Impacts of Tourism
Social impacts
- Tourism can be classified into positive and negative impacts on people, the economy and the environment
Social Impacts of Global Tourism
| Positive Impacts | Negative Impacts |
| Can help revive local skills and handicrafts | Loss of locally owned land |
| Cultural tourism values people's heritage | Tourist's behaviour can offend local people (drinking etc.) |
| Brings people together from all over the world | Tourist centres encourage crime, prostitution etc. |
| Can spread the range of social facilities for local people | Displacement of people |
| Major international events (Olympics) can have a positive effect locally and nationally - improved infrastructure etc. | Abuse of human rights |
| Develops foreign language skills | Can erode local language and traditional values |
| Ancient sites are brought to global attention helping to appreciate historical legacies | Loss of access to local sites - beaches, forests etc |
| Might encourage migration to major tourist-generating countries | Visitor congestion at key locations |
- Tourism has a large economic impact on a country - multiplier effect
- Tourism is a service industry which indirectly impacts all other industries
- Primary - agriculture and providing food or mining of materials to build hotels
- Secondary - for manufacturing of goods - chairs, beds, towels, gifts etc.
- Quaternary - research and development to improve facilities for tourists or management etc.
- Tertiary - staff for hotels, planes, buses, restaurants, lifeguards etc.
Economic Impacts of Tourism
| Positive | Negative |
| Brings money into the country's economy | Money often goes to big businesses and not locally |
| Creates jobs for local people | Often low paid, menial, seasonal work |
| Brings new infrastructure to the region | Mass tourism causes congestion, pollution affecting local businesses |
| Provides tax revenues | Economic leakages are high |
| Provides employment to poorer rural areas | Money borrowed to invest in tourism can increase national debt |
| Can create openings for small business and support jobs in the informal sector | Large holiday resorts encourage tourists to spend most of their money in the hotel complexes, excluding the wider community |
Exam Tip
- Make sure you don't just focus on the negative aspects of tourism, particularly on the environmental or cultural aspects
- You need to balance your discussion, or you won't gain full marks
Environmental Impacts of Tourism
| Positive | Negative |
| Can increase awareness of nature conservation areas | Local environment can be bulldozed and concreted over |
| Money from tourism can be used to protect and repair the environment - better water supplies | Tourism creates local pollution issues - waste, littering |
| Tourism may help preserve key areas or species - prevention of illegal trade and exploitation of nature | Tourist activity can disturb or damage habitats and wildlife- water skiing damaging coral reefs, ivory poaching |
| Tourism helps fund conservation activities therefore, improving sustainable practices and environmental legislation - national parks | Increased greenhouse gas emissions from flying |
Worked example
Study Fig. 6.2, which is an advert for a tourist resort in the Silvassa Forest region in India (an LEDC).
Explain how the local natural environment may be at risk from tourist resorts such as the one shown in Fig. 6.2.
[5]
- Ideas such as:
- Deforestation
- Loss of habitat
- Animals scared by noise
- Water pollution
- Death of marine life
- Disruption to food chains
- Lowering of water table
- Air pollution from vehicle exhausts/flights etc.
