Importance Of Urban Tourism
Man has been travelling around the length and breadth of the earth with various motives. The reason could be anything business, leisure or education it all falls under a broad categorisation of tourism. The technological developments and transformation of the world into a global community has resulted in extensive growth of tourism around the world in recent years.
Tourism has been the prime reason for the enhanced levels of intercultural contact. A look into touristic countries shows that their sociocultural structures have had great influence as a result of tourism. The changes be it positive or negative, differs from country to country. Changes result in reactions which could range from resistance to a complete adoption.
This piece of work would look into the social and cultural impacts of tourism with a case study on Bournemouth.
Chapter 2: Urban Tourism
Tourism plays a very strong part in the city’s local economy. Tourism not only supports the economy of a city but also is responsible for socio-culture impact on the people. Where tourism tries to build some employment opportunities, it also affects the social and cultural relations between people from different parts of the world.
Travelling to different parts of the world has always been an interest for everybody. This not only gives them an opportunity to explore new place but also a break from the usual day to day life. For some, travelling is for a business issue but for some it is for leisure. This evolved a new concept of tourism as an industry in the market. Though till 1980’s tourism was not considered to be a healthy part of the economy. But, in the last few decades, it gained importance. The people realize the potential of this market. Thus, the larger or the smaller cities were looked with a new perspective of promoting tourism. The redevelopment in the cities took place slowly and gradually and they became a part of the wide tourism industry.
‘As Edwards et al.,2008 D. Edwards, T. Griffin and B. Hayllar,
Urban tourism
research: developing an agenda, Annals of
Tourism
Research 35 (4) (2008), pp. 1032-1052. Article |
PDF (143 K) | View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus (0)Edwards et al. (2008: 1038) state,
tourism
is one among many social and economic forces in the
urban
environment. It encompasses an industry that manages and markets a variety of products and experiences to people who have a wide range of motivations, preferences and cultural perspectives and are involved in a dialectic engagement with the host community. The outcome of this engagement is a set of consequences for the tourist, the host community and the industry’. (Ashworth & Page, 2010)
‘McIntyre et al (2000) argue that humans perceive and react differently to natural versus
urban
settings. Scenes of natural environments have a more positive influence on human emotional states and stress levels than do
urban
scenes. Consequently they theorize that perceptions are integral to people’s motivations and actions; therefore using a perceptually based definition of
urban
can provide a link between the cultural, political, physical, perceptual and economic aspects that must be integrated into
urban tourism’. (Edwards, Griffin, & Hayllar, 2008)
Importance of Urban Tourism
Urban tourism is cosmopolitan in nature. But still it has received very small attention for its definition and a proper demarcation in the economy. . (Ashworth & Page, 2010, p. 40)
Because of tourists, various cities get acknowledged for their immense potential of absorbing the people from other parts of the world. . (Ashworth & Page, 2010, p. 40)
A tourist wants to explore the urban utilities of other places. But, the tourist visiting places have a very small portion of the urban facilities to entertain them with. (Ashworth & Page, 2010, p. 40)
Urban tourism bears an entirely different geographical pattern from the city in order to attract the tourist and this change in geography is one of the attention seeking factors. (Page & Hall, 2003)
The primary and secondary elements that are further discussed below support employment and provide jobs.
Urbanisation and Globalisation
Globally, 46% of the world’s population constitute urban people and it is estimated that by 2030 this percentage will increase to 61. Thus, it is very important for the urban people to understand that their place will be shared by the tourist. The world is getting small with globalization and thus the space needs to share with other people. Though, globalization emphasizes on two main factors:
Globalization gives employment opportunities
Globalization supports import and export that further increases the income opportunities.
Because of globalization, it is now evident that urban tourism and tourists from different part of the world enjoys the leisure experience that is specially built for them. (Page & Hall, 2003, pp. 29-30)
Urban Tourism as a business Strategy
By the 1970s the cities were losing a lot of economy and they were wondering as how to recover the loss and regenerate income from this sector and create some jobs. This was the main reason for inculcating new activities that could increase the regeneration process. Where the cities were witnessing this economic shift, tourism was one sector that was flourishing. This gave them a new approach of income generation. On the grounds of travel and leisure it was concluded that tourism industry was to grow and be a part of the economy. Tourism as an industry was taken optimistically by the urban crowd and was considered as a solution for a big financial crunch.
The tourism industry demands investment to attract visitors. Furthermore, marketing and selling of a picture of a city that would love to see and buy. To market the city, it is important to make some changes in the city. The refurbishment of the districts would bring the local residents more compact in the city.
The larger cities like London, New York etc. have always been a centre of attraction. People always desire to go for a tourist destination like this. But it is very hard to understand the psychology behind this. Generally, these elements can be broadly classified into two ways:
Primary elements like theatres, monuments, historical buildings, sports, games, casinos, and the social and cultural life.
Secondary elements like markets, shopping etc.
These two elements were discovered by Jansen-Verbeke in 1988
These two elements strike the mind of the visitor. At times, the visitor is only visiting the same place because of one interesting element or a mix of two or more. (Law, 1993, pp. 27-30)
Cultural Impact of Urban Tourism
Bournemouth witnesses millions of tourist every year from different parts of the world. Because of this high volume of tourist response from different cultures, the culture has a major impact on the local residents. It has both advantages and disadvantages.
The major advantage of culture tourism is the exchange of culture with different cultures of the world. It becomes a matter of pride for the local residents to exchange their culture with other people. They feel more strongly bounded to their originality.
The locals take cultural tourism in two positive ways:
Giving the host the opportunity to come in contact with other different cultures which further results in understanding others and rise in tolerance levels.
When the localities present their culture and tell about their culture in their own point of view, they feel more strongly bounded to their ethnic origin and their grounds from where they originally belong to.
Culture tourism affects the locals positively as well as in a negative way. Too much of anything is very bad. The same goes for the culture tourism. Just to attract tourist and to expose them to the host’s culture, they try to over develop the city, over construct the primary elements. Also, with this reconstruction, the originality of the culture becomes diluted. (Besculides, Lee, & McCormick, 2002)
Social impact of urban tourism
The rail network started in Bournemouth in the late 19th century. This was the main reason for increasing the population of the city and to increase the visitors at a phenomenal rate. With the travelling network in Bournemouth, the tourism industry started flourishing. Bournemouth was already famous for its primary elements and the history related to the same. Each and every element had a historical moment attached to it. The economy was coming in and was tangible enough to understand that Bournemouth has the potential to attract tourists. But, there was also a hidden side of the same point i.e. the social impacts. Where over development of the city has led to more of construction, heavy duty, increase taxes, etc on the one hand, it has also given them an opportunity to mingle up with other cultures. Where the travelling to the core of the city has become convenient for the countryside residents, it has also given them an employment opportunity in the same. (Haley, Snaith, & Miller, 2005)
Socio-Cultural Impact of urban Tourism
‘According to Fox(1977), cited in Mathieson and Wall(1982:133), The social and cultural impacts of tourism are the ways in which tourism is contributing to changes in value systems, individual behaviour, family relationships, collective lifestyles, safety levels, moral conduct, creative expressions, traditional ceremonies and community organisations’, which they identify as ‘people impacts’, due to tourists on host communities and the interaction between these two groups.’ (Page & Hall, 2003, p. 213)
So, from the above definition it is clear that the social cultural impacts of tourism depends on three main factors, namely
Tourist that demands for the services from the host city
Host that adjusts with the demands of the tourist and tries to leave an impression of their culture on the tourist and
A mutual understanding between the two so that both of them are comfortable with each other (Page & Hall, 2003, p. 213)
Economical impact of Urban tourism
For understanding the economical impact of urban tourism, it is very important to consider the following points
The flow of tourist in a particular city
The local economic development of the city
The type of economy that city persists like public, private or mix economy
The income spent on tourist leisure activities and not import of goods
It is said that tourist flow is seasonal. So, the impact of this and still trying to maintain the constant flow of tourist all year round.
The secondary elements that a city dwells to attract the other people from the world.
The above mentioned factors play a very important role in understanding the economical impact of urban tourism. To start with, the positive side it includes:
Income generation for the city economy
New jobs and employment opportunities
Fair balance between the economic activities and the city
Increasing business options
But, it also carries a negative side. It includes,
If the tourist attracts to one form of element only, the economy starts paying attention to that element and dependency on that element drastically increases.
Inflation
To make a tourist comfortable and make their stay pleasurable, they start importing goods from others parts and their dependence and importance of their locally produced goods decreases.
Tourism is seasonal (Page & Hall, 2003, pp. 197-198)
Employment Opportunities due to tourism
As the reconstruction always take place in a city, it is very obvious that the jobs are created. ‘However, at a deeper level and in a more detailed way it is often difficult to assess the impact of tourism on a city. Firstly, it is often difficult to measure the flow of tourists, even when a definition has been agreed. Comprehensive surveys are expensive and short cut methods are often unreliable and may, if repeated, come up with conflicting evidence. Secondly, the flow of income through the economy is difficult to trace, and it is difficult to calculate the number of jobs created. Tourism’s impact is very diffuse and so not very visible, which is a problem for those campaigning for further support. Thirdly, the objectives of tourism development are also diffused and often interlinked with other objectives, so that it is difficult to isolate the impact.’ (Law, 1993, p. 169)
Chapter 3: Bournemouth a Tourist Destination
Bournemouth is one of the classical examples of urban tourism. It exhibits both the primary and the secondary elements that attracts the tourists and compels them to come over and over again. From theatres to shopping to site seeing, Bournemouth is a place to visit.
About Bournemouth
Area Size – 17.83 sq miles (46.15 sq km)
21 Conservation Area designations
7 miles of curved sandy beaches with three European Blue Flags and six Seaside Awards
Average of 7.7 hours a day of summer sunshine
842 hectares (2,080 acres) of parks and gardens with nine gardens holding the Green Flag Award (recognising environmental protection, community use and safety & cleanliness)
Population from Census 2001 is 163,444, the 2008 mid-year estimate is 163,900 and the population is projected to reach almost 168,000 by 2026
68,800 employees in Bournemouth work in the service sector (ABI, NOMIS, 2007)
Median gross weekly earnings for 2009 for the Bournemouth residents was ?371.60 representing 93% of the England and Wales figure (ASHE, ONS)
Over 14,600 students attended Bournemouth University in 2007/08 – (65.4% over 21 years of age)
Just over 1,000 overseas students attending Bournemouth University in 2007/08
A total of 38 schools with 20,187 pupils (Schools’ Census, October 2009)
1,344 (gross) and 1,218 (net) new dwellings constructed 2008/09
Bournemouth Airport: almost 1 million passengers (in 2007/08) to more than 50 destinations including USA, Europe and Channel Islands and over 11,000 tonnes of freight
Just over 2.27 million rail passenger journeys in 2003/2004
Just over 57 kilometres of Principal Type roads within the Borough
Average house price for February 2010 was ?170,179 (Land Registry)
Just over 57 kilometres of Principal Type roads within the Borough
95 minutes rail journey to London Waterloo
Fast Ferry from Poole to France (Cherbourg) or Channel Islands
Civic Trust Awards (2001): Bournemouth was awarded two awards, for the conversion of The Square from a roundabout to a Civic space and for transforming Knyveton Gardens to a sensory garden for those with disabilities.
(www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2010)
Prominent Bournemouth attractions
Bournemouth Beach
Bournemouth’s beach has won awards consistently the quality, safety and cleanliness of its seven miles long beach. The beach offers a range water sports and also provides the visitors the option of hiring beach. It is one of the safest beaches with the availability of RNLI lifeguards all along the seven mile stretch of beach.
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum
Termed as one of the most fascinating and unique museums in the world. It comprises of the famous paintings and gems collected by the Russell-cotes family and housed in one of the last Victorian Villas in Bournemouth, East Cliff Hall. (russell-cotes.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2008)
Bournemouth Aviation MuseumaˆZ
The Bournemouth Aviation Museum a perfect day out for the family has exhibits covering 50 years of aviation with a display of Piston aircraft, military jets, a Biz-Jet, military trainer, helicopter and a nose section of the famous Vulcan bomber. (www.aviation-museum.co.uk, 2009)
The Red House Museum & Gardens
Built as a Georgian workhouse in 1764, the building now houses a number of objects reflecting the social and natural history of the area, its geology and archaeology. (www.information-britain.co.uk, 2005)
Bournemouth Pier
The original pier consisting of a short wooden jetty was opened in the year 1856. But the present day pier has come a long way and is much longer than that. It has its own historical importance and has been refurbished over time due to corrosion and even destruction due to invasions. Since 1871 it has been associated with pleasure steamers. Local boats operate from the pier offering many day trips and excursions. (www.theheritagetrail.co.uk, 2008)
Bournemouth’s parks and countryside
Bournemouth has a varied variety of ornamental gardens and countryside many of which have various protective designations. The council’s parks and countryside staff manage 10 local natural reserves around the borough. In 2009 Bournemouth achieved nine Green Flags national award for its parks, these parks also offer guided walks giving information some fascinating trees to be found there. (www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2009)
Bournemouth Oceanarium
The Oceanarium is a fully interactive experience with touch screen games, feeding demonstrations and talks, plasma screen documentaries, with a walk-through underwater tunnel and exhibits. (bournemouth attractions, 2009)
Availability of accommodation in Bournemouth
Development of a city as a tourist’s destination means there will be an influx of visitors and tourists coming to the city, these visitors require a temporary place to stay during their visit. This results in the development of different types of accommodations focussing on different category of tourists.
The creation of these accommodations also helps evolve new markets for products like souvenirs and memorabilia. Since it lands up increasing the demand for food and such facilities, working on the demand and supply principle it attracts establishment of more businesses.
The positive impact of these developments results in creation of jobs. Bournemouth tourism promotes the establishments of these accommodations either under Bournemouth Quality Standards Scheme or the quality assed either by AA or Quality in tourism.
The following table gives an insight into the available accommodations in Bournemouth as in 2004
Type
Bedspaces (unless marked otherwise)
Hotels
12,836
Guesthouses
4,493
B&B
747
Self Catering
402 Units
Touring Caravans/Tents
33 PITCHES
Second Homes
1,586
(www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2010)
Tourists expenditure associated with their trip
Tourists visits in a city means tourists spending in the city. Tourists usually take the opportunity of being away on a break to spend generously on themselves. The tourists spending is generally categorised as
On accommodation
On shopping
On food and drink
Attractions and entertainment
Travel.
The local businesses over a period of time get an understanding of the spending pattern of the visiting tourists and hence try to base their inventories around it. The tourists visiting bournmouth can be categorised into the following 3 categories:
UK tourists
Overseas tourists
Day toursist
The following table gives and insight into the breakdown of the tourist’s expenditure associated with trips to Bournemouth.
Accommodation
(?)
Shopping
(?)
Food & Drink
(?)
Attractions/ Entertainment
(?)
Travel
(?)
UK Tourists
47,884,000
14,977,000
28,797,000
12,509,000
23,252,000
Overseas Tourists
20,095,000
20,634,000
11,789,000
11,297,000
5,091,000
Day Visitors
0
51,292,000
59,080,000
14,296,000
19,988,000
Source: South West Tourism using the Cambridge model www.swtourism.org.uk
(www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2010)
The above figures clearly show that tourist inflow enhances the city’s coffers and makes available the finances that the city would need for growth and development.
Brand Bournemouth is being developed by the council keeping in view of its ability to attract more tourists. The different sectors that have been identified as constituent parts of the Bournemouth brand are as follows:
Accommodation
Conference/business
International Education
Leisure and attractions
Night Time Economy
Town Centre
Transport
This is the most visual positive socio-cultural impact of tourism in Bournemouth.
The gift of the Tourism industry in the form of jobs
Tourism brings in business is a known fact, these businesses are run by individuals and hence jobs are created. Jobs mean growth of the society as a whole. The transformation of a city into a tourist’s destination attracts not only tourists but also businesses of all kinds.
Jobs that are created can be segregated into the following three general categories:
Direct jobs
Indirect jobs
Induced jobs
The creation of these jobs becomes a source of livelihood for the locals. It also attracts workforce from neighbouring towns and cities. This increases the revenues of the connecting transport systems. The depth of integrated revenues is immense and hidden in a very complex matrix.
The following table gives the estimated actual number of jobs created related to tourism spending in 2007.
Staying Tourists
Day Visitors
Total
Direct Jobs
4,423
2,796
7,219
Indirect Jobs
1,075
489
1,563
Induced Jobs
456
64
520
Total
5,953
3,349
9,302
Source: South West Tourism using the Cambridge Model www.swtourism.org.uk
(www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2010)
Holiday types, reasons for visit and activities involvement.
Tourists have various reasons to visit Bournemouth. There was a time when tourists were all categorised as travellers, but now times have changed and they can be categorised using various concepts and ideas. One of the ways to categorise them is based them the type of holiday they take.
They can be categorised as follows.
Main holiday
Additional holiday
Short break
The above categorise are the parameters that decide their length of stay.
The following tables give an insight into the tourists that come to Bournemouth based on the above categorisation. It also gives an idea of the reasons why they come and the activities they engage themselves in when they are holidaying in Bournemouth.
Statistics for Bournemouth, 2005
Holiday Type
Total (%)
Main Holiday
33
Additional Holiday
43
Short Break
20
Length of Stay
7.88 nights
Average expenditure per person per day
?44.22
Reasons for Visiting
Total (%)
Shopping
56
Seaside, beaches, coast
86
Peace and quiet
36
Easy to get to
57
Activities
Total (%)
Coastal Walk
77
Gardens
63
Shopping
72
Wildlife
47
Source: Dorset New Forest Tourism Data Project, The Market Research Group, 2005/06
(www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2009)
The above statistics tell us that the reasons why the tourists come is varied and they also overlap each other, in economic terms that leaves scope for business. Even the activities that they get involved in are varied and hence these statistics can be used to decide the spending of the local governing bodies in developing the tourism according to tourist’s preferences.
Negative socio- cultural impact of tourism in Bournemouth
It is evident that urban tourism has a lot of visible benefits for the economy and the locals. Where it promotes exchange of culture, it also supports the local economy of the city. But, there is a negative aspect of urban tourism as well. For example, during the peak season when the tourist’s influx is at its maximum, the prices of fresh foods and vegetables start rising. It even destroys the peace of the locality. The tourists bring their vices to the city in the form of gambling, late night clubs, prostitution and drinking. Though tourism has a lot of positive impact on the local economy, culture and over all development of the society, the negative impact cannot be ignored. If the negative impact is kept on a regular vigilant check it can be overshadowed by the positives.
The development of the urban city of Bournemouth into a tourists destination faces a lot of challenges from such negative impacts. No doubt tourism brings a lot to the city in terms of jobs and development. It has also resulted in the increase of taxes be it residential or business.
Some of the negative socio-cultural impact of tourism can be summarised as follows.
Prostitution- the development of Bournemouth as a tourist’s destination has resulted in vices such as prostitution. According to Dorset Police the alarming rate of rise of brothels in Bournemouth has been a real matter of concern for the city. The intelligence works reported the presence of 60 brothels in the city. (www.telegraph.co.uk, 2005)
Drug trafficking- the vice of prostitution is known to drag with it the drug culture. Over the years Bournemouth has attracted party goes due to its numerous pubs and clubs along the beach, this has resulted in increase in the number of drug consumers in Bournemouth. These vices are passed on the growing population of Bournemouth, having serious affects on the way of life of their friends and families.
Increased levels of noise pollution- the growing number of clubs and pubs result in enhancing the night life experience of the tourists, but also increase the levels of noise pollution, which can be detrimental to the health of the old and senior residents of Bournemouth.
Rising house prices- increasing jobs and growing businesses attracts attention from neighbouring cities, resulting in growth in population. This results increasing the demand of residential housing, which could be out of reach for the local population.
Rising taxes- Increased businesses results in more government spending in infrastructural development and also towards the tourist’s interests. This results in the increased levels of taxes by the government, to finance these projects.
Traffic jams- increased levels of traffic jams are one of the main cause of the grievance of the locals of Bournemouth, which even the local governments are struggling to solve.
Road casualties- due to increase in levels of population and car users the increasing number of road casualties have been worrying the Bournemouth authorities and locals.
Loss of individuality due to over marketing of destinations key selling point- The development of Bournemouth as a tourists friendly city has resulted in extensive development. Be it businesses or attractions for the tourists, the concern is that it is losing its ethnic originality and identity. It is losing the unique selling point and is transforming into another beach city, this is a matter of concern that has been voiced by the local authorities.
Chapter 4: Conclusion
Socio- cultural impact of tourisms cannot be ignored. Tourism is at times used as a reason for the growth and development of the society, the focus of growth is always positive, but the negative side is also prevalent. Man is full of vices, since tourism revolves around mans needs, requirements, perceptions, assumptions and wants, it is very difficult to curtail the negative influence.
Bournemouth tourism should focus on development tailored on its specific needs, heritage, history and means with the socio-cultural impacts in sight. This would enable the urban city to have a balanced growth limiting the vices and attracting the healthy tourists which contribute majorly into the growth of the city into positive spheres of development.
