Tourism Empowers Locals - An Essay On Its Contribution.

How can Tourism Contribute in increasing Local Empowerment?

Tourism leads to cash flow in the society

The tourism industry is one such industry that is constantly developing and will never go out of vogue. There are people who love travelling and exploring different places and their culture, it is a hobby for many people to visit places and tour the location completely. The idea of tourism is basically that of leisure travel and hence it is estimated that such an industry will never become inactive in the world. With tourism comes a bag full of economic opportunities for the places that are the popular tourist spots (Murphy, 2013). The people of the place are advantaged with people visiting the spots in huge numbers. People visiting the tourist spots make a considerable amount of contribution to the economics of the place and it helps to empower the local people. The aim of this report is to understand the contribution that is made by the tourism industry in terms of empowering the local people.

The people who visit a place spend considerable amount of money in the entire duration of their stay at that particular place. It is seen that the tourists of a place have a huge contribution to the economy of a place and they positively boost the cash flow into the land (Song, Liu & Chen, 2013). The popular tourist destinations around the world have survived for decades with the money that has been spend by the tourists in visiting the places. During the peak seasons it is seen that the tourist spots look in fetching the maximum profits from the tourists so that in the time of low season the sustainability is achieved. The businesses that are active in the tourist spots look to maximize their profit in the time of peak season so that the growth in the business makes up for the dip that will come in the low season (Corluka, Radic & Geic, 2013). The tourism businesses come up with special packages in the peak seasons so that the maximum number of customers is attracted to travel the place. The cash flow into the land is high in the peak seasons as there are more people visiting a certain place over the other. During the winters, it is seen that most of the tourist spots are filled with people from around the world (Falk, 2013). The tourists who visit a place involve in taking services from the businesses that are active in the place. The service is offered to the tourists in exchange of money and thus ensures that the cash flow is constant in the tourism sector. Such cash flow makes sure that the economy of the place achieves a major boost and money from the other places come to the tourist spots and empowers the people who earn their living from tourism.

The business of tourism is growing with every passing season and a recent trend that has been witnessed in the process has been the shift of desire of the tourists to visit the developing countries than the developed countries (Ghimire, 2013). The destinations along with their stakeholders are responsible for making sure that the growth that is achieved from tourism is well managed and distributed in the economy. It is seen that the local people in the destinations have many things to offer to the people to tour the places. Products such as local arte facts, handcrafted souvenirs, memoirs and various services such as tourist guiding and travel agents have been a huge source of earning for the local people (MARIN, 2015). The amount of money the tourists spend in such services and products is huge and it empowers the local people.

Empowering the local people

It is seen that every destination has certain cultural products to offer to the tourist. The culture of a place has immense value to the visitors and the tourists are constantly thriving to make sure that they get a detailed knowledge about the culture of a place. Cultural tourism is a major category in the tourism sector that involves culture of a place as the main USP for a certain trip (Richards, 2016). Whenever the culture of a place is considered as a major attraction, it is to be noted that the local people and their involvement is of utmost importance. The local people can give a feel of the true culture of the land and make sure that the tourists get to know about the details of the land and it cultural history. The understanding of the culture and knowing the various facts about the land is something that excites the tourists who seek to go for cultural tourism. In such instances the local people are the ones who benefit the most from the tourists and it makes sure that the people have a great experience regarding the culture of the land. Cultural tourism makes sure that the tourists are involved in buying various cultural products of the destination and such cultural products are actually made by the local indigenous people of the land (Du Cros & McKercher, 2014). Selling out of such products will mean the inflow of cash into the society and such cash flow will empower the local people immensely. The local communities sell the products and services to foreign tourists and earn money to fuel their lives. It is seen that the cultural heritage of the land is something that attracts the people to visit any destination. The rich cultural heritage assures the local people that the cash flow shall be constant as people shall for sure visit the place to know more about it.

With tourism there are various opportunities that are developed for the local people of the destination. The tourism industry leads to the creation of business as well as employment opportunities for the local people. The advent of tourism in a place makes a scope for various developmental activities to be taken up in the destination area. The local businesses are developed according to the choice of the tourist and the entire approach remains in making sure the visitors are kept engaged. The various industries such as the hotel and accommodation and the travel agency business is boomed and creates a new dimension of profit and employment in the society (Lundmark, Ednarsson & Karlsson, 2014). The local people are employed in the businesses and this leads to financially empowering them. The people get a fixed source of income and this assures them a better living style in the upcoming days. The empowerment is assured as tourist flow is constant and new innovative businesses are constantly developing in such areas.

Conclusion

One of the industries that has growth in a constant positive direction, tourism has a huge potentiality to make sure that a place is well empowered along with its population. It is seen that in a tourist destination, most of the people are involved into businesses that are related to the people who visit the destination. The flow of tourists varies from season to season and the local people look toward maximizing the profits from the tourists. The tourists that visit a place involve in spending a lot of money for the services that they are offered within the destination. The various businesses that are prevalent in a tourist destination are made to work in a way that benefits the local economy.

The tourism industry must work responsibly to make sure that the best of the results are achieved and in interest of the local people of the destination. Tourism has to be constantly evolving and new innovative measures have to be taken in order to make sure that the cash flow is not stipulated and it helps in empowering the local people to the maximum extent. The businesses in the tourism sector should be constantly assessed in order to match it with the global standards. The services that are being offered to the people should of  a certain quality so that the tourists develop a liking for the services and visit the destination again. The repeat value in tourism is extremely important; the tourists should be satisfied with the services so that they come back again. It has to be ensured that the people who do not involve themselves in unjustified charging of the services that they provide to the tourists. Such unjustified charges can repel the customers and lead to spreading of negativity about the destination and its practices which will lead to a dip in the number of visitors in the place.

References

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Corluka, G., Radic, M. M., & Geic, S. (2013). Selective forms of tourism-the way of extending the summer season. Economy Transdisciplinarity Cognition, 16(2), 88. Retrieved from: https://www.ugb.ro/etc/etc2013no2/16_Corluka,_Matosevic_Radic,_Gei.pdf

Du Cros, H., & McKercher, B. (2014). Cultural tourism. Routledge. ISBN 1135041334, 9781135041335

Falk, M. (2013). Impact of long?term weather on domestic and foreign winter tourism demand. International journal of tourism research, 15(1), 1-17. Retrieved from: https://martin.falk.wifo.ac.at/fileadmin/homepage_falk/files/Falk_IJTR_2011_uncorrected1.pdf

Ghimire, K. B. (Ed.). (2013). The native tourist: Mass tourism within developing countries. Routledge. ISBN 1317973070, 9781317973072

Lundmark, L., Ednarsson, M., & Karlsson, S. (2014). International migration, self-employment and restructuring through tourism in sparsely populated areas. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 14(4), 422-440. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Svante_Karlsson/publication/267641362_International_Migration_Self-employment_and_Restructuring_through_Tourism_in_Sparsely_Populated_Areas/links/599c6343a6fdcc50034c7ea0/International-Migration-Self-employment-and-Restructuring-through-Tourism-in-Sparsely-Populated-Areas.pdf

MARIN, D. (2015). Study on the economic impact of tourism and of agrotourism on local communities. Research Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 47(4), 160-163. Retrieved from: https://www.rjas.ro/download/paper_version.paper_file.9b61f9b77c7643df.6d6172696e312e706466.pdf

Murphy, P. E. (2013). Tourism: A community approach (RLE Tourism). Routledge. ISBN 113508324X, 9781135083243

Richards, G. (2016). Cultural tourism. In Archaeological Displays and the Public (pp. 1-11). Routledge. Retrieved from: https://www.academia.edu/download/41040532/What_is_cultural_tourism.pdf

Song, H., Liu, J., & Chen, G. (2013). Tourism value chain governance: Review and prospects. Journal of Travel Research, 52(1), 15-28. Retrieved from: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.857.5085&rep=rep1&type=pdf