TOURISM MANAGEMENT
1st Semester
A.Y. 2024 - 2025
Course Title: SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Course Code: SUSTOU
Course Description: Students will have a broad understanding of environmental
issues and their impact upon the tourism industry, therefore subject areas such as
pollution, waste management and biodiversity will be primary focus. Awareness and
understanding of the implications of tourism impacts, especially on socio-cultural
and environmental aspects, are critical to properly guided sustainable tourism
planning and development. The natural and cultural environments of communities
and global destinations will be explored to enable students to critically interpret
tourism interdependency, and the changes and development of domestic and
international tourism policy. This course critically examines tourism planning as a
process and as a set of techniques for sustainable tourism development. It focuses
on the physical environment of tourism planning, and the social, cultural, and
political realities of planning and policy making.
Coverage: PRELIM / Week 3 and Week 4
Topic/s:
Definition, Dimensions, and Determinants of Tourism Impacts
Learning Objectives:
Define tourism impact;
Enumerate and discuss the various dimensions of tourism impacts; and
Enumerate and discuss the various determinants of tourism impacts.
To do list/Activities:
1. Reading and Discussion:
Definition, Dimensions, and Determinants of Tourism Impacts
2. Perform the set of activities;
3. Case Study Analysis
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Introduction
Hall and Lew (2009) defined impact as "a change in a given state over time as the
result of an external stimulus." For our purposes, external stimulus is referred to as
tourism. Tourism impact may be defined as an effect brought about directly or
indirectly by tourism policies, tourism-related establishments and infrastructure,
and tourist behavior.
DIMENSIONS OF TOURISM IMPACTS
Tourism impacts may be categorized in terms of their scope, the direction of change
and type of impact, and the scale, distribution, and duration of the effects.
The scope of tourism impact may be economic, environmental, social, cultural, or
political.
Economic Impact - Ex. Inflation
Environmental Impact – Ex. Improved connectivity among transportation
Social effects of tourism – Ex. Increase in crime and prostitution
Cultural – Ex. broadening of food choices in major tourist areas and the spread of
such sports as surfing.
Political Impact- Ex. Places that are able to contribute substantially to
government coffers from their tourism income are able to get higher priority in
terms of government allocations for tourism related projects
Impacts are seldom uni-dimensional. For instance, a focus on tourism may make
governments overzealous in protecting nature at the expense of indigenous people,
creating a conflict between environmental and cultural concerns. For instance, an
expansion of protected areas might be good for nature conservation and ecotourism
but has a negative effect on ethnic people who rely on swidden agriculture for their
livelihood (Dressler 2006).
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Swidden farming, more popularly known as kaingin, requires shifting the area of
cultivation periodically after several years to allow each patch of land to fallow.
Because of the protected area restrictions, farmers tend to return to a patch much
earlier than the optimal time.
This results in the land losing its fertility, soon leading to insufficient and low-quality
produce. The resulting poverty then, leads some of the indigenous people to resort
to environmentally damaging practices, such as poaching. They are encouraged to
assume mainstream tourism jobs. The skills, rituals, belief systems, and nomadic
way of life banish with time.
In terms of the direction of change, tourism may cause positive or negative changes
on the economy, environment, or society.
The creation of employment by tourism is a positive impact. However, the
leakage caused when the tourism industry imports food stuff, wine, and
managerial expertise is a negative impact.
The type of impact may be categorized in many ways-actual (objective) or
perceived (subjective), quantitative or qualitative, direct or indirect.
Actual or objective impacts of tourism are backed up by hard data.
Perceived or subjective impacts refer to the opinions of somebody concerning
the effects of tourism.
Tourism-related business owners, anticipating higher profits from the increased
arrivals, will view tourism as a boon. On the other hand, ordinary residents,
expecting crowding and traffic congestion may see tourism as a bane.
Butler (1980), in his Tourism Area Life Cycle theory, predicted that the community
will experience and perceive more and more negative impacts as a tourism
destination goes through the various stages of growth: discovery or exploration,
involvement, development, consolidation, and stagnation. Tensions between the
tourists and the hosts increase in the consolidation phase. As tourist facilities
deteriorate, tourist numbers also decline in the stagnation stage.
Doxey (1975), in his Irritation Index Model, suggested that the residents' reaction
to tourism changes from euphoria, apathy, annoyance, and antagonism in the
introduction, growth, maturity, and decline stages, consecutively. Stagnation could
lead to decline and eventual death, or a revitalized destination through
rejuvenation.
Long-time residents or those who are native born tend to be more aware of the
social impacts of tourism and regard increased influx as a threat to their
community. Other variables with positive relationships to attitude to tourism
development are quality of life, the effect of tourism on community development,
and emotional solidarity (Andereck et al. n.d.).
Quantitative impacts are impacts which can be measured and expressed in
numerical form. Qualitative impacts are impacts that can only be observed and
described.
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Direct tourism impact is one that is immediate and flows from tourism to the
receiver of impact (e.g, residents) without intervening persons, agencies, or
industries.
Indirect impact flows from tourism to the receiver of the impact through
intervening persons, agencies, or industries.
Tourism impacts may also be seen in terms of its temporal dimension.
Cumulative impact is one that is caused by tourism development over time.
Immediate impact is an impact that is caused by a single event, and could
happen within a short period of time.
Long-term impacts are those that will be borne or experienced by the affected
sectors or stakeholders for years or even generations to come.
Short-term effects are those that do not endanger the welfare of the affected
people or places way into the distant future.
Tourism impacts will also be felt at varying levels in the different areas where
tourism activity could take place. Leiper (1990), in his Tourism Attraction System
model, identified these as the (1) tourist generating region,
(2) the transit route region, and the
(3) tourist destination region.
The tourism-induced impacts may be reversible or irreversible.
Reversible impact is one which can be corrected immediately or over a short
period of time.
For example, trash left by festival attendees can be collected and disposed of in a
matter of hours or days.
Irreversible impact is one that requires a long period of time to recover. A very
good example is the effect of divers on coral reefs.
The impact from tourism may have a chain reaction or just an isolated effect.
Tourism impacts may also be classified according to the source.
According to Hall and Lew (2009, 64), a tourism impact may come from a
(1) point source or
(2) non-point source.
A point source is a specific tourism-related facility, project, or object. This could be
an airport, hotel, attraction, or event. Point sources of impact are site-specific,
tangible, and have clear finite lifespans.
A non-point source is mobile, intangible, and has an indefinite lifespan.
DETERMINANTS OF TOURISM IMPACTS
Several factors that determine the direction, scale, duration, and distribution of
tourism impacts could be deduced. Some of these are the level of economic
development of the destination; the strength of linkages between the tourism
industry and other economic sectors; capacity of the stakeholders, tourism policy,
tourism laws, tourism development criteria, and weights; proximity to the tourism
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core; location of development; technology and design; physical and social carrying
capacities; volume of tourism and residents-tourists ratio; and tourist markets
served.
Level of Development of the Tourism Industry
The more developed the tourism industry, the more the destination stands to gain
economically from tourism. The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) of
the World Economic Forum is a measure of the level of tourism development in a
country. The TTCI (2015) is based on four broad sub-indices, with a total of 14 pillar
components.
Under the enabling environment sub-index are
(a) business environment (with 12 individual indicators),
(b) safety and security (5 indicators),
(c) health and hygiene (6 indicators),
(d) human resources and labor market (9 indicators), and
(e) ICT readiness (8 indicators).
The travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions sub-index is composed of
(a) prioritization of travel and tourism (6 indicators),
(b) international openness (3 indicators),
(c) price competitiveness (4 indicators), and
(d) environmental sustainability (10 indicators).
The infrastructure sub-index consists of
(a) air transport infrastructure (6 indicators),
(b) ground and port infrastructure (7 indicators), and
(c) tourist service infrastructure (4 indicators).
Finally, under the natural and cultural resources sub-index are
(a) natural resources (5 indicators) and
(b) cultural resources and business travel (5 indicators).
One assumption is that countries which score highly on the TTCI are also likely to
attract more tourists and thus, gain economic benefits. However, the TTCl is just a
rough guide on a country's tourism attractiveness as just five out of the top ten
countries in terms of TTCI in 2013 were also in the list of top ten tourist destinations
in the same year.
A similar framework for assessing a place's potential for tourism is the A's
framework suggested by Cruz (2009).
The framework consists of
(1) access,
(2) accommodation,
(3) activities,
(4) attractions,
(5) amenities,
(6) atmosphere,
(7) attitude,
(8) administration,
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(9) assistance, and
(10) awareness.
You must be familiar with the four A's (access, accommodation, attractions, and
amenities).
Atmosphere refers to the general impression of being welcome and safe in a
destination.
Attitude is about the friendliness and readiness of residents in a destination to
have tourists in their midst.
Administration is the management of tourism in the destination and covers how
effective the national and local tourism agencies are in doing their jobs.
Assistance is the level of support provided by government to tourists and to the
tourism industry. Finally, awareness-building refers to the tourism promotional
effort of the government.
Strength of the Economy and Linkages
The net economic impact of tourism depends on the proportion of income that is
retained in the local economy. This retained income is basically the difference
between the tourism revenues and the number of leakages. Leakage happens when
we import products or pay for expatriate managerial expertise. To minimize
leakage, therefore, requires buying local products and managerial services. To
make this happen, there must be sufficient supply of such inputs at acceptable
quality levels. This is only possible when the local economy is diversified, and there
are strong linkages in the tourism value chain. For example, to encourage five-star
hotels to buy local beef, local farmers must have the capacity to supply world-class
quality beef at the right quantity at the desired times, consistently and reliably.
However, establishing close linkages between tourism and the agricultural sector
faces several constraints. These may be a combination of the lack of skilled human
resources, capital, access to credits, and other assistance and the dominance of
urban players (Kausar and Nishikawa 2010).
Stakeholder Power and Capacity
One of the key issues in tourism development is the extent by which the benefits
and opportunities are shared by the stakeholders. Ideally, there must be equity in
tourism outcomes. In reality, the more powerful stakeholders are able to rake in the
benefits while the weaker ones get to bear the costs of such development.
In light of this, people who hold more power tend to have positive attitudes toward
tourism (Kayat 2002). Local elites such as politicians and businessmen are able to
make the rules of the game through policies and resource allocations that are
favorable to their interests. On the other hand, groups such as farmers, fishers, the
urban poor, and indigenous peoples could not take advantage of the opportunities
presented by tourism development because of lack of human skills, financial, and
social capital (connections).
One explanation for this inequity is offered by Moscardo (2011) through social
representations theory.
Social representation refers to the way people construct khowledge about
tourism and its impacts.
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Social representations theory holds that "where there is limited knowledge of
tourism, a destination community must either develop its own social representation
of tourism or adopt an existing one."
Tourism Policy
Another determinant of tourism impact is tourism policy as embodied in republic
acts, presidential decrees, or local ordinances. Tourism policy serves as the tourism
development framework. It defines a country's prioritization of tourism in relation to
overall development strategy and spells out the objectives of tourism development
and the key strategies for attaining them.
Investment Incentive Criteria and Weights
The kind of tourism impacts is shaped by the chosen tourism development strategy.
One of the major strategies for tourism development that was formulated in the
National Tourism Development Plan for 2011-2016 is the establishment of Tourism
Enterprise Zones or TEZ. The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority
(TIEZA) distinguishes between ordinary TEZ and flagship TEZ primarily on the basis
of the size. The required area for ordinary TEZ is five hectares (50 000 square
meters) and for flagship TEZ 50 hectares (http://www.tieza.gov.ph/.
Tourism Volume, Density, or Ratio
Tourism density refers to the number of tourists at a given time in relation to the
area of the destination.
Tourism ratio refers to the volume of tourists in relation to the local population. In
general, the impact of tourism rises in proportion to the increase in tourism density
or ratio. For example, the influx of tourists during the summer months to places like
Tagaytay, Baguio, or Calamba causes heavy traffic congestion which increases
travel time. This results in the deterioration in the quality of experience for the
tourists and in the quality of life of the residents in these places.
Concentration or Dispersal of Tourist Zones
In North Korea, tourist movement is tightly controlled in order to minimize tourist-
host contact which may lead to unwanted foreign influence. Individuals or groups
must always be accompanied by foreign language-speaking tour guides.
Tourist Markets Served
The tourist markets served determine the kind of impacts that are exerted on the
host destination as well as those experienced by the tourists themselves.
Cohen (1972) differentiated "institutionalized" from "non-institutionalized" tourists.
The first type is composed of organized mass tourists and individual mass tourists,
and their tours are closely linked to the travel industry made up of travel agencies,
tour operators, hotels, and so on. This type of tourism encourages the
standardization of tourism facilities and services and therefore, reduces the
qualities of novelty and uniqueness of the destination.
We can surmise that institutionalized tourists exert some cultural influence on the
residents of a destination mainly through demonstration effect.
Demonstration effect is how the behavior of people is influenced by observing,
and imitating the actions of tourists. However, they themselves experience minimal
transformation because of the virtual absence of interaction with the locals. The
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local economic impact of institutionalized tourism is limited as package tours are
bought in the tourists' country of origin.
Technology
Tourism impacts, especially on the environment, may be modified by technology.
For example, noise and greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft, which is the
primary mode of long-haul travel, have been significantly reduced with the
deployment of the newest generation of aircraft.
Capacity
The impact of tourism in a given environment will depend on the volume of tourism
compared with the carrying capacity of the site. Tourism carrying capacity is
defined as "...the level of human activity an area can accommodate without the
area deteriorating, the resident community being adversely affected, or the quality
of visitors experience declining" (Middleton and Hawkins Chamberlain, 1997 in
http://www.biodiversity.ru/).
ASSIGNMENT/ASSIGNMENT
1. What is tourism impact?
2. What are the dimensions of tourism impacts?
Reference:
A. Books:
Reil G. Cruz, Ph.D., Sustainable Tourism, Wiseman’s Books Trading, Inc., 2020
B. Internet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slanYx2dmnc
https://www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/what-is-sustainable-tourism
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