Tourism Cares Scholarship Essay – Kathleen Lo
“So you want to be a travel agent?” This is a question I am frequently asked when I tell people I am studying tourism. Tourism affects almost every industry, from land development to fishing, from recreation to hospitality. Interestingly enough, very few people understand what a career in tourism actually involves. Not only is it a vital source of income for many stakeholders, tourism has the potential to impact virtually everyone. Furthermore, it involves a lot more than travel and leisure, despite the common perception of tourism as the “happy industry”.
While I was working for a “hop-on, hop-off” tour bus company, I saw firsthand the “happy” nature of tourism. As a ticket agent engaging in street sales, I witnessed hundreds and thousands of tourists arriving into the city by cruise ship and by bus every day. Each day, I was responsible for smiling, greeting and interacting with tourists, providing general tourism information about the city and selling tickets and packages to Vancouver’s attractions. During the four months I spent working for this tour operator, my love of the tourism industry grew even deeper. Answering peoples’ questions, hearing their excitement about the city and learning about the countries they were from gave me insight into this “happy industry”. On a busy day, I would often head back to the office with hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of dollars in my pocket.
However, there was a day in
Tourism has become a commercial business, which has obvious benefits to the said economy, the environment and society. Often, the positive economic impacts persuade governments, companies and individuals to get involved with the development of tourism. Tourism creates jobs, both
Tourism has taken a toll on many Native Hawaiians and is a huge human rights issue today. Most Hawaiians dislike tourism greatly due to the selfishness and greediness tourists bring to their home country. The pastor at a small rural church on the island of Kauai, Reverend Kaleo Patterson, has witnessed and dealt with numerous Hawaiians who struggle with the issues of tourism. Numerous vacation resorts that attract tourists have taken over gravesites of Hawaiians that have passed away. Due to this problem ancient Hawaiians have to partake in reburials. Tourism causes destruction to coral reefs and rivers because of mindless pollution. Reverend Patterson has protested and given public hearings in effort to acknowledge her fury on tourism. Tourism has brought an uncontrollable worldwide business that has no sympathy or thoughtfulness for the original people of Hawaii.
Toronto acts as an ideal location for the company as the city serves as a business and political hub for the province, and the country. In 2013 Toronto’s Total GDP jumped too over $290 billion, making up just over 15% of Canada’s total GDP (Toronto Market Sizes, n.d). Of that total, consumers spent almost $10 billion on hotels and catering in the city, and over $13 billion on leisure and recreation (Toronto Market Sizes, n.d.). These numbers give an overarching view of the large tourism and business communities which exist in Toronto, and how much room
Throughout my academic career, I have taken courses in Research Methods, Public Policy, International Relations and Politics and History of Alternative Tourism. Through this coursework, I have learned the importance
An upcoming company founded by four Capilano Tourism students, Belle West Vacations Ltd. is a luxurious tour company that provides exclusive and personalized tourism services for welcoming guest. Located in the beautiful and rapidly growing city of Vancouver, British Columbia, guests are to expect high standards and services that go beyond any expectation during their trip. Though the tourism industry in Vancouver is quickly growing, there is a niche, and this is in luxury tour travel across British Columbia. Belle West Vacations Ltd. team has undertaken a significant amount of time to research and guarantee the feasibility of the company. Striving for success, Belle West Vacations Ltd. is equipped to provide
Tourism has greatly increased over the years and has brought people of different cultures closer. There are many places to go explore and learn about how other live in different countries. Tourism has allowed travelers to the world around them, however the impacts from tourism on the host country are not known by many of the travelers. Some of these impacts from tourism can be negatively affecting the host country and those travelers who do not educate themselves on where they are going are most likely contributing to the negative impact. The Kayan people are one of the societies that are greatly affected by the tourism that comes to their village. The women are the main attraction of the village due to the rings that they wear around
The second effect is sociocultural. According to Dogan (1989), tourism development has a great effect on the socio-cultural characteristics of residents like habits, daily routines, social lives and beliefs, and values. They may lead to psychological tension. Firstly, there are many positives from tourism development. Brunt and Courtney (1999) mentioned that tourism can result in improved community services, additional park, recreation and cultural facilities and encouragement of cultural activities. Tourism also encourages cultural activities and improve cultural heritage (Gilbert & Clark 1997). However, this may lead to some negative like traditional family values ( Kousis, 1989); cultural commercialization ( Cohen, 1988); crime (Brunt &
Tourism is an endeavour sought by an individual or a party of individuals, which leads to a movement from one place to another with the idealism of a specific task, to visit a place or several places with the primary purpose of achieving entertainment and increasing knowledge of countries, cultures, and their history. The expression ‘largest industry in the world’ is universally used with mention to tourism, ensuring its recognition as the largest generator of wealth (over 11.7% of the global gross domestic product) and employment (7% of the world’s jobs); this shows that tourism is indeed an important industry that depends on culture and legacy.(Budeanu, 2002) Vancouver is feasibly one of the most prevalent tourist destinations in Canada
Travel started to develop as a business many years ago. This industry began, when the ancient and rich inhabitants of Phoenicia, Rome, Egypt, Greece, and China; out of curiosity and a sense of adventure, about their surroundings, began to travel. Today tourism is a billionaire industry that serves the needs and wants of millions of domestic and international tourists. There is no doubt, that capitalism has played an active role in the developing of this powerful enterprise. However, when this business began, only the rich populations were able to enjoy their summers on the coasts and countryside. As these powerful people continue traveling, their servants have to cater for their patrons travel and accommodations needs and wants. As the Roman Empire decline, this business endured a backlash. In Central America the Incas had to travel to trade with the different racial groups, which were part of their empires to trade and collect taxes from their peasants.
As mentioned by Rimmington & Morrison (2009), the assistance from different parts of the world presents a new and diverse outlook for future research including theoretical innovations and revelations, cultural and environmental aspects, tourist destination and other ecotourism and recreational aspects of tourism and hospitality industry (Brotherton,
Tourism plays a vital role in economic development in most countries around the world. The industry has not only direct economic impact, but also significant indirect and influential impacts. There is agreement among experts that the travel and tourism sector is the fastest growing of global economy. According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourism receipts surpass US$ 1 trillion in 2011, growing about 3.8%up from 2010 (WTO, 2012).
Britain has been over the news due to the British exit the European Union, which this event is known as Brexit (Hunt, 2016). This decision brought a large impact on every country in Britain, but the Britain has not started negotiate with European Union about adapting regulations to minimize their negative consequences. Before people can list potential impacts of Brexit on Britain’s tourism, it is important for people to understand how well the Britain was doing in the tourism industry. In addition, it is important to analyze and understand what type of tourism impacts on Britain. So, people would know how Brexit will change its policy and what impacts will bring to their current life. It will provide an idea of how the changes of regulations will impact different countries and the region. Thus, it provides an understanding of how tourism helps to develop the Britain in terms of environmental impacts, socio-cultural impacts, and economic impacts.
The current research paper covers the main effects of global tourism, both positive and negative. International tourism is a significant sector of business. For some countries it is one of the main sources of national income. The most important positive economic effects of tourism are as follows: increase in budget revenues, production expansion, stimulation of investments, and improvement in the population’s welfare. Tourism influences social and cultural lives of people in a positive way by stimulating the development and revival of local cultures and encouraging intercultural exchange.
The Travel and Tourism industry is still one of the largest single businesses in world commerce and its importance is widely recognized. The tourism industry is now one of the largest sectors earning foreign exchange. In the face of many benefits, many countries have started assigning due weight age to the tourism industry in their national development agenda. Tourism is an industry that operates on a massively broad scale: it embraces activities ranging from the smallest sea-side hotel; to air-lines, multi-national hotel chains and major international tour operators. Originally, non-traditional industries such as tourism emerged as a solution to strike a balance between ecology and industry
Allows government to have money to do road works, school construction and all other governmental works.