development of a Tourism Area in the Dominican Republic (2002). Sustainable development, conservation of natural resources and preservation of the environment from the affects of the tourism industry was an important emphasis in the paper. “The link between market competitiveness and sustainable tourism is very reasonable, especially when the tourism industry depends on the uniqueness of environmental resources, as in the Dominican Republic.” (p.255) The tourism industry is known to be a major affliction in the goal towards and eco-friendly environment. The appropriate way to assess that problem is to first incorporate the specifications such as regulations and policies of a tourism area to sustainable developments. Also, to further help the ecotourism trend of environmental management, recognizing the interests in sustainable developments of tourists and other communities will help aid in creating awareness and add extra support to environmental management. This article first handedly reports “how important it is to elicit tourists’ preferences of programs central to the sustainable development of tourism areas since these preferences can drive managers’ development decisions in more sustainable directions.” (p. 253)

To further pinpoint the interests of tourists regarding where they like to vacation, a considerable amount of nearly two hundred people were interviewed. The importance of containing this information is because then the resort of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, as well as surrounding areas, will be aware which areas will need extra help in environmental management and sustainable developments. “The main factors that they considered when deciding where to go on a beach vacation were evaluated, as well as their preferences regarding four programs designed to improve recreational and environmental management of the area.” (p. 253) The tourists expressed their opinions in financial terms. Of the results that they gathered, certain preferences expected of the tourists where cleanliness of the ocean and beach areas, prestige of services, and the overall price when going on a vacation. Also, they responded particularly to two of the four sustainable development programs. The outdoor aquarium and the Water Management Program were the main interests of the interviewed tourists as they showed a substantial willingness to pay. “From the study of tourist preferences, it is possible to draw conclusions with implications for both sustainable tourism development and environmental policy.” (p. 265)

Article 5

The final article that showed the growing ecotourism trend of environmental management, A Conceptual Framework to Develop Long-Term Ecological Research and Management Objectives in the Wider Caribbean Region, (2004) was written by Victor H. Rivera-Monroy. Tourism is the main source of income for the Caribbean region. With the constant flows of tourists entering the region, it puts a lot of stress on the fragile ecosystems. The environment experiences signs of deprivation in most common areas such as the surrounding sea and watersheds. Tourists are also responsible for the damages they leave behind, the extra amounts of pollution in the area, the disruptiveness of wildlife habitats and the need of lodging accommodations. Because the Caribbean cannot do without tourists generating revenue, ecotourism is becoming a very well known trend because of the need for environmental management strategies and support for sustainable developments. A problem when assessing the development of the ecotourism trend is that “there are few, explicit, long-term, comprehensive studies describing the structure and function of Caribbean ecosystems.” (p. 843)

To address the problem of the fragile ecosystems, “a conceptual framework using environmental signature hypothesis of tropical coastal settings to develop a series of research questions for the reef-sea-grass-wetland seascape” (p.843) was created. A total of thirteen locations of different atmospheres and tolerance levels of environmental impacts from both natural situations and external ones were documented with the conceptual framework approach. “This approach follows the strategy developed by the Long Term Ecological Research program of the National Science Foundation to establish ecological research questions best studied over decades and large spatial areas.” (p. 843) The thirteen selections showcased different stages of tolerance from possible human impact of the ecosystems. The destruction of coral reefs were the main concern found in the research approaches. Effects of damages made to the coral reefs may be from “sedimentation, destructive fishing, poorly regulated mining and construction and anthropogenic nutrient inputs.” (p. 850) The causes that lead to the destruction of the coral reefs solely comes from the tourism industry. The Caribbean region constantly maintains accommodations for their visitors by participating in deforestation, infrastructures of hotels and other facilities, mining and the construction of the coast and beach areas. All in all, the Caribbean has successfully centered some main environmental damages made by tourists. The next step is to further implement the ecotourism trend of environmental management full force in the region to protect the natural areas.

Conclusion

The main reasons how tourism negatively affects the environmental management approaches is through the adjustments that ecosystems and wildlife areas have to modify because of the “human ecological footprints” of tourists, secondly, deforestation by construction of both general infrastructure and tourism related facilities, and finally pollution of noise, water, and air However, because of all the harmful contacts that tourism has with the environment, it does raise a lot of probable concerns to create awareness to the environmental management protection and conservation organizations.

Physical impacts on the environment primarily come from the construction of tourism and leisure related facilities such as roads, railroads, paths, airports, marinas, hotels and resorts, and stadiums for sporting events such as the Olympics, National Football League, and NASCAR. With the constant increase in demand for tourism and recreational service areas, deforestation is the main cause to the negative impacts in the environment. Land resources such as forests, fields, and the countryside are being used for building materials, accommodation of the land, and minerals and soils. With the decrease of natural regions, wetlands and wildlife is also experiencing the detrimental shocks.

In closing, all of the above articles discuss the important ecotourism trend of acquiring environmental management procedures and tactics. The common theme among the articles is acknowledging the positive and negative effects of tourism. A positive effect for the Costa Rica National Park was increased revenue that was essentially used to help protect their natural areas. Other positives include new methodologies and advanced approaches for protection and sustainable developments. However, despite the many positives, tourism also has negative impacts on specific areas resulting in the desperate need for new ecotourism trends which includes environmental management and sustainable developments.

Jim Corbett national park is one of the beautiful places for tourism. It is situated in Utterakhand state which was recently formed as a new state from the northern part of the Utter Pradesh (which is in India). This national park is exactly located at down part of Himalayas surrounded by districts of Nainital, Pauri, Garhwal, Almora and Bijnore. This park covered an area about 1300 sq.km which is included about 500sq.km of central parkt of the city and 800 sq.km of defence area. The central area is formed as a national park and the defence area is formed as Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary and reserve forest.

The parks have sub-Himalayan belt geographical and ecological characteristics. This nark will come under ECOTOURISM in which this park was formed by 488 different species of different plants and it also has dissimilar varieties of fauna. Due to increase of visitors and some other problem, this park has faced serious challenge for their ecological balance.

In the year of 1957 the park runs from side to side to the river. In the same year this park was again given name as a CORBETT NATIONAL PARK. Jim Corbett National Park after the carnival it have turned as a hunter environmentalist who was silent probably the residents area of man and animals, better than anyone else and he helped so much for setting up the boundaries of park. Almost all were based on his area.

In the year of 1970 after understanding sunrise upon the country loss of the Indian tiger is a definite risk and one more project was introduced at the forest rest house that is ‘Dhikala’ on April 1st 1973.There is no looking back for Corbett national park, there is well thought-out as one prime countrywide park of the country which is considered.

Jim Corbett show popular almost courage at countless shooting man in eater leopards and tigers. He followed a strictly a golden rule where he was refused to kill. Jim Corbett has man -eaters (1944) rudraprayag of leopard and the tiger of temple kumaon of man- eaters (1954).

However he perhaps fame to greatest claim for Jim Corbett lies on the Corbett National Park, It is one of the most tourist important destination of Indian.

Corbett national park is famed for its wealth and different species of its wildlife which is included with 50 species of mammals and more than 580 species of birds. This park is safety place for animals such as tigers, Indian elephants, wild dogs, leopard cats, indian pangolin and hog deer. This is placed in terai of Uttarakhand but now we can rarely seen outside of this park. This terai (moist land) place is formed by muddy jungle and grassland which is extended in between the foot hills of Himalayas and indian plaind

The Ram-ganga River is a basis of attractive to numerous winter traveller birds. A number of high heights above sea level birds also visit the Corbett national park at winter time. With height of Corbett national park range from 400 meters to 1,200 meters above sea level and there is a rich selection of environment. Almost 73% of the park is covered by thick moist deciduous forest with a majority of sal trees go together with haldu, pipal, rohini and mango trees. 10% of the core area is covered by a collection of grasslands in the valley

Jeep Safari and Elephant Safari are located in Jim Corbett national park. Jeep Safari and elephant safari is a place of collection of tigers, wild elephants and it is a good place for the visitors. The best way of viewing of this park is jeep and elephant back. This elephant safari will show the deep forest (natural forest view) and closer to the wildlife without scaring the animals away. Generally visitors can observe wildlife at Corbett national park contains the spotted deer, wild boars, sambar, barking deer, rhesus macaques, langur monkeys, peacocks and herds of wild elephants. Corbett national park in India is a heaven for birdwatchers, control over 580 different species of birds. On request visitors can also get hold of commonly found list of the birds and mammals in Corbett national park.

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HISTORY

Corbett national park is an old national park which is located on the Indian sub-continent which is establish in August 1936. In the beginning this park was called the Hailey national park after that government of utter Pradesh is named as Sir Malcolm Hailey. After independence this park was renamed the Ram-ganga national park. In 1957 this park was given name as Corbett national park in remembrance of the famous hunter and ecologist. At that time he has taken the responsible for mark out the park boundaries and he have helped in setting up the Corbett national park.

Dhikala in Corbett national park have the difference of being the scene. In 1974 for the launch of Project Tiger, India’s ambitious conservation program to save the tiger and its habitat. The creation of 9 tiger reserves, including Corbett national park, was announced. In 1972, India’s tiger population had fallen to an all time low of 1,800. A 1993 census suggests that India’s tiger population stands at 3,750.

Corbett national park in India is a important project, in which the rules of protection are to be securely followed by visitor, park workers and the Kumauni villagers (who live just outside the Corbett national park) and this made easy for the reason that is a park much-loved of all who visit. The hygienic river ramganga is the living source of the Corbett national park. The plants at Corbett national park is thick mixed deciduous with a wide selection of trees including the grand sal, and creepers, shrubs, bamboos and grasses.

It is a beautiful perfect park, the air full of tangy fragrances and expectation. This will come in with modesty, meaningful that you are in a celebrity else’s house. Corbett national park is a superb lesson in biodiversity. Morning smog over the river blue skies with idle clouds, bird songs speckled sunlight pointed perfume a crunch in the grass.

In the year of 1820 a Private property of local rulers before being taken over by the British Raj.

In the year of 1858 the British rulers have provided the protection to this park

In 1879 this forest is declared as a reserved forest.

In between 1900-1910 Jim Corbett leads shikar parties and kills two maneaters.

In 1910 Jim Corbett gives up killing as mere sport and becomes the saviour of the villagers, delivering them from maneaters.

In 1934 The Park is declared a National Park and Corbett helps name the boundaries.

1n 1957 after the death of Jim Corbett, the Park is renamed in honour of his memory.

In feb 1974 tiger project was introduced.

In the year of 1986 Corbett National Park celebrates its Golden Jubilee.

In the year of 1996 staff of this park Celebrated Diamond Jubilee of its existence as Corbett National Park.

At 9th November 2000 this park have became as a part of uttarakahand state.

In 2010 this project have became as a international project

Methodology

Due to the limited previous research on Jim Corbett national park in tourism, this study takes a tentative approach. The method selected is qualitative, in the form of questionnaire interviews. The in-depth interviews will be undertaken by the visitors of Jim Corbett national park.

There are number of techniques used in calculating the. I intend to use the short method proposed by Based on Zeithaml et al. (1988).

The information for measurement of the areas mentioned above will come from secondary data (Newspaper, Journals, and Media etc.).

Provenance

The data for this analysis will come from data of the INDIA tourism board, articles from newspapers, World Wide Web, journals and media. The researcher will draw on the following works to assist with these measurements.

Some books have published on Jim Corbett national park as mentioned below

Man-Eaters of Kumaon.

The Temple Tiger and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon.

Jungle Lore.

The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag.

What is Ecotourism?

Generally ecotourism means creating of little environmental impact probable and helping to sustain

Natural places encourage the defence of wildlife and habitats when the visitors are visiting this place. The responsibility of development of ecotourism is taken by the tourism and tourism development sectors, in which it will encourages the natural life of living aspects and it is also the key to sustainable ecological development.

Nowadays the “Green Laws” of preservation are making people aware of how man and the environment can live symbiotically for more time to come and ecotourism is the only way makes best use of the economic, environmental and social benefits of tourism.

Every person is stakeholder in this process and we clearly need to avoid our long-ago limitation and harmful impact that they cover.

Ecotourism of Jim Corbett national park

The main objective of ecotourism is to focus on the protection of wildlife and the reserve management.

In the year of 1993 ecotourism management have started training for staff which covers history of Jim Corbett National Park, visitor management and park naturalists.

In 1995 they have recruited more guides to reach the customers need and to do the good marketing. This project allowed the staff to guide the travelers about the activities of the management. After a long time the government of India have organized several workshops on ecotourism in Corbett national park in which to develop their surrounding regions. This park is remain protected my Garhwali region.

In the year of 1995 Riley have said that best chances of viewing of tigers is to come late in the dry season that is in between the months of April to mid of June and elephants can be seen in any day

In the year of 1997 tiwari and josh have said that in between the months of April – June this place is best for the Indian tourists and they have recommended in between the months of November – January for the foreign tourists.

In the year of 1991 this park have covered 3237 tourist vehicles which is carrying about 47,215 visitors during the tourism seasons between 15th November-15th June. The main concept of Jim Corbett National Park will show the natural ecotourism. Excessive trampling of soil due to tourist pressure has led to reduce of plant species and has also results in reducing of soil moisture.

Majority of visitors have used the wood as a fuel for cooking usually this fuel is obtained from nearby forests which is resulted great pressure on forest ecosystem of the park and visitors have got so many problems by making noise, littering.

In the year of 2007 young photographer Mr. Kahini Ghosh Mehta have taken a challenge for promoting healthy tourism about Corbett national park and he is the person who have made first time travel guide on Corbett.

The first film which is named wild saga of Corbett has provided the information about needed by a tourist before when they are planning to visit a park and they have collected the tips from the senior park official, nature guides and naturalists. At the present time visitors can get a DVD’s copy of this film from the bombay natural history society (BNHS)

Good Points about Corbett National Park

Good-looking place with rich range of wildlife, including tiger and elephant.

Jeep safari and Elephant safaris which will allow wildlife to be seen nearby and are great fun.

Fairly easy to journey to Corbett for the reason that of the morning and overnight train between Delhi and Ramnagar.

Bad Points about Corbett National Park

Extremely accepted by tourists, for that reason it was high demand for jeep safari and elephant safaris and frequently exceed availability.

Corbett Forest Rest House and Hotel in Corbett National Park are limited, advisable to make booking, before you go Corbett National Park.

Hypothesis

There are two kinds of hypothesis in this statement. One can directional hypothesis as in preservation of tigers is the most important aspect of Jim Corbett national park and the other can be non directional hypothesis as in there is a relationship between conservation of tigers and Jim Corbett park as a part of environmental tourism.

Objectives of the research:

The primary objective of this is to find out the advantages of carrying out project tiget in jim cabert national park as a part of environmental tourism. Flora and fauna are the best examples and known for their protection project of task on tiger project.

Some of the questions have been addressed

What are the major schemes undertaken for progress of the tiger reserve project?

How this Project Tiger help develop the tourism sector in Jim Corbett Park?

What are the government initiatives for the development of tourism in Jim Corbett Park?

This case study will also be presented to identify the benefits of tiger project for tourism relates activities

Techniques

Both qualitative and quantitative analysis will be used. For the quantitative analysis, descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, and percentages will be utilised. A questionnaire using the Liker scale will be used to measure attitudes.

Statistical data will be used to present the findings. Systematic collation and comparison of the various data from the different sources will be made. The researcher plans to use the semi-structured interview to obtain information about the attitude of the stakeholders. Jankowicz (2005) claim that the semi-structured interview is an effective research technique as it assist in reducing bias. A checklist based on a literature review will be formulated by the researcher to construct the questions for these interviews. Content analysis will be used to evaluate the information from those interviews.

Time Line

I started my MSc. International Tourism course in September 2008 and will finish by November 2009.

June 2009 – Tutorial (proposal discussion with tutor)

July 2009 – Literature Review

August 2009 – Construct research instruments (semi structured interview and questionnaire)

August 2009- Complete literature review, Pilot test instruments, Tutorial

September 2009 – Review and rewrite instruments

September 2009 – Analysis of findings, Archival research, Tutorial

October 2009 – Conduct interviews and administer questionnaire

October – 2009 Analyse data, Tutorial

November – Present final dissertation.

CONTENTS

Chapter One – Introduction

Background of the study

Importance of the study

Definition of terms

Conceptual Frame work

Chapter Two – Review of literature

Chapter Three – Methodology

Introduction to Research Methodology

Survey design and administration

Survey methods

Research limitations

Chapter Four – Data Analysis and Results

Introduction to Data Analysis and Results

Chapter Five – Discussion and Findings

Introduction to discussion

Discussion

Chapter Six Conclusion

Conclusions Introduction

Key issues emerged

Scope for further research and limitation

Bibliography

Appendices

Anticipated learning

After conclusion of the course I would like to go back residence and I like to assist the staff in Jim Corbett national park. I consider that this study will offer me with some of the necessary tools and knowledge that required making a valuable contribution to the future research conducted by the Hospitality Industry.

This assignment is basically based on eco-tourism. Ecotourism is a very fast growing sector in today’s travel industry. Also known as “green tourism,” ecotourism is when people use to travel to a destination and take place in observing and interacting with the environment, learning about the cultures and practices of local inhabitants while promoting their well being. I have put together various articles relating to ecotourism. These articles include a study that reveal what makes up ecotourism and how it is being developed. The second article I will to look over describes how business travel organizers are more often considering ecotourism when they scheduling their events.

Tourism is travelling for predominantly recreational or leisure purposes or the provision of services to support this leisure travel. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who “travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited”. Tourism has become a popular global leisure activity. In 2004, there were over 763 million international tourist arrivals.

Eco-tourism: Perhaps the most over-used and miss-used word in the travel industry. But what does it mean? The Ecotourism Society defines it as “responsible travel to natural areas which conserves the environment and improves the welfare of the local people”. A walk through the rainforest is not eco-tourism unless that particular walk somehow benefits that environment and the people who live there. A rafting trip is only eco-tourism if it raises awareness and funds to help protect the watershed. A loose interpretation of this definition allows many companies to promote them as something that they are not. If true eco-tourism is important to you, ask plenty of questions to determine if your trip will help “conserve and improve” the places you visit.

www.untamedpath.com/Ecotourism/what_is_ecotourism.html

Without getting too bogged down in theoretical definitions of tourism, tourist or the tourism industry it is very important to tell the differences between mass tourism and eco-tourism. Mass tourism should have the following characteristics:

A concentration on high volume sales with throughputs and turnarounds

The shifting of large groups of people ‘en masse’ to specific developed destination

Full utilization of packaged holiday components offered as a single product at an all inclusive price, often with a short term time period.

Development of large scale transport systems, infrastructure accommodation, supporting facilities and attractions within destinations, usually at a fast pace and often supply led.

Marketing approach is centred on the most hedonistic motives for travel, particularly the sun, sea and tourism products.

The key for mass tourism are high volume, large scale, fast pace, hedonistic motives. Eco-tourism, on the other hand, needs to have the following characteristics

Be a nature based experience

Be low impact and small scale

Promotes a conversation ethic

Provides support for local communities

Provides a learning opportunity

Helps to maintain the natural and cultural integrity of certain tourism areas

Utilises environmentally friendly techniques and technologies

Eco-tourism has missed in past fifteen years from a convenient buzzword to an international movement. It is an attempt to balance the economic development of tourism with the conservation and protection of natural areas and traditional cultures. It underpins the very concept of sustainable development through tourism

There are lots of benefits of ecotourism. If done right, there are lots more benefits of ecotourism than any disadvantage valuable considering. Sadly, the idea of ecotourism has been advertised and abused by many people, organizations, and countries to reap profits for themselves.

While there are lots of benefits of ecotourism to consider, we also need to consider the disadvantages of ecotourism. Most of the benefits of ecotourism cannot be corrected in our situation since the number of people taking beneficial of ecotourism is far larger than the number of people actually staying true to ecotourism and helping the environment.

We can do our part in helping the environment and saving our natural resources at home, in our backyard, in our community and of course, we can help by educating people. Don’t let the benefits of ecotourism make we be part of the scams and schemes that constitute the biggest problem in ecotourism.

Its aim is to create the viable and sustainable tourism opportunity, and limit the effect that all related movements will have on the environment, while improving the lives of the public living in the place. According to Ecotourism the concept accords of a number of core principles, including: Minimising industrial impact on the environment, building environmental and cultural awareness, empowering local communities, increasing awareness of the political and the environmental and social issues of the country concerned.

MAIN BODY

In its original way eco tourism is purely nature-based, the adverse impact of tourism on the local culture having been, temporarily, over looked. However, it quickly became clear that when they trying to create a new tomorrow for tourism, to focus on wildlife and natural environment unique, simply did not work. It was also smoothly clarified that in those countries where the local communities where actively indulged in the eco tourism decision-making process there was that they got much higher a success rate, especially in terms of profit. As a result, today’s eco tourism encloses the synergistic approach and I think Bulgaria is the best example where eco-tourism applies.

Brief Introduction of Bulgaria

Bulgaria, which was founded in 681 A.D., is the oldest state in Europe, but its roots reach far deeper into the past. In tombs adorned with frescoes and bas-reliefs in the Valley of the Kings, archaeologists continue to discover beautifully worked golden objects buried with Bulgaria’s Thracian forebears, some dating to 3000 B.C. Uncovering the countless burial mounds that dot central Bulgaria is a process started in earnest just a decade ago. In that short time, it has become clear that Bulgaria once was home to the world’s most sophisticated goldsmiths. The discoveries also have prompted local claims that it was here, in the shadow of the Balkan Mountains, that Europe’s first civilization was born.

Traversing Bulgaria’s mountain ranges, which are carpeted with ancient forests and carved by mineral-rich Rivers, you can see why the country’s sophisticated warrior-artists chose to settle in its fertile plains. Bulgaria is a fascinating country, with a temperate climate that is more southern European than eastern. It is this gentle climate, along with a sweeping, sandy beach bordering the Black Sea coastline that continues to attract new visitors, the vast majority of whom arrive in high summer.

Most of Bulgaria’s unique treasures lie hidden in the ancient tombs of the Valley of the Kings; in the mixture of Bulgarian Renaissance architecture and ancient Roman ruins lining the cobbled streets of Plovdiv; in the medieval university town of Veliko Tarnovo that rises precipitously from limestone cliffs above the winding Yantra River; and in the architectural museum towns snuggled deep in Bulgaria’s mountains. It is particularly the latter, their narrow cobbled lanes and alleys lined with 19th-century stone-and-timber homes, that define Bulgaria as an undiscovered gem.

www.frommers.com/destinations/bulgaria/3535010001.html#ixzz18l6bNScq

During the earlier phase of the project, work centred on developing systems to encourage sustainable natural resources conservation and management in and near Bulgarian protected areas, and by this management system to benefit local communities. As part of the protected area management application effort, the project applied a competitive group approach to destination development in some regions around two of Bulgaria’s largest parks – Rila and Central Balkan National Parks. Activities involve eco-enterprise development based on non-timber natural resources harvesting, ecotourism destination development by community ecotourism associations, and significant amounts of public guidelines and organizational development.

Sustainable tourism aims are addressed by the “triple bottom line” system that includes social well being, environmental protection and economic development. BCEG Project assistance give their hands in small, independent tourism providers and regional ecotourism associations to anatomise the national ecotourism market. Based on this activity, the Bulgarian ecotourism sector became more confident in its ability to cover a major portion of the European and other international areas.

Ecotourism Monitoring ideas were produced in conjunction with Bulgarian National Park and participating ecotourism communities. This “Guidebook” is used by communities to choose and analyse indicators related to the triple bottom-line of social, environmental and economic growth. The nation’s first protected region management ideas were developed and approved through the Government of Bulgaria and are being used to guide in-park and outside-park tourism growth and management programs for two national parks and a world heritage site – Rila Monastery’s Nature Park.

A National Ecotourism Strategy and Action ideas for Bulgaria was made and applied by three collaborating ministries under the Project, and presented to the President of the Republic of Bulgaria by the U.S. Ambassador in 2004. Twelve Regional Ecotourism Action ideas were created, and they contributed to the growth of a national ecotourism action ideas. A national ecotourism market survey was directed and used to aware product growth. Two ecotourism department were institutionalized near Rila and Central Balkans National Parks, and members were trained in hospitality skills, destination management, and membership development. many community ecotourism projects were made, and destination management ideas developed for two of these department.

Public awareness was increased by the production and distribution of a national parks multimedia CD, mass-media outlets, and conservation education materials. The project helped significantly to national pride in Bulgaria’s culture and hospitality. It has made a base for tourism diversification, motivated concrete local initiatives toward application of ecotourism activities, relates the complementary motives of cultural and nature tourism, made synergies among donors, and has institutionalized a replicable growth process.

The system of developing sustainable tourism strategies and application ideas has yielded many critical lessons: One is the need to clearly monitor and includes all key stakeholders in a strategic planning growth from the onset; it is important to build on present experience and perceptions, and to use these to build case studies materials for success. The ability to relate (at small scale) the activities of government, national authorities and local civil society was instrument to team-building and creating a common set of goals. Each understood they had an vital role to play in any successful ecotourism investment. In the absence of a “full” fruitful national policy, a partial national policy and many of political good will can do! Ecotourism in Bulgaria was able to capitalize on a changing national tourism development policy that, although centred on mass tourism, was open to form other forms of tourism market diversification. Advertising at national and local levels is not only important but critical to helping areas, government and even commercial banks, to better understand the opportunities for relating natural and historical resources to rural growth and economic growth activities. Those same information activities and centred campaigns are critical to the growth of a bottom-up system that is based on rapid, information sharing between stakeholders at regional level. Kamelia Georgieva, Bulgarian ecotourism important for the BCEG project, confirmed, “Sustainable tourism growth is about social and political engineering, as well as enterprise growth. Public awareness is critical to support this system.”

Long-term technical and commercial financing helped to governments, NGOs, and the private sectors are needed to implement the sustainable tourism system. Sustainable tourism growth and marketing to national and, more importantly, international areas is important to careful but concerted ecotourism growth. Foremost centred on domestic tourism markets in areas where citizens have a culture of holiday and growing real income will increase the local confidence needed to spread into the global market. International marketing and global market growth are good opportunities for public and private partnerships. There are no better “low hanging” circumstances for relating common ideas, and shared costs and revenues.

Protected regions and cultural landmarks must be saved from bad human impact related with distinct forms of tourism, including eco-tourism. When monitoring impacts and endorsing limits of acceptable use and change, they protected regions and cultural site managers must err on the side of conservation. The unsuccessful to do so can result in costly restoration agendas and the loss of culture and biodiversity. Therefore protected regions and site managers will work with others to: Develop a national process for the enjoyment and utilization of resources and sites that respects and sets boundary on use and change growth mechanisms that effectively endorse the management process. Analyzing threats to biodiversity and cultural and heritage sites and apply ways for mitigating those threats. Monitoring indicators and monitor changes in biodiversity and historical heritage. Implement official systems, standards and ways for the protection of natural resources (species, localities) and cultural and historical heritage sites in the areas of major conservation value, both inside and outside the protected region network. Growth and utilize special training agendas for training on assessment of desirable change, and increasing the skills of PA administrations, heritage regions managers, representatives of the private sector in the region of eco-tourism, departments and government.

There are a number of practical mechanisms growing in Bulgaria to help protected regions conservation and eco-tourism growth several have the capacity to financially benefit protected regions and eco-tourism entrepreneurs. Provisions to grow these mutually beneficial systems are still in their infancy and need to be further monitored and improved. There is a need to:

· Go on to monitor national legislation and reform it to allow fees to be collected from ecological activities to fund the conservation and maintenance of resources and sites of cultural heritage.

· Growth and legalize profitable financial systems that promote the initial goals of sustainable growth and nature conservation monitoring protected regions and eco-tourism financial systems models from other countries that employ the use of limited time redemption or commercial contracts

· Growth model shortens that serve to guide concession relationships, and endorsing their duration and operating systems

· Assign the profits made from these contracts to benefit the goals of nature conservation and local economic development

· Support the development of protected regions Fund to ensure continuing financial help for capital betterments and operating projects departments with a mechanism of protected regions in the country. The PAF would help capital investments, park development projects, cultural sites, and provide eco-tourism growth grants to communities that work in close proximity to protected regions.

· Assign central and municipal cultural funds, envisaged in the Law on Protection and growth of Culture, to help initiatives goals at conserving and using cultural heritage for eco-tourism.

Theories

Develop Clusters or Networks of Core Eco-tourism and Supply Chain Businesses at the International, National, Regional and Local Levels

Scattered eco-tourism activities in the country could profitable from the exchange of information and cost savings related with a national network of eco-tourism providers. The scale of such a network is difficult to measure at the existing time and should evolve from a model that represents the advantages to network subscribers. Eco-tourism groups or networks could start within key areas of the country, growing into a national system.

Improve the Entrepreneur Capacity of Businesses and Train Local Communities Providing Eco-tourism Services

Many local scommunities with good capacity for providing and benefiting from eco-tourism do not have enough skills and experience to offering eco-tourism products and services to their clients. At a certain stage, small, rural communities are able to measure the advantages of ecotourism as an income generation way and as a municipal growth tool, but they lack the important means and skills to monitoring success. Hence, these communities require small and micro business growth assistance to develop entrepreneurial potentials.

Expand Enter to Financing Mechanisms, Equity Investments and Other Funding Resources

Circumstances for investing in and financing eco-tourism in Bulgaria are relatively undeveloped. The scale and costs linked to most rural eco-tourism activities and services are not of a enough size to capture much commercial banking help. The scale and location of many of these business growth activities are varied, and represent no logistic and administrative advantage to a commercial bank if they were interested. However, investments in a large number of small-size projects in major target regions, rather than in large-scale individual projects, are needed to grow rural eco-tourism. Eco-tourism financing faces various challenges, and government agency help combined with (a) business planning and best management activities, and (b) financial facilitation and guarantee programs, may provide solutions. The following systems are seen as suitable for advancing eco-tourism models.

Facilitate the Development of Effective Small and Medium Eco-tourism Enterprises

Small and medium enterprises play a vital role in sustainable growth. SMEs support meeting sustainable growth goals by generating and keeping income and economic improvements closer to home. They are more flexible and readily tailored to offering tourists with extra care or customized services.

Implementation

Local government engagement and leadership is key to the development and promotion of eco-tourism development. Effective implementation of the NETS by local governments will require:

· An understanding and capacity to develop eco-tourism as part of local government planning and operations

· Establishing local mechanisms for ensuring public and private sector engagement in focused eco-tourism development

· Selecting and applying financial mechanisms to support eco-tourism development, such as national budget, matching grants, public-private sector joint ventures, and links to large-scale tourism development

· Developing and implementing by- laws

· Creating and applying incentives

· Developing and implementing a system of monitoring indicators of success and impact

A partnership between the Ministry of Regional Development and the National Association of Bulgarian Municipalities and the Foundation for Local Government Reform, the two national associations that address local government, will help to ensure that eco-tourism is a focus of local government and capacity building. Both the public sector and the national associations must agree to participate in completing the NETS. In doing so, they will build the capacity for their future role in its implementation.

CONCLUSION

Ecotourism is the future of tourism, but it will resolve the key issue of large-scale ecotourism. Depending on the time, there can be better ecological and economic benefits from large-scale ecotourism. There are already examples in Bulgaria where this is obvious. However, scale is a case-by-case decision. The fundamentals of ecotourism (given that it is taken as given it will be based on green productivity principles, in that it is nature-based, provides quality experiences, is enjoyable, and is profitable not only for the operators but the local community) do not change with a change in scale.

Ecotourism is a move to counter this. Its objective is too made viable and sustainable tourism opportunities, and limit the effect that all linked activities will have on the environment, while improving the standards of the local people living in the area. According to Ecotourism.org, the concept involves a number of core principles, including is minimising industrial effect on the environment, building environmental and cultural awareness, raising awareness of the political, and social issues of the country concerned, and make sure that the experience is good for all parties, including visitors and citizens.

The objective is to get sustainable and responsible tourism activities to the benefit of all and the detriment of none. One of the most essential factors in the success of any ecotourism program is knowledge. Those proposing the project should gain intimate knowledge of the location, the fauna, the flora and the communities living there. They should know how they effect on each other and how a change in one will affect the rest. They should understand the culture recognising the people relationship with the environment, and how they look the concepts such as land and water gathering materials for personal purposes.

Eco-tourism is in its philosophy, centred on cultures, wilderness adventures, personal development and learning new measures to live. It is defined as go to destinations where the flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the like minor attractions. Responsible eco-tourism involves programs that decreases the adverse impacts of traditional tourism on the natural environment, and improves the cultural integrity of local people.

Ecotourism may be described as Environmentally responsible travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas, in order to enjoy, study and appreciate nature and any accompanying cultural features that promote conservation, have a negative visitation impact and provide for substantial beneficial active socioeconomic involvement of local populations.In general, ecotourism is an insightful, mindful and participatory travel experience to natural and cultural environments, assisting the well-being of the local cultures and environments for future generations. At the same time ecotourism produces viable economic opportunities for the host areas. Originally, ecotourism was defined as purely nature based, forgetting the impact tourism had on the local villages and culture. However, it quickly became apparent that trying to create a new type of tourism, which only focused on wildlife and the environment, while excluding the local villages, simply did not work.T hose countries that involved the local communities in the ecotourism decision-making process had a much higher success rate in implementing profitable ecotourism. Consequently, most recent definitions of ecotourism now include a more synergistic approach, including the tourist, local villages and environment. People form the world are finding pleasure in going back to natural products and tastes as opposed to the artificial and the synthetic. Be it in food, fashion and interior decoration. It goes for the Nature tourism or Eco Tourism also. Whether it is the eco tourism drive launched by the green state of Kerala or promotion of Heritage Hotels by Rajasthan, all of these initiatives indicate toward the growing popularity for eco tourism in India.

There are certain guidelines ecotour operators and nature guides go by to develop and maintain a sustainable ecotourism business.

Provide money and other tangible support for developing parks’ services and managing natural resources. Support indigenous people/businesses by buying local goods and services
Link commercial tourism to local conservation programs.
Develop sustainable tourist facilities that minimize environmental damage.
Promote ecological research and rescue programs.
Arrange and promote meaningful contact between tourists and local people.
GUIDELINES FOR ECO-TOURISTS/TREKKERS.
Stay on trails:- Don’t wander into the brush the trails are there for a reason. Leaving the pathway, you might unknowingly disturb wildlife habitat, or endangered or threatened plant communities.
Reduce, reuse and recycle:- The same idea that works at home, work and school works when you’re in natural areas. Think of ways you can cut down on waste. For example, instead of taking all those plastic forks and paper plates when you go camping or picnicking, use items that you can wash and reuse.
Put waste where it belongs: in a trash can:- you don’t have much waste left, but what you do have should go in a trash can. Wherever there’s also a recyclables can, use it. And don’t leave food out for animals, like raccoons, to eat.
Learn about the flora and fauna of the area you’re visiting:- Your knowledge will lead to a greater appreciation and respect for what WILDLIFE PARKS hold. Learning about the world around us is fun, and it can be as easy as taking along a field guide.
Leave plants, animals, rocks, logs, etc. alone:- That flower may be the most unusual you’ve ever seen, and that little critter may look really cute, but they’re not there for you to pick or to pet. You’re in their home. Wild animals are wild, and they need their space. Give animals plenty of room when viewing them.
Try to visit parks in their off season, when possible:- You’ll not only avoid the crowds on your visit; you’ll make the in-season crowds in the natural areas that much smaller, reducing negative impact.
Support parks, forests and preserves:- As a visitor, your entrance fee helps pay to maintain and improve the area. But you also can become a park member or join the many “Friends Of” groups.
Be a good example for others; spread the word about responsible ecotourism:- When your family, friends and neighbors hear about your trips to natural areas, they might want to go, too. Point them to areas of special interest to you, and be sure to tell them these great tips!

The South African government, along with many other governments of developing nations, has recognized the potential economic benefits of tourism. These include job creation, inflow of foreign exchange, and increased gross domestic product (Kaplan 2004: 219). The country’s government has also made ecotourism a priority, updating infrastructure to support the industry (Van Amerom 2006: 115). If it does so with sustainability in mind, South Africa could use tourism to capitalize on the benefits of tourism and successfully boost their development in the long-term. My family and I got to experience South Africa’s growing ecotourism industry when we moved there six years ago. My memories of living and traveling there sparked my interest in tourism’s potential to reduce poverty. This paper will specifically focus on how South Africa could use the growing branch of ecotourism to increase employment and economic growth in some of the country’s poorest areas, which happen to be rich in ecotourism potential. South Africa has the power to use ecotourism in a way that benefits the country’s poor and simultaneously promotes environmental conservation to produce a sustainable profit-generating industry.

Before I examine how South Africa could use ecotourism as a means of development, it is important to recognize the massive increase in tourism that the nation and the continent have witnessed in the last ten years, especially since the dismantling of apartheid. The growth in tourism has been truly enormous and is demonstrated by UN World Tourism Organization’s statistics. According to the WTO (2010), the continent of Africa saw a total of 46 million international tourists in 2009 (8). 28.1 million of these tourists went to Sub-Saharan Africa, up from 6.4 million back in 1990 (WTO 2010: 4). This figure displays the significant growth that has occurred in the region in just nearly a decade. What is most critical is that, in the past ten years, Sub-Saharan Africa has seen an average 6.3% annual rate of increase in the number of tourists arriving in the region (WTO 2010: 4). This steady rate of growth in the area is promising for South Africa’s future and its potential to benefit from tourism and advance development. It is also important to note that South Africa is a major player in Africa’s tourism, capturing 15.4% of all of the 46 million international arrivals in 2009 (WTO 2010: 9). While is not known what percentage of tourists visiting South Africa are purely there as ecotourists, ecotourism is unquestionably a growing industry and has been credited for some of the growth of tourism on the African continent (Van Amerom 2006: 112). This is why I am going to critically examine how such tourism and ecotourism industry growth can help South Africa to develop.

The very nature of ecotourism makes it valuable to examine as a potential means of advancing development in South Africa. The South African government defines ecotourism as “environmentally and socially responsible travel to natural or near natural areas that promotes conservation, has low visitor impact and provides for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local people” (White Papers 1996 :Definitions). The fact that ecotourism is based in the environment, is supposed to be environmentally and culturally educational, and is environmentally sustainable (Ayotte 2009: 14) means that it can work in South Africa and for the country’s overall development. South Africa is a country that is “well predisposed to take advantage of ecotourism” (Van Amerom 2006: 115) because it has basic tourism infrastructure coupled with the fact that it is rich in history, culture and environmental treasures- all things that ecotourists seek to experience. These assets give South Africa an advantage over many other countries in the tourism industry, which gives it comparative advantage in the world tourism market. Furthermore, since ecotourism is nature and culture based, South Africans will be capable of and inclined to preserve these treasures that generate revenue. Ayotte points out that, because of its sustainability, ecotourism is an alternative to traditional resource dependent industries which deplete finite resources (2009:2). One such example is the mining industry, which not only depletes limited resources but has also experienced massive job losses (Binns and Nel 2002: 236). Unlike the mining industry, tourism can be sustainable, as in the case of a local community being inclined to want to preserve a certain traditional ceremony of theirs that tourists will pay to experience. Instead of losing this aspect of their culture in any way, they will have the chance to profit off of it and preserve it for future profit. Profits support development of these host communities, especially in poorer rural communities, which ecotourism has the potential to extend to. Again, South Africa is in a superior position to take advantage of ecotourists because of the resources it has. What is more, tourism promotion is considered an inexpensive way to promote economic growth (Binns and Nel 2002:236). These factors make ecotourism a good industry for long-term sustainable profit and sequentially long-term development.

Since the fall of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has been in a good position to take advantage of ecotourism for economic development. Since then, Western governments have been eager to provide support politically and economically for the country that it had previously held sanctions against for decades (Van Amerom 2006 :116). Such sanctions were certainly an economic hindrance to development in the country. The international community embraced South Africa after apartheid ended, and the country was allowed to host the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 as well as the Soccer World Cup in 2010. This international attention has boosted the marketing of tourism attractions (Van Amerom 2006: 116) The international attention that south Africa has received does not seem to be going anywhere. President Zuma recently boasted that he has already acquired ninety-five meetings and conferences between 2010 and 2016 (“Visas to promote tourism” 2011) for the country, which surely adds momentum to its positive international standing. The country is therefore in a position to take advantage of its good image and all of the attention it has gotten. With all of that being said, The West still holds a considerable amount of influence over tourism to the country. Unfavorable media coverage or travel advisories could affect the future of South Africa’s tourism industry negatively (Van Amerom 2006: 117). That is why South Africa should continue to pursue its positive international image and simultaneously work to promote ecotourism, a form of tourism that also has a positive image.

One development issue which South Africa faces that can be alleviated with ecotourism is unemployment. The number of unemployed plus those too discouraged to seek work is currently close to 30% (The Economist 2011: 54). That is why the South African government is presently focusing on creating jobs and reducing unemployment. President Jacob Zuma gave an address to the nation on February10th where he declared that he wants to boost tourism because “every sixteen tourists create one job” (“Visas to promote tourism” 2011). Regardless of how precise this statistic is, tourists do create jobs, and South Africa needs jobs. Therefore, the country should do all it can to promote tourism which alleviates joblessness and consequently promotes development. Kaplan elaborates that “in addition, tourism typically employs a high proportion of women” (Kaplan 2004: 219). Ecotourism as an industry that is capable of spreading around profits and benefits which promote development for more people.

Along with providing jobs for women, ecotourism is able to spread development benefits to the poorer rural areas of South Africa, making it a beneficial aid to country’s overall development. These communities often hold unique cultural traditions or are located near natural treasures that are appealing to ecotourists. Ecotourism would bring profit and thus development to rural regions of the country that are excluded from the economic benefits of mass tourism, for instance in Cape Town or Johannesburg. This is what makes ecotourism superior to mass tourism. Binns and Nel explain that “the government is anxious to ensure that the benefits [of tourism] are felt in all parts of the country” (2002: 236). Ecotourism can do this.

Binns and Nel highlight an example of a town called Still Bay, which experienced economic collapse after its fishing industry failed. The area consequently faced a disastrous 85% unemployment rate (2002: 240). The town desperately needed to diversify its economy and create jobs so they began to market themselves as a tourist destination, calling the town “The Bay of Sleeping Beauty” (Binns and Nel 2002: 241). The leaders of the community also coordinated to build the Jagersbosch Community Care Centre, which managed funds to promote development. “The Bay of Sleeping Beauty” tourism campaign was remarkably successful because the town is located along “The Garden Route”, an already popular tourism area. Still Bay was also blessed with incredible natural beauty as well as archaeological heritage sites, whale watching, and an annual town festival. All of these factors helped lower the unemployment rate to almost 0% (Binns and Nel 2002: 242). Binns and Nel examine this case study to prove what a success ecotourism can be for a community, even though it may not work 100% of the time. There are still many areas in South Africa which could benefit from ecotourism and experience a success story similar to Still Bay’s.

Ecotourism as a means of development has its criticisms but these can be alleviated with skills development. One such criticism is that “most companies involved in ecotourism have their headquarters in the north, and a large proportion of profits are repatriated” (Wall 1997: 488). While this is true, skills development can change this because it can promote entrepreneurship. Fortunately for South Africa, they have already established much of the “hardware” of the tourism industry such as the necessary airport and road infrastructure. Entrepreneurship gives people in marginalized communities a chance to create products and services which, in their sale, can benefit the whole community. For ecotourism to be truly successful at reducing unemployment and promoting development, South Africa must insure that it puts in place the industry’s “software” of a skilled local workforce (Kaplan 2004: 217).

The country urgently needs better skills development for local people, which will not only enhance its competitiveness in the tourism industry but is central to the country’s development as a whole (Kaplan 2004: 217). Skills development and thus the employment of local people will reduce leakage of profits to internationally hired employees. This is because now more and more local people can be hired, sometimes even at a lower cost. Kaplan also highlights the issue of inequality of who is employed in what positions in the tourism industry. Unfortunately, the more significant managerial roles are usually occupied by white males while black South Africans, particularly women, do the unskilled jobs (2004:222). This issue, which is largely rooted in the country’s ugly history of apartheid, can be alleviated with skills development initiatives. Ultimately, a lack of skills undermines the industry and will cripple its positive effect on development in the nation (Kaplan 2004: 225). Therefore, the South African government should invest as much into this “software” as much as is does in the “hardware” of the tourism industry to make it sustainable and beneficial to the country’s most underprivileged citizens.

One such criticism of ecotourism is that it is merely a marketing-gimmick that people buy into (Wall 1997: 487) and is therefore not superior to mass tourism and will not benefit development. While this would be unfortunate, I think that because one of the fundamental principles that ecotourism is rooted in cultural and environmental education, this cynical critique is sufficiently refuted. With the growth of the industry and as more and more people are exposed to and become educated about ecotourism, people will demand an honest and superior product in comparison to mass tourism. The south African government also has the ability to make sure that ecotourism doesn’t become a mere gimmick by enacting laws that restrict the usage of the term ecotourism in marketing unless it meets their definition laid out in The White Papers.

Another criticism or paradox of ecotourism that seems to discount it’s potential as a means of development is that countries who aggressively promote it actually run the risk of killing the industry because large influxes of tourists can easily damage the fragile environments they visit. Fortunately, the South African government can single-handedly prevent this from happening to South Africa’s special treasures. The government can impose caps and limits on the number of people who visit certain areas and what they are allowed to do in those areas. I know from personal experience that these types of restrictions exist in vulnerable environments in South Africa’s neighboring country, Botswana. Though caps and limits may seem to limit economic growth in the short term, they are critical for long-term benefits of the ecotourism industry. Fundamentally, the South African government has control over ecotourism and how it is carried out in the country. In order for it to be successful, they must help to insure that South Africa’s resources are not exploited to the point that they no longer exist.

As the statistics from the World Tourism Organization demonstrated at the beginning of my paper, tourism in Africa is growing rapidly. More and more people visit the continent each year, even through this current economic recession. But the fact that tourism is inevitable does not dispel all criticisms of it and it does not mean that people should not try to assess its effects. This fact actually makes tourism more important than ever to scrutinize and critique because the industry that has a large impact on economies around the world. We need to understand this force that is tourism and how it can be used as a force for good in development. This paper has argued that ecotourism is a superior form of tourism because it is sustainable, can stimulate the economies of sidelined communities by creating jobs, and can improve South Africa’s overall development situation. Ecotourism is an industry that South Africa can uniquely take advantage of. For these reasons, ecotourism is a critical industry to examine as a potential method of development. When paired with other development initiatives, ecotourism can be part of a comprehensive development plan for South Africa.

Ecotourism can be summed up as a “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people”.

More and more people have become conscious about the fact that environment needs to be protected. That’s why the concept of ecotourism has been received well by many. Ecotourism basically focuses on environmental conservation and sustainable development. Through eco tours one tries to save forests and bring a “win-win development strategy for undeveloped rural areas” to life.

The basics of eco tourism are same everywhere. The foremost of the rules are that the tourism advises to minimize impact, spread awareness about the environment and the harm caused to the it due to lack of cultural. The eco tourism spreads a sense of respect amongst all the people who undertake tours for environment. The basic idea behind conducting and promoting such tours is that it empowers each individual to take steps towards conserving the Mother Nature. For locals too, such steps are important to provide them with financial stability and provide them with livelihood.

In terms of eco tourism destinations in India, Kerala has gained a lot of momentum. It happens to be the greenest part of India, which until the recent times was unexplored by people and has now suddenly gained a lot of fame and popularity amongst travellers from all across the globe. Geographical topography of this place is so varied that the people all around the world come here just to be close to the nature. Kerala boasts of beautiful beaches, backwaters, beaches and the life giving sunshine.

The best thing is that the tourism department of Kerala is aware of Kerala’s potential as a tourist destination and its natural wealth as well. It has taken important steps towards maintaining ecological balance amongst people. The coconuts trees growing here and the paddy fields spread in acres and acres of land and the banana plantations fill up the mountain ranges with their green blanket.

To promote more eco tourism Kerala tourism has taken steps to organise tours and travels which broaden the horizons of people. There are several attractive packages designed to lure the visitors.

Kerala’s western zone is being projected as the eco tourism zone. It specially caters to the foreing tourist who are looking for an experience where they can enjoy wildlife, some nature, have the thrills of adventures like trekking all combined into one.

WIlflide sanctuaries like Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary, Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary, Periyar Tiger Reserve, Shenduruny Wildlife Sanctuary, Chimmini, Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Silent Valley National Park and Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary are some well known Eco-Tourism destinations in Kerala. There are other places like Bhoothathankettu, Komarakom, Nelliampathy, Munnar and Kuruva islands which are can be preferred for eco tours. The flora and fauna of Kerala is abundant and diverse. The landscapes are equipped with backwaters, paddy fields, hills and hamlets.

Kerala has a forest area of approximately 11,125 sq km, which makes up 28.90 % of the total land area. The western ghats is where all the forest area is located. Western Ghat is also one of the world’s 18 hotspots of bio diversity. Besides luxuriant and flimsy bionetwork of sultry rainforests, Kerala as well has some extraordinary eco-tourism destinations in the form of its thriving emerald backwaters, palm-fringed sea-shores, rambling tea and spice plantations on mount gradients and many national parks and wildlife sanctuaries heaving with remarkable assortment of wildlife.

While on an eco tour here, one can prefer a homestay which includes staying with local people. One can stay near the paddy fields or tea plantations and take regular hikes in these places. One also gets a chance to indulge in eating organically grown fruits and vegetables. The typical way of eating which on a banana leaf can be experienced if one decided to try out the home stays.

For eco tourists, Kerala has no dearth of activities. One should visit the place once and experience the beauty and tranquillity.

Undeniably, events are significant motivators of tourism and their impacts play a crucial part for destination competitiveness, especially when having to deal with unique planned events (Getz, 2008). It must be said that tourism is one of the most prosperous industries, which evolved especially over the last 50 years. It can be defined as a human activity that includes human behaviour, use of resources, communication with other people, economies and environments. It also includes physical movement of tourists to locations, which are not their permanent living houses (Bull, 1995). There are a lot of components of the tourism industry that can add to a country’s value and mega events are one of them. An exact explanation of the term mega event does not exist, however they can be defined as short-term tourism events of a large scale aiming to create new or even renew investment in host cities, thus projecting a positive image of the city (Greene, 2003).

Furthermore, mega events can be described as global events and the requirement for a specific city to host such an event is to bid to ‘win’ it (Getz, 2008). They are usually managed by national governments and international non-governmental institutions and can be classified as significant components in reports of cultural behaviour (Roche, 2000). There are a lot of aspects of impacts resulting from mega events and some of them can be economic, social, environmental, cultural and political. All these can emerge prior to the event, during the event or even after the event, and they can be either or both positive and negative impacts, operating both in the short-run and long-run, that will be beneficial to a tourism destination or act as a threat to it. Additionally, they can bring relatively positive economic effects as well as boost tourism from the time that the bid to host the event by a city has been won, until long time after the event (Williams and Shaw, 1998). The magnitude of these impacts depends mainly on the host city’s management methods, especially by the government, in its effort to impose successful strategies to strengthen the positive impacts, while trying to keep the negative impacts to a minimum. Hosts mostly expect to create strong legacies that will last a lifetime, and job creation, increase in tourism figures, improvements in infrastructure, rise in the level of GDP and increased demand for commodities are included in their main expectations. Investing in sports venues, various tourism services and improving transportation might trigger economic growth, higher employment levels and renewal of the host city (Sakai, 2006). They also consider mega events as projects that give them the chance to built up a superior reputation, validated by measuring the tangible benefits and deducting the tangible costs from them(Kearney, 2005).

It must be highlighted that mega events play a crucial role in promoting a tourism destination and the Olympic Games are one of the best examples of such events. Their history dates back to 776 B.C. in ancient Olympia Greece and during that short time of the event ‘sacred truce’ was taking place, wars were stopped, and roads were becoming toll free, exemplifying their importance (Holloway and Taylor, 2009). I will be using Olympic Games throughout my essay to demonstrate what such an event can bring to a destination and specifically analyse the economic impacts of the Olympics on tourism destinations.http://www.twip.org/photo/europe/greece/photo-5255-08-03-06-14-31-05.jpghttp://www.flutetunes.com/img/posts/olympic-truce-emblem.jpg

The Olympic Truce Emblem

The Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, Greece

A closer look will be taken to the case of Sydney Summer Olympic Games 2000, where the government used a unique until then strategy undertaken by a host with a free market economy. All of these were done in its effort to enhance the positive economic impacts and reduce the negative impacts. Its initial strategy was to attract as many as possible tourists to the event and induce them to travel in other places in Australia, thus enhancing its tourism industry. The second strategy was to generate strong bonds in order to increase its ability to create tourist business and the third strategy was to make Australia a more attractive destination where three types of visitors were of high importance. These were leisure tourists, business visitors and MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) visitors. It must be highlighted, that MICE visitors can bring the more money into a country while business visitors establish new business into the local economy and leisure visitors contribute towards the local economy by travelling around and using the local commodities. The returns from spending in business benefits were more tangible and persuasive resulting to greater planning in favour and in funding of economic effects by both federal and NSW governments as well as the Australian Tourist Commission (Cashman,2006).

It is important for each Olympic Games to create something new and leave a great legacy behind them. For the case of Australia the main legacy that authorities wanted to create, was more tourists visiting the country, not only during the event but especially after it (Chalip, 2000). A huge crowd is attracted by the Olympic Games which consist of groups of people such as spectators, media representatives, members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), sponsors and athletes. Through the extensive media coverage, a host city’s image may be reinforced or even altered affecting tourists’ image about the city (Hall, 1989) and an encouraging image of a host city might be a reason to attract both national and international tourists (McManus, 1999). About 1.6 million people were estimated to visit Australia between 1997-2004 by the Tourism Forecasting Council (Chalip, 2000) and all these tourists were expected to inject a huge amount of money for circulation into the host country’s economy in both short-run and long-run, where most of the money would be coming from television rights, ticket sales and general use of commodities. It was also predicted that 150,000 jobs would be created through the money spent by tourists and other visitors.

What is more is that people involved in the Olympics can later use their skills to enter the workforce if there are jobs places available to them, but all these depend upon the success of the event and if people’s skills are in a certain manner that can be used in the future without additional training cost needed to incur. There is evidence to prove that during Sydney 2000 Olympics US$3billion was generated in the local business sector (Kearney, 2005). It must be added that Australia was expected to gain AUS$6.5billion from the games during the period of 1994-2004.

The opportunity of attracting more tourists prior, during and post the event, like in the case of Barcelona Olympic Games 1992, where tourist figures increased a lot especially after hosting the Olympics and making it an established tourist resort, enables tour operators to create more and better holiday packages that can be offered to national and especially international potential visitors and thus improving their economic wellbeing, as well as bringing more money into the local economy. Added to these, the city government of Sydney in a combination with private investment invested a huge amount of money in their effort to expand the Sydney airport, improve the city’s roads and expand hotel room capacity by 25% (Chalip,2000). It can be deduced that these investments were aiming to attract more tourists, event visitors and business visitors contributing positively towards the local economy.http://www.mapsofworld.com/olympic-trivia/images/olympic-emblem/sydney2000.gifhttp://dvice.com/pics/sydney_stadium.jpg

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Stadium

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Logo

Moreover, Sydney had won 202 bids MICE by the end of 1999 and they included 251,280 delegates contributing AUS$919,649,010 to the Australian economy and thus increasing the level of its GDP. Also, sponsors use the Olympics to promote their brands thus improving their reputation while injecting money into the local economy. Most of the times the large amounts of money injected to the host country’s economy from foreign investment have impacts of millions of dollars and governments should use this money in the best way possible to benefit the economy. For example Visa spend over AUS$30million to include Sydney and pictures from the country into its advertisement campaign.

Of course there are huge costs involved in order for a country to host Olympic Games and sometimes countries plan ahead before even winning the bid to host such an event. The total investment in Australia represented 0.6% of its GDP, which was a large amount of money spent for a short-term event. Even though most expenses are covered by the government and domestic as well as foreign institutions, it is inevitable that taxpayer money would be needed in order to host a costly event like the Olympics and satisfying the standards required by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) (Matheson, 2006).Costs related to infrastructure, constructing stadiums and carrying out sports events are the biggest and although they are classified as costs some argue that they contribute positively towards the local economy such as by constructing stadiums jobs are created, lowering the unemployment levels, and stadiums can be used after the Olympics to host other sports or leisure events triggering some economic growth. In the case of Barcelona 1992 Olympics significant infrastructure improvements have taken place in just 8 years time, in order to be ready at the time of the event, whereas 50 years were normally needed for sea front, sewage, telecommunication improvements and new airport construction to take place. These changes have helped Barcelona to develop and look as a more attractive tourism destination. Also, in the case of Athens 2004 Games transportation improvements to roads, metro and trains helped towards making the city more contemporary (Kearney,2005). This aspect, infrastructure, add ups to the living standards of locals as well as making the city more accessible to future tourists since they will have the chance to use pleasing transportation methods. In Australia however, some venues had to go through maintenance in order to be able to host other types of events as well which required further costs than benefits to the Australian economy and also made the venues to loose from their original identity and history. An example of such an action is the Olympic Park 2000 which has been transformed in order to host sports events and several types of fairs. Similarly, the Olympic Stadium of Beijing 2008 Olympics has been transformed in order to be more profitable.

Ex-post studies have proven that there is not enough evidence that economic benefits arise from sports events to neither sports teams, nor facilities and according to Humphreys (2003, p.6) in US constructing new sports facilities failed to increase income per capita or total employment level (Owen, 2005). Even though a $5.1billion increase in NSW’s GDP resulted from the Olympics, where two fifths would go towards household income Sydney turned out to face expenses.

Added to these, the crowding out effect can be considered as a negative aspect of the Olympic Games that affects the local economy, including its GDP figures. The Australian government was worried that people and business would prefer other tourism and business locations and thus created the campaigns ‘Fun and Games’, ‘meet Australia’ and the ‘open for business’ campaign. Local people sometimes prefer to go away from their cities while events are taking place since they think that too much traffic is going to be present and it would be better for them to be away at that time thus lowering spending figures and injections of local people in the economy especially if they go on holidays to another destination. What is more is that, Olympic Games can attract more visitors to the event, like spectators of the games, people who want to explore the host country, and people who want to make business at the host city during that time but it can also prevent tourists from visiting the certain destination. This is due to the fact that a lot of people are going to be present at that period and they might prefer to visit if after the Olympic Games have finished, since they will have the chance to explore and enjoy more places when less people are going to be present. Sometimes these tourists never go to the country, making it loose money from the tourism industry. Additionally, hotel room prices during the Olympics tend to be higher than usual, with no major changes in their appearance and facilities that offer and reinforce the crowding out effect, this reducing spending coming from tourism, since usual customers tend to avoid visiting them during that time and reduce the net spending in the host city (Owen, 2005).

The process of planning and hosting the Olympics requires a high risk and local authorities should be careful since both short-run and long-run are important. Examples such as Montreal, which hosted the 1976 Summer Olympic Games and 30 years later the initial cost of US$1.5billion has not yet been recovered, show how adverse can mega events turn out to be for a country’s economy, since that debt has to be paid off and it cuts back from investment in other sectors of the economy, such as education, healthcare and creating new venues that would attract tourists, thus creating an opportunity cost. This debt in turn affects improvements that could be made, which affect negatively the tourism industry. Another example is Greece that was the host for 2004 Summer Olympic Games and is still facing a 6% budget deficit due to the games. Also, Greece is facing the problem that sports facilities cannot be permanently used and might have to shut down and lead to no benefits towards the local community (Kearney, 2005). Greece can be an example to future host countries to avoid constructing stadiums and facilities that will have no permanent use in the future as well as cannot recover their initial cost soon or even in the long-run and thus bring no financial benefits to the country.

An important outcome of money injected and continuously being circulating in economies is the multiplier effect, which estimates the impact of tourism on an economy through direct, indirect and induced spending but doesn’t show the income figures generated through tourism in each sector of the economy. It can create problems sometimes, since multipliers calculated using wrong methodology are of a too large scale. This arises mainly from the ignorance of opportunity costs and treatment of costs as benefits, as proven by ex-post studies mentioned before.

We have gone through the emerging impacts from mega events that affect a tourism destination but what will be the impacts on London 2012 Olympic Games which have not taken place yet? It must be noted that London is one of the most successful and established business centres and hosting the Olympics will bring even more business to operate in the UK economy.

Firstly, all the funding of the Olympic Games is done by both private and public organisations aiming the development of East London. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) generates most of its ?2billion budget from private sector and receives income from sales, commodities, sponsors and the IOC whereas the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) generates its income from the public sector. All the funding will be contributing positively towards building infrastructure and stadiums in the Olympic Park that can be used in the long-run for the UK community’s benefit. What is more, is that the Greater London Authority (GLA) works at its best attainable levels to bring benefits to the locals and gives ?925million to the ODA.

http://www.sightseeingtours.co.uk/london-tourist-uk/london-images/london-olympics-2012.jpghttp://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/images/2007/06/04/2012_logo_white_385x450.jpg

London 2012 Olympic Games Advertisement

Official London 2012 Olympic Games Logo

Furthermore, the London Development Agency (LDA), controls the sustainable economic growth and makes sure that locals will benefit as much as they can from the Olympics as well as it invests ?250million towards covering the infrastructure costs and ?220million towards cleaning the Park that is managed by the ODA. Another ?2.2billion are generated by the National Lottery Funds that contribute towards the construction of the Olympic facilities, that add up to the country’s value and create strong legacies that people can benefit from even in the long-run. The entire infrastructure such as the energy centre, new roads, new bridges and the pumping station will be brand new and aim to cover the needs of the locals even in the long-run again.

Since the London Olympics follow a sustainable pattern they aim to construct venues that will be used post the games as well as trying to use existing venues to make a better use of them and if venues are not going to be used after the Olympics they will be made temporary so that no unnecessary costs will incur like in previous Olympics hosts like Barcelona and Greece. The Olympic Village will be turned into homes after the Games and even more houses will be built as well as shops, cafes, restaurants to provide more services to the locals and thus creating more jobs. London has another solution to the problem of under qualified workers since it will offer job training to the locals (London 2012, 2010).

To conclude, I have explained the economic impact of mega events on tourism using mainly the example of Sydney 2000 Games and showed that it is of high importance that governments should take the most beneficial strategies while hosting such events, having in mind not only the short-run but the long-run effects of their policies. Sydney 2000 Games can act as a benchmark, since they were the first hosts to take that particular approach and emphasise on business and economic benefits leaving behind them strong legacies even though not all investment was done wisely.

Also, the example of London shows that previous patterns are being corrected and followed and the legacy left behind investments in infrastructure can be judged upon their success. However, it is argued that no Olympics have shown enough evidence that there are important impacts such as increases in household impact (Owen, 2005). Moreover, it would be fair to mention that social, cultural, political and environmental impacts play a crucial role on a tourism destination since by showing to tourists the legacies and unique cultures that mega events create as well as caring about the environment while carrying out such event attracts other categories of tourists as well as it creates a better place for people to visit.

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The tourism industry is considered one of the world largest, fastest growing industries on the global scale (Russo and Borg, 2002, Chen and Zan, 2009). It is an industry, which is the most important export industry compared to others. It is of immense dimensions and does support social developments and economic growth (Acharya, n.d.).

Different tourists have different interests and different dealings with the destination and its resource. The characteristics of visitors are also different, such as the lengths of stay, the level of their satisfaction and their psychographic characteristic such as age, sex, income profile, motivation, expectations, background and behaviour (Wall and Mathieson, 2006).

There are some highly developed countries that rely on the accumulation of their social and economic welfare on profits from tourism alone (Mirbabayez and Shagazatova, n.d.). Subsequently, these may bring about positive and negative social and economic impacts to a country. In this study, the author will be analysing the different impacts, the social and economic impacts of tourism on Hong Kong.

Some of the possible factors on the positive effects of tourism would be labour force displacement, where there is an increase of employment opportunity, more jobs created, for countries migration to tourism region. It can also result in a higher standard of living, improved planning, policy making for job creation and human resource management as part of tourism development. Having these positive effects, these will in turn bring negative effects such as splits in unity among existing and new residents and also having an increase in tax and inflation.

Regarding the sense of place, there are some positive changes, such as stimulating local tradition and culture, inspiring the local understanding and interest in history and culture, also having a sense of pride in local heritage (Acharya, n.d.).

The economic impacts can be split into two distinct types: direct impacts and indirect impacts. Direct impacts can be measured by the tourism expenditure of the country, in the case of Hong Kong, it occurs within the primary tourism sector, such as lodging, transportation and amusement parks. Indirect impacts will be those generated from economic activity of subsequent expenditure. Tourism’s economic impact provides a better understanding of the role and importance of tourism in a region’s economy (Stynes, n.d.). Therefore, it is an important factor in making marketing and management decisions.

The tourism industry is a major support pillar of the Hong Kong economy. It contributed a total of 3.4% to Hong Kong’s GDP in 2009. The government continues to develop a wide range of diversified tourist attractions through the years to enhance Hong Kong as a first class tourist destination. Some of the attractions consist of The Ocean Park, Hong Kong Disneyland and Ngong Ping 360 (Tourism Commission, 2010). Having these attractions, it will help to boost Hong Kong economy and help build upon their reputation.

In the first half of 2009, visitor arrivals to Hong Kong suffered from a 3.4% drop, may due to the global economic downturn and human swine influenza (H1N1). The table below shows Hong Kong’s tourism performance in 2009 compared to 2008.

2009
vs. 2008

Total Visitor Arrivals

29,590,654 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting

+0.3%

– Overnight visitors

16,926,067 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting

-2.3%

– Same-day visitors

12,664,587 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting

+3.9%

Average length of stay of overnight visitors

3.2 nights

-0.1 nights

Overnight visitor per capita spending

HK$5,770

+6.1%

Expenditure associated with inbound tourism

HK$162.9 billion

+3.2%

Average hotel occupancy rate

78%

-7% points

Average achieved hotel room rate

HK$1,023

-16.3%

Table 1.1 Hong Kong’s tourism performance in 2009 compared to 2008

Source: Hong Kong Tourism Board

Mainland Chinese tourists continued being the largest visitor group with 17.96 million arrivals, with that 59% or 10.59 million visitors came to Hong Kong under the Individual Visit Scheme (Tourism Commission, 2010). The scheme allows easier access for mainland Chinese visitors to Hong Kong unlike the past.

AIM

To analyse the social and economic impacts of tourism in Hong Kong

OBJECTIVES

To review literature on the general social and economic impact of tourism;

To compare and contrast the literature on the social and economic impacts of tourism in Hong Kong

To suggest recommendations to tourism industry and future research

SECONDARY METHODOLOGY

This study will be based on secondary literature. Sources are being obtained through mostly from recent academic research papers which are taken through relevant academic websites, such as Emerald, ESBCO, Science Direct, policy documents, consultancy reports, newspaper articles and textbooks which are related to social and economic impacts of tourism in general. With the help of past research papers, we can understand the use of different tourism models, for example Butler’s model and Doxey’s Irridex,

As the study is based on Hong Kong tourism, research will be based on the statistics and information provided by Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) and Tourist Commission of Hong Kong, as they have the most recent figures for reference.

Economic advantages of tourism in Poland.Once of the main economic advantages for the country from the sector of tourism is foreign exchange.

Money tourists spend while in Poland creates income the county can then use to invest or fuel the development and financial advancement of other economic sectors.

Before Poland joined the EU and the Euro became the official currency of all member countries. Poland accelerated its economic growth by using other currencies such as the German mark or the English pounds which tourists brought with them and were stronger against the local currency (zl). Now as it has the same currency as any other country in the Euro zone it no longer requires to accumulate foreign exchange to help transactions made with member countries.

Of course foreign exchange still remains an important indicator of international tourism even though there is no foreign exchange in Europe other countries such as America, Russia and China and it’s people are still ‘required’ to bring an amount of money from their own currency based on their length of stay.

As one of the top five export categories for 83% of the world’s countries and the main source of foreign exchange earnings for 38% them. Before joining the EU Poland belonged under both these categories.

Contribution to government revenues from tourism is separated into two categories.

The direct contributions which are generated from income taxes, tourism employment, businesses related with tourism such as travel agencies, public boats, marinas etc. and of course from direct taxes on the traveling tourists such as departure taxes.

The second category is the indirect contributions, generated from taxes and duties taxed and products and services supplied to the tourist for example accommodation and food.

Leaving Poland aside for a moment and viewing this on a worldwide scale the WTO had estimated in 1998 that direct and indirect tax contribution to economies around the globe surpassed 800 billion US $. This year (2010) the WTO estimates this figure to be double.

Employment generation

The rapid expansion of tourism in Poland the recent years lead to a significant increase in and creation of employment. For examples Hotels alone provide around #### jobs

Furthermore tourism generates jobs also directly through restaurants, means of transport, nightclubs, and travel agencies, souvenir sales and tourists attractions while it also generates jobs indirectly through the supply of goods and services sectors associated with tourism related businesses. In total tourism supports about 437,600 workers in Poland.

Stimulation of infrastructure investment

Since a nice country is an attractive country, tourism motivates the government to work on improving the infrastructure of destination sites which slowly spread throughout other parts of the country as well. Such improvements among others are better water systems, sewage and waste handling systems, roads, electricity, communication means and quality, transport networks and so on. These improvements of course do not only help attract tourism but benefit the life of the local population.

Contribution to local economies

The environment is a basic part of the assets used by the tourism industry and for that reason profit coming for the field of tourism is measured to measure the economic value of protected areas.

But local revenues are not always easy to qualify as tourism related ones that happens because not all of tourist expenses are formally registered. In Poland as in any country money is also earned through informal employment, for example from street vendors, informal guides or rickshaw drivers. The positive side of informal employment however is the fact that the money theses people earn returns to the local community as they engage their own transactions as they too have to live. This money gets a great multiplier effect as it is spent over and over again.

The multiplier however is not only attributed to the informal revenues any transaction between any tourist related business and the visitors or two or more business entities which purchase items or services one from another within the local economy. What has as a result the inflow of money to Poland’s economy from en exterior source and this money is subsequently spent again by its new owner in a different transaction and so on. In this way the market and the different sectors is fueled extra cash. For example, the tourist will take a taxi to go to his hotel, the taxi driver will then use that money to pay for a service to his car, the mechanic will use the money he gained to go to the super market, the super market will then order new stock and so on.

The multiplier is itself is split into 3 categories.

Direct expenditure, is when the tourist personally exchanges money for a good or service, in the hotel or at a restaurant or at a cinema etc. It is also related with tourism produced exports and with investments related to a tourism project in an area.
Indirect expenditure, is the transaction made subsequently to the one described above by the new owner of the money. For example when a hotelier pays for goods or services provided by the local area like ordering food supplies or taking extra staff.
Induced expenditure is the increased purchasing activity of locals due to the additional personal income resulting from the Direct expenditure of visitors. For example, the hotel employees use their wage bonuses or tips to buy something at the super market. Induced and Indirect expenditures are also called secondary expenditure.

Based on this the WTO assumes that tourism generates an indirect contribution the economy which equals to 100% of the direct tourism expenses.

Economic Disadvantages of tourism in Poland.
Leakage

The direct income from tourism oriented transactions is the amount of money that remains after subtracting taxes, profits and wages paid to sources outside of the area and imports are bought. These amounts removed from the overall amount are leakages.

Fire example in the all inclusive holiday packages more or less 80% of the tourist money goes to international companies which own airlines, tour operators, hotels etc. while the locals receive very little of that money. Additionally the remaining retained income can still leave Poland through subsequent leakage or transactions the locals do with informal or wandering vendors.

There are two main ways of how leakage can occur.

Import Leakage, happens when the visitors expect to find or demand standards of equipment, food or beverages Poland does not produce or can’t supply by itself. Champagne, feta cheese, bananas and natural gas are only some examples of industries or products Poland can’t produce for various reasons or it simply does not yet have a supplying industry. Furthermore a significant amount of the income made from tourism leaves Poland again to pay for these imports. The average import related leakage is assumed to be between 40 to 50% of gross tourism earnings for small economies and between 10 to 20% for more advanced countries. Poland’s leakage on imports is estimated to be 36%
Export leakage, international companies play a big role in this kind of leakage. Particularly in poor developing destinations they are the ones that have the required capital to invest on building of tourism infrastructure facilities and improvements. As a result the foreign investors who sponsored the construction of hotels and other facilities take their share from the tourism related revenue back to their own countries.

Enclave tourism

Takes place when the more developed countries try to control the tourism development in developing destinations or use that as an opportunity to increase their own incomes.

As the international companies intervene with tourism activities of les advanced countries, local businesses see their chances to earn money from tourists greatly reduced. This potential revenue decreases further with the creation of more and more All-inclusive hotels and vacation packages. Since if the visitor remains for his whole stay only in the hotel which offers him all he wants (food, drink and entertainment) local market has little ways to benefit from tourism. While all inclusive packages generate big revenue little of that reaches the local economy compared to other forma of accommodation. These types of establishments also import more trying to gain cheaper prices and employ less people than normal establishments.

Infrastructure costs

The development of tourism costs the government and Polish taxpayers great sums of money. In order to be able to attract and host more visitors the government proceeds to improve airports, make batter roads and improve other infrastructures as well. Foreign and even local developers in most cases request tax breakers or other financial advantages which are costly procedures for the government. The public resources with will be used to cover these financed infrastructure or tax breakers accordingly reduces Poland’s investment in other important areas like education or health.

Increase in prices

Growing demand for basic services and goods from tourists results in price increases which have a negative effect on local societies as their wages remain without an according raise. Developing tourism also creates a raise in real estate demand and this has as a result the increase of constructing costs and value of land. These growing prices and a static salary make life for locals hard.

Economic dependence of the local community on tourism

Diversification inside an economy is evidence of health, but when a country becomes dependant for its economic survival on a single industry, this puts great stress on the industry and the people involved with it as it has to perform well. There are many developing countries which due to little ability to explore or use other resources have focused entirely on tourism for the development of their economy. There are countries like the Maldives where 83% of local work depends on tourism; such over-reliance on tourism brings a lot of risks to an economy as the economic recession, changing tourism trends and natural disasters can have devastating results on the country.

Seasonal character of jobs

The problems included in the seasonal nature of tourism oriented work are mainly income insecurity as when the season is over the workers are fired and have no work until the next season. But even there is no guarantee he will get reemployed next year. It is also hard for the seasonal employees to get training, employment related medical benefits or recognition for their experience and in some cases the housing and working conditions they are offered are unsatisfactory.