Lesson 1 Introduction to Tourism (BBA 3104) PDF

Lesson 1 Introduction to Tourism: Themes, Concepts and Issues 1.1. Introduction The late twentieth century and the new millennium have witnessed the continued growth of the leisure society where people have continued to value the significance of holidays, t...

Lesson 1 Introduction to Tourism: Themes, Concepts and Issues 1.1. Introduction The late twentieth century and the new millennium have witnessed the continued growth of the leisure society where people have continued to value the significance of holidays, travel and the experience of going to see new societies and their cultures. This growth of the consumer society, with its emphasis on discretionary spending on leisure activities in the developed world since the 1950s, reflects the increased availability of disposable income to engage in leisure pursuits and holidays. Although this leisure society was traditionally the remit of the western developed world, during the 1990s trends emerged where there is a greater propensity for the world’s population now to travel and engage in holidays in their new-found leisure time; this is now being reflected in new world regions such as Asia, China and the Indian sub- continent. Tourism is part of global process of change and development (known as globalization) which is no longer confined to the developed countries that traditionally provided the demand for world travel. In this respect, understanding the pace of change in tourism is more complex as the processes of change are diverse and not homogenous. Increasingly, the development and change in tourism throughout the world are a function of complex factors that combine to generate a process of change that needs to be understood in its local context with a focus on the national and international processes affecting change. BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 1 Page Therefore, understanding how these changes occur, what motivates people to travel, how their patterns of tourism affect the environments and the local societies they visit are persistent questions now facing those organizations, researchers and students of tourism. Increasingly, governments are also recognizing both the value of tourism to their national economies and the problems that tourism development may pose if this activity is pursued as a route to national economic development. This course assumes no prior knowledge of the subject area conveniently labelled ‘Tourism Studies’, progressively developing the reader’s understanding of the scope, complexity and range of issues which the tourism phenomenon poses for anyone who is serious about the study of the subject. It is easy to understand this subject by studying theme, concepts and issues in relevant to the tourism first. Therefore, it is not surprising that many of the estimates of tourism’s significance as global activity leads many analysts such as the World Travel and Tourism Council to argue that it is the world’s largest industry though finding evidence to substantiate this claim is difficult. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that tourism is an unpredictable economic activity which can be subject to ‘shock waves’ such as the Asian economic crisis in 1997-1998 (click here to watch the video 1.1) which can rapidly change the economic fortunes of the tourism industry in different countries. 1.2. Tourism as an Area of Academic Field One of the immediate problems that students of tourism face is the fact that one is studying a subject that is associated with people’s experiences of travel and their leisure experiences. Prior to the 1980s it was viewed with suspicion and reservation by many academics and analysts as superficial and not really worthy of academic respect in the same way that established disciplines such as history, economics and politics were held in esteem by seats of learning (i.e. academic institutions) This reflects the relative recency with which tourism has been embraced as a subject of serious academic study although this situation has now changed with many schools, colleges and universities offering courses in Tourism Studies. Tourism Studies is now more than a practitioner subject taught at craft level: it is offered from certificate level through doctorate level and it is now maturing as a subject area in its own right. BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 2 Page This can be understood by studying the staircase of tourism qualifications (view the showcase 1.1) but Tourism Studies as a subject area is fraught by a number of problems which any student and researcher needs to be aware of. Some of the principal problems are that: 1. Tourism is not easily recognized as subject because some analysts view it as an industry, while others view it as a subject or as a process. So, there is no universal agreement on how to approach it. 2. Academics argue that tourism is a subject that is conceptually weak, which means that there are no universally agreed sets of laws or principles that all researchers adopt as the starting point for the discussion of the tourism. This is made more difficult because tourism is a multidisciplinary subject where different disciplines examine tourism from their own standpoint rather than from a universally agreed tourism perspective. In this respect, the different subject areas which examine tourism use their own concepts and modes of analysis that have been developed in their own disciplines. This means that as a multidisciplinary subject area, tourism lacks integration between the different disciplines studying it which severely limits the intellectual development of the area by the lack of cross – fertilization of ideas across disciplines. 3. There is a wide range of jargon used (e.g. ecotourism, alternative, responsible and sustainability) which refers to many facets of the same issue which makes it perplexing for students and researchers because of the semantic complexity (i.e. the lack of universally agreed definitions or phenomena being studied). 4. The data sources available to tourism researchers are weak compared to other subjects. 5. The different approaches used by researchers from different disciplines and industry back grounds have led to what is called reductionism –that means that tourism is reduced to a series of activities or economic transactions rather than a wider series or concepts and overarching analytical frameworks in which to understand and interpret tourism such the sociologists focus on postmodernism. 6. In academic environments, there is suspicion about the intellectual rigor with which tourism researchers approach their subject, made more difficult by the tendency for non- specialists to dabble in this area of research as it is perceived as easy to understand and associate with travel and leisure. BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 3 Page 7. To date, there is a dearth of theoretical constructs or theory which explains the development and internal dynamics as a process of global economic and social change. Most academics argue that a subject will not advance learning and understanding until theories are developed, which can be tested, modified and rejected or redeveloped. Thus, tourism remains theoretically devoid as a subject area. In other words, much of the research in tourism has tended to be descriptive and lacking in contributions to the development of tourism knowledge, using established techniques and methodologies. Although there is evidence that this situation is changing slowly, the absence of theoretically derived research remains a major weakness for students and researches which is why more insightful studies. The tourist looks with its attendant focus on postmodernism and sociological analysis of modern-day tourism are the exception rather than the rule in tourism. As consequence of these problems, we are forced to look around for a conceptual or organizing framework which helps the students of tourism to understand the holistic nature of tourism and how the main components of tourism can be integrated together which is why the ‘integrated together approach’ which is why the integrated system (click here to watch the video 1.2) approach is now examined. Showcase 1.1: The Staircase of Tourism Qualifications Qualification (typical full-time duration in brackets) Research degree Taught postgraduate (e.g. PhD by thesis or degree Publications) Undergraduate degree (e.g. Masters in Tourism) (3 years) Diploma (e.g. BA (Hons) Certificate (1-2 years) (1-3 years) Tourism (1-2 years) Post graduate diploma Management) (1 year full time) (3-4 years) 1. An undergraduate qualification in tourism can also be combined with other course option in universities and non-university institution, though it is most commonly found as a business /management focused programme. 2. The duration of taught postgraduate programmes at master’s level varies in time from one year full- time to two years full time. 3. Traditionally, the PhD (also known as a doctorate) has been an original contribution to knowledge, written as a thesis based on three years of full- time research. This is normally accompanied by viva examination (an oral examination) where the candidate defends their thesis. In recent years, some universities have allowed the sub mission of a series of refereed journal articles with a short introduction and conclusion as an alternative from of scholarship to be judged as an original contribution to knowledge for the PhD. BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 4 Page 1.3. Defining Tourism The terms ‘travel’ and ‘tourism’ are often interchanged within the published literature on tourism, though they are normally meant to encompass’ the field of research on human and business activities associated with one or more aspects of the temporary movement of persons away from their immediate home communities and daily work environments for business, pleasure and personal reasons’. These two terms tend to be used in differing contexts to mean similar things, although there is a tendency for the United States to continue to use the term ‘travel’ when in fact they mean tourism. Despite this inherent problem that may be little more than exercise in semantics (i.e. how to define things), it is widely acknowledged that the two terms are used in isolation or in unison to ‘describe’ three concepts: o the movement of people. o a sector of the economy or an industry. o a broad system of interacting relationships of people, their needs [sic] to travel outside their communities and services that attempt to respond to these needs by supplying products. From this initial starting point, we can begin to explore some of the complex issues in arriving at a working definition of the terms ‘tourism’ and ‘tourist’. As we are aware, in a historical context, it has been identified the historical development of the term ‘tourism’, noting the distinction between the endeavors of researchers to differentiate between the concept and technical definitions of tourism. The concept of tourism (view the showcase 1.2) refers to the ‘broad notional framework, which identifies the essential characteristics, and which identifies the essential characteristics, and which distinguishes tourism from the similar, often related, but different phenomena’. In contrast, technical definitions have evolved through time as researchers modify and develop appropriate measures for statistical, legislative and operational reasons implying that there may be various technical definitions to meet particular purposes. However, the concept of tourism and its identification for research purposes is an important consideration in this instance for tourism statistics so that users are familiar with the context of their derivation. BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 5 Page Showcase 1.2: Conceptualizing Tourism o Tourism arises from the moment of people to, and there stay in, various destinations. o There are two elements in all tourism: the journey to the destination and the stay including activities at the destination. o The journey and the stay take place outside the normal place of residence and work, so that tourism gives rise to activities which are distinct from those of the resident and working populations of the places, through which tourists travel and in which the stay. o The movement to destination is of a temporary, short-term character, with intention to return within a few days, weeks or months. o Destinations are visited for purposes other than taking up permanent residence or employment remunerated from within the places visited. 1.4. Technical Definitions of Tourism Even though we are in a position to define tourism generally, it’s not always enough to understand tourism in deep. Since then, we need to know technical definitions of tourism which are commonly used by organizations seeking to define the population to be measured. There are three principal features which normally have to define tourism and travel related services. Among the most recent attempts to recommend appropriate definitions of tourism was the World Tourism Organization (hereafter WTO) International Conference of Travel and Tourism in Ottawa in 1991 which reviewed, expanded and developed technical definitions where tourism comprises: ‘the activities of a person travelling outside his or her usual environment for less than a specified period of time and whose main purpose of travel is other than exercise of an activity remunerated from the place visited, where “usual environment” is intended to exclude trips within the areas of usual residence and also frequent and regular trips between the domicile and the workplace and other community trips of a routine character where “less than a specified period of time” is intended to exclude long-term migration, and “exercise of an activity remunerated from the place visited” is intended to exclude only migration for temporary work’ (click here to watch the video 1.3). BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 6 Page Accordingly, tourism can be defined technically as follows. “a visitor who travels to a country other than that in which he/she has his/her usual residence for at least one night but not more than one year, and whose main purpose of visit is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the country visited.” Not only that but also Chadwick (1994) moves the definition of tourism a stage further by offering a typology of travelers (tourists) which highlights the distinction between tourist (travelers) and non-travelers (non-tourists) which is summarized in Figure 1.1 is distinctive because it highlights all sections of society which are involved in travel of some kind but also looks at the motivation to travel. It is also useful because it illustrates where technical problems may occur in deciding which groups to include in tourism and those to exclude. From this classification of travelers, the distinction between international domestic tourism needs to be made. Domestic tourism normally refers to tourist travel from their normal domicile to other areas within a country. In contrast, international tourism normally involves a tourist leaving their country of origin, to cross into another country which involves documentation, administrative formalities and movement to a foreign environment. 1.5. The Measurement of Tourism; Tourism Statistics It was argued that an important part of the maturing process for any science is the development or adaptation of consistent and well-tested measurement techniques and methodologies which are well-suited to the types of problems encountered in practice’. In this context, the measurement of tourists, tourism activity and the effects on the economy and society in different environments is crucial to the development of tourism as an established area of study within the confines of social science. It has been provided a useful insight into the development of measurements of tourism phenomena by governments during the 1960s and their subsequent development through to the late 1970s. While it is readily acknowledged by most tourism researchers that statistics are a necessary feature to provide data to enable researches managers, planners, destination areas and have been identified four principal reasons for statistical measurement in tourism: BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 7 Page o to evaluate the magnitude and significance of tourism to a destination area of region. o to quantify the contribution to the economy or society, especially the effect on the balance of payments. o to assist in the planning and development of tourism infrastructure and the effect of different volumes of tourists with specific needs. o to assist in the evaluation and implementation of marketing and promotion activities where the tourism marketer requires information on the actual and potential markets and their characteristics. Consequently, tourism statistics are essential to the measurement of the volume, scale, impacts and value of tourism at different geographical scales from the global to the country level down to the individual destination. Yet an information gap exists between the types of statistics provided by organizations. 1.6. Users and the Needs of Tourism Let’s see about a commonly misunderstood feature which is associated with tourism statistics is that they are a complete and authoritative source of information (i.e. they answer all the questions posed by the researcher). Other associated problems are that statistics are recent and relate to the previous year or season, implying that there is no time lag in their generation, analysis, presentation and dissemination to interested parties. In fact, most tourism statistics are ‘typically measurements of arrivals, trips, tourist nights and expenditure, and these often appear in total or split into categories such as business or leisure travel’. Furthermore, the majority of published tourism statistics are derived from sample surveys with the results being weighted or statistically manipulated to drive a measure which is supposedly representative of the real-world situation. In reality, this often means that tourism statistics are subject to significant errors depending on the size of the sample. Even where sampling and survey-related problems can be minimized, one has to treat tourism statistics with a degree of caution because of additional methodological issues that can affect the results. For example, Information (click here to watch the video 1.4) shows that tourism research typically comprises a range of approaches towards tourist populations which can be grouped into four categories. BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 8 Page  Figure 1.1: Chadwick’s Classification of Travelers. Residents Visitors Non-travellers Travellers Within scope of Other travellers Travel and tourism Commuter s Other local traveliers (3) International Domestic Crews Students (4) Intercontinental Continental Inter-regional Regional Migrants (5) Temporary workers Staying one or Same day (2) More nights (1) Primary purpose of travel Business Visiting friends or Other personal Pleasure Relatives (VER) business Primary activities Primary activities Primary activities Primary activities Consultants Socializing Shopping Recreation Conventions Dining in Visiting lawyer Sightseeing Inspections Home entertainment Medical appointment Dining out Secondary activities Secondary activities Secondary activities Secondary activities Dining out Dining out Dining out VER Recreation Physical recreation VER Convention Shopping Shopping Business Sightseeing Sightseeing Shopping VER Urban entertainment BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 9 Page 1.7. Data Sources As previously mentioned, tourism data can assist in several ways, including the planning and development of tourism, impact assessments or inform promotional campaigns and market research. In order to assist in these activities tourism statistics crucially provides data on the: o Volume of tourism o Value of tourism These are typically measured by: o Frontier arrivals o Accommodation arrivals o Nights spent o Tourist receipts However, the effectiveness of the national organizations as providers of related tourism data depends on a variety of factors. These include the scope and frequency of the data collection as well as the methods used in the data collection and analysis. Here, aspects such as sampling techniques and sample size will greatly influence data reliability. 1.8. Domestic Tourism Statistics It is acknowledged that the scale and volume of domestic tourism world-wide exceeds that of international tourism, though it is often viewed as the poorer in the compilation of statistics. For example, most domestics tourism statistics tend to underestimate the scale and volume of flows since certain aspect of domestic tourist movements are sometimes ignored in official sources. The ‘visit to friends and relatives, the use of forms of accommodation other than hotels (for example, second homes, camp and caravan sites) and travel by large segments of population from towns to the countryside are not for the most part included. It is arguing that ‘there are relatively few countries that collect domestic travel and tourism statistics. Moreover some countries rely exclusively on the traditional hotel sector, thereby BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 10 Page leaving out of the account the many travellers staying in supplementary accommodation establishments or with friends and relatives. Therefore, the collection of domestic tourism statistics requires the use of different data source aside from the more traditional source such as hotel records which identify the origin and duration of a visitor’s stay. To assist in the identification of who to include as a domestic tourist, WTO suggests that the following working definition: ‘any person, regardless of nationality, resident in a country and who travels to place in the same country for not more than one year and whose main purpose of visit is other than following an occupation remunerated from within the place visited’. Such a definition includes domestic tourists where an overnight stay is involved and domestic excursionists who visit an area for less than 24 hours and do not stay overnight. In fact, it is clear to the variety of definitions which exist aside from those formulated by WTO and the following issues complicate matters: o Purpose of visit – all countries using this concept define a domestic tourist as one who travels for a purpose other than to perform a remunerated activity. o The length of trip and/or distance travelled – certain definitions state that travellers should, for example, be involved in an overnight stay and/or travel a prescribed minimum distance. o Type of accommodation – for practical reasons, some countries restrict the concept of domestic tourism to cover only those persons using commercial accommodation facilities. BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 11 Page  Activity 1: Identify and list down different issues (Purpose of visit, length of trip and accommodation) related to domestic tourist in Sri Lankan context. Showcase 1.3: Uses of Domestic Tourism statistics o To calculate the contribution of tourism to the country’s economy, whereby estimates of tourism’s value to the gross domestic product is estimated due to the complexity of identifying the scope of tourism’s contribution. o To assist in the marketing and promotion of tourism, where government –sponsored tourism organizations seek to encourage its population to take domestic holidays rather than to travel overseas. o To aid with the regional development policies of governments which harness tourism as a tool for area development where domestic tourists in congested environments are encouraged to travel to less developed areas and to improve the quality of tourism in different environments. o To active social objectives, where socially oriented tourism policies may be developed for the underprivileged which requires a detailed understanding of the holiday-taking habits o of a country’s nationals. 1.9. Global Patterns of Tourism World Tourism Organization (WTO) provides the main source of data for international tourism, collated from a survey of major government agencies responsible for data collection. While most international tourist are expressed as ‘frontier arrivals’ (i.e. arrivals determined by means of a frontier check), the use of arrival/departure cards (where used) provides additional detail to the profile of international tourists and where they are not used periodic tourism surveys are often used. WTO statistics are mainly confined to all categories of travelers and in some cases geographical disaggregation of the data may be limited by the collecting agencies’ use of the descriptions and categories for aid of simplicity (e. g. rest of the world) rather than listing all categories of arrivals. Following provides a range of data which identifies changes in: BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 12 Page o international arrivals and receipt from tourism o the economic importance of tourism o changes in regional patterns of tourism by WTO region o the distribution of hotel capacity world o changes in the ranking of international tourism destinations. 1.10. Patterns of Domestic Tourism According to WTO, domestic tourism is estimated to be up to ten times greater in volume than international tourism and yet comparatively little research has been undertaken on this neglected area of tourism activity. It argues that this may be attributed to the less visible nature of much domestic tourism, which is often more informal and less structured than international tourism, and a consequent tendency by many government agencies, researchers and others to regard it as less significant’. This problem of neglect is compounded by a lack of data, since it is not straightforward matter of recording arrivals and departures. It requires an analysis of tourism patterns and flows at different spatial scales, to consider spatial interaction of tourists between a multitude of possible origin and destination areas within a country as well as a detailed understanding of inter-regional flows. Where government agencies and other public sector organizations undertake data collection of domestic tourism ‘the result are not often directly comparable, limiting the identification of general patterns and trends’ for this reason. Activity 2: Collect Sri Lankan tourist statistics (arrivals and departures) in the last 5 years and identify the trend of tourists’ arrival and departures. Please do the review questions [see page 15] BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 13 Page  Lesson Summary o This lesson introduced the conceptual issues associated with the study of tourism, highlighting the development of the subject area and some of the principal difficulties which students and researchers need to be aware of when attempting to define the subject. o It is widely acknowledged that tourism is a multidisciplinary subject rather than a discipline in its own right because other subjects’ study and contribute to Tourism Studies and as it has no core body of knowledge which is distinct and unique to the subject and not modified from other disciplines such as geography, marketing or economics. o The lack of any theoretical core of knowledge has also impeded the intellectual development of Tourism Studies from making major leaps forward in understanding the phenomenon called ‘tourism’. o Although this lesson has addressed a host of technical and semantic issues associated with the in measurement and definition of tourists and tourism, which may appear dull and uninteresting , a fundamental understanding of these seemingly tedious issues is fundamental when wider issues of tourism impacts and effects are evaluated: without a baseline or an agreement on what one it observing or measuring, then the results and recommendations will have little meaning if the wrong assumptions or features are measured. One continued problem which tourism researchers consistently face is that they fail to agree on clear parameters. They fail to agree clear parameters of what is being observed measured and evaluated and rarely refer to the technical issues necessary to presently define what they are studying. o One of the fundamental question tourism researchers consistently seek to answer is: why do tourists travel? This seemingly simple suggestion remains one of the principal challenges facing tourism research. Accordingly the next lesson will discuss about understand the tourist demand. BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 14 Page  Review Questions 1. What are the different subjects that contribute to the area known as Tourism Studies? 2. What are the main components of Tourism system? 3. Discuss the possible problems in counting of tourists’ arrivals to specific location in a given period. 4. How would you go about locating tourism statistics for a region you are studying? Few Important Links 1. Bureau of Tourism Research: www.btr.gov.au/index.html 2. Tinet-Travel and Tourism Research: www.tinet.ita.doc.gov/research/programmes 3. World Tourism Organization: www.world-tourism.org BBA 3104 CDCE – University of Peradeniya 15 Page