Impacts Of Tourism Industry In Asia Pacific

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

Problem statement

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

Research objectives

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

Research question

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

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

-What is the cause of the impact?

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

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

Hypothesis statement

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

Theoretical and conceptual framework

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

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

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

View on tourism in Southeast Asia

Impacts of tourism in Southeast Asia

Impacts of tourism in Malaysia

Impacts of tourism in Burma

Impacts of tourism in Thailand

Impacts of tourism in Singapore

Significance of study

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

Scope and limitation

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

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

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

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

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

2.2 Impacts of tourism in Malaysia

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

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

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

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

2.3 Impacts of tourism in Singapore

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

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

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

2.4 Impacts of tourism in Thailand

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

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

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

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

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

2.5 Impacts of tourism in Burma

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

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

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

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

Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.1 Research Philosophy

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

3.2 Research method and research design

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

3.3 Sources of data

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

3.4 Secondary Research

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