Growth of Tourism
- A leisure activity is something done for enjoyment in your free time
- Tourism is when a person travels to another destination for more than 24 hrs but less than one year
- Tourism can be split into:
- Domestic - own country
- International - another country
- Tourism can be considered a form of circular migration, as there is no intention of a permanent move, but can be for work, medical, educational or pleasure reasons
- Seasonal workers are circular migrants who work in one place and return home after a short contract
- Students at university return at the end of the term to their normal place of residence
- Medical treatment encourages people to move to countries temporarily
- Sport - many sports have gone global, through international competitions either as players or spectators
- Over the last 50 years mass tourism has expanded into a major global industry, which is still growing
- An estimated 900 million people become international tourists every year (pre pandemic)
- Europe remains the regions with the greatest number of tourist arrivals, with France being the No.1 destination
- 53% of inbound tourism is for leisure (holiday), the second reason is for visiting friends and relatives
- The main reasons for the rise in tourism can be linked to:
- Improved pay and leave allowances - most workers now work less than 40 hours a week and have paid annual leave
- Improved disposable incomes - normally both partners work and this increases incoming money to the household
- It is easier than ever to cross borders with agreements between countries
- Transport is faster and cheaper than in the past
- Communication - internet, social media etc. bring awareness of foreign destinations, booking of last-minute holidays etc.
- Increase in 'built attractions' such as theme and water parks
- Attractions such as music festivals, sporting events etc
- Many governments have invested heavily to encourage tourism or backed international events - Olympics
- Travel and tourism is the largest employer across the globe and represents 7% of the world's exports in goods and services
- It is the growing awareness of the attraction of the physical and human landscapes, along with rising living standards, have allowed greater numbers of people to experience more places domestically and abroad
Worked example
Study Fig. 6.2, which is an advert for a tourist resort in the Silvassa Forest region in India (an LEDC).
Fig 6.2
(i) State three different types of job which are likely to have been created by tourism in the Silvassa Forest region.
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[3]
- Answers such as:
- Working in a hotel as chambermaid/receptionist/porter etc.
- Working in a restaurant as a cook/waitress etc.
- Taxi/bus driver
- Working in a water park/spa or other tourist attraction e.g. lifeguard, masseur
- Airport worker
- Shop worker
- Builder Etc.
