TOURISM

TERTIARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

 What is Tourism?

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World

Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in
places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four (24)
hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and
other purposes.
• Tourism as industry
Tourism can also be defined as a service industry
with three main foci:
Transport:
bringing people from one place to another

Accommodation:
giving people a place to stay

Services:
offering goods and manpower in order to fulfil
the wishes of the travellers
TYPES OF TOURISTS (purpose, length, TYPES OF TOURISM
scale)
Foreign tourists Eco-tourism
Domestic tourists Sports tourism
Day visitor Cruise tourism
Sustainable tourism

Ecotourism is responsible travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas that
strive to be low impact and (often) small scale (as an alternative to mass tourism).

Sustainable Tourism
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation defines sustainable tourism as
tourism that meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting
and enhancing opportunity for the future. The objective of sustainable tourism is to
retain the economic and social advantages of tourism development while reducing
or mitigating any undesirable impacts on the natural, historic, cultural or social
environment.
 IMPORTANCE OF TOURISM
• Employment
• Increase in GDP
• Development of linkage industries (agro-
tourism)
• Increase in standard of living
• Conservation of the environment
CASE STUDY:
JAMAICA
 FACTORS INFLUENCING
THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
 PHYSICAL FACTORS
• 1. Natural scenery: mountains, coasts, beaches,
corals, rivers, flora and fauna.
Dunns river fall Ocho Rios
Iguazu Falls
Smiley sponge; sponges suck in seawater via small holes on their
sides and expel the filtered water through large holes, in this
case the “mouth” and two “eyes”
Jamaica Petrel
Blue Mountains
• 2. Warm, sunny climate
• 3. Closeness to 3 major markets
 HUMAN FACTORS
• Diverse culture: music, food, sports
 ECONOMIC FACTORS
• 1. Employment, labour intensive
• 2. Availability of capital (government, private
investment)
• 3. CSME: Caribbean Single Market Economy
• 4. Transport and accommodation
LEFT: Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Rain Forest Aerial Tram.
RIGHT: Sandal’s Negril beach Resort.
 TRENDS IN THE INDUSTRY
• An expanding Tourism industry attributed to world population
increase and higher disposable incomes, affordable packages.
• Developments in technology and communication have increased
people’s awareness and stimulated travel interests.
• Hotels – The number has been declining drastically except for large
resorts with extensive facilities. This has prompted more elaborate
forms of entertainment and recreation.
• All-inclusive resorts – have seen great expansion since the 1980s.
• Condominiums and time-shares have increased in numbers.
• Expansion of cruise tourism.
• Private boating is growing with an increase in marinas, yachts and
mega-yachts.
 CHALLENGES FOR THE INDUSTRY

• Sustainable tourism: due to widespread destruction of the region’s

natural heritage. The Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism (STC)
was inaugurated in 1997 in recognition of the need for managing the
resources that sustain tourism.
• Globalisation: has opened up the world market for trade and services.
There is the free movement of capital and labour. Investors, employees
are more mobile. The challenge is to retain skilled workers.
• Competition from other destinations has caused the introduction of
modern technology which requires training of employees.
• The number of tourist arrivals has decreased due to bad publicity, crime,
natural disasters, dependence on foreign airlines, labour shortages
(mentality of overwork and underpay). Increasing tourist arrivals is a
challenge - marketing the Caribbean and branding (MICE) are possible
solutions. Most islands lack a well-defined tourist product with few well
sustained attractions.
• Lack of investment: local and international: role of government in
encouraging investment is unclear, lack of capital for local investment.