In theory, the concept of a differentiated price structure would appear to maximize the economic benefits of tourism—and to some extent, the social benefits. Domestic tourism is made available to an increasing number of residents who are able to appreciate and enjoy their national resources. While the per-tourist rate is lower, the higher numbers of tourists accounts for significant economic benefits. At the same time, international tourists are enabled to experience another country’s attractions. While their numbers are lower, the higher rates also account for significant economic benefits. As seen in this case, though, a differentiated price structure can have unintended effects that are revealed on closer examination.
Discussion topic: Do you think domestic and foreign tourists should be charged different rates? Why or why not?
Tourism on the web: Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, “Welcome to a World of Wonders,” at http://www.zimbabwetourism.net/
Figure 8.5. This sign shows the difference in tourist rates between Zimbabwean residents and foreign visitors at Chinhoyi Caves, a Category III National Park site. (Source: Velvet Nelson)
Map 8.1. Zimbabwe. This southern African destination uses a differentiated price structure at attractions such as the national parks. (Source: XNR Productions)
Source
Manwa, Haretsebe A. “Is Zimbabwe Ready to Venture into the Cultural Tourism Market?” Development Southern Africa 24, no. 3 (2007): 465–74.
Tourism businesses must also weigh the higher cost of policies that support the local economy against the cost of not doing so. These are profit-oriented businesses, and paying higher wages or higher costs for locally produced supplies can reduce their profit margin. Alternatively, if these expenses are built into the price of the tourism product, the venture may become less competitive and lose business to other companies or destinations offering similar products. Yet, there can be value in promoting ethical business practices. Moreover, as seen in the discussion of PPT, the local population has the potential to undermine tourism if they feel they aren’t receiving enough benefits from the industry. Consequently, it is important to understand the nature and distribution of the economic effects at a destination.
Conclusion
Tourism has emerged as one of the world’s most significant economic activities; consequently, a foundation in economic geography is a vital component in the geography of tourism. It can be easy to focus only on the positive economic effects of tourism. In fact, it is often the case that those who are better off to begin with are the ones who are most likely to benefit from tourism. As they have the greatest voice and power in decision making, the positive outcomes may be the only ones considered. Yet, it may be that a substantial proportion of the population will never see the benefits of tourism and may not want to see it take place. Ultimately, both the public and the private sector should undertake efforts to see that more segments of the population are able to benefit from and therefore support the industry.
Key Terms
direct economic effect
economic development
economic geography
indirect economic effect
induced economic effect
leakages
linkages
multiplier effect
pro-poor tourism
tourist dollars
travel account
Notes
1. United Nations World Tourism Organization, UNWTO Tourism Highlights: 2012 Edition (Madrid: World Tourism Organization, 2012), accessed December 10, 2012, http://dtxtq4w60xqpw.cloudfront.net/sites/all/files/docpdf/unwtohighlights12enlr_1.pdf.
2. Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen and Helen Lawton Smith, “Introduction: The Past, Present, and Future of Economic Geography,” in Economic Geography: Past, Present, and Future, ed. Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen and Helen Lawton Smith (London: Routledge, 2006), 1.
3. Dimitri Ioannides, “Strengthening the Ties between Tourism and Economic Geography: A Theoretical Agenda,” Professional Geographer 47 (1995).
4. Dimitri Ioannides and Keith G. Debbage, “Introduction: Exploring the Economic Geography and Tourism Nexus,” in The Economic Geography of the Tourist Industry, ed. Dimitri Ioannides and Keith G. Debbage (London: Routledge, 1998), 5.
5. Dimitri Ioannides, “The Economic Geography of the Tourist Industry: Ten Years of Progress in Research and an Agenda for the Future,” Tourism Geographies 8 (2006).
6. The Venetian Las Vegas, “Human Resources,” accessed March 31, 2011, http://www.venetian.com/Company-Information/Human-Resources.
7. Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, “HMMA Employment,” accessed March 31, 2011, http://www.hmmausa.com/jobshmma/hmma-employment/.
8. Rebecca Torres, “Linkages between Tourism and Agriculture in Mexico,” Annals of Tourism Research 30, no. 3 (2003): 555.
9. Rebecca Torres, “Toward a Better Understanding of Tourism and Agriculture Linkages in the Yucatan: Tourist Food Consumption and Preferences,” Tourism Geographies 4, no. 3 (2002): 293.
10. United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and the Small Island Developing States, “Small Island Developing States,” accessed January 15, 2012, http://www.unohrlls.org/en/sids/43.
11. Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa, “Welcome to Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa,” accessed January 15, 2012, http://www.fairtourismsa.org.za/index.html.
Sources
Hanson, Susan. “Thinking Back, Thinking Ahead: Some Questions for Economic Geographers.” In Economic Geography: Past, Present, and Future, edited by Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen and Helen Lawton Smith, 25–33. London: Routledge, 2006.
Williams, Stephen. Tourism Geography. London: Routledge, 1998.
Chapter 9
The Social Geography of Tourism
For those of us who don’t live in (or at least in the vicinity of) a tourism destination, we probably give very little thought to what tourism means to the people whose lives it directly affects on a daily basis. In the last chapter, we began to examine some of the effects of tourism as an industry: we saw how tourism can impact peoples’ lives directly, through personal income from work in the tourism industry or related fields, or indirectly, through economic development at the destination resulting from tourism. However, tourism affects peoples and societies in far more ways than this.
The social geography of tourism gives us the means to explore more of the effects tourism has on people and their lives. Social geography is a topical branch in human geography that encompasses a range of perspectives on the relationships between society and space. Although society is a commonly used term, it is used in so many different ways that it can be difficult to conceptualize. Broadly, society refers to the ties or connections people have with others. More specifically, we can consider the ties between people either occupying a geographic space or connected by networks across space (e.g., common values, ways of life, political systems, or perceived identities). Thus, social geography might consider space as a setting for social interactions or the ways in which spaces are shaped by these interactions. In particular, the focus in studies of social geography is on issues of inequality.
Social geography is the topical branch most closely related to the discipline of sociology and clearly overlaps with other branches of human geography, including economic geography, political geography, and especially cultural geography. To some extent, social geography has had a weaker relationship with the geography of tourism than some of these other branches. As we saw in the previous chapter, the positive economic effects have been the biggest factors driving tourism; therefore, a strong case may be made for the relationship between economic geography and tourism geography. Likewise, the negative environmental effects have been the most visible effects of tourism; thus, human-environment interactions have long been important in the geography of tourism, as we’ll see in the next chapter. In contrast, the social effects of tourism have received less attention in tourism geography studies. Historically, tourism took place
within societies or between relatively similar societies (e.g., North American tourists in Western Europe), which generated few readily apparent social effects. In the modern world, it can be difficult to distinguish what effects might occur in a society as a direct result of tourism from changes that might occur as a result of the wider processes of globalization.
Nonetheless, social geography has an important part to play in our understanding of the geography of tourism. Tourism presents an opportunity for social interaction; tourism brings together groups of people who have little historic contact and/or little in common. Tourism can also be a catalyst for social change; the development of tourism activities may reshape long-standing cultural patterns and ways of life. As such, this chapter continues our discussion of the geographic effects of tourism by utilizing the tools and concepts of social geography to consider the potential benefits of tourism for tourists and local peoples. It also considers the potential costs of tourism, particularly with regard to people in the community in which tourism is taking place. Finally, it discusses the factors that might determine the type and extent of these effects, as well as possible measures to maximize the positive effects while minimizing the negative.
Social Benefits of Tourism
Much attention is given to the negative implications of the social interactions that take place in the context of tourism and the social changes that result from tourism. Yet, tourism can have positive outcomes as well. At its most idealistic, tourism has been promoted as a means of promoting global understanding and international peace. On a large scale, this goal is considered naive and improbable. However, it should not be considered unrealistic that the experience of other places and their peoples can have a beneficial impact on tourists at a personal level. This, of course, is contingent upon both tourists and locals approaching the experience with civility and a willingness to learn about the other.
Tourism may also be argued to have the potential for social development at a destination. Although development is typically discussed in economic terms, the concept can be extended to nonmaterial indicators as well. As such, tourism can generate positive social changes at a destination, such as new opportunities for segments of the local community or new developments that could improve the quality of life for local people. At the same time, tourism development may serve as a catalyst for movements to protect against wider (negative) social changes by supporting traditional ways of life and reinforcing social identities.
Personal Development
Tourism can provide the opportunity for interaction between groups of people that might not otherwise occur. If this is undertaken with an openness and a sensitivity to other peoples and ways of life, tourism can be a beneficial experience for both tourists and local people at the destination visited. Tourists have the opportunity to not only meet other people but to experience life in their society firsthand. This allows them to gain a better understanding of, and perhaps even empathy for, that society. Consequently, tourism can—even if only subconsciously—promote a greater geographic literacy of the world. Conversely, these experiences will also give tourists a new perspective on life in their own society and possibly even generate changes in their daily lives. These may be small changes, such as a desire to eat different kinds of foods, but it can also lead to major changes, such as moving to a place that he or she has visited, or marrying someone from that place. In fact, some tourists—particularly explorers and drifters—participate in tourism because of the potential for such transformative experiences. Although such potential effects on tourists are generally recognized, there has been little research on these effects.1
Figure 9.1. This lunch presented a unique opportunity for the American tourists and the ethnic Miao villagers to interact with and learn about each other. (Source: Velvet Nelson)
At the same time, residents at a destination also have the opportunity to interact with other groups of people (figure 9.1). This is particularly applicable in the case of countries or communities that have a positive travel account (i.e., they have high rates of inbound tourism and low rates of outbound tourism). Thus, although they may not have the opportunity to travel to and experience other societies, these people still have the opportunity to meet and learn about the tourists who visit their destination.
Social Development
Arguments for tourism have often cited the potential for new opportunities within a community. The economic benefits of tourism, such as jobs and income, can lead to social benefits as well. New types of jobs associated with tourism and the income from these jobs can provide local people with greater freedom to choose not only where they live but how they live. This, of course, depends on one’s perspective. For example, rural communities around the world have been experiencing declining opportunities for employment and livelihood. This creates a push factor, in other words, pushing people out of the region to other areas—typically urban ones—that might have greater potential for access to more and/or better jobs. In some cases, people, especially those who are young, are attracted to the promise of a new and different life in these areas. For these people, the development of tourism might provide the ability to leave a traditional or stagnated community, with its real or perceived restrictions, for a more modern or vibrant community with access to jobs as well as other opportunities. Yet, in other cases, people prefer to maintain their life with family and friends in their home community. The extension of tourism into rural areas might provide them with this opportunity.
Access to jobs and income can create new opportunities for traditionally marginalized populations. For example, in many parts of the world, women have had little opportunity for employment outside of the home (i.e., in the private sphere) and in the formal sector of the economy. To some extent, the jobs created by tourism have not been incompatible with traditional roles for women, while giving them the opportunity for employment in the public sphere, increased social interaction, increased income to support themselves and/or their families, and possibly even financial independence from their family or spouse (figure 9.2). As women gain a greater value in society and greater freedom, this can lay the foundation for additional social changes and ultimately reduce gender inequalities.
Figure 9.2. Tourism can create new opportunities for women, especially in societies where women have not traditionally had a place in the public sphere. This woman is working at a tourist resort in Salvador, Brazil. (Source: Jason Fisher)
We have already seen that income from tourism can be reinvested in the destination. While this investment may be directed at improvements in the destination that will create and maintain an attractive environment for tourism, the local community can also benefit from these improvements. Improved public transportation systems that will facilitate the movement of tourists at the destination can also be used to increase the motilities of local people. Increased police protection and measures to reduce incidents of both petty and violent crimes may be done as a means of trying to promote a safe and stable environment for tourism investment and tourist visitation, but local people can benefit as well. The creation or beautification of open-access public spaces to ensure an attractive environment for tourism can contribute to increased community pride, satisfaction, and general quality of life among local people.
In addition, there is potential for a destination to use the income from tourism to invest in local and/or domestic social development. Again, these improvements may not be entirely unrelated to the tourism industry, but local people can be the beneficiaries nonetheless. For example, a destination might choose to invest in the human resource base by building or expanding schools, education, and training programs. This increasingly well-educated population will have more opportunities to improve their lives and contribute to the local/national economy, including in the tourism industry.
Preservation
Perhaps the most frequently cited argument for tourism is preservation—in this case, the preservation of local ways of life, traditions, and identities. T
ourism is a distinctly place-based activity. The trend away from the standardization of mass tourism has emphasized the need for destinations to be able to offer the unique combination of physical and human attributes that constitute a place. Accordingly, a place seeking to develop this type of tourism will have an impetus to maintain these attributes. In such a case, the place may resist the processes of globalization that contribute to a sameness between different parts of the world—a sense of placelessness. This place might choose to limit the development of chain restaurants or big box stores and use tourism to support local businesses, like independent restaurants or mom-and-pop shops. Likewise, this need for a sense of distinctiveness at destinations can help reinforce or rejuvenate social identities that might otherwise be lost.
Box 9.1. Case Study: Tourism and the Sámi Reindeer Herd Migration
The Sámi are considered to be Europe’s only indigenous people. Research indicates that these people have lived in the northern Scandinavian Peninsula for nearly ten thousand years. Yet, they do not have a state of their own. Instead, Sápmi—the Sámi homeland—spans Sweden, Norway, Finland, and part of Russia (map 9.1). The traditional lifestyle of the Sámi was well adapted to the arctic environment in which they live, based on fishing, hunting, and reindeer herding. Throughout much of their history, they were able to live outside of mainstream Scandinavian society.
An Introduction to the Geography of Tourism Page 26
