You've Grown Up!

Due to constant changing economic conditions, Tourism industry growth in any country is prone to change. When a country is passing through a low economic phase or job's are at stake, people choose to not travel. Under these certain circumstances, this poses a limitation on spending power, and people tend to settle for low budget restaurants, hotels and opt out of amusement parks or nearby expensive places. The Ministry of Tourism is working on the development of Tourism in a country. Policies adopted by Ministry of Tourism are aimed at enhancing services and tourism tools to attract as many tourists as possible.This will also include working on Eco-tourism as well.

Tourism improvement programs aim at:
-Making the marketing tools and promotional tools strong
-Employ trained personnel
-Make the programs act as catalyst in investments by private bodies.
-Propounding projects and programs at the national level.
-Carry out research work for the betterment of the Tourism industry.
-Infrastructure is developed.

"Economy Watch - Follow The Money." Tourism Industry Growth. EconomyWatch, 30 June 2010. Web. 12 May 2013.

The Hassels of Travel

There are many activities that require many types of travel. Whether it's air travel, business travel, family travel or international travel, international travel has a very large outcome of the tourism industry the most.
International travel to the United States is one of the nation’s leading exports. In 2008, 58 million international travelers visited the U.S., up 4% from 2007. Total spending (excluding passenger fares) from all international visitors in the U.S. was $110.4 billion in 2008, an increase of 14% over 2007. In 2008, the top five overseas markets for travelers to the U.S. were the U.K. with 4.5 million arrivals, Japan with 3.2 million arrivals and Germany with 1.8 million arrivals, France with 1.2 million arrivals, and Italy with 780 thousand arrivals. Unfortunately, although international travel has boomed over the past several years, with 48 million more overseas trips taken in 2008 than in 2000, America actually lost visitors, welcoming 633,000 fewer overseas travelers in 2008. If the United States had simply kept pace with global travel trends, 58 million more overseas travelers would have visited the United States between 2000 and 2008 – and would have generated an estimated 245,000 new U.S. jobs in 2008 alone.

"U.S. TRAVEL ASSOCIATION." Travel Facts and Statistics. U.S. Travel Association, 2008. Web. 12 May 2013.

Changes for Tourism Impacts

Tourism has a whole variety of economic impacts. Most of them contributing to sales, profits, tax revenues, jobs and income in the field. The primary tourism sections: lodging, restaurants, transportation, retail trade and amusements are the most direct effects of this. Through secondary effects, tourism affects most sections of the economy. An economic impact check point of tourism activity normally focuses on changes in sales, income, and employment in a region resulting from the tourism activity. Although these are the main ones, there are several other economic impacts that are usually not covered in economic assessments. For example,
- Changes in prices, tourism can sometimes inflate the cost of housing and retail prices in the area,

frequently on a seasonal basis.

- Changes in the quality and quantity of goods and services – tourism may lead to a wider array of

goods and services available in an area of either lower or higher quality.

- Changes in property and other taxes – taxes to cover the cost of local services may be higher or

lower in the presence of tourism activity. The impacts of tourism on local

government costs and revenues are addressed more fully in a fiscal impact analysis.

"3. ECOTOURISM." 3. ECOTOURISM. Forestry Department, 2005. Web. 10 May 2013.

It's the Southwest, Ya'll

In the Southwest, climate is an important natural resource and a draw for tourists. Many people come to the southwest region to take advantage of its warm, mild winters, to go hiking in the cactus covered mountains, or to boat, kayak and swim in the cool lakes and rivers. The natural beauty of the Southwest’s national parks attracts approximately 35 million eager visitors who spend an estimated $1.3 billion in the region annually.

Changes in season lengths could be positive or negative, depending on activity or location. Warm weather activities, such as camping or boating might see an increase in the length of their operating seasons.Winter activities such as snowmobiling or skiing could be negatively affected by shorter, warmer winter seasons, as well as decreased precipitation. Water activities, such as kayaking or rafting, could be affected by changes in seasonal precipitation patterns.

Ponnaluru, Srinivasa. 2005. Visitation to the National Parks of the Southwest: The influence of economic and climate variables. MS Thesis. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Arizona.

You're Killing Me

Traveling to the mountains, beach or theme park, whether it's all of these or one, vacations are for relaxing and taking a break from the daily grind. However, some of these excursions can be considered harmful or have negative affects on tourism, by experiencing a national park by car or touring historic sites alone. It's the cumulative effects of many enjoyable trips, more than 1.4 billion in the United States in 2001, that damage or disrupt many tourist destinations.The tourism industry does offer economic benefits. In 2008, Americans spent a total of $767 billion on tourism-related costs like hotels, air travel, food and shopping. This spending carried down into individual communities in the form of income for business owners and sales tax revenue for state and local governments. Tourism can either pose a threat to the natural or man made environment, or it can pose a threat to sometimes both the local culture and society. Vacation destinations are unique in that they must try to accommodate a large number of tourists without disrupting the setting the tourists are attracted to. The tourism industry also creates jobs, as it is well known. Hotel staff, airline pilots, transportation staff, souvenir vendors and other tourism-related jobs totaled 5.9 million in 2008. If tourism develops greatly in a hometown or general communities, citizens may start to criticize because of tourism development.

Already, parts of the Great Wall of China have been hurt by tourism.

 Pumphrey, Clint. "Can Tourism Kill a Destination?" HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, 2011. Web. 10 May 2013.

Let's Roleplay, Communities

Business and public organizations involved with tourism are increasingly important in the tourism industry. More importantly, business and public organizations are interested in the economic impacts of tourism at national, state and local levels. Tourism's economic benefits are acclaimed for a variety of many reasons. Translating into decisions or public policies that are favorable to tourism, claim's of tourism's economic significance gives the industry a greater respect among the business community, says Daniel Stynes.

Community also plays a major role in the support of the tourism industry, as it does affect the community as a whole. Tourism’s economic impacts are therefore an important consideration in state, regional and community planning and economic development. Marketing and management decisions stem from important economic impacts. Stynes, says, "Communities  therefore need to understand the relative importance of tourism to their region, including tourism’s contribution to economic activity in the area." So why does religion and community go so hand in hand? Although religion is a rough subject, it does play a part in the communities impacted by the tourism industry.

 "A Community Guide to Nature Tourism - Introduction." A Community Guide to Nature Tourism - Introduction. WDFW, 2012. Web. 10 May 2013.

Making Tourism Sustainable

National Park Authorities want to work with local communtities and other organizations to try and make tourism sustainable. They have concomed a list of things we can do

Show visitors how they can be responsible tourists with events, leaflets, information centres, guided walks and events, signs and websites.

Encourage visitors to leave their cars behind and use greener travel, like bikes, buses, boats and trains.

Support outdoor activities that don't damage the countryside or harm wildlife.

Encourage visitors to buy local products and food.

Run green business schemes to encourage businesses to recycle, reduce energy, conserve water and be sustainable.

Ask local communities for their views and ideas by setting up forums, groups and consultations.

Reduce erosion caused by visitors, by creating and repairing footpaths.

Use planning policies to control the spread of buildings in built-up areas development.

Encourage green energy-efficient buildings with planning policies and grant funding.

Encourage small-scale renewable energy schemes, like woodchip boilers and solar panels, with planning policies and grant funding.

"The Impacts of Tourism." The Impacts of Tourism. National Parks, 2012. Web. 10 May 2013.