Impacts of Tourism (Cambridge (CIE) O Level Geography)

Revision Note

Tourism can be classified into positive and negative impacts on people, the economy and the environment

Social Impacts of Global Tourism

Positive Impacts	Negative Impacts
Can help revive local skills and handicrafts	Loss of locally owned land
Cultural tourism values people's heritage	Tourist's behaviour can offend local people (drinking etc.)
Brings people together from all over the world	Tourist centres encourage crime, prostitution etc.
Can spread the range of social facilities for local people	Displacement of people
Major international events (Olympics) can have a positive effect locally and nationally - improved infrastructure etc.	Abuse of human rights
Develops foreign language skills	Can erode local language and traditional values
Ancient sites are brought to global attention helping to appreciate historical legacies	Loss of access to local sites - beaches, forests etc
Might encourage migration to major tourist-generating countries	Visitor congestion at key locations

Tourism has a large economic impact on a country - multiplier effect
Tourism is a service industry which indirectly impacts all other industries
- Primary - agriculture and providing food or mining of materials to build hotels
- Secondary - for manufacturing of goods - chairs, beds, towels, gifts etc.
- Quaternary - research and development to improve facilities for tourists or management etc.
- Tertiary - staff for hotels, planes, buses, restaurants, lifeguards etc.

Economic Impacts of Tourism

Positive	Negative
Brings money into the country's economy	Money often goes to big businesses and not locally
Creates jobs for local people	Often low paid, menial, seasonal work
Brings new infrastructure to the region	Mass tourism causes congestion, pollution affecting local businesses
Provides tax revenues	Economic leakages are high
Provides employment to poorer rural areas	Money borrowed to invest in tourism can increase national debt
Can create openings for small business and support jobs in the informal sector	Large holiday resorts encourage tourists to spend most of their money in the hotel complexes, excluding the wider community

Make sure you don't just focus on the negative aspects of tourism, particularly on the environmental or cultural aspects
You need to balance your discussion, or you won't gain full marks

Environmental Impacts of Tourism

Positive	Negative
Can increase awareness of nature conservation areas	Local environment can be bulldozed and concreted over
Money from tourism can be used to protect and repair the environment - better water supplies	Tourism creates local pollution issues - waste, littering
Tourism may help preserve key areas or species - prevention of illegal trade and exploitation of nature	Tourist activity can disturb or damage habitats and wildlife- water skiing damaging coral reefs, ivory poaching
Tourism helps fund conservation activities therefore, improving sustainable practices and environmental legislation - national parks	Increased greenhouse gas emissions from flying

Study Fig. 6.2, which is an advert for a tourist resort in the Silvassa Forest region in India (an LEDC).

Fig. 6.2

Explain how the local natural environment may be at risk from tourist resorts such as the one shown in Fig. 6.2.

[5 marks]

Last updated: 19 April 2024

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