Global tourism issues

• Introduction

Global tourism is associated with the freedom to travel to any world destination of interest. Global tourism is affected by various issues factors that determine how successful this sector is. In the previous years,tourism has faced multiple challenges but currently with the increased advancement in technology and the industrial revolution. Even though most of these issues have been significantly addressed, global tourism still faces several problems. The issues faced by global tourism are discussed in this discussion which includes;

• Destination maintenance

Destination management has been a big problem in the tourism sector in the whole world. Various countries experience difficulties in ensuring the marketability of their resources to the other nationals. These difficulties are as a result of various factors which may be political, economic and cultural aspects. Political differences are the biggest contributor to these challenges as tourists are less interested in visiting a country that is undergoing political disputes.

Economy states of various countries are at different levels of stability. The unstable economy will attract fewer tourists as compared to an economy that is well established. Thus, given that some countries are less developed, tourism is not well sustained around the world. Unstable economy translates to poor maintenance of natural resources, hotels and residential areas for tourists which influence the marketability of a destination(Nair, 2019) In 2007 to 2010 there was a major collapse in the global economy that affected the tourism industry in the world. The economic crisis can be attributed to various causes, some of which might be natural disasters and pandemic like in the current situation of Covid 19 pandemic (Hall, 2010).

Culture defines the livelihood of people in a given region. Cultural practices in a given area dictate its preferability for exploration. Existence of different cultures in the world is a concern to the tourism sector as it has effects on social behaviour (Nair, 2019).

2.3 Security and safety 

People have become more sensitive about their security. Threats with personal security have increased in the modern days due to increased cased of human trafficking and abduction. Crime levels in a given region determine its perception by people and especially those outside the country. If crime levels in a given area are high, then tourists will be less interested in visiting the region. Paying close attention to the safety of every tourist might seem to be a simple task, but its impact can only be discovered if a single tourist is attacked(Nair, 2019).Insecurity and management of issues concerned with safety start in the handling of social media, which has contributed to easing in tracking people. Natural disasters and pandemic also determine how safe a given region is. If a territory is associated with more natural disasters, occur, people will try to avoid it as they can.

2.4 Climate change and weather

Changes in the climate of places and weather is an emerging issue that’s affecting the tourism industry. Different regions of the world experience various climatic factors which the residents have adapted to. Some climatic zones are associated with weather conditions that are not favourable to human existence, e.g., the climate experienced in the polar regions of the world is related to cold conditions which make them less preferable as suitable tourist destinations. Some desert climates are also less attractive to people as the scorching sun experienced in the areas is harmful to human health. Climate is changing gradually from favourable to hostile environments as a result of human activities. This change is influencing the occurrence of some natural resources that are sites of human attraction, e.g., the melting of snow covering high mountains due to global warming (Gössling, 2006).

2.5 Transport

Less development in the transport system continues to hinder universal tourism in the world. Universal tourism means that all the parts of the world are easily accessible by individuals from different regions of the world. Transport inefficiency may occur in various forms such as passports, visas, emigration issues and delays in airlines. Development in transport seems to favour the more developed countries as opposed to less developed countries. Individuals from well-developed countries can travel directly to the developing countries while it’s not the case when moving from a developing country to a developed country. Processing visas to travel to developed countries is more challenging, and in most cases, many restrictions hinder individuals from getting such passports (Duval, 2013).

2.6 Workforce issue

Most destinations lack enough skilled personnel in the various official and technical jobs in the tourism industry. Handling tourisms in a fulfilling manner requires a lot of expertise and experience. Some regions do not have enough tour guides and translators this makes these regions unable to deliver services well to nationals from outside the country especially those who speak native languages different from the ones known in the destination. The United Nations advocates for the skilled workforce as a key to economic growth and recognizes tourism as one of the major economic boosters of most countries. With the advancement in technology, new skills are needed in the industry to help coup with this kind of revolution. Some of developing states still rag behind when we talk of industrial development hence unable to train enough citizens on given fields. While tourism is rated as one of the worlds top employers by the World Travel and tourism council, most of the employees have not yet acquired the required skills for excellent service delivery in the industry (Nair, 2019).

2.7 Involvement of local citizens in the tourism

For tourism sustainability to pave its roots in development, the local populations in the various tourist destinations must be involved in the industry. This helps in building the economic well being as well as sensitizing the local societies in the importance of tourism as some of them might be illiterate and have negative mindsets about tourism (Su& Wall, 2012). In most regions, the importance of involving local citizens in the tourism industry has been Ander looked, and this continues to drag tourism development behind (Nair, 2019).

2.8 Conclusion

The tourism industry continues to face major problems that influence its development negatively in the world. Tourism is a sensitive sector that needs great creativity and knowledge to maintain. Though some issues are hard to address as they are natural occurrences, they can still be managed while shaping those that are human-influenced.

References

Dr Vikneswaran Nair. (2019, March 29). Ten important world tourism issues for 2019. The Nassau Guardian; The Nassau Guardian. https://thenassauguardian.com/2019/03/29/ten-important-world-tourism-issues-for-2019/

Hall, C. M. (2010). Crisis events in tourism: subjects of crisis in tourism. Current Issues in Tourism, 13(5), 401-417.

Gössling, S., & Hall, M. C. (2006). Tourism and global environmental change. Taylor & Francis.

Duval, D. T. (2013). Critical issues in air transport and tourism. Tourism Geographies, 15(3), 494-510.

Su, M. M., & Wall, G. (2012). Global–local relationships and governance issues at the Great Wall World Heritage Site, China. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 20(8), 1067-1086.

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